Rejection And Resilience In Art

Artists, if you open your inbox and see a polite email starting with "We are sorry to inform you...", it's likely not the answer you were hoping for. It will sting. Your shoulders will drop and your day may be shrouded in a heavy cloak of failure. 

But take a deep breath. Every artist has been there. And the ones that you do see at art exhibitions? They’re just the ones who didn’t give up.

The Rejection

I wanted to tell you about my latest rejection. Yes, I’ve had plenty over the years, but I wanted to share this one in particular because I really enjoyed creating this piece. Despite not making the final cut, it still has immense value to me, to my practice, and hopefully, by sharing it, to yours.

The Exhibition

The show was the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, and the theme announced by coordinator Ryan Gander was "Interconnectedness."

The Concept

As someone who works as both a digital artist and a traditional painter, my relationship with screens varies. With generative AI rapidly shifting the landscape of commercial illustration and graphic design, I’ve found myself craving something messy, tactile, and undeniably human. There is no Ctrl+Z on an easel.

To explore the theme of interconnectedness on all levels, I started with myself: how could I represent the connection between my digital work and my painting practice? That’s when I decided to physically paint on a decommissioned, broken iPad as a canvas. Later that day I went on eBay and bought a first generation iPad.

The concept was quite simple. The internal digital backlight of the device was dead, so I was going to manually re-light it by hand, with paint.

The First Hurdle

I realised very quickly that acrylic paint doesn’t stick to smooth glass; my first attempt peeled right off. I tried sandpaper. I tried gesso. I even tried to varnish a small test patch to see whether that would seal and stick it. None of it worked.

My next idea was to hand-cut a patch of canvas from an old, unsuccessful painting I had lying around the studio. I glued this straight to the screen. Success.

Finding the Light

I love painting 'into the sun', which was handy because that’s exactly what I needed to do to achieve the luminosity required to make it look like I had re-lit the iPad.

It was tricky, though, and I'm still not convinced I did the best job at this part. On a digital display, light is blasted at your eyes via pixels. In painting, you have to create the illusion of light using dark, desaturated shadows and pure value contrast.

The Apple Pencil

As a final nod to the tech, I attached a physical paintbrush to the side of the iPad casing using a magnet—a low-tech alternative to the Apple Pencil.

The Reference

Because we are all connected by the same sun, I used a photo that I took many years ago at Grafham Water, UK, where my daughter was paddleboarding with the Girl Guides. This reference was perfect because the foreground was incredibly dark, and the Girl Guides themselves are a connected group globally.

The Name

I wanted the name to work on a few levels. Universal Settings works from a technological point of view, but also reflects the fact that the sun sets for everyone around the world.

Art is for sale at the Summer Exhibition, and artists set their own prices (with a percentage going to the RA and the rest to the artist). I set my price at £429—which was the exact retail price this original, first-generation iPad cost when Apple introduced it back in 2010. My proposition was simple: Could I restore this iPad to its original worth in a completely different way? Turns out the answer was no.

Why Rejection Doesn't Equal Failure

The judges didn't accept my entry, and that’s okay. They get to choose; it’s their job. The RA reviews roughly 18,000 digital submissions. Art is subjective, curation is a puzzle, and sometimes your piece just isn't the right shape for their specific wall space, or simply not good enough for what they need. I happily accept either.

To My Fellow Rejected Artists

If you are coping with a creative rejection right now, remember this: your worth as an artist is not dictated by a rejection email. The fact that you made something from nothing, put your soul into it, and had the bravery to hit submit means you are actively engaged in the cultural conversation. You are a creative thinker. You are a maker. Keep taking up space.

Universal Settings might not be sitting on a plinth in Burlington House, in fact, right now it’s shoved in my in-tray, and I had to remember where it was just to write this post.

But it remains a physical reminder that when the systems around us feel broken or automated, we have the power to be our own light source.

Now, go pick up your brush, get back to the easel, and make a start on your next piece. The world needs art more than ever.