Own Art: RSA New Contemporaries 2014

Feature by Ilya Kuryakin | 10 Feb 2014

Each year, the Royal Scottish Academy's New Contemporaries exhibition offers a space for emerging artists to challenge preconceptions, break boundaries, and, perhaps most importantly, to amaze and astonish a new generation of art lovers with their work.

Curating the best of the recent Art School graduates and independent movers and shakers is no easy task, and as is to be expected, not every single artist involved makes the kind of work that a collector can take home and hang on their walls – as you'll discover if you read our feature on some of the highlights from this year's show on p25.

Nevertheless, each year, there is always a selection of artists in the show who produce the kind of pieces collectors can't resist – and each of them is available under the Own Art scheme. We asked RSA Director Colin Greenslade to pick four artists who are making irresistably collectible art for this year's New Contemporaries.

Charlotte Roseberry graduated from Edinburgh College of Art. "Her paintings are bold and although small in stature make very loud statements," says Greenslade. "Her signature style plays with geometry and Pop styling in cool ice-cream colours and chequerboard blacks and whites." In addition, "Charlottte has been chosen for inclusion in the prestigious Catlin Guide for 2014 – joining peers selected from across the UK in this national guide to new art." A name to watch, then – and perhaps one to add to your collection.

Gabriele Jogelaite is a graduate of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, and the University of Dundee. "Her prints, drawings and installation objects make a strong stance yet balance quiet understatement and delicate intricacy," says Greenslade. "Her ‘drawn’ lines are painstakingly stitched in thread, layering tone and suggesting structure but remaining honest to the fragility of the materials used. Hand-made papers and monochrome threads come together in elegant, seemingly effortless compositions." She has been showered with awards, too: "Gabriele was the winner of the RSA Barns-Graham Travel Award for 2013 and will also highlight new work in the major RSA Annual Exhibition following RSA New Contemporaries," Greenslade explains; so she gets "a double bite at showcasing on The Mound this springtime." 

Calum Sutherland is a graduate of Glasgow School of Art who makes "intriguing and instantly pleasing paintings," according to Greenslade. "His still lives are built in up washes of flat colour, sometimes with a hand-drawn composition, and a series of representational objects [which] suggest depth and space. In tooth-paste pastels and subtle tones, his work is very accomplished." As with many of the featured artists in this year's exhibition, Greenslade says: "We expect that he will win many followers from this showcase at RSA New Contemporaries 2014. Collectors will definitely want to invest in the work and galleries will want to sign Calum up – we’re sure of it."

Last but not least, Laura McGlinchey, a graduate of Gray’s School of Art, and The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen. This one comes with a word of warning from Greenslade: "Laura McGlinchey’s paintings are not for the faint-hearted," he says. "Large, bold and aggressively three-dimensional they will grab gallery visitors and demand to be seen." The paintings are "built up in layers which are painted, peeled, splattered and revealed; these works strike out from the wall in thick floating slabs of excellence." Greenslade describes McGlinchey;s work as "attention-grabbing and thought-provoking in equal measure," and believes that these "statement works" are "suitable additions to even the most discerning of private and business collectors." When buying art, whether for investment purposes or pure aesthetic pleasure, one could do worse than to follow Greenslade's final words of advice: "Fortune does indeed favour the brave!"

RSA New Contemporaries runs from 15 Feb-12 Mar at The Royal Scottish Academy, The Mound, Edinburgh http://royalscottishacademy.org/pages/exhibition_frame.asp?id=419