Sunday, September 17, 2017

My RCA secret 2017




So much to say about this year's sale. Where to start. I suppose there is only place - the queue chaos on Saturday. I was lucky enough to be a guest of my daughter who won the raffle, will tell you further down what we bought. We were quite hopeful of getting cards high up on the list being in 48th and 49th place respectively.

Arriving outside the college we were greeted with what appeared to be an organised queue, smiling friendly staff brandishing pastries. I was curious as to how the queue would be dealt with inside but assumed we would be let into the exhibition in stages and be assembled in order inside. In the 3 queues outside there was no attempt to assemble people in order save for the division of the three queues.




It was a bonus when one of the organisers announced that we would be let in soon and could go into the exhibition.

Nowhere in any of the literature before the sale was there any suggestion that there would be a free for all once inside the building. Indeed the winning notice from the college assured winners:

"your place in the queue is guaranteed"




As we all now know though that was the colleges intention of how it would work once inside which led to anger, bitterness and a sense of being unfair and cheated. I can totally understand all these emotions. Whilst I was not badly affected by the issues, as we probably ended up in a similar position than we would have been had the queueing system been implemented as promised, it was inherently just so unfair, especially to those who had been drawn in the top 10 and ended up low down in the actual queue.

The college have apologised for this huge misjudgment and offered to consult with regular attendees going forward. Good for them for apologising, I'm sure they've been deluged with complaints from people most of which are entirely justified. The bottom line is now that it happened, mistakes were made, we all need to move on and hopefully there will be a more consultative process going forward. There's a lot of love for rca secret, we all want it to succeed and we all want positive news stories coming out about it.




Before I move on to happy stuff I thought I might share some of my thoughts about the changes. These are my views and you may well disagree.

1. The 250 raffle - this could have worked well if the college had properly enforced the queueing. I liked the fact that photo ID was insisted upon but cannot understand the illogical decision to allow people to win multiple places in the queue (even though I benefitted from it this year). It's much fairer to give each raffle winner one winning place in the queue at most. If the college want to stop queuing the more different people winning the raffle the better.

2. No in person viewing before sale day - I really, really don't get this. Last year only having 2 days to view was bad enough but this year not having any is completely baffling. Unless the college are going to release much more information about the media cards have been created in the photographs online are not sufficient to give people enough guidance about what the card is. We need to see them in the flesh.

3. No contributor information - only on the day before the sale were we told some of the contributors for the sale, and even then key contributors weren't mentioned. Was a decision made not to publicise the sale? It certainly felt that way, maybe because there is so much concern about queueing.

4. Drawing the blinds - a minor point but the decision to draw the blinds on the exhibition made it feel very dreary. That space the college have is so wonderful with those big windows and natural light. Why not show it off.

5. Too few cards - a decision was made to only send 2 cards to the vast majority of contributing artists and as a result there were only 1450 odd cards in this year's exhibition. Less choice, less money for the college bursaries. Less than half of the cards of some of the bumper years. A real shame.

6. No reveal at time of purchase - I thought the system of handing out the envelopes with the artists name at the time of purchase was great last year.  If collection day is still happening, which I remain unconvinced about, then please can we have that back?

7.  The quality of the cards - the card stock used this year felt a bit thinner than usual so as a result more cards curled or got dented. 

Anyway enough of that you want to know my experience!  Firstly the raffle.  I was obviously delighted with my daughter carys winning and she was equally as excited.  My 2 daughters have grown up with rca secret and for years have made their own lists and bought their own cards.  

On the day the cards were released I spent hours pouring over them online until my eyes were exhausted, having taken off a day at work to do so.  I'd spotted some I liked but it is so difficult online without the in person validation.

At least the night before the sale was spent in a nice warm bed but I did miss the cameraderie of the queue and seeing all the old (and new friends in it).  Some of the people I have met through rca secret have become close friends who I have seen every year at the sale, and at numerous other art events for the last 15 years- what's better than meeting someone who has the same interest and enthusiasm for art that you do?  

Anyway the morning of the sale arrived with the usual nervousness and excitement.  Would my favourite care be there when I got to the front.

Carys and I eventually got to the front of the queue.  She went first and picked 2 cards for her, one for her sister and one for her mother.  I'll let you know what she got too.

I then bought.  I got the following cards

A painting, number 1349, a lot darker than the cards I would normally go for.  It and its sister painting were probably my favourite cards in the show.  I had no idea who painted it.  It was by Jim Threapleton 


 Card number 649, a lovely drawing by Olivia Sullivan.



Card 786 which was by Ann Christopher - a fine 3 dimensional example of her work



And finally this card 1082 which was second on my list. Very pleased to have got this card which is by the wonderful Kate MccGwire.




My daughter carys picked these card numbers - illustrations of which are through this post

162 - her favourite card in the whole show - a drawing of a bird.  She loves this so much.  It was by Ruth Addinall.

515 - a painting of an ice cream.  What's not to like. By Richard Davidson.

