{"id":759,"date":"2015-01-08T06:36:31","date_gmt":"2015-01-08T14:36:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/painting\/?p=759"},"modified":"2016-06-08T07:54:15","modified_gmt":"2016-06-08T15:54:15","slug":"1985-second-royal-college-application","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/painting\/?p=759","title":{"rendered":"1985: Second Royal College application"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I had been offered a place on\u00c2\u00a0The Royal College M.A. in painting like my hero Hockney in 1982 but Margaret Thatcher suspended grants for home students by half and I lost the place as my parents could not afford the \u00c2\u00a33K fees even then. So I didn’t go but I did try again in 1985 to no avail as I no longer had momentum and art college support (one of my Hornsey tutors and RC referee Trish Stainton a printmaker worked at the Royal College and helped me submit the first time).<\/p>\n

These images were key to that application and have never been seen by anybody as far as I know.\u00c2\u00a0I was very disappointed. I think I was also disappointed by Chelsea and The Slade but I do not remember it hurting as much. I just shoved them away in a folder and never looked at them since until now virtually.<\/p>\n

I felt then they were amongst my best and opened up a whole new range of possibilities. I was looking hard at contemporary post figuration and new abstraction in 1985 and had also fallen\u00c2\u00a0under the spell of Cy Twombly which evident in the handling of materials here.<\/p>\n

So water under a very old bridge now but you know I still think these fairly large works on paper ( 36″ x 48″) some of\u00c2\u00a0my most spontaneous and lively work..there you go….<\/p>\n

If I had got in I would only have become internationally famous and rich. I would have missed out on a decade of temporary work in banks, libraries and fencing…..one cannot have everything \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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