Review: Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition 2026

Last year I was rather tough on the Annual Exhibition 2026 of the Royal Society of British Artists. Principally because I thought they had hung far too many artworks and consequently it was difficult to "see" the art.

As a result I sent a four page critique of the exhibition to the President highlighting various aspects of the exhibition I thought needed addressing and suggestions as to how. I gathered from last week that he had used it as a checklist to review all the aspects I suggested could do with attention.

This year I'm very pleased to say that this year we have a much improved exhibition to view with fewer artworks hung. Plus a much nicer experience at the TWO PVs. The "payoff" seems to be that more artwork is selling.

The West Gallery on Monday

I've now visited it three times:

• at the NEW Private View for Art Collectors - which was very pleasant. We could all see the art properly and the red spots started appearing!
• at the Artists' Private View last Thursday evening when I got to meet a brand new first time exhibitor who I first met 11 years ago. She was so very pleased that her abstracted artwork had sold before the exhibition had even opened!
• Monday afternoon when I was able to get round the West Gallery and view all the artwork in more detail. Plus sat and chatted for ages with former President Mick Davies and printmaker Austin Cole about "exhibitions" which was again very enjoyable.

You can visit the exhibition 

• at the Mall Galleries
• until Saturday 7th March (10am to 5pm)

You can view the artworks online - and buy - via the online exhibition 

You can view the e-catalogue online 

BOTH give you an idea about media, size and price of artwork on display

RBA Annual Exhibition 2026 - view in the East Gallery

You can also see artworks hung on the walls in the three galleries in my Facebook Albums (after yesterdays' hiatus!)

• East Gallery
• North Gallery
• West Gallery 

Facts about the Exhibition

Artwork comprises paintings, fine art prints, drawings, sculpture, ceramics and other 3D work in all kinds of media and but mainly (but not exclusively) a figurative / representative style - and you can see them at the Mall Galleries until Saturday 7th March.

The Mall Wall in the East Gallery

There are 438 artworks hung in the show (compared to 554 last year) - which is still more than I would like to see (c.400 is the optimum number for me) split between:

•  244 artworks by members - nearly 60% (compared to 275 in 2025)
•  194 artworks by open entry artists - just over 40% (compared to 279 in 2025)

Consequently 

• a marginal reduction in members' artwork but a major reduction in the number of artworks selected from the open entry.
• Open artists might like to note that they had 2351 open entries so those selected represented about 8% of the open entry.  Hence you need your very best artwork to get selected!

As a result, this year it's an exhibition which is much easier to view. There is more space between artworks which enhances the individual artworks as well as preventing eye fatigue when viewing art - as happened to me last year.

As a result, they are selling more artwork. Just over half way through, they are one short of the sales for the whole exhibition last year. 

Open Call for Entries: Royal Society of British Artists - Annual Exhibition 2026

You have two months to prepare an entry for the Annual Open Exhibition of the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA). Online entries close on Friday 9 January 2026 (12 noon).

Find out how to enter the RBA Annual Exhibition 2026

This post explains:

• why this is a good exhibition for artists submitting via the open entry
• why the last two exhibitions have been very disappointing in terms of sales - particularly for member artists - but have lots of scope to "come back" and do as well as they have done in earlier years
• how to enter

Why submit to this open entry?

This is a good exhibition for non-members to try and get selected for, because of the variety of media, subject matter and styles which are acceptable to the RBA

This is probably the most eclectic of all the art societies belonging to the Federation of British Artists BA Exhibitions - whose home is at the Mall Galleries. My comment in this post Artwork I liked at the RBA Annual Exhibition 2025

It also has an excellent range of prizes, many of which open artists are eligible to win.

However, there are always a LOT of entries and this exhibition gets more open entries than some of the top flight art competitions in the UK (

Those who enter have a good chance of being exhibited as the RBA aims to split the artworks hung in the exhibition 50:50 between RBA members/associates and the open artists. 

Why the last two RBA exhibitions have been disappointing 

These were my blog posts about the 2025 exhibition

• Review: Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition 2025 (3 March 2025)
• Artwork I liked at the RBA Annual Exhibition 2025 (5 March 2025)
• RBA Annual Exhibition 2025 METRICS: Analysis of art sales & Recommendations about pricing (2nd April 2025) I suggest all members of the Selection Panel read - or re-read this post before they start selecting artwork for the 2026 exhibition. There's a lot of pointers as to where they are underselling the artists that exhibit.

The artwork selected comes from 3,843 submitted images. To give you a sense of what that represents it's bigger than the entry for some major art competitions. 

Mostly it was good work, although it certainly included artwork I personally would have edited out at the selection stage.

I start from the basic premise that major art exhibitions are for selling art as well as showing it. As in people want to recoup their expenses and generate income for an artist.

The reality is that the last two exhibitions have have had VERY LOW SALES

• 2025: 63 artworks sold (just 11% of the artwork hung) which is VERY LOW
• 2024: 52 sold from 491 hung (10%) last year - but only just (11%!!)

