Fionn Wilson

At the beginning of my painting journey, it seemed to me that to get accepted into open exhibitions was a real measure of success. I entered quite a few calls for entries and, in 2016-2017, I was in exhibitions at the Royal Society of British Artists (Mall Galleries), the National Open Art competition, the Royal Scottish Academy and the ING Discerning Eye (Mall Galleries).

After a few years, my whole attitude towards these exhibitions changed. Firstly, I started to really resent the fees to submit which have steadily increased to extortionate levels. Secondly (and this is only my opinion), the work selected for the exhibitions (particularly at the Mall Galleries) seems to me to be an amalgamation of very safe work, which as a whole looks unexciting. The selection process is obviously geared towards choosing paintings that are likely to sell (as the galleries get a percentage commission) and this doesn’t necessarily equate with interesting choices or artistic merit. I vowed not to enter an open exhibition there since 2017 and I’ve kept this promise to myself. I dread to think what the entry fees are now.

Through the years I’ve found much better open calls for exhibitions where you don’t have to pay a penny to enter and the work is much more exciting as a result. One example is the BEEP painting biennial in Swansea. The link for this year’s entry is at the end of this post. I think it’s a really good idea to support these shows. They’re not run for profit, they’re run for much better reasons.

The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition is seen as one of the yearly highlights of the London arts’ calendar. In 2016, I got through the first and second round of the selection procedure with The Road (2016) and then didn’t make it through to the final hang. The RA has since abolished this stage as they rightly decided that it was unfair.

(Happily, the painting found a home with writer David Astbury, who had at that time been reading Kerouac’s On The Road.)

It is now £35 to enter a piece of work to the Summer Exhibition (you can enter a total of two). How this is affordable to most people is beyond me. I find it quite outrageous (as well as the prices the Royal Academy charges for entry to exhibitions, generally). I understand it is a charity but there must be other ways for it to be funded than to rely on asking the public to overpay.

This year, I’ve managed to grit my teeth and handed over my £35 to enter one painting to the Summer Exhibition. I’ve vacillated between boycotting the whole thing on principle and feeling like I want to get on the walls just the once to make up for the disappointment of The Road. Am I being a sucker? Most probably.

http://www.beeppaintingbiennial.com/apply

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