RCA Secret 2010 Receives Record Number of Postcards

Each year, the RCA asks professional artists, designers and its fine art students to make a piece of art on a postcard.&nbsp_place_holder; This year’s event includes work by 1,077 international artists and designers. Amongst the contributions are works by Grayson Perry, Sir Peter Blake, Tracey Emin, Olafur Eliasson, Jake Chapman, Yoko Ono, Sir Anthony Caro, John Baldessari and Yinka Shonibare, as well as designers Ron Arad, Sir Terence Conran, Sir James Dyson, Ross Lovegrove, photographer David Bailey, filmmaker Mike Leigh and animator Nick Park plus fashion designers Sir Paul Smith, Manolo Blahnik and Stella McCartney.

What’s the Secret? The cards are all exhibited anonymously for a week at the RCA and on-line here.&nbsp_place_holder; They are then sold to the public with each postcard costing just £45, regardless of whether it has been made by a famous name or a young art student. Each postcard is signed on the back, so collectors only discover the identity of the artist when they have made their purchase. Proceeds raised from the sale goes to the RCA Fine Art Student Award Fund which helps emerging art students at a formative stage in their careers. Since 1994 the event has raised over £1 million.

All postcards go up for sale for one day only on Saturday 20 November at the RCA Postcards can only be bought on a first come, first served basis, with no sealed bids or reservations in advance. A maximum of four cards can be bought per person. There will also be a raffle for collectors to win a position in the first fifty places in the queue - tickets can be purchased at the exhibition.

RCA Secret curator Wilhelmina Bunn said of this year’s record contributions:
“We are enormously grateful to all of the artists who have donated postcards this year, making it the biggest event we have ever staged. As future funding for art education is likely to be reduced, it’s encouraging that established artists and designers are willing to help support a new generation of students.”

Exhibition open: 12 & 14-19 November, 11am-6pm daily (18 November until 9pm). Closed 13 November.
Sale day: Saturday 20 November, 8am-6pm.
Free admission.
Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU