L.O.V.E. Art 2021 is an art exhibition open to all artists working in any medium – exhibiting the very best cutting edge and avant-garde creators and artists in and around Leicester annually.
L.O.V.E. Art was created to provide an opportunity for the hundreds of art students that come into the city each year to exhibit and engage with the existing artist community in and around Leicester.
Leicester has a thriving and growing cultural community but for that to survive we need to be creating opportunities to retain the skilled practitioners that our art institutions bring to the city.
With hundreds of creative course students (De Montfort University, Leicester College, Wyggeston & Queen Elizabeth College and the University of Leicester etc.) the opportunity to be exhibited was created with L.O.V.E. Art was targeting those institutions to promote and engage that talent.
In 2020 there is an ‘Studio Open Exhibition’ element featuring the work of local professional artists resident at some of Leicester’s most vibrant artists studios; Two Queen’s, StudionAme, Modern Painters New Decorators, Churchgate Studios, Hub etc…
Previous exhibitions have seen Foundation Students exhibiting next to award winning Royal Society Artists, A level Students exhibiting next to MA Degree Students, and local professional and amateur artists from across the city exhibiting in the same spaces as renowned artists like Pablo Picasso, William Hogarth and Franz Marc.
Ran and curated voluntarily, works are submitted by the artists electronically, selected by an independent volunteer ‘Selection Panel’ of art sector peers and a previous L.O.V.E. Art prize winner, to keep the selections contemporary and reflective of the city offer.
Over the years L.O.V.E. Art has awarded over £6,500 in prizes, all generously donated by our various sponsors, which have included the Arts Council England, De Montfort University, the Handmade Festival, DMU Local, the Riverside Festival, A&G Bespoke Picture Framers, Manhattan 34, John E Wrights, Curve Theatre etc.
Founded and Curated since 2014 by Phil Hackett & for 2020 with Adam Khalifa Co-curated 2015 – 2019 with Jonjo Elliott Co-curated 2018 with Rebecca Harvey Hobbs
It was a pleasurable experience to see student’s work from familiar academic institutions, and studio spaces. Gaining an insight into how work can be curated, and space within a gallery can be used appropriately. Talking with staff member Chris, I was able to converse about the art scene in Leicester and was educated on what else was on display during Leicester art week.
Although I missed the opportunity to submit my own work, it was still a valuable experience to see my peer’s displayed and collated with other fine art students and professionals.
