Above 43rd St., Queens, N.Y., looking down, framed

*

Above 43rd St., Queens, N.Y., looking down, oil on card, 12 x 12 cm  Available

Framed and ready for submission to the Royal Academy Selection Panel.

*

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2017- my digital submissions

*

 Above 43rd St., Queens, N.Y., looking down, oil on card, 12.5 x 12 cm

Sea, late afternoon, Praia dos Ingleses, Brazil, oil on card, 13.5 x 11.5 cm

These are my submissions for the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition in London.

From the sales perspective, I think showing pictures of Britain would be wiser, but  I have fairly few pictures from there. I'll digitally submit these paintings that I think are both good. and hope that their aesthetic qualities are sufficient to attract both d the hanging committee and buyers. And New York is popular among buyers, and the sea has a certain universality so....


But there is a fair chance neither are even accepted. There is an tiresome arbitrariness in this process.

*

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2016: submissions.

*

 Returning from the Synagogue, Walworth Street, Brooklyn, oil on card, 18 x 15 cm

Moçambique, paths, December 2016, oil on card, 19 x 22 cm  SOLD

These are my two entries for the digital selection process of the Royal Academy's summer show.  Let's see how they get on. It's the third such show I've entered, and my work was accepted on the previous occasions. They cost 25 pounds a pop just to enter so... fingers crossed.

Having submitted, it seems my pair do not quite complement each other perfectly: but then, what would have been the sense of submitting two similar works?

One can never get these things right, the selection processes for these open submission shows being governed by mysterious, hidden forces...

*

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2014

Here is my work, No. 672, in the Summer Exhibition. The photo came from my uncle, Swavek- thanks!

Everything is a little crammed in, I think you`ll agree, though that is rather to be expected given the nature of the show.

BBC film about the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2014/23/summer-exhibition-bbc-arts

The Royal Academy wrote to me asking if the BBC could use footage of my picture which was accepted for the Summer Show. So if you have access to British TV, it might appear in this programme.

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, 2014; Under the Tracks, Astoria Boulevard

* 

Under the tracks, Astoria Boulevard, Queens N.Y., Oil on card, 14 x 10.5 cm  SOLD

I`m pleased to say that this picture was accepted for the Summer Exhibition in the Royal Academy, London, which runs from 9 June to 17 August.

My other submission, a picture of flowers, was rejected: it is larger, and more conventional, both in subject and execution.

But it is always difficult and, as likely as not, pointless, to speculate over the reasons for acceptance in these group shows: one persons subjectivity is complex, that of a panel of judges must be even more so. Or it could be that things are refused on such grounds as size, their excessive similarity to other submissions, or because of fashions, or groupthink, or behind-the-scenes horsetrading.

Given that, it is probably self-contradictory of me then to say that I see the acceptance of Under the Tracks as an affirmation that the N.Y trip produced a good run of pictures and wonder if I should plan a return trip there: next year is too soon for me to feel fresh, and respond in a lively way to things there, but perhaps in 2015?

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2014, submission

Flowers from Brazil, oil on card 15 x 18 cm  - available

Under the tracks, Astoria Boulevard, oil on card 14.5 x 10.5 cm

My submissions for this year`s summer exhibition. Fingers crossed that they will be accepted. It`s always difficult to choose things for this sort of show: one simply cannot know what their criteria are. Perhaps one year they will be keen on showing smaller works, another more traditional things and so forth. Or perhaps there are pre-determined, but unknown criteria about different media.

 I tend to think that it`s better not to try to second-guess the judges and just show work that you feel reasonably confident with.