This theme invites a reflection on the beauty, mystery, and complexity of incomplete creations—whether that be an artwork, a piece of writing, a poem, music, or even an exploration of the unfinished in concept or form. We welcome both literal "unfinished works" and those that contemplate the idea of incompletion, ambiguity, and process.
"Unfinished Work" can take many forms. It could be: A painting that remains half-done, paused in its creative process. A poem that lingers on an incomplete thought, where the unresolved space holds meaning. An unfinished story or essay that questions its own conclusion, or perhaps never intended to find one. A musical piece with notes left un-played, inviting listeners into the silence of what could have been.
Works that reflect on the theme of "unfinished" or explore incompleteness as a concept, allowing space for interpretation and open-endedness.
Artist: Barbara Hulme
https://barbarahulmefineartist.com/
Jane Greenham, Women's Health Series 2024
Description: Portrait in process of Jane Greenham and her dog, it is a watercolour and the flesh areas of the body have been completed as has the dogs head and the base coat of the dogs fur. Jane is wearing glasses and has one hand over her head and short hair , in the background is a chair sketched. out. The painting is 22.9 x 30.5 cm
Artist: TODDY HOARE
Standing Nude Variation. Description: Working on a life model with Giacometti in mind I stopped to think it over and have kept a cast interim before I take the unfinished figure further. It may never finish.
Artist: Lewis Dimmick
Website: https://ldfineart.com
“I didn't bother naming this painting”. This 20x16" portrait in oils and cold wax of my wife and dog started strongly with, I think, lovely abstraction of the sofa, wall and outfit plus for the first time I incorporated cold wax into a portrait to give the red + gold flake Oodie it's own voice. I spiraled out in frustration at the face and hands, scrubbing out a couple of times to repaint before losing my vigor for it. Portraiture is hard and I hope to be more confident with it in future, for now I accept and enjoy my philosophy of "fail as many times as I can" because that's what I learn the most from.
Artist: Cat Thorne
Instagram: @Cat_thorne_art
“Girls on mobilez”. Description - I was looking at rococo period, wanting to be playful. Using colour and as with that period a sense of frivolity. I started painting the scene and placing the girls in a romantic idyll, bringing in the contemporary of today’s obsession with social media , the faces are left unfinished because it’s a universal experience for all younger women today.
Artist: Lydia Ridley
@lydiaridleyart on all platforms (Instagram, TikTok, Twitter/X)
https://lydiaridleyart.weebly.com/
“Masculus Abdominis” Description: This oil painting contemplates the idea of 'The Unfinished Work' by existing in a perpetual state of incompletion in the technical sphere, whilst simultaneously being complete in the eyes of the artist. In leaving it at this stage, I find it carries more emotion than what it would be if entirely painted. We stare at the naked contorted male torso, bare in the light and yet seemingly trying to shield itself through the concealment of shadow, made entirely vulnerable by the emptiness of his surrounding body. This consequently inspires ideas surrounding our penetrating gaze as a viewer and the unrelenting eye of an audience - at times perverse and voyeuristic - leaving no escape for the subject of the unfinished work, who is now forever at our mercy.
Artist: Grazyna Cydzik
insta: @grazynacydzik. https://www.youtube.com @grazynacydzik
https://www.grazynacydzik.com
Description: This 'plate' is an artificial construct. I made it by sticking together with blu tack 35 pieces of ceramic and pottery fragments gathered from various locations along the Thames foreshore at low tide. (Originally I'd exposed them under UV light onto photo paper making them into photograms but this process obliterated the uniqueness of each piece). The sherds are from all kinds of plates and jugs in which meals were served and cooked on vessels along the Thames from the 12th to the early 20th centuries. The fragments and their stories come unfixed. Some are misshapen, chipped, jagged, some are smooth, glazed, hand painted -others not. For me each piece has value not only because it is unique, but also because it hints at the identity of the whole of which it was once a part. A narrative can be attributed to each fragment, true or speculation. How to extend their life? One possibility: to take my object to the river, free the pieces by unsticking them, and allow the tide to take them away to be deposited elsewhere, to be taken by someone else as they lie exposed once again on the foreshore at low tide.
