NEWS

December 2008
Public to Vote on London's Largest Street Exhibition by Students from the Royal Academy Schools
London's largest urban gallery to be unveiled in spring 2009

The Royal Academy Schools and the international real estate firm, Hines, announced today the launch of an online ompetition inviting members of the public to vote for their favourite work of art from a raft of talented Royal Academy Schools’ students.

The competition can be found on a dedicated website www.onespiritshowcase.com.

The artwork will be exhibited on London’s biggest urban gallery, which takes the form of a super-sized canvas stretched across the southern façade of Hines’ One Grafton Street – a corner building currently under construction in Central London. The winning artist will have his or her work displayed on a 14m x 24m canvas positioned on the building and visible all the way from Piccadilly.

This street exhibition is the first One Spirit Showcase project – a series of collaborations between Hines and cultural organisations. This collaboration continues Hines’ long-standing commitment to the arts and provides an unusual platform for the Royal Academy Schools’ students to profile their work in Central London.

Visitors to the One Spirit Showcase website can vote for their preferred image. Once the public casts their vote, a panel of highly regarded contemporary art critics including Maurice Cockrill, RA; Michael Petry, Curator, Royal Academy Schools Gallery; Gerald Hines; Kay Saatchi; JJ Charlesworth; John Hoyland, RA; Mark Davy, Futurecity; and Eliza Bonham-Carter, Curator, RA Schools; will endorse the decision.

The works of art range from figurative to abstract in a wide range of media including paintings, photography, ceramics, prints and computer-generated pieces.

Peter Holden, director, Hines UK, commented, “Hines has a legacy of working with both established and up-and-coming artists and architects all over the world. This exciting project enables us to support the exceptional talent of the Royal Academy Schools’ students, and use our development at One Grafton Street to showcase this work. It is the first in a series of projects in our UK portfolio that we look forward to developing under the One Spirit Showcase banner.”

Professor Maurice Cockrill RA, The Keeper of the Royal cademy of Arts, commented, “My students and I are grateful to Hines for taking such a creative initiative, and offering this chance to collaborate on this huge public project that will display their work in a quite spectacular way, fronting a wrap on One Grafton Street, a corner site in a prestigious area of Mayfair, Central London. These are remarkable students with the highest standards of creative energy and diversity, whose imagery will enhance and enliven this location and become an exciting landmark at this busy junction.”

Royal Academy Schools’ students submitted artwork to be part of the Urban Gallery – coordinated by Michael Petry, curator, Royal Academy Schools Gallery and managed by cultural consultants Futurecity and brand developers Sectorlight.