REJECTS 2026: A Celebration of Artworks Overlooked by the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
Now in its fourth year and previously featured in The BBC, The Guardian, and The Art Newspaper, REJECTS is back in June 2026 with a brand-new line-up of artists and artworks that didn’t make it into the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Each year around 18,000 artists apply to the RA, but only about 1,500 make the cut, leaving a whole lot of talent that might otherwise go unseen.
Housed in a quaint 19th-century bakery on Notting Hill's iconic Portobello Road, this year’s exhibition provides a defiant spotlight for these brilliant, overlooked works. Spanning painting, sculpture, photography, textiles, and mixed media, the show features a fresh mix of emerging and established artists reclaiming their space on the summer art calendar.
Whether you're an art collector or just art-curious, Art Friend welcomes everyone to the gallery. So you can decide for yourselves: did the judges make the right decision? Come be the critic and see which artworks make your cut. And if you really love a REJECT, you can buy it and take it home with you, as all the artwork on display is for sale.
Please register for free complimentary tickets here
Join us for the private views on Thursday 18th June and Friday 19th June, 5 – 9pm.
Open 18 – 28th June at The Bakery Art Gallery 82D Portobello Rd, London W11 2QD.
11am-6pm everyday, and 10am-6pm on the Saturdays.