This is in the context of a society which, in the recent past, has generated in excess of £100K in sales at its annual exhibition (as another FBA Society did recently).

Moreover, in 2025, 60% of the artwork SOLD was generated by the Open Artists (selected via the Open Call to exhibit with the members of the RBA).

My thinking is this is because:

• open artists tend to submit smaller and more affordable artworks - priced to sell (I will allow myself to think some have been reading my blog posts which have provided clear signposts as to what sells!)
• member artists are sometimes self-indulgent and submit large works which have little chance of selling - and too many don't read my blog posts about the exhibition metrics!
• the Selection Panel sometimes seems to be 
• too indulgent to its members in terms of what they what they want to exhibit and 
• thinking too little about the business of making money from the exhibition - to fund their contribution of the costs of running the Mall Galleries.

A guide to price brackets at the last RBA Exhibition

I should emphasise that it's not just my opinion it was the members who were mainly responsible for the overall level of low sales. It's a FACT.

• There were 554 artworks hung in the show (which in my opinion is about 200 too many) split between:
• 275 artworks by members
• 279 artworks by open entry artists
• In terms of the number of artworks which sold
• 60% were by open artists
• 40% were by RBA Members and Associates

Most sales were, as I constantly reiterate, BELOW £1,500

Most sales in this RBA show were also by OPEN ARTISTS

This sort of performance is a function of:

• artwork submitted for exhibition
• the critical faculties of those selecting the work that gets on the wall.

Selection for 2026

In relation to the 2026 Annual Exhibition (26 February - 12 March), I'm really hoping that the panel of selectors will get their critical and business faculties in gear and become more discriminating by aiming to:

• RADICALLY REDUCE the number of artworks they select (i.e. the more they hang, the less they sell). 
• BE MUCH MORE RIGOROUS IN THEIR SELECTION - in relation to BOTH members and open entries - about preferring artwork that will sell rather than artwork which will just hang on a wall for 10 days and do very little for art, the artist or the RBA wanting to generate funds to run future exhibitions.  After all, this is what commercial galleries need to do all the time if they are to stay in business.

The key is to select the best and not just everything you like the look of it. 

artwork at the entry to the West Gallery in 2025

How to Enter

Artists are invited to submit work for exhibition alongside members of the Royal Society of British Artists at the RBA Annual Exhibition 2026. More details below.

RBA Rising Stars 2025 at the ROSL and three prizewinners

Earlier this month I attended the Private View and Awards Announcement for the RBA Rising Stars Exhibition at the Royal Overseas League.

View of the PV for the RBA Rising Stars Exhibition 2025 - speeches are getting underway

The Rising Stars art competition does two things:

• it produces a longlist of c.40 young artists (under the age of 35) who become semi-finalisrs for the Rome Scholarship who will have an opportunity to exhibit their artwork in an exhibition at the Royal Overseas League.
• reviewing the artwork and the applications also enables the identification of a shortlist of three artists who then go through a further process of being interviewed for the chance to win the Rome Scholarship - which is certainly a prize any young artist would think worth having 

The 3 Selected Finalists are advised to bring with them for interview any sketchbooks or journals which show their exploration of techniques or development of their ideas

The RBA Rome Scholarship

The competition is held as an Open Call by the Royal Society of British Artists.

• It's open to artists under the age of 35. Those applying need to be:
• living and working in the UK and 
• produce figurative artwork which can be a painting, drawing, printmaking or sculpture. 

This is the link to the Rome Scholarship 2025 webpage. 

It's officially known as The Marianne Von Werther Memorial Award - but in shorthand is also known as the "RBA Rome Scholarship"

The winner's prize comprises

• £5000 prize money
• Four weeks accommodation in a self-contained apartment, situated within a wonderful and extensive walled garden in the grounds of the Sala Uno gallery - a prestigious gallery in the centre of Rome
• Studio space - available within the gallery
• Two meals per day, provided at a nearby restaurant
• Return flights to Rome

The two runners-up also receive £1000 

Plus all three candidates will have one work included in the RBA Annual Exhibition in 2026.

Three Finalists

Here are the three artists who have been selected for a further review of their artwork and sketchbooks as part of a portfolio review / interview.

By way of a preview as to the challenge of the choice for this Scholarship, I will say that the last two winners of this award (Joshua Donkor 2024 and Aelfred Hillman 2023) are both producing exceptional art which is selling phenomenally well.

Below are the three young finalists for 2025 - who were announced at the PV

• TF Ashley @tfashleyart an artist and illustrator based in Oxford, UK. His recent work focuses on large-scale drawing in a wide variety of styles and traditional media and explores our shared human experience, engaging with themes such as identity, migration, and socio-political realities.
• Katie Kaur @katiekaur.art- a half-Indian British artist based in London, currently studying for an MA Painting at the Royal College of Art. Her work seeks a visual language that bridges the material and sensorial, the ephemeral and the physical.
• Ken Nwadiogbu @kennwadiogbu -  a Nigerian-born multidisciplinary visual artist, based in London. He's a graduate of the Royal College of Art, London (MA Painting).  He creates innovative conceptual drawings and paintings on various surfaces as he engages in multidisciplinary modes. He has also exhibited internationally.
  

