Monday, September 24, 2007

Price of cards up to £40 this year


The college have now released their press release regarding the show. This confirms the sale dates set out below.

The price of the cards this year will be raised a fiver to £40. This seems fair enough to me - they have been £35 for at least the last six years so I guess it is about time there was a small price rise.

Here is the full text of the press release

GRAB AN ART BARGAIN AT RCA SECRET 2007
16 - 24 November 2007

RCA Secret is an annual contemporary art exhibition consisting of around
2,500 original postcard-sized artworks, made and donated by professional
artists, designers and illustrators, plus up-and-coming graduates from the
Royal College of Art. The cards are all sold to the public in a huge sale, with
every postcard costing just £40, regardless of whether it has been made by
Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin or a young art student.

What’s the Secret? Each postcard is signed on the back, so buyers do not
know the identity of the artist until they have made their purchase. Although it
can help if you know the difference between a David Hockney and a Grayson
Perry, a lot of it is down to pure luck and many buyers don’t realise whose
work they have chosen.

Potential buyers will be able to view all the postcards in person at the RCA in
London or on-line at www.rca.ac.uk/secret from 16-23 November. All
postcards go up for sale on Saturday 24 November at the RCA. Postcards
can only be bought on a first come, first served basis, with no sealed bids or
reservations in advance. There will be a raffle for buyers to win a position in
the first fifty places in the queue, a move initiated last year in order to
eradicate the unfair advantage of people camping outside the College.
As well as being a fundraiser for the Fine Art students at the College, RCA
Secret has a loyal following of supporters including regular collectors and artlovers
who have been visiting the show since it began in 1994. It is not only
one of the most popular events at the RCA, but has now become an
established date in the British art calendar.

The RCA is grateful to receive enormous support from hundreds of leading
international artists and designers who contribute to the event each year.
Previous sales have included postcards by David Hockney, Damien Hirst, Sir
Peter Blake, Sam Taylor-Wood, David Bailey, Julian Opie, Olafur Eliasson,
Tracey Emin, Paula Rego and Sir Paul McCartney to name just a few.
As in previous years all monies raised goes to the Royal College of Art Fine
Art Student Award Fund. To date, sales of postcards have raised nearly £1
million for the Fund, helping hundreds of emerging artists at a formative
stage in their careers.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

RCA Secret 2007 dates revealed


Thanks to Tim over on the RCA Secret Yahoo group for this bit of information. This is the information the RCA gave him when he registered for RCA Secret 2007:

"The exhibition is open from 16th to 23rd November, 11am - 6pm daily; late
night Thursday 22nd November, 11am - 8pm. Sale day is Saturday 24th
November from 8am."

Pop it in your diaries.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

RCA Secret 2006 postcards removed

The secret postcards from the 2006 exhibition have been removed from the RCA website. Does this mean that there is likely to be some news soon about the date for this years show? I will keep you posted on here.