724 - this was for my other daughter Elodie.  It is a really interesting card and looks so much better in the flesh   By Mark Fenton Pearson.

763 - all the family liked this trio of cards depicting a girl and a bear which might initially appear quite twee but also have perhaps a sinister underbelly.  By Lucy Boyle.

Anyway enough from this marathon post.  As usual let me know what you bought and who it is by.  If you'd like to write something for the blog about the sale then please get in touch.  Until a (hopefully better organised) RCA secret 2018!

12 comments:

Stue1967 said...

Nice post. We didn't take part this year for a variety of reasons but it has felt that the sale format has been becoming less fun and more corporate. Perhaps we are seeing the outworking of austerity and a reduction in government funding hitting the arts but if that's the case then the more limited number of cards doesn't serve the purpose. Confusion reigns.
Hopefully the RCA are genuinely listening and 2018 will be better.

Anonymous said...

Yes, "corporate", that's what we thought. People really shouldn't try to organise things if they don't have the experience to do so. We even thought one of artist's names was recorded wrongly... "Kassi Hambling's" postcards bear a surprising similarity to the famous "Maggi Hambling" who donates work most years. Did they get the name wrong?!

elegancemaison said...

I enoyed reading this and your earlier posts about this year's RCA Secrets. Your comments about the whole raffle and queuing 'kerfuffle' was echoed elsewhere on Twitter etc. It made me rather relieved that I could not have attended on the first day anyway. Though as someone who lives in the shires it does all come across as a bit London-centric crybaby. (Apologies to those non-Londoners who did manage to attend the first day scrum).

As an out of London resident, I found it really useful to be able to preview the cards online and choose a (very) longlist of my favourites. I do agree that it is essential to view the actual cards before making a final choice, especially regarding the three-dimensional ones. However I imagine that the first day will always be a bit of a bunfight, though perhaps if the raffle had been managed better ( restricted to one person per ticket, and a more ordered entry) then perhaps it would be fairer for all, including out of towners. If I had purchased a raffle ticket and made the journey I would have expected to have been given a decent chance at getting one of my choices. From all the complaints I am assuming that the first people through the doors went straight to the tills with their online choices, avoiding the actual exhibition, to snap up the obvious 'stars'. That does rather negate the concept of an real art exhibition and reduce it to a virtual one. Seems a pity.

Well this was the first time I have ever attended and couldn't get there until the Wednesday morning. I was totally alone. Well apart from the charming and funny security guards who helpfully pointed out the Tracey Emins and Peter Blakes. All sold out of course! I went steadily through every row - marking all the unsold ones and comparing them with my list. Apparently there were still 300 left unsold. I could only afford one so was extra careful to choose with my heart not my head.

My final choice was not really difficult - it was not a painting but a design with a piece of old printed textile and the most beautifully handwritten ( with a couple of mispellings) description. I am a textile collector and love vintage fabrics, tailoring, couture and all the associated tools ( scissors particularly). In fact I went straight from the RCA to the V&A for the Balenciaga exhibition.

So what did I choose? Number 1299. Now revealed as submitted by Christopher Bailey, creative director of Burberry. I am almost speechless with delight. I had already researched the fabric scrap and knew it was a textile rarity. So even if you can't make the first headlong rush, and even if you can only buy one, you can still find a special 'treasure' for youself.

pezlow said...

Glad you have such success. I understand you feel it is London centric but believe me people travel many miles to attend the first sales day, including from France and Germany.

The pictures have always been online, just that people also want the chance to look at them in the flesh.

And if the college had told people that they could go and queue as they entered then everyone would have gone upstairs to queue. It was the lack of that information that caused such upset.

Anyway very pleased you got such a lovely card and hope you go again next year.

Ian Bradbury said...

I would like to add... I was left with a strong feeling that we were unwanted and had not been considered in any of the arrangements. A prime example : not being allowed to view the cards when collecting. Living on the south coast means that I am unable to just pop by to view the cards and I was very disappointed being denied this on Saturday.

I totally agree with the suggestion that raffle winners should only be allowed one queue position, this rule would likely see me buy a ticket for the first time ever!

My biggest gripe is the refusal to allow a viewing before the purchase (unless you wanted to loose your queue position on the purchase Saturday). I would have chosen different cards had I been able to view in advance. (I am not disappointed with my selections)

I would also like to propose that the RCA remove the 4 card limit on the last day of viewing. I certainly would have taken a day off work if I had been able to view on the last day and purchase one or two more cards. I'm sure the extra revenue would be appreciated. Apparently a few hundred cards remained unsold - such a waste.

Gerard Darby said...

Great post Perry. You are spot on with your comments about the organisation.

For me it was a disappointing RCA Secret. I hated the fact that you only had one day to review the postcards online and no opportunity to see them in person. It felt very disrespectful to the artists and their work for the public not to be able to view and enjoy them before the sale and, as you point out, it is unclear what the College’s objective was in depriving us of this opportunity. For one of my postcards, I ended up buying a piece of metal rather than the painting I envisaged it was as there was no way of telling what material it was online.

