The Annual Exhibition 2023 of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters continues at the Mall Galleries until 16th December - and this is my review of it.This review is going to focus on:The overall "look" and content of the...
The Annual Exhibition 2023 of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters continues at the Mall Galleries until 16th December - and this is my review of it.
This review is going to focus on:
The overall "look" and content of the exhibition - what I noticed about what had changedPaintings which jumped out at me - in a good way!Observations on framing and pricing |
| East Gallery + Private View |
I've loaded my photographs into three albums on my Making A Mark Facebook Page:
ROI Annual Exhibition 2023 - West Gallery (57 items)ROI Annual Exhibition 2023 - East Gallery (21 items)ROI Annual Exhibition 2023 - North Gallery (16 items)Unfortunately, Facebook appears to be suffering from malfunctions this week, as I'm unable to annotate all the images in the West Gallery album (as yet).
I've tried to include all the various prizewinners - which you can read more about in this Mall Galleries post about Royal Institute of Oil Painters 2023 | Award Winners
Look and Content
I've looked back at past ROI Exhibitions before making the comments below. As always it was well hung.
Size of paintings
To me, it seems as if the exhibition lacks the number of large feature paintings - which draw attention and anchor a wall - as it normally has.
I think the current economic context may have influenced artists to submit smaller work in the hope that it sells.
In doing so, they would be following the very well trodden path that I saw in very many exhibitions post between 2008 and 2010 during the banking crisis.
Once you know that larger more expensive paintings are simply not selling, there's a considerable incentive to reduce your expenses in terms of shipping and framing and submit the size of works which might suit buyers pocketbooks better.
EXCEPT this then means the exhibition loses impact.
If I may be so bold as to suggest, I'd like to see all member artists sending in at least one large painting and then the rest can be any size they like. Large paintings are there to capture attention and make the viewer appreciate the expertise involved. They also help create a positive impresssion with visitors - so long as the paintings are good.
If I may be so bold as to suggest, I'd like to see all member artists sending in at least one large painting and then the rest can be any size they like. Large paintings are there to capture attention and make the viewer appreciate the expertise involved. They also help create a positive impresssion with visitors - so long as the paintings are good.
Colour
The paintings also lack colour to some extent. There's a lot of dark / grey / muted / neutral paintings. Looked at one their own - by one artist - this is not an issue. Looked at in a large exhibition, it begins to be noticeable. However I did feel the North Gallery was rather muted this year.
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| ROI Annual Exhibition 2023 - North Gallery |
Take as another example the end wall in the West Gallery - devoted to the theme of Urban Life.
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| Quite a subdued neutral wall - only the vegetation stands out! |
I came away on the Friday feeling a little wintery and underwhelmed. Which is not to say that there's not a lot of excellent paintings in this exhibition.
The Paintings which jumped out at me
Given the above comments I've decided to focus on some of the paintings which jumped out at me - in a nice way!
I typically walk around an exhibition about three times.
I typically walk around an exhibition about three times.
first time round, I'm just looking at the art and not at the labels (who painted it etc.) or whether it's won a prize - just looking to get a general impression and see what jumps out at mesecond time round, I'm looking to see if the things which appealed the first time still appeal - and this time I look at the labels and pay particular attention to who painted themthird time I'm collecting data on who has sold - and for how much!
READ MORE......>> So here's my top 10 - in no particular order
That said, I thought this was by far the best painting in the show. I'm not normally a fan of hyperrealistic artwork but there's such a lot to admire in this one. I was really surprised to see that it had not won a prize - particularly given the emerging status of the artist.