Artist: Victoria Plaunova
“Pliny Jr.” Description: This digital mosaic piece embodies the concept of the unfinished, both in its process and outcome. Working in a detailed medium like digital mosaic can be time-consuming, so I often start manually before refining the work digitally. In this case, the client asked for a preview of characters in the style of Roman mosaics, even if they were only partially done. The figure in this piece is half-completed, serving as an example of my style and capabilities. Although I didn’t end up creating characters, this unfinished work allowed me be become a part of a larger project, demonstrating my skills and potential for future collaborations. The unfinished aspect wasn’t a flaw but a way to quickly showcase my approach, style, and efficiency for large-scale projects. It captures the creative process in progress, where incompletion leaves space for imagination and the possibility of what could be. The work honors the beauty of an unfinished creation, highlighting the tension between process and finality.
Artist: TT Bagshaw
“Pale Blue”. Description: An acrylic painting on canvas board. I leave this as it is because it stubbornly refuses to be finished in any other way. The lower quarter of this painting has been many things. Of these, I remember when it was green hills, a field of red flowers, a wheat field, a grey morning and yellow sand. The paint is thicker here and more textured. I am not satisfied, but it is resolved—ending as a reflection of the sky.
Artist: Julianne Davis
“Expression-less”. Description: My collages to date have successfully depicted flora and fauna. However I had frequently wondered how well the technique could be applied to portraiture. In this, my first portrait piece, I was inspired by a favourite artist, well-known for both the poker-faced expressions of his sitters and his simple backgrounds to the artworks - Modigliani; a perfect combination, so I thought, to begin this leg of my artistic journey. Interpreting the background and clothing of “Marie Daughter of the People 1918“ in collage came quickly and naturally; her hairstyle challenged me and needs a far finer approach but I have that in my grasp; but her beautiful, inscrutable features… oh the features! No matter how I tried, human expression is where I stalled. But why? And what to do next? Can collage portraits have a future in my repertoire? Scaling the work significantly would enable me physically to tear papers to catch precisely the shapes I need to give life to a face; or perhaps by mixing my media and introducing ink or paint to capture facial details I could find a way forward; or do I just need to employ a larger magnifying glass produce tiny paper fragments? This unfinished piece has been sitting in my portfolio for the last four months and I have not known what to do with it.
Artist: Erkembode
Website: anotherseasoninhell.com
UPDATES FROM SAINSBURY'S CHIEF EXECUTIVE - Zone title page from the work-in-progress Another Season in Hell.
Description: One cannot say everything at once. –R.D. Laing Another Season in Hell is a work in progress—an unfinished book. When will it be finished? Four years on, the text keeps evolving. Can’t you finish it? It’s divided into Zones. Chapters? The world keeps turning on its crooked axis. Why mention this? It all started with a series of reworked email updates from Sainsbury’s Chief Executive, Mike Coupe. Why would anyone rework email updates from a supermarket CEO? It is a hypertext sequel to the extended poems A Year at Work (Erkembode, 2018) and A Season in Hell (Rimbaud, 1873.) How can it be a sequel to both? What makes it a hypertext sequel? I stayed up all night on Temu. So what? I stayed up all night for Depp v. Heard. Didn’t we all? There will be 81 epigraphs as a foreword to the main text. Why? Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick; or, The Whale has eighty epigraphs. Is that really a reason? I’m submitting three Zone title pages to a zine about unfinished work. Instead of finishing the book? Why am I still doing this? Why is he still doing this?
Artist: Gary Mcmullan
https://www.facebook.com/GaryMcMullanArt
Website: https://www.garymcmullanartist.com/
Healthcare 2021
Description
Healthcare 2021 (The world's most powerful doctor, google it) (oil on board 66cm x 71cm)
Artist: Liz Kori
https://www.lizkoriart.com/
I crave you. Description: This piece reflects the hunger and yearning for a loved one. In the absence of their presence, one can sometimes feel alone. And at desperate times; incomplete.
Artist: Lucas Rebelo
Instagram & YouTube : @luqalbuq
Linktr.ee/lucasrebelo
Não agora 2. Description: Frame of a film that I never complete. This film just exist in unreleased videos in my computer. The film was called Não agora (Portuguese for "Not now") that would follow a regular day of a person. Filmed in 2018, this film never saw the light of the day and probably never will...