The three finalists with the RBA team

The three artworks by the finalists for the Rome Scholarship

RBA Annual Exhibition 2025 METRICS: Analysis of art sales & Recommendations about pricing

This is an analysis of the art sales at the recent Annual Exhibition 2025 of the Royal Society of British Artists. 

It contains a number of charts and tables which attempt to explain what can be learned by both members and open artists about sales compared to artwork hung.

The charts and tables include

• CHART 1: an analysis and comparison of the number of artworks sold by type of artist and price range
• CHART 2: a comparison of the number and percentage of artworks sold with the total hung hung - according to the Mall Galleries Price Ranges
• TABLE 1: an analysis of the distribution of artwork by media (numbers hung and sold) - and then ranked according to the percentage of sales for different media
• TABLE 2: An analysis is subject matter by media used

Looking at numbers in isolation does not however tell the whole story. It's only when we look at comparative data in previous years that the very obvious and very significant finding stands out.

This was a much bigger exhibition with much fewer sales when compared to previous years.  There were 554 artworks hung in the show split between:

• 275 artworks by members
• 279 artworks by open entry artists

This was my review of the exhibition - Review: Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition 2025 in which I commented

The artwork selected comes from 3,843 submitted images. To give you a sense of what that represents it's bigger than the entry for some major art competitions.

Mostly it was good work, although it certainly included artwork I personally would have edited out at the selection stage.

You can see a much bigger version of the chart below on this post on my Facebook Page . Just click it to see the big version

Or get a magnifying glass out!

CHART 1: An analysis of the number of artworks sold
at RBA Annual Exhibition 2025
by type of artist (member or open) and the price range

The main findings of this chart are as follows

• A total of 63 artworks sold (just 11% of the artwork hung) which is VERY LOW 
• SEE SOLD ARTWORK HERE
• Previous sales figures for this exhibition 
• 2023:  97 sold (20% of the exhibition) - overall volume of sales was excellent
• 2024: however this year's exhibition is marginally better than the 52 sold from 491 hung (10%) last year - but only just (11%!!)
• in general the trend is the MORE artwork exhibited, the FEWER sales are achieved

Artwork I liked at the RBA Annual Exhibition 2025

I promised another post about the art I liked in the Annual Exhibition 2025 of the Royal Society of British Artists.

This is probably the most electic of all the art societies belonging to the Federation of British Artists BA Exhibitions - whose home is at the Mall Galleries. 

This is because their media spans drawings and paintings in every media, all manner of fine art hand pulled prints, and sculpture in various media.

As a result, if frequently gets large and imposing works which are absolutely impossible to ignore.

"Capital at Risk: Drawing the City of London (pen and ink, 1.5m x 2.5m) by Louis Pohl
and
"Effects of Lockdown" (cardboard, 170x45x45cm) by James Lake

Two such this year that I found absolutely unmissable in the East Gallery (above) were:

• Louis Pohl's very large and incredibly impressive pen and ink drawing of "Capital at Risk: Drawing the City of London (1.5m x 2.5m) 
• James Lake's Cardboard sculpture of "Effects of Lockdown" (170x45x45cm)

I work with cardboard for its immediacy, ease of availability and low environmental impact. My disability and dyslexia have also influenced my choice of material and the way I create my sculptures. For over twenty years I have created life-size three-dimensional portraits of people.

There is just so much to look at in Louis's drawing - in terms of both realism and allegory and just sheer expertise in the use of pen and ink for drawing people! I was extremely surprised that it did not get a prize for the ambition and the story-telling. As in "truly gobsmacked"!

By way of contrast, James Lake's sculpture won The Nathan David Award for Sculpture.

I also spotted a style I recognised straight away in the East Gallery - although I've not seen it in some time. It's very memorable.

"The Sky" by Ana Schmidt 
Acrylic 73x 65cm

"The Sky" by figurative artist Ana Schmidt reminded me a lot of the much larger painting she created which  won the £20000 Columbia Threadneedle Award 2018 for contemporary figurative and representational art. She is amazing at painting urban landscapes with huge sheets of water or puddles which reflect the sky.

In the North Gallery, there were two paintings which both immediately captured my attention.

Review: Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition 2025

RBA Annual Exhibition 2025: East Gallery

This is one of my very analytical posts - for an important reason. The story unfolds below....

Last Tuesday I was at the extremely well attended Private View of the Royal Society of British Artists.  It was very pleasing to see a much better mix of members and open artists work aross all three galleries at the Mall Galleries. (for how to visit, see below)

This is my review of what I found. My guess is there may well be a significant post mortem after this exhibition. For a number of reasons.....

• the size of the Exhibition
• Initial Sales - a variation on "less is more"?
• Social Media Marketing
• The Private View

with another more generic post tomorrow about Private Views and another post on Wednesday about the art that I liked, where it will get highlighted more than in this already long post.

Yesterday, I went back to take more photos, as the galleries had become too crowded before I'd finished on Tuesday. A second visit after the PV also offers the chance for another and much better look at the exhibition.

