> Artists, Exhibitions

Summer Show 2024: Prize Winners Announced

The RBSA is proud to present the 2024 Summer Show prize winners and highly commended artworks. Following in an RBSA tradition that dates back to 1814, the RBSA Summer Show is an open call exhibition that welcomes submissions from artists working in any media. However, unlike that first exhibition which was only open to artists from within a 30-mile radius of the city, today the RBSA receives entries from artists based all around the world.

The work was chosen by:

  • Ed Isaacs RBSA, past RBSA Honorary Curator
  • John Scott Martin PPRBSA, President of the Royal Society of Marine Artists, member of the Royal Society of British Artists, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
  • Joan Sharma RBSA, sculptor, member of the Shapeshifter Sculpture Group

The prizes were generously donated and selected by Clive Beardsmore, Friend of the RBSA

Following the opening of our Summer on Wednesday 12 June, we are pleased to announce the Prize Winners!

Please see the selected works below.

 

First Prize, £500:

Andrew Kinmont ARBSA, Rugged Mosaic, 2024, Mixed Media

 

Second Prize, £250:

Colin Kerrigan, Poised, 2021, Bronze

In a world dominated by the virtual and transient, Kerrigan continues to be fascinated by the power of sculpture to resonate to a deeper degree. He believes sculptural objects are able to conjure a metaphysical meaning within the context of space, both on a human and architectural scale. Sculpture can reach out to the viewer, often instilling a sense of connection on a physical, emotional and intellectual level. It is this special dynamic that consumes his practice.

Recurring themes within Kerrigan’s work explore ideas related to time, inside-outside, points of transition and boundaries. He is inspired by the unfolding narratives and endless permutations and interactions between form and space in both urban and natural landscapes.

Although Kerrigan has considerable experience of working in welded and fabricated steel, more recently he has expanded his range of materials by incorporating various casting processes and 3D printing techniques.

 

Highly Commended:

Charlotte Abraham, Lines, 2023, Fine Liner Pen

Through her artwork, Charlotte explores and reveals new methods of sensation and perception of the human body. Through a relationship with colour and bold strokes, the aim is to transform flowing lines and delicate curves, into powerful blocks and piercing eyes. Contrastingly, Charlotte also uses the exploration of shape and line through pen drawings to offer a stark variation against the abstract features of the human body. These drawings follow a meditative state of mountains and valleys, following the natural flow of the hand when drawing a single line across the page. For Charlotte, drawings also offer a perspective and understanding of the power of the mind, and the art of the human body.

 

Laura Adkins, Pagan Exploration, 2023, Ceramic

 

Saranjit Birdi ARBSA, For Our Children, 2024, Acrylic

Saranjit Birdi ARBSA, Unlike Bullets, 2024, Video (see Instagram @saranjitbirdi)

 

Sunnu Rebecca Choi, Home 4, 2024, Etching, Aquatint & Chine Collé

Sunnu Rebecca Choi’s work is often inspired by her lived experience as a 1.5-generation immigrant. Since relocating from South Korea to Canada at the age of 14, she has navigated life across three continents, four countries, and eight cities. Sunnu has always wrestled with the complexities of her ‘in-between identity,’ and her work examines themes of belonging and the meaning of “home.” Sunnu captures moments of transition and significance in the tapestry of a person’s life. Her goal is to create art that prompts others to engage with and reflect on their own feelings and perceptions. There is a catharsis in her work that hopes to inspire feelings of hope and optimism, despite an aesthetic style that often sits in contrast.

 

Cynthia Pearson RBSA, Hidden Depths, 2024, Textile

A lifelong passion for traditional textile techniques has enabled Cynthia to develop visual themes, embellishing fabric surfaces to express the richness of her source. Living near to the River Severn, the ever changing surface of the flowing water – the ripples, rhythms, and reflections are a perpetual inspiration. For Hidden Depths, Kantha quilting has been developed to express the sculptural qualities, and fluidity of the river. The surfaces of the fabrics used, are manipulated to reflect the light, and echo the dynamic patterns revealed. Kantha is a South Asian quilting technique. In the past Kanthas were made from layers of fabric, often old and worn saris. Threads were pulled from the borders to re-use, stitching the layers together.

 

David Walton RBSA, Twenty-Four, 2023, Oil, acrylic, carborundum and gypsum on panel

There is something heraldic, if not confrontational, about Walton’s dynamic abstracts. The complex interplay of shapes, and scale, and texture produce a synergy that is never quite stable. The carefully considered aesthetic forms jostle spatially within a rectangle that seems barely capable of containment. Twenty-four is one of a series of large new abstracts exploring mixed materials.

 

Charles Weston RBSA, The Fall of Icarus 2, 2024, Hopton Wood Limestone on Kilkenny Plinth

While driving in the the Yorkshire Moors National Park, Charles spotted a magnificent pheasant on the road, yet another casualty of a collision with a vehicle. While photographing it, he recalled Bruegel’s painting Landscape with the Fall of Icarus and lines from WH Auden,
“In Breughel’s Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away
Quite leisurely from disaster, the ploughman may
Have heard the splash…..”
Although a boy, having flown too close to the sun, may fall into the sea and drown, the ploughman carries on indifferently

 

You can visit the Summer Show till Saturday 20 July.

Join some of the exhibiting artists for a guided tour of the exhibition from 2pm on Saturday 22 June.

An exhibition catalogue featuring all the works in the exhibition is now available both in-store and online.