The Viewing Room 2020

The Robert Walters UK New Artist of the Year Award took a hiatus in 2020 due to Covid-19, so UKNA took the opportunity to explore an alternative way to support artists during this time. The Viewing Room was UKNA’s first virtual gallery. The inaugural exhibition, titled Somewhere Between Reality and Obscurity presented new work by twelve of the UK’s most exciting emerging visual artists.

Alongside The Viewing Room, we took the opportunity to celebrate the finalists of the Robert Walters UK Young Artist of the Year Award 2019. Morgan Dowdall, Camilla Hanney, Will Harman, Malgorzata Lisiecka, Manon Ouimet, and Conor Rogers have all gone onto acclaim nationally and internationally, and we gave you a unique opportunity to see, purchase and enjoy their work again.

The exhibition was curated by Garth Gratrix. Gratrix is an artist, curator, and founding director of Abingdon Studios Ltd, Blackpool, with an international portfolio of solo, group, and collaborative exhibitions and interventions. He is one of five artists selected in 2020 for the inaugural PIVOT Award in partnership with The Bluecoat and Castlefield Gallery. Gratrix is the Associate Curator for UKNA overseeing a number of successful exhibitions including The Beginning, National Assembly, Seoul, South Korea (2018), GRAFT - a show of uk young artists, Harris Museum & Art Gallery (2019), and the Robert Walters UK Young Artist of the Year Award 2019 in partnership with Saatchi Gallery, London.

The Viewing Room gallery was designed and built by Ronan Somerville. Ronan is a multidisciplinary designer and Alumni of UKNA, currently studying Design at Goldsmiths, University of London. His work blends the digital and the analogue, with a strong focus on digital surrealism and interaction design. Recent projects of his have explored artificial intelligence, 3D animation, creative coding, audio-reactive installation, and more.

The Viewing Room exhibition has now closed.

New Artists, RW AwardUK New ArtistsNovember 24, 2020Past