 

Facts about the exhibition

There are 554 artworks hung in the show split between:

• 275 artworks by members
• 279 artworks by open entry artists

I applaud the RBA for achieving a 50:50 split in terms of artwork hung between member artists and open artists. That's a significant achievment and is also the mark of a "proper" open exhibition.

The artwork selected comes from 3,843 submitted images. To give you a sense of what that represents it's bigger than the entry for some major art competitions. There's a lot of younger people who now want to show with the Royal Society of British Artists. There's also a lot of people who would like to get their hands on some of the very significant cash prizes.

Artwork at the entry to the West Gallery

You can see the exhibition at the Mall Galleries ( in The Mall in London)

• Open every day (10am-5pm)
• Exhibition Finishes: Saturday 8th March 2025 at 5pm
• Admission £6, Free for Friends of Mall Galleries and under 25s. Concessions available. No booking required.
• Catalogue is available at the Gallery - or you can view it online
You can also see the artworks in the exhibition ONLINE via
• the Mall Galleries Shop website shop - 60 artworks to the page + you can see the media used easily
• The Royal Society of British Artists website

I will also be uploading my photos of the three galleries to my Facebook Page in three seperate albums for the West, East and North Galleries.

RBA 2025
End "Feature" Wall in the West Gallery 

The Size of the Exhibition

Mostly I found, as I usually do, a very wide range of styles and media used in paintings, drawings, printmaking and sculpture. There's probably something for everyone.

Mostly it was good work, although it certainly included artwork I personally would have edited out at the selection stage.

The thing is I'm experiencing real difficulty conjuring up the exhibition in my minds eye.

I can do it if I look at my photographs - but I normally don't need to do this

I have the sort of brain which remembers good exhibitions extremely well. I can walk around them in my head. I can remember exactly where certain paintings I like are situated - and what artwork is near it. I can remember that for a very long time afterwards. For some exhibitions I can do the walk around in my head somes months and even years after the actual exhibition. 

So to have difficulty recalling more than small sections of the exhibition causes me concern. 

I came to the conclusion that I was faced with VISUAL OVERLOAD.

Pricing your art for Open Exhibitions - a review of a sample of exhibition metrics for 2024

This is all about how to sell the art that gets selected for an open exhibition by a national art society.

One of the ways in which artists can promote their art is by being selected for an open exhibition by a national art society. 

However, they help their profiles enormously and enhance their case for membership of a national art society if they can also demonstrate that their artwork is not only good enough to exhibit - but it also sells!

I personally find it very frustrating every time I visit an exhibition is to see good art which is overpriced - and which I know will not sell.

None of what I say applies to any artist who is not dependent on their artwork selling to have a normal life. If you have independent means, you can price however you like.

By way of contrast, what I say is crucial to the understanding of those artists who "need to know" how to achieve sales i.e. study the marketplace, what's on offer and what the price competition looks like.

UPDATE 31 December 2024: This post has now been UPDATED with reference to artists who sold more than one artwork - providing summary details of the type of art and prices of sold artwork.

Why artists get prices for their art wrong

Artists are very invested in their art. They often price in an unsound way which reflects motivations which have nothing whatsoever to do with selling art. 

The reasons for getting the price wrong are:

• thinking too much about the hours and effort put into a painting and not enough about whether that's marketable
• not visiting an annual open exhibition in advance of submitting an entry
• not observing the prices of the work which has sold - when your research can be done online
• not looking at last year's exhibition online - and noting the price bands where there are few sales
• not reading this blog! I've been banging on and on about the need to tailor prices to the marketplace for specific art galleries. 
• specifically in relation to the FBA Societies at the Mall Galleries
• specifically in relation to pricing just below and not just above important threshold prices i.e. the level at which people start thinking "No" rather than "Yes" 

Bottom line, your art is only worth an "inflated price" if you can find somewhere where it will sell at that price. Otherwise it's just numbers on a label and a painting which will be returned to you unsold.

I can by the way spot all the artists who have been reading this blog and have adjusted their prices and are now selling again after a fairly rough marketplace in recent times. :) 

While writing this post, I also noticed an awful lot of artists who used to sell well on a regular basis who are no longer doing so. Time maybe to review their strategy for getting their artwork sold?

2024 Annual Exhibition Sales Metrics by FBA Societies

Below you will find charts of sales at the 2024 annual exhibitions of the art societies who belong to the Federation of British Artists based at the Mall Galleries i.e.

• Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours
• Royal Institute of Oil Painters
• Royal Society of British Artists
• New English Art Club
• Royal Society of Portrait Painters
• Pastel Society
• Royal Society of Marine Artists
• Society of Wildlife Artists

Each chart is the exact same size - which helps make each comparable with the others. However the numbers of sales by members/associate members and those selected via the open entry are

• identified by price range in which they sold 
• with a coloured column each for member artists and open entry artists
• with an additional total column for all sales in each price range

UPDATE 31.12.24.: I'm also adding in - under each chart - the names of artists who sold well (as in 2 or more sales) in the 2024 exhibitions. It is possible to identify the TYPE of art which can sells well. Of which more in the future....

