Picture gallery: All 92 artists in Camden art exhibition gather for show’s last day

Indian Bride by Raj Tuttal (Image: Archant)

A rich tapestry of bright daubs of paint, abstract shapes and melancholy faces turned Swiss Cottage into a haven of colour this month as amateur artists displayed work alongside professionals.

All 92 artists who featured in the Open Open Exhibition at the Swiss Cottage Gallery gathered on the show’s last day to admire each other’s work and to collect their paintings as one-by-one they were taken down from the walls.

The exhibition invited anyone – amateurs, professionals, aspiring artists and old hands of any age – to bring along their artwork to the gallery at any time between July 17 and August 3 to have it professionally hung in the gallery space free of charge.

Amateur artist Raj Tuttal, 38, who only started drawing again nine months ago after taking 11 years off from art when he was forced to stop work, had three hyper-realist graphite pencil portraits shown in the gallery.

Mr Tuttal, diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome last year, said: “I’m not very good at socialising so the exhibition gave me a chance to meet people from the art sector.

“I will definitely be coming back next year when I’ve hopefully turned professional, as it was the first place I’ve ever exhibited.”

The exhibition, in its third year, was initially created in response to requests from local artists to exhibit their work at Swiss Cottage Gallery.

However a council spokeswoman said the event has “taken on an identity of its own” after three years. She said: “We reached communities that don’t normally take part in cultural projects.

“The resulting exhibition was not only very high quality but has an added element of interest when viewers know none of the work was selected in advance.”