Thursday, August 31, 2017

The RCA Secret "14 Club"



From our own records, there are 14 Artists that have contributed to every one of the last 14 RCA Secret exhibitions. That’s every one from 2002, and including both 2015 and 2016 Dubai.

Over the next few days, we’ll post an image and a short bio from some of these. I wonder will they make it 15 from 15, and where each year's cards are now....

Alan Smith.

Alan Smith (2007)
 

Well, of course the Contributors names are provided as, well, names, and a quick Google of “Alan Smith” didn’t bring much clarity. However adding “RCA”  gave us the Alan Smith that was for 32 years a Printmaker / Etching instructor at the College. The keen eyed among you may have seen his work in the RA Summer Exhibition some years, but will you be able to spot his this year?
 
 

Anthony Meyer

Anthony Meyer (2013)


Anthony Meyer (2005)

Harder to identify, is this the renowned Gallerist of Oceanic Art? We don’t know either, maybe there are contact details on the reverse of each postcard? If you know which Anthony this is, do get in touch. What we can tell you is that landscapes and figures often feature in his postcards, and he hasn’t missed an RCA since 2002. Thank you Anthony, whoever you are!!!

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Raffle results Friday




Good luck everyone with the raffle.  Results are out Friday apparently.   Given no queueing allowed the raffle is by far the best opportunity for everyone to get the cards they might want (even though we haven't seen any of em yet).  It's certainly a strange year.

Post a comment on here if you are lucky enough to win.

Sunday, August 27, 2017

First images of cards




Art rabbit has some card images on its story here   

Enjoy!

Friday, August 25, 2017

Tracey Emin, Vic Reeves, Peter Blake and others contributors?





This article from London Calling suggests a number of contributors to this years sale.   They include
Tracey Emin, Zandra Rhodes, Paul Smith, Christopher Bailey, Peter Blake, Jim Moir, James Dyson


Jim Moir is of course better known as Vic Reeves.  Tracey Emin, if this article is correct, hasn't contributed to the sale since 2011.  Her return would be very much welcomed. 

Sir Paul Smith and Zandra Rhodes




Fashion designers Sir Paul Smith and Zandra Rhodes are the first confirmed contributors to this years RCA secret.   It's getting closer....

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Ron Fuller RIP

Sad news has only just reached us of the death of long time RCA secret contributor Ron Fuller.  Ron was a wonderful toy maker whose hand made toys were very popular, fun and beautiful.  This obituary is worth a read.

I first became aware of Ron's postcards at RCA secret when in 2013 I saw this postcard at the show:





The card depicted a young group of people from yesteryear described as my "RCA friends" - one of them being "Dave".  Surely that was David Hockney?

Then I saw this card also at the show:





This said "Heligan Wedding 1961".  Yes that was definitely a young David Hockney sporting a Union Jack Waistcoat.  I thought this was a lovely piece of art history and was hoping it would be available to buy when I got to the front.  After queuing for 26 hours, lo and behold it was.  So I bought it, took it home and framed it.  But that wasn't the end of the matter.  I wrote to Ron Fuller telling him I had this card and asking for the story behind it.  To my delight he wrote back and I set out below what he said:

"dear perry - thank you for buying my card - there was a group of us at the RCA in 1960 that used to hang around together - fred scott, richard bawden, shane weare -trench, geoff reeve, till, dave hockney, john furnival,mike adams, and others - i had a share in a cottage (no water or electricity) in the direlect heligan estate with mike adams - rent £25 a year - he decided to get married there - the nearest church was st ewe (vicars name was rev. rham (believe it or not!)) - i took the photo of guests arriving for the reception in ivor and brenda's cottage in heligan - till had this old swift car decorated with plants from the heligan jungle - the magic is all gone now - heligan is now a tourist attraction - such is progress - i have a disc of all the wedding photos which i can send you if you are interested - yrs ron fuller"

Needless to say I jumped at the chance and lo and behold a few days later a disk arrived full of absolute treasures of time gone past.  Below are just a couple of the amazing photos on it.  

What a joy RCA secret is that it can reveal these things, and what an amazing man Ron Fuller was to send a disk to a complete stranger of all these wonders.  RIP Ron Fuller, the world is a less happy place without you.







Monday, August 14, 2017

Online raffle



So it looks like the rca are going to shake things up again this year by having an online raffle for the top places in the queue.  It's unclear so far as to how this will work but I assume this means that tickets can be bought by anyone anywhere in the world provided they can get to the college on sale day to buy.

I guess an online raffle was inevitable given that the viewing will not be open at all prior to the sale commencing.

I have to say I still haven't really got my mind around how it's all going to work.  Camping has apparently been banned but I presume that just means tents aren't allowed and that people can still queue (after all the college will want a queue in order to sell cards and get media interest).  Perhaps this will be clarified closer to the time.  

I guess in a way the sale is victim to its own success -  I can see why the college want to try and stop those hardened campers who camp out for a week beforehand (although in truth they did little harm and plenty of good in terms of promoting the sale and media interest in it).   Lots of other British institutions - Wimbledon, last night of the proms, Harrods sale etc so have queues and campers and seem to find a way to keep everyone interested.

Anyway it promises to be an interesting month as more information is released.