Who are the buyers at the Mall Galleries?

I started characterising buyers at the Mall Galleries as being essentially "middle class, middle aged and middle income" some years ago. 

• They typically like buying artwork priced at less than £1,500 - and they like it even more if it is priced at less than a £1,000. 
• You should bear this in mind as you review the charts and commentary below and as you check the profiles of the price ranges of artwork sold in the charts below

Essentially annual exhibitions at the Mall Galleries are about affordable art for most of those who visit, view and buy art.

Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours

They exhibited 450 artworks and sold 87 paintings (19%).

• members sold 47
• open entrants sold 40
• The top priced painting was £3,250

No open artist sold a painting for more than £1,000. 

There were a LOT of sales priced under £1000 with specific hot prices such as £650 and £450. Interestingly

• open artists dominated the below £500 category
• members dominated the £501-£1000 category

Unsurprisingly, watercolours are considered to be more affordable artwork - so long as artists produce suitable sizes and prices for them to be considered affordable. When they do, they sell like hot cakes!

Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours
Annual Exhibition Sales Metrics - number sold by price range and type of artist

Artists who did well include:

• Member: Matthew Phinn RI RSMA - 2 x landscape paintings @ £1,700 and £550
• Member: Paul Talbot-Greaves RI - all landscape paintings 2 x £400 and 3 x £750
• Member: Hannah Woodman RI - two watercolour and gouache landscape paintings @£3,250 and £1,950
• Member: Geoffrey Wynne RI - all landscape paintings priced under £2000, sold 4 including 3 at £850
• Open Entry: Miranda Brookes - sold two landscapes at £650 each
• Open Entry: Sandra Doyle - sold two botanical art paintings (£750 and £425), which she could have sold again and again!
• Open Entry: Julia Groves - 2 x flower paintings @ £870 each
• Open Entry: Kate Osbourne - sold 2 x watercolour and gouache paintings about allotments @ £395 each
• Open Entry: Jian Yuan Ong - sold 2 @£400

Note the theme re subject matter?

SEE ALSO: RI Annual Exhibition 2023: Analysis of art sales metrics and pricing artwork for the future

Royal Institute of Oil Painters

RBA Rising Stars at the ROSL and three prizewinners!

Rising Stars are those whose profile is in the ascendent!

 
RBA RISING STARS is an exhibition which showcases the extraordinary talent of 41 artists, aged 18-35, including those shortlisted for the Rome Scholarship offered by the Royal Society of British Artists

This post looks at:

• the RBA Rome Scholarship - and what an amazing prize it is
• the RBA Rising Stars Exhibition at the Royal Overseas League in London - which opened yesterday and continues until 7th July 2024.
• the RomeScholarship prizewinners and awards ceremony
• how the Rome Scholarship winner is determined
• Artists selected for the RBA Rising Stars exhibition
• Exhibition details

I'm also uploading images of the artwork in the exhibition to an album on my Facebook Page and will insert a link here when it has been published

I highly recommend a visit to the exhibition for all those interested in applying for the 2025 Rome Scholarship!

President of the RBA, Mick Davies begins the prizegiving at
RBA Rising Stars Exhibition held in the central foyer and stairwell
at the Royal Overseas League HQ in London.

RBA Rome Scholarship

The Rome Scholarship is:

• a prize of £5,000
• a return flight to Rome in September 2024
• Four weeks accommodation at Sala Uno, a highly prestigious gallery and international arts centre in the heart of Rome - Staying in a self-contained apartment, situated within a wonderful and extensive walled garden in the grounds of the gallery
• Studio space which will be available within the galler; and
• 2 meals per day at a local restaurant.

The prize is sponsored by Huaicun Zhang who is an Honorary Member of the RBA.

Huaicun Zhang, sponsor of the Rome Scholarship and prizes 
with Mick Davies, President of the Royal Society of British Artists

This competition is open to artists who live, work or study in the UK and who are aged 35 years or under.

RBA Rising Stars Exhibition at the Royal Overseas League

The RISING STARS 2024 exhibition has opened

• Venue: at the Royal Overseas League, 
• Address: 6 Park Pl, St. James's, London SW1A 1LR
• Dates: until July 7 2024
• Hours: 

The exhibition comprises one artwork from 41 artists.

At the end of this post you can find out more about what else ROSL offers to artists.

RBA Rome Scholarship Prizewinners

On Tuesday night, at the Private View for the Exhibition, the names of the three artists who have been shortlisted for the Rome Scholarship were announced.

This is the process used to progress applications to an awards ceremony and the award of the Rome Scholarship.

Review of RBA Annual Exhibition 2024

I visited the Annual Exhibition 2024 of the Royal Society of British Artists last week at the Private View - which became increasingly packed with people as the afternoon became evening. I'll be trying to see if I can go back before it ends.

It's open every day until Saturday 9th March (10am - 5pm) at the Mall Galleries in London.

