Society of Graphic Fine Art Open 23

The annual open exhibition of the Society of Graphic Fine Art is a true celebration of drawing in all its forms and is held in the Mall Galleries in London. This year the exhibition ran from 13 to 18 March.

This is the fourth year I’ve entered drawings into the exhibition and the first year I’ve entered as an associate member of the society. I had three pictures selected.

Living in Dorset, it’s quite an investment of time and money to exhibit in London. It’s involved three trips, one to take the pictures up, one to visit the exhibition while it’s open, and one to collect the pictures after it’s closed. I’ve learned to think carefully about which exhibitions to enter but the SGFA open exhibition feels like home, it’s all about drawing and printing and pencil and charcoal; everything I love, in fact.

This year the exhibition was in two of the three Mall Galleries galleries: the North Gallery and the East Gallery. The East is a big space that was hung with larger works, while the North is a zigzag of smaller rooms that was perfect for smaller pictures. It can take a long time to draw even a small pictures so there smaller works are more common.

This year’s exhibition was extremely well hung. The walls weren’t crammed with work and similarly themed work was grouped together. It really showed off the pictures and was a real treat to look around.

It’s finished now (I had meant to write about it before it started but didn’t find the time) but the work is still available to see online.