Search for:
MENTOR PROGRAMME
- The NextWomen Mentoring Programme
THE NEXTWOMEN EVENTS
FEMALE HEROES
- Female Internet Heroes
JOIN US
join our mailing list
* indicates required

Email Address *

First Name *

Last Name *

Email Format

html

text

mobile
Close
The NextWomen

Promote your Page too

follow thenextwomen at http://twitter.com
THE NEXTWOMEN PARTNERS

RCA Secret: you missed Obama illustrated by Alex Katz

Barack Obama by Alex Katz

You should regret it, if you did not attend the RCA Secret this year in London. It’s the UK’s most democratic art event. The idea is simple: invite famous artists and young art students to submit an original piece of art on a postcard and sign it on the reverse, keeping the artists’ identity a secret until after the sale. The 2700 cards this year were also to be seen online, and during a couple of weeks, first time art lovers and collectors tried to decipher ‘who made what?’

This year’s exhibition brought together the work of many well known names including Paul Smith, Anish Kapoor, Quentin Blake, Manolo Blahnik, Tracey Emin, Paula Rego, Mimmo Paladino, Yoko Ono and Alex Katz.

All secret cards are and were sold in a one-day sale, with each card costing just £40 each. But in order to get a card, you must stand -or better freeze- outside in line, at least from 5 am in the morning till say 10 am when the line starts moving.

Young, old, rich, poor, all stand outside the RCA building with their list of numbers. A maximum of 4 cards can be bought by 1 person. Big TV displays tell you which numbers are sold before you come to the counter to tell which numbers you are thinking of. And upstairs after you have paid, the secret is uncovered for the buyer.

And guess what: After 5,5 hours of waiting in gruelling cold I found out that I bought a drawing by Alex Katz, my favorite American Painter, of Barack Obama. Democratic art is great.