I LOVE the Catalogue cover. It illustrates perfectly the diverse nature of the artwork in this exhibition It's also much fairer to all those artists who work hard to produce excellent artwork to have so many gracing the front cover. Plus it has a very contemporary look!

Catalogue of the RBA Annual Exhibition 2024

There are 495 artworks in the show - which I think is slightly more than usual. You can view and read the catalogue online. The artwork covers

• paintings and drawings in various different media
• fine art prints - which are generally of a very high quality and look amazing when hung together on the Print Wall in the East Gallery
• sculpture which is very diverse in terms of theme, media and construction. I am emphatically not a fan of 

Examples of "below the eyeline" sculpture in this shot
two on very short plinths 
and one sat on the floor - which is very easy to miss entirely

Note to Mall Galleries: Get a LOT more decent sized plinths so we see less sculpture on the floor or very near the floor.

You can also explore the exhibition online and see ALL the artwork in the show as follows:

• on the Mall Galleries website - where you can list artworks in
• alphabetical order by artist's surname (or reverse alpha order) - this is the way to view if you want to see all the artworks by one artist in the show.
• by price - ascending or descending
• my photos of the show - which I've placed in Facebook Albums as follows
• East Gallery
• West Gallery
• North Gallery

However I was very disappointed at the performance of the website - I got absolutely zero results when entering:

• the title of a works 
• the name of an artist from the open entry, it came 

That's just NOT good enough! It also does not promote sales by those who know the artists in the open entry!

Note to Mall Galleries: make sure people can search for titles of ALL the artwork and ALL exhibiting artists on the new website!!!

Plus Mick Davies, President of the Royal Society of British Artists introduces the artwork in the exhibition in the video below. (The "background" music is a bit too strident for my liking!)

I'm going to adopt the same approach I used in 2021 for the first exhibition which reopened the Mall Galleries. The focus is on artwork I liked. It's one which works well with such a diverse set of paintings, drawings, fine art prints and sculpture about diverse subject matter.

Artwork I liked

These aren't going to be the artworks judged best in show. For those you need to read
Award Winners | RBA Annual Exhibition 2024

These are the artworks which appealed to me.

Best Portrait

For me this portrait by Aelfred Hillman had it all. I loved this painting - which demonstrates a great eye for design, brilliant painting of skin tones and an equally wonderful treatment of the natural landscape in terms of both water and vegetation.VERY impressive.

It won the Ronald Morgan Memorial Award - which had not been announced when I was there - and I'm not surprised! Last year he was one of the "Rising Stars" of the RBA and was shortlisted for the RBA Rome Scholarship.

This painting is more sophisticated than the painting at the exhibition last year.

Call for Entries: Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition 2024

Four very good reasons why painters, printmakers, sculptors and artists who draw should pay attention to the Call for Entries for the 2024 Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of British Artists are:

• Cash prizes totalling £17,400 are on offer
• Last year this exhibition generated very impressive sales - which, in the current climate, is even more impressive.
• The RBA have decided to hang 200 artworks from the Open Entry
• This annual exhibition has been getting better and better in recent years 

Submissions are ONLINE ONLY - deadline for entries is noon on 10th January 2024.

The next Annual Exhibition will open 29th February 2024

Here are some of the reasons to enter the RBA Annual Exhibition 2024:

• £10,000 grand prize
• Plus another c. £10,000 of prizes and awards (see 'Prizes & Awards' below)
• Non-members are eligible for all prizes with the exception of the Whistler Award (£3,000)
• 200 non-member works will be selected to show with us and will appear in our catalogue
• We select quality, whether paintings, sculptures, printmaking or drawing

As Mick Davies, the President of the Royal Society of British Artists has said

Be positive ... have confidence in your ability and go for it! Last year we had record sales, because the RBA has been at the heart of contemporary art for over two centuries and we are still at it.

Call for Entries

You can find complete details on the following Pages

• Mall Galleries | Call for Entries Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition 2024
• OESS | Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition 2024 - Full Details, Terms and Conditions (this is a pop-up and NOT a separate page or PDF - which it should be)

NOTE: THERE IS NO UNIQUE PAGE / URL for the complete details, terms and conditions for this exhibition. 

• You can however copy and paste the Full Details, Terms and Conditions from the OESS website into a Word document for your information / files - rather than trying to read it in full as a pop-up.
• I'm surprised that the Mall Galleries does not still have its terms and conditions identified as a link within the Call for Entries page on the Mall Galleries website. Given these are legal specifics, this seems very odd as they are much more specific than those available via OESS. (i.e. I only know the page still exists as I have the link from previous years)

What can you submit?

The Society welcomes works in any medium including painting, drawings, sculpture and original fine art prints.

