World’s Leading Artists & Designers Support RCA Secret 2008
Leading artists and designers from around the world including Yoko Ono, Anish Kapoor and Tracey Emin have contributed to this year’s RCA Secret postcard exhibition and fundraising sale taking place at the Royal College of Art in London from 14 – 22 November.
RCA Secret is one of the UK’s most distinctive art events and was the brainchild of an RCA student in 1994 to help raise funds for the fine art students. The idea was simple – ask famous artists and young art students to submit an original piece of art with just two rules – the art work must be completed on a postcard and it must be signed on the reverse, keeping the artists’ identity a secret. All cards are sold in a one-day sale to the public with each card costing just £40 each.
Fifteen years later, RCA Secret has grown in popularity and now has over 1,000 artists donating to the event each year. _place_holder; Amongst the artists and designers who have contributed 2,700 postcards to this year’s event include Tracey Emin, Yoko Ono, Anish Kapoor, Paula Rego, David Bailey, Grayson Perry, Olafur Eliasson, Douglas Gordon, former Clash member Paul Simonon, Wallace & Gromit creator Nick Park, musicians Holly Johnson and John Squire, shoe designer Manolo Blahnik, inventor James Dyson and the fashion designers Paul Smith and Sonia Rykiel.
Professor Glynn Williams, Head of Fine Art at the RCA said:
“We are incredibly pleased with this year’s postcards donated by some of the world’s leading artists and designers. RCA Secret is about securing the future of the next generation of artists and when the public buy postcards at the event they are helping to make this possible. It's one of the most democratic art sales in the world - everyone has an equal chance of getting a big name.”
The format stays the same with the postcards exhibited in the RCA galleries and on-line from 14 to 21 November. Then for one day only on 22 November, all the postcards will go on sale for the incredibly low price of just £40 each. Postcards can only be bought on a first come, first served basis, with no sealed bids or reservations in advance. There will also be a raffle for buyers to win a position in the first fifty places of the sale-day queue.
Since 1994, thousands of art lovers have had the opportunity to buy original works of art at an affordable price whilst helping to support young artists.
As in previous years all moneys raised go to the Royal College of Art Fine Art Student Award Fund. To date, sales of postcards have raised over £1 million for the Fund, helping hundreds of emerging artists at a formative stage in their careers.
As well as being a fundraiser for the Fine Art students at the College, RCA Secret has a loyal following of supporters who have been visiting the show since it began. It is not only one of the most popular events at the RCA, but has now become an established date in the British art calendar.  _place_holder;
RCA Secret 2008
Location: Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU
Press preview and photo-call: 13 November, 10am – 12 noon
Viewing Days: _place_holder; 14 - 21 November, 11am - 6pm daily (20 November until 8pm).
Sale Day: 22 November from 8am to 6pm.
Free Admission.
Public information: 020 7590 4186 or www.rca.ac.uk/secret
Tube: South Kensington/High Street Kensington
Buses: 9,10, 52, 360, 452