In terms of the raffle, the college seemed to make up the rules as they went along and adopted a flippant attitude to their previous assurance that “your place in the queue is guaranteed” and instead facilitated a free for all. Whilst beforehand the college stated “it will not be possible to change your position in line or skip to the front of the queue” many did just that with the RCA enabling this. I imagine that there are quite a few rules and regulations surrounding raffles and lotteries and how they are managed / communicated and the college may have breached some of these. This is something quite ironic given that RCA Secret is sponsored by a law firm.

On the plus side there was some great work donated by artists who clearly put a lot of time, effort and creativity into their postcards. Some of the works were very intriguing and I would have loved to know more about them.

Anyway, let’s hope the college does start to talk to us and that it gives a lot more thought before instigating changes. RCA Secret is a great initiative for a very important cause and its artists and supporters deserve better.

pezlow said...

Thanks for all your thoughtful comments. Hopefully the college will take all of these constructive comments and suggestions on board for next year.

PC said...

Good post. My husband and I camp out every year and this year we didn't win the raffle so didn't see much point in showing up on the day given that there were so many fewer cards than usual and assuming most of the people who won the raffle would buy 4 cards each. But as devoted attendees of previous years, we were very disappointed not to win a place in the queue and to know that other people had won multiple places. We actually knew someone who won three places and who was going to take us as guests, but she ended up not being able to attend the sale on the day, which then meant we couldn't and therefore the three places she won were totally wasted. She did email the RCA a few days before explaining the situation and requesting that we still be allowed to attend without her, but she received no reply whatsoever. Anyway, I did go later in the week and manage to buy 4 cards I liked from those still available, but was generally disappointed with how the sale was run this year. Totally agree that there's no reason for one person to win multiple places, that there should have been more cards and we also should have been able to view the cards in person before the sale. Still love the RCA and the sale and hope to return next year, and hopefully the problems from this year will have been sorted out.

Anonymous said...

I broadly agree with your sum up and I hope they can sort themselves out again. The sale for the last few has definitely felt less...I guess respectful is the best word...toward fans. I'm also disappointed to see the website has missing artists again (I made it 14 unattributed postcards), with a similar number in previous years as well. I guess chaos has always been baked in!

CNG said...

Having failed ever to win places in the Raffle despite numerous attempts, I left this year’s purchase too late (it closed so early), which evidently turned out to be a bit of a blessing. So I didn’t bother to queue and strolled in at midday with no expectations. To my surprise I found no lines and unoccupied sales staff sitting around eating croissants – so civilized, compared with previous memories of stamping frozen feet in interminable queues watching your cards ebb away on the monitors. An even greater surprise was that there were still plenty of really fantastic works available in the afternoon, including a beautifully painted cherub by Amie Flynn, and my top choice still unsold-I was thrilled when it turned out to be by Hurvin Anderson, who is up for the Turner this year. I came, saw and purchased all within 20 minutes, but could not collect till the following week, which was a pain.

Unfortunately an unexpected family reunion conspired to prevent me from returning, so I contacted the RCA to see if I could collect on any other day. They said I couldn’t, but kindly offered to post them to me. Carefully giving them my delivery address, I settled back to wait. And wait, and wait. Repeated enquiries were met with generic responses advising of unspecified delays and vague promises of delivery “in the next few weeks”. In the meantime, Frieze week came and went, and the artist’s records went ballistic, and agonisingly, still no clue as to what had become of the cards, despite increasingly desperate messages to the RCA. Finally, 5 weeks after the event, the RCA wrote to inform me that the cards had been sent – 3 weeks previously – and to an old address!

I went straight over to find the house now occupied by 6 tenants, none of whom could even remember the delivery, let alone admit to signing for it. Repeated appeals over the next week produced nothing. The RCA apologised, but could only provide the posting details. When I contacted the Post Office they said that their contractual responsibilities ended with delivery to the address, not the addressee. By now I’d given up all hope of seeing the cards – it was soul destroying to think that they had been stolen, or even worse, tossed into the bin.

Then amazingly the PO finally dug up a “POD enquiry” which provided a copy of the signature of the recipient. Within an hour of my presenting this to the tenants, one of them rang to say he’d remembered where he’d stuffed the cards-on top of the microwave!

A late night dash to retrieve the cards, safe and uncooked, thank God- brought the thrills of this particular chase to a happy conclusion. However I do not think it is satisfactory that it should take so much stress and a miracle to unite me with my purchases made 6 weeks previously. Given that these are works created by talented and generous alumni and cherished by their purchasers, I feel that useful lessons can be drawn regarding RCA admin and the limited liabilities of Royal Mail, as well as more positive ones – that you don’t have to be in the queue to acquire some really excellent art. Here’s to an even more exciting ( but in a good way) RCA Secret 2018!

pezlow said...

Gosh what a stressful story. So glad it had a happy ending.

bunnymazhari said...

On a happier note for 2018 it's back to three blank cards so back to normal!