I RECOMMEND you read the call for entries and the terms and conditions of entry very carefully

• Acceptable media: Any medium including sculpture and original prints.
• Intellectual Property Rights: All works MUST be an original creation by the artist.
• Age of artwork: no requirement
• No. of artworks: up to six - of which up to four will be selected
• Previous exhibitions: Work must NOT have been exhibited previously IN LONDON. Note that they've tightened up the criteria - that means not exhibited at ANY exhibition in London i.e. this is NOT limited to the RBA Exhibitions. I'm a big fan of art societies who refuse to allow people to exhibit work they have previously exhibited elsewhere in the same area - it makes for a MUCH better exhibition of work which is fresh to the eye.
• Dry: Paintings should be completely dry at the time of delivery (or they won't be hung)
• Wrapping: The Gallery does NOT keep wrapping. Nor does it wrap artwork for return to the artist. So you need to deliver and collect yourself or employ a courier to do this for you. 
• Size: Works should not be larger than 2.4m along the longest dimension.
• For Sale: ALL work must be for sale (and the price must include commission @ 45%+VAT. For the uninitiated, that means 
• if you price your painting @ £500
• then commission of £225 will be deducted
• plus a further £45 for VAT on commission charged.
• So you get £230, the Mall Galleries gets £225 and Customs and Excise gets £45.
• Price: The minimum price is £300 (framed prints: £180, unframed prints: £120).
• You can see the range of artwork submitted in my reviews of previous exhibitions - listed at the end of this blog post. 
• I'm very pleased to see that the RBA has stuck to the minimum price applicable BEFORE the UK started to experience the cost of living crisis and continues to make affordable artwork available.

TIPS In relation to pricing.....

TIP: Do NOT be silly or over ambitious about prices - especially if you are unfamiliar with sales at this venue.

• small works priced between £300 and £500 typically sell very well (i.e. a much high percentage in this price bracket will sell compared to others - because they are more affordable)
• most works sell below £1,000
• members sell well between £500 and £1,500
• if you are pricing above £2,000 you are:
• either a well known artist with some years experience, a bunch of collectors and a credible track record of sales above this price point
• or you have a very big ego and/or opinion of your own work and/or lack experience in exhibiting/selling your work
• NEVER EVER price just above the big price point breaks (£500, £1000, £1,500) - always just below!

I don't think I can make it plainer than that!

Who can enter? 

Any artist over 18 may submit artwork.

Most are British but international artists can also submit their artwork. (See my info. for International Artists at the end of this section)

How to enter and submit your artwork

The important things to know about pricing Affordable Art

The really important things to know 

about pricing Affordable Art

There are two things you need to know about pricing affordable art.

The first is that what the PUBLIC think is "affordable" is the only game in time.
It's emphatically NOT what the artists or the art galleries and art fairs think it is. 
That's because they're trying to make money for themselves so they have a huge incentive to call it "affordable" but then pitch the price high!

The second is that it's the PSYCHOLOGICAL VALUE of a number that really matters. A poll I ran revealed that

• Between 64-70% would buy art up to 500 (of whichever currency)
• Between 70-91% would buy art up to 1000 (of whichever currency)
• ONLY 9-10% would contemplate buying art above 1000 (of whichever currency)

The important thing is to identify what are the key hurdle prices which change behaviour. It's akin to the notion that you should always price just below an important hurdle price rather than just above.

IMAGE: My page about The Price of Affordable Art on my website Art Business Info for Artists

Why I got interested in the price of affordable art

I became very interested in the concept of affordable art - and its pricing - back in 2010 (post the banking crisis of 2008 and what followed).  

This was a time when a lot of art galleries were closing - mainly because people were not buying and/or because the people who ran the galleries were not good business people and/or they had no concept of risk management and made no provision for a difficult economic context

The main reason for my interest was that artists were trying to sell in a difficult economic context and kept getting their pricing wrong which meant their sales were also plummeting.

They very much needed to understand 

• what was deemed "affordable" and would still sell.
• what were the key hurdle prices within the range they considered affordable.
• how to avoid shooting themselves in the foot due to poor pricing practices.

We've now had 12 months of a very difficult economic climate with inflation and significant interest rate rises. It's not coming to an end any time soon - even if it has improved somewhat. We are still a long way adrift from where we were two years ago.

Bottom line - we are now back in the same territory as 2010 and the same issues and questions apply re. pricing.

What is an affordable price?

Remembering Tom Coates (1941 - 2023)

Tom Coates PPNEAC PPRBA PPPS PPSEA RP RWA passed away, age 82, on 20 July 2023. He was one of those artists I saw very often at the Private Views at the Annual Exhibitions at the Mall Galleries - as he was a member of so many! He had a presence - you always knew when Tom was in the Gallery! :)

Tom Coates 
(photo courtesy of Felicity House)

I've been waiting for some obituaries to be published before doing this post so that those who know Tom and his work can access them easily.  Below you can find:

• a timeline of his life
• notes of his major achievements, awards and prizes
• links to 
• interviews with him
• obituaries about him

Tom Coates Timeline - Notable Events

You will note that it's very clear that Tom Coates worked hard to become an artist and then worked hard to be an artist - working with art societies, art galleries, on commission and with students.

• born May 5th, 1941 in Aston, Birmingham
• 1956 - 1959 - studied at the Bournville College of Art

"At my first college, Bourneville College of Art, my principal Capel Smith told me to go into graphics. “No,” I replied, “I want to paint!”

