A handful of locally-based artists are taking part in major new exhibition taking place in Gdansk, Poland, in March thanks to Wivenhoe's Robert Priseman.

Made in Britain consists of 82 works by painters based all over the UK, which form part of the Priseman Seabrook Collection of 21st Century British Painting.

The collection includes works by the likes of Tracey Emin and David Hockney as well Susan Gunn, European Sovereign Painters Prize winner, and John Moores Prize winner, Nicholas Middleton.

It also includes works by such local artists as Emma Cameron, Ruth Philo, Amanda Ansell, Jeff Dennis, Ben Coode-Adams, Harvey Taylor, and Colchester Art Society president Simon Carter.

The collection was set up by Robert, an internationally acclaimed artist in his own right, who wanted to do something to promote the art of painting in a world dominated by modern art.

Robert says: “In 2014, I came to realise that many of this new wave of British painters had yet to be collected with the same geographical and chronological focus of their predecessors and foreign contemporaries. So, with the help of my wife, I began the process of bringing together a body of work by artists which followed the very simple criteria of being painting produced after the year 2000 within the British Isles.”

So far, the couple have acquired more than 120 paintings from over 100 artists, which has now become the very first collection of art dedicated to 21st century British painting in the UK.

Robert says: “The idea was to build up a collection of work that could then be offered up to galleries and museums all around the country. It’s basically a co-operative of artists to promote painting.

“What’s been great is having the well-known works beside lesser known artists because it has given them exposure in lots of new places where they might not necessarily have had it before.

“Britain is a major hub for painting and in Hackney we have the largest collection of painters in the whole of Europe. I think that’s something that should be shouted about.”

It’s been a labour of love for Robert who has already staged a number of exhibitions in China with the collection and hopes this latest show in Poland will lead to more across Europe.

He says: “The collection has enabled us to uncover a number of significant themes, one of which is when we look to the past, we notice how many of the greatest painters who practiced in the UK were born abroad, including Holbein, Freud and Auerbach who were born in Germany, Bacon who was from Ireland, Kitaj the USA and Rego who was born in Portugal. “Indeed, it is this international influence which has probably helped create such a vibrant tradition in the genre in Britain.

“In the 21st century we see this strand of internationalism continuing in British painting and being signified in the collection by Monica Metsers who was born in New Zealand, Claudia Böse, Silvie Jacobi and Marius von Brasch who were born in Germany, Jules Clarke who was born in New York, Julie Umerle in Connecticut, Ehryn Torrell in Canada and Alison Pilkington who is from Ireland.”

One of the local artists particularly excited about exhibiting his work in Poland is Ben Coode-Adams who has a number of connections with the country.

He says: "I have had a long distance relationship with Poland for many years through the Poles I know. I used to work alongside two Polish metalworkers who were hard-working, diligent and undaunted in the face of the most relentlessly tedious grinding task.

"They would share with me their mothers’ food parcels of pirogi sent on the night bus to Victoria Coach Station.

"My families' farm grows blackcurrants and I know many Polish growers and agronomists through the International Blackcurrant Association. The scientist who leads the UK blackcurrant breeding programme is Polish and a good friend.

"Poland has been a constant in my life, in retrospect like no other country. Through the Nineties I spent a good deal of time at Ognisko Polskie on Exhibition Road in London, due to it’s proximity to the Royal College of Art and I have ended up living in Coggeshall, which has an area called ‘the Polish Camp’ were exiled Poles lived through the Fifties.

"My view of Poland is romanticised through the lens of expatriates and exiles. To me it is the home of great beer, delicious home-cooking, lovely mothers, and perhaps most importantly for my art, endless pristine forests filled with magic and stories. So to be able to show my paintings in Poland seems like it might almost be a homecoming."

Harvey Taylor agrees.

"Having my little painting in a major gallery in Poland is unbelievable," he adds. "A painting that was based on a small patch of weeds growing next to a skate ramp in Brightlingsea, where I used to take my daughter to, will now be exhibited in Gdansk alongside a range of important contemporary British painters.

"Getting my work exhibited outside of the country is always very thrilling and this is an exciting show that I look forward to seeing in the flesh."

While Ruth Philo is also excited about the opportunity.

She says: "It opens up the possibility of dialogue between contemporary painters in the UK and Poland in a time where increasingly borders are being drawn.

"The universality of painting and the importance of its ability to communicate beyond and without words is a rich part of what it is to be human and something to celebrate across cultures and countries."

Made in Britain – 82 Painters of the 21st Century is at The National Museum, Gdansk, Poland, from March 14 to June 2.