Another satisfied Summer Exhibition customer - Enter Donna White!

I love helping people, it's thrilling to see people so happy at our prompt, efficient and glorious service!

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Dear Summer Exhibition

Last night, I was the last artist to drop off my painting at your summer show. I was told that I was too late and had to leave.

My husband checked his mobile at this point, and the time was 6.58 – as you know, your closing deadline was 7.00. We later checked the time with gmt, and his mobile was one minute out, still giving us one minute within the limit. We were only let in by mistake as members of your staff were opening the door to leave!

One man even shook his head reprovingly at us as my painting was grudgingly accepted, as if we were naughty children, and another told me curtly that I was wrong, that it was already after 7.00pm. Given that we had travelled for two hours through rush hour traffic to get to your gallery, I believe this was a rather harsh response. One expects bovine officiousness from small-minded bureaucrats, not at your portals.

The point is, one or two minutes either way is not going to spill the life blood of any mortal: I can’t believe the attitude that I encountered last night. The evident satisfaction with which they turned away an unfortunate man who arrived 2 minutes later, was very distressing to watch as he was practically in tears. For all I know, he may have come all the way from Bristol. You might tell me that you were understaffed, and they were tired and wanted to leave. That would be an admission that the Royal Academy was ill-prepared, and that bad manners are acceptable. You might tell me that they were scared that there would be running hordes of artists arriving late if they let us ‘get away with it’. We stayed outside for a quarter of an hour, and there was no-one else.

There is no greater prison than that created by your own mind, and for artists (presumably students) to seem so arrogantly small minded as to try to chase people away even before the cut-off point of 7.00 pm, there has to be a reason:

(1)Who were they afraid of, that they had such difficulty being compassionate in a case like this, where we had come from a substantial distance? (but before the cut-off time is a little over the top.) I’m surprised about this, because artists and students should have a healthy distrust of authority if they are creative.

(2)Were they simply bloody-minded arrogant people who when given a little power, abuse it? Artists with attitudes like this who get into the highest artistic ranks can do a fair amount of damage to people they don’t like. At this point, I could probably fall into the latter category. But as there is theoretically freedom of expression in this country, I have now finished expressing myself, and feel much better.

Just perhaps, there could be greater humanity manifested next year?

Thank you for your patience,

Donna White