Submissions will not be judged or rejected
Painter Rod Kitson wants artists of all stripes to enter their work into an annual end-of-year show at his Art of Isolation gallery so is inviting creative people to connect next month at an anything-goes art exhibition, writes Michael Holland.
“Connect 24 is a chance for us all to come together at the end of the year,” said Rod. “Basically it’s an excuse to have a big Christmas party and show each other our art work at the same time.
“The opening night is the icing on the cake, when all 250 works are on the wall, the online catalogue is uploaded and all that’s left is to invite everyone in for a drink.”
He stresses that no experience is necessary to enter, people of all ages are welcome, and the submissions will not be judged or rejected.
“What’s been great about these shows in the past has been the eclectic nature of them,” says the man who loves eclectic. “Above all I want people to feel included. I remember what it was like being a beginner artist and feeling like I didn’t fit in. Well, newsflash, that doesn’t change with experience!
“But I want the artists, especially those just starting out, to feel part of something. A shared energy. That is the connect right there.”
“If people are feeling self-conscious about showing their work, whether it’s good enough, polished enough, they needn’t be,” he said. “There is so much art on the wall it becomes this wonderful sea of pictures that ebbs and flows with beginner artist next to established artist.”
It’s the fourth group exhibition of its kind in the Surrey Quays gallery, the eponymous Art of Isolation show, the first show to open anywhere after lockdown in 2020, featured a raft of artwork made in hiding during the pandemic.
“I remember the first one, that ludicrous lockdown law where you all had to walk in one direction around the room,” he adds. “I made arrows on the floor out of masking tape. We were only allowed six people in the gallery at a time. We had a socially-distanced party outside the front with a bouncer counting numbers entering.”
Class of 2020 following before the End of the Year show in 2021.
“There was a terrible moment when one of the artworks got smashed at an opening when a sozzled reveller spun around with a backpack at the last private view,” recalls Rod as the memory passes across his face. “It was awful. Everyone went silent and you could hear a pin drop. The artist was there and I didn’t know what to do. Thankfully she was very understanding.”
But while the opening nights are fun and eventful, there are stresses to wrangling a large gaggle of artists, a sub-sect not known for their organisational skills. I asked about the problems.
“It’s a funny old dance, the tension of weeks with no one entering,” He reflects, “of thinking there won’t be enough work to fill the walls, worrying it’s going to be a failure… up until three days before deadline, then 300 pieces come flying in in the final hours and then worrying that there won’t be enough space in the gallery to fit them! I’m a nervous wreck by the end of it.”
But all that stress has paid off because the Art of Isolation shows have got better and better each year.
For artists entering Connect 24 there is a loose brief but Rod adds: “At first I was asking people to come up with their own stories about connections in their entries, but I was overcomplicating it – just turning up and being part of it is the connection.”
Deadline for entries is December 6th. All mediums and disciplines are accepted into the exhibition, from drawing to painting, sculpture to textiles. It can be portrait drawings, life drawing, nature, landscapes, abstract, ceramics or even fashion garments.
Entries are £15 for small pieces, £25 for large works, and £8 for the online-only gallery.
Go to www.rodkitson.com to enter your work and for more info.
The Christmas party, sorry, ‘private view’, is on December 12.
Connect 24, The Art of Isolation, 47 Upper Floor, Surrey Quays Shopping Centre, Redriff Road, London, SE16 7LL.
Dates: December 12th – January 3rd.
Closed Dec 24-27 & Dec 30-Jan 1
Times will be:
12-7pm Tues to Sat; 11-5pm Sun
PV 5-8pm Dec 12
