Love it: H's RA Summer Exhibition Adventure

I love a good gallery visit and you may have noticed (if you are a long time reader) that I love going to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition every year.  Last year I was not that impressed as it was starting to feel a bit samey, but this year, thanks in part to an injection of colour from Michael Craig-Martin, they have upped their game!

Also, due to being able to take photos in the gallery spaces, I can share all the joy with you guys.  You have never been able to take photographs before and they are now asking you to share, so that's another plus from me!

If you have never been to the Summer show, it is an exhibition made up from artworks that come from well known artists right thru to people who submit the work they do on their kitchen table.  Every year there is an artist who takes on the overall curator role, keeping all the other artist rooms in check.  This is what makes it so special and so different.  So lets take a look at what I saw.

The gallery spaces at the RA flit between the small to the large and so there is always going to be a different hang in each room.  This year Michael Craig-Martin had painted some of the walls in these vibrant colours, which many would think compete with the artwork on display, but I love!  I think it makes the artwork look great and gives a totally different feel to the gallery spaces.

I love the way some of the artwork is hung, it is never uniform and always interesting, I do wonder how they get away with hanging some pieces quite so high, as I know we couldn't at the place I work.  A good example is the way in which the pictures are hung in the middle picture above.

These are some of my favourite artists, from Fiona Rae on the left who I have loved for a long time and a new love from Frank Bowling to this Rainfall stunner from Ermioni Avramidou which is Acrylic ink on paper.  It really looks like it is wet.  I could sit and look at these for hours.  I find it fascinating to see what people love and hate in galleries, it's all about individual taste after all.

 The architecture room is always one of my favourite's.  One of my favourite things to do when I was at uni is make models and so this may be why.  I loved this colourful model, only annoyed as I didn't manage to get who it was by.  This sculpture by Tim Shaw is huge and considering it is actually made from painted foam, polythene and steel - it looks very like a bronze sculpture close up.  I couldn't do a post about the RA show without showing the stairs!  Truly the best way to enter and leave the building!

I couldn't resist showing a few more of my favourites of the show and all by new artists - to me.  Which is another great reason I love going to the show every year, finding new artists I like.  I love how this piece by Gordon Cheung is hung with all the other smaller ones around it and the mysterious nature of the painting is great too.  This large moon quickly got my attention and Jock McFadyen has done a brilliant job of pulling you into the picture.  Lastly but by no means least was the X room which was dedicated to Tom Phillips, A Humument, this was one of my favourite pages.

Talking of Tom, here is a little more about the piece.  There was a whole book, individually drawn on pages that had been worked and reworked by the artist.  You can find out more about the piece here.

So all in all, I think you could say that I really enjoyed the show.  If you get a chance between now and the 16th August to go, I really would check it out.  But hopefully if you cannot make it, this has given you a good flavour of what it's all about.

Can't wait for next year!
H

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Live it: RA Summer Exhibition 2012

Photo courtesy of http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/summer-exhibition-2012/

For me, Summer in London is all about the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy and so as I will soon be moving away from the city, I thought it only fair that I went to the show again. This is my 5th year going and every year brings something different and this time I went with my mum, which was fun as I usually go on my own.

This year however disappointed me a little and impressed me at the same time - so that's probably what they were going for. Unfortunately you are not able to take photos and so I cannot show you some of my favourite parts, but I can talk about them and link you to my No. 1 item to look at in the show.

My favourite parts of the show are usually the architecture models and the photography gallery - which this year they have split the photos up into the gallery spaces along with the paintings.  I prefer my photography all together and the most impressive photography part was on the back wall, you know the one, just where you exit for the shop, there is a wall dividing the gallery from the shop doors, some of the best photographs were on the back of that!  Well placed for people to ignore them, and I must say 3 Quentin Blake sketches were here too!  One of the best illustrators we have to offer and that's where they put him!  I seem to remember he got that place last year too, so maybe he likes it there!  

The architecture models did not did not disappoint, the detail and precision from carving a building from the pages of a book through to etched metal fully scaled detail!  Amazing.  I think this is usually one of the places that most of the purist RA visitors find the least interesting as I am usually one of the only ones in the room.  The sketches on the wall would have put my lecturers at Design college and University to shame and I can only say that if I had given my tutors sketches like them, they would have failed me.  Just goes to show how subjective design is and what really counts as talent in the real world.

I also liked the fact that they had moved the artwork that usually resides in one of the the tiny rooms to room III (the largest room) which means you can actually see all the artwork on the walls, instead of trying to look at work which is 8ft high on the wall and which is so small that you can just about see the colour it is, let alone what it is and the number, to at least help you discover what it is.

For the amount of years I have been going, I think this has to be one of my least favourite shows and maybe that's just because it does not indulge in my particular passions!  But I did, as always like David Mach's work and they had plenty of John Hoyland work for me to look at - which after a trip to the Tate St Ives in 2006, he has been a particular favourite of mine.

My top thing to check out when you go though is no.1132, the Hawkins/Brown model called 'Ferias Diversorio' in room VI, just look at the picture!  Its amazing, made out of sewing bits and pieces, from bobbins and spools, with little people added on for that extra cute factor!

Picture courtesy of: http://www.hawkinsbrown.com/studio/the-royal-academy-summer-exhibition-2012

So all in all, something for everything and despite my outlook its definitely worth a look, as it will show you what people think of art and for all your artists out there, show you that you really should apply next year as you really could be the next artist in the Summer Exhibition.

Live it!

H

Love it: The Summer Exhibition at The Royal Academy of Arts 2011

One thing that I love to do is go to the Summer Exhibition at The Royal Academy of Arts every year and today with my recovery day after Glastonbury I thought it would the perfect time to go for a little wander.


Every year people from across the country apply for their work to be in the show and some get the chance to be selected to hang their work alongside some famous artists.  My favourties are always the Photography and Architectural model rooms which show the different sides of art as just a painting form.  The architectural models did not disspoint this year, although I felt that they had been squashed into a small room.  There was not as much photography that has been previously, but I guess that as each year is curated by different Royal Academians, then they each have their own idea of art.


I also saw that some of the work that doesn't get selected, gets a second chance at a gallery over near Waterloo, so that might well be my next port of call!

Live it!
Heather