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.