• 1959 - 1961 - won his first scholarship to study at the Birmingham College of Art 

At my second college, Birmingham College of Art, I painted everything and anything – from industrial scenes to coal mines where I worked on twilight shift. I had no grant as my parents had emigrated to New Zealand, to the luxury of painting in the warmth of the studio.

• 1961 - 1964 - won a Scholarship to the Royal Academy Schools when Sir Henry Rushbury was Keeper and Peter Greenham was Professor.

I was awarded a scholarship to the RA Schools where my life changed. I relished in the use of oils. My mentor was Sir Henry Rushbury; and I was influenced by Peter Greenham, Charles Mahoney and John Ward. The many prizes I won enabled me to survive.

• Throughout his career, Coates taught at various art schools and workshops while devoting the majority of his time to full-time painting.

my photo of Tom Coates doing a Portrait painting demonstration

at the NEAC Annual Exhibition 2014

He loved demonstrating - playing to a crowd, telling yarns, unbeknown to his sitters putting horns on their head when it was failing and eliminating them as it progressed. Mary Jackson

Tom's library of old sketchbooks acted as a constant point of reference and he always drew from life. NEAC Obituary

Tom Coates sketching from life
(photo courtesy of Felicity House)

• He has been greatly involved with a wide number of art societies - and President of FOUR
• He has exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition since 1980 
• He exhibited widely in the UK and in Kentucky in the USA and had one man shows at:
• UK: New Grafton Gallery, Messum’s Gallery, Mall Galleries, W.H.Patterson’s Gallery, Alresford Gallery and The Royal Society of Birmingham Artists Gallery.
• USA: The Cross Gate Gallery in Lexington, Kentucky
• He worked on commission and accepted commissions from a number of prominent art collectors - including 
• His work is in many UK and International private art collections - including the Royal Collection.
• He was married to fellow artist Mary Jackson
• He died July 20th 2023. His health had declined in recent years but he was still never happier than when drawing and painting - and he never stopped painting.....

Tom died peacefully at home in my arms surrounded by his family. Mary Jackson in RP Obituary

Mary Jackson and Tom Coates in 2022
(Photo courtesy of Felicity House)

Achievements

my photo of Tom Coates - wearing his Presidential insignia 
with his paintings at the NEAC Exhibition in 2014

An achievement not bestowed on many artists was that he was the President of FOUR different Art Societies at different times.

The RBA Rome Scholarship and the Rising Stars exhibit at the Royal Overseas League

Rising Stars is an initiative associated with the Royal Society of British Artists Rome Scholarship. This exhibition, at the Royal Overseas League, is one of the benefits for 40 artists competing for the annual RBA Rome Scholarship.

Rising Stars - part of the exhibition

The Rome Scholarship

The Rome Scholarship is limited to figurative art in painting, drawing, printmaking or sculpture

Thanks to a special bursary, The Rome Scholarship is open to artists aged 18-35 who live, work or study in the UK.

The call for entries for the Rome Scholarship 2023 closed earlier this year. Those entering have to provide six images of recent work to be provided together with a completed application form (and a very nominal fee). 

The prizes vary

Semi Finalists

• Forty semi-finalists will have a work in the RBA’s RISING STARS Exhibition, which takes place in April 2023 at the Royal Over-Seas League in Mayfair, London

Finalists

• Three finalists will have a work in the RBA’s Annual Exhibition at Mall Galleries in 2024
• The two runners-up will also receive a prize of £250 each

Winner of the Rome Scholarship

The Scholarship offers:

• September 2023: Four weeks accommodation at Sala Uno, a highly prestigious gallery and international arts centre in the heart of Rome
• Staying in a self-contained apartment, situated within a wonderful and extensive walled garden in the grounds of the gallery
• Studio space which will be available within the gallery
• Two meals per day, provided at a nearby restaurant
• Return flights to Rome
• £1000 prize money

Rising Stars Exhibition at the Royal Overseas League

You too can view this exhibition at the Royal Overseas League in St. James. Admission is free and the exhibition is open to the public between 10am and 5pm Monday to Friday.

The exhibition opened earlier this week and is on until 2nd July 2023.

View of the artwork around the stairwell

For those who cannot get to see it - and particularly for those who might be interested in a submission for the 2024 Rome Scholarship - I've also uploaded some photos I took yesterday to an album on my Facebook Page.

RBA RISING STARS, produced in partnership with the Royal Society of British Artists, showcases the extraordinary talent of 40 artists shortlisted for RBA Rome Scholarship 2023.

This exhibition captures creativity in the moment and showcases the trajectory of what is yet to come in contemporary art practice from the relative viewpoint of the present day. Amongst other awards for the finalists is a one-month residency at Sala Uno, an arts centre in the heart of Rome. The history of this collaboration with ROSL, which hosts the work of young artists aged 35 and under, began in 2017 and acknowledges the depth of emerging talent present across the UK in figurative forms of contemporary art.

The artworks I liked the most

So what follows is not official - it's just my view! 

Best artwork

By a country mile in my view.