Artwork I liked at the RBA Annual Exhibition 2025

I promised another post about the art I liked in the Annual Exhibition 2025 of the Royal Society of British Artists.

This is probably the most electic of all the art societies belonging to the Federation of British Artists BA Exhibitions – whose home is at the Mall Galleries. 

This is because their media spans drawings and paintings in every media, all manner of fine art hand pulled prints, and sculpture in various media.

As a result, if frequently gets large and imposing works which are absolutely impossible to ignore.

“Capital at Risk: Drawing the City of London (pen and ink, 1.5m x 2.5m) by Louis Pohl and “Effects of Lockdown” (cardboard, 170x45x45cm) by James Lake

Two such this year that I found absolutely unmissable in the East Gallery (above) were:

• Louis Pohl‘s very large and incredibly impressive pen and ink drawing of “Capital at Risk: Drawing the City of London (1.5m x 2.5m) 
• James Lake‘s Cardboard sculpture of “Effects of Lockdown” (170x45x45cm)

There is just so much to look at in Louis’s drawing – in terms of both realism and allegory and just sheer expertise in the use of pen and ink for drawing people! I was extremely surprised that it did not get a prize for the ambition and the story-telling. As in “truly gobsmacked“!

By way of contrast, James Lake’s sculpture won The Nathan David Award for Sculpture.

I also spotted a style I recognised straight away in the East Gallery – although I’ve not seen it in some time. It’s very memorable.

“The Sky” by Ana Schmidt  Acrylic 73x 65cm

“The Sky” by figurative artist Ana Schmidt reminded me a lot of the much larger painting she created which  won the £20000 Columbia Threadneedle Award 2018 for contemporary figurative and representational art. She is amazing at painting urban landscapes with huge sheets of water or puddles which reflect the sky.

In the North Gallery, there were two paintings which both immediately captured my attention.

Fishing Boat – Essaouira by Richard P Cook 45 x 60cm oil

The first was Richard P Cook RBA‘s oil painting of a fishing boat and a seagull. Which sounds very ordinary – but I found it very pleasing to my eye – because of the composition, the palette and the expertise in painting it. I discovered when I went to his website that he’s first painted it as a watercolour which was equally delightful.

I think I like his work because he paints in oils rather like he paints in watercolours. Which is a great way of getting a very identifiable look. However, it’s worth noting that Richard P Cook has been a member of the RBA for 40 years – and when I went to look at his website I knew his work right away.

The next was closer to home – Anna Rotheisen‘s “Ally Pally” was instantly recognisable – at least by me and I suspect by very many other North Londoners.

Anna Rotheisen with her paining”Ally Pally” and its buyer – a man who knows a good painting when he sees one!

Interestingly, I liked it so much I went back and made a note of her name and decided to go look for her – and ran into her straight away. She kindly agreed to have her photo taken with her painting – and we had just finished when an arm leaned in from the right and fastened a red spot to the caption on the wall for her painting. “You’ve sold!” I said. Anna’s mouth dropped while I moved in on the purchaser and asked if I could have a pic of him with the artist who had painted his new painting. It turned out that he had no idea where it was – he just really liked the architecture.

Also in the North Gallery are some excellent soapstone sculptures of birds by Carolyn Simpson RSMA. Soapstone is a dense but relatively soft stone that occurs in a wide range of subtle colour.

Three soapstone sculptures of birds by Carolyn Simpson

I also liked the etchings produced by Martin Langford RBA. Ride of your Life is one of them. Martin is an award winning artist printmaker creating artwork on social commentary, the environment, politics, human nature and the work ethic.

Ride of your Life by Martin Langford RBA

In the West Gallery, there were more great fine art prints. I liked the excellent drawing, cutting and colour palettes of the hand pulled lino reduction prints by Nathalie Pymm. Nathalie is a mixed media artist and printmaker working in my garden studio since she left nursing over ten years ago. She’s a member of The Visual Arts Group and the Printmakers Council

“Only way is up” and “Big Ben” by Nathalie Pymm hand pulled lino reduction prints

On the end “feature” wall of the West Gallery was a painting I instantly recognised as being ny Melissa Scott Miller – but was also one of the most colourful ones I’ve seen in some time. Like Ana Scher, the urban landscape is what she specialises in. You can spend ages letting your eyes wander around one one of Melissa’s paintings.

Painting together in an Autumn Back Garden by Melissa Scott Miller oil on canvas 92 x 72cm

The Catalogue must be readable

One thing I did notice is that the huge increase in artworks included in the exhibition has meant that the font size used for all the artworks listed in the catalogue is such that it makes it incredibly hard to read the catalogue.

Less artworks and the catalogue back to normal next year please!