The concept of inviting local, Sussex-wide artists to submit to an open exhibition on a theme, held once every two years, is new and exciting for practitioners. This is the first in the series, and it’s been a success in raising funds and the profile of the Hastings Contemporary, where the show is taking place. The competition pieces are hung in this prestigious space, in rooms that have hosted works by internationally renowned artists, dead and alive, including Sime, Soutine, Pasmore, Kossoff, and the patron Quentin Blake. It’s clearly what many artists want for their work: to be included in this company.
This process is not without controversy. Over 2,500 entries at £15 each, on a rough calculation, amount to almost £40,000 in submission fees. With only 151 artists selected, many disappointed submitters are left outside, having conversations about the show. Were too few selected; should it have been more like the Royal Academy show, with a more floor-to-ceiling hang? Some whose work was not included have been energised to band together to organise alternative exhibitions of works that were not chosen. As a member of that artist community myself, I am listening to many critical voices, and I understand and empathise with my peers.
Geraldine Swayne, To BorraBorra as Huppert as Earhart
Walking around the show, it was fantastic to see excellent work by personal friends included in the mix, and to see the spread across the space and the quantity of pieces. I was particularly pleased to see Geraldine Swayne’s beautiful enamel on aluminium ‘To BorraBorra as Huppert as Earhart’ featuring, and Leah Germann’s ‘The Sirens are Bored Now’, both artists based locally, whose work I hugely admire. Both works have expressive brushwork, a melancholic palette and challenge the stereotype of passive women in an original narrative with a male hero.
In the epic poem attributed to Homer, Odysseus spends ten years at sea facing challenges and trials, monsters, the Sirens, the Cyclops Polyphemus and my favourite, the witch Circe, who transforms Odysseus’s crew into swine. It’s full of outstanding encounters that have left a lasting visual impact on international culture. The tale of wonders has become a metaphor for journeying through a wild and complex world, one that requires wit and ingenuity to survive. It’s a wide-ranging theme choice that allows a varied selection of works that engage with it.
Despite the breadth of the theme, some works, at least initially, did not seem to fit the brief or to be shoe-horned in. Some excellent pieces sat uneasily alongside consideration of the theme, such as Tom Banks’s very fine pictures of Dungeness B, the power station where his father worked. I admire these paintings, but I was not the only one puzzled about how they fit the idea of the ‘Odyssey’. However, they looked fine and impressive above the stairwell, their sci-fi colours shining. As I looked around and read the accompanying information, it became clear that the local coastal region was the focus of the show, yet visitors seemed somewhat confused. I suppose everyone is weighing up what is included and why. Of course, this is often part of viewing a work in an art gallery, but in this context, that process seemed more heightened than usual.
Because of the location of the Hastings Contemporary alongside the working fishing community, or what remains of this vibrant small industry, the gallery work that reflects this was included. Some of my favourite pieces reflected this location. Possibly my favourite piece in the whole exhibition was the large-scale woodcut ‘Sea Woman’ by Alison Boult. The smaller woodcut ‘Where do we go from here?’ by Kevin Dean also moved me and showed me the power of the black-and-white art print to tell a story in a single picture.
Group of ceramics, The Open: Odyssey, Hastings Contemporary
In the oil paintings of figures on the beach, I was impressed by the line work and mood of Samantha Guertin’s ‘Red Sea’. And in the ceramics, I loved Vlad Cohen’s ‘Protector Spirit’, which was the piece in the whole show that reminded me most of what I love about the story of the Odyssey, with its powerful mythical spirits that still inhabit my dreams and waking imagination.
Overall, the show has an incredible and positive variety of work included. I found the wide-ranging media and the differences in scale of the pieces to be among the most interesting and successful elements of the show, particularly ceramics and large sculptures. One of the talking points was Tabatha Andrews’ ‘Isle’, a sculptural work created from ship’s biscuits made with seawater.
I think the Open Odyssey is a powerful beginning to this biennial series of shows and I hope its existence revitalises Sussex art. As part of the local artist community, I would like to see some of the concerns about how it has raised funds through submission fees be addressed. I hope and expect that the conversation between practitioners and the organisers continues and becomes itself an energiser for art in this rich artistic region. With the new director, Kathleen Soriano, are we looking at a new phase in which the gallery will bring the work of Sussex artists inside its walls?
I would very much recommend seeing the show to enjoy the wide variety of materials and processes represented.
photos ©Artlyst 2026
The Open: Odyssey, Hastings Contemporary, 28n March – 31 May 2026
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