★★★★☆
The Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition is back for its 255th edition. Hailed as the world’s largest open submission show, it has been running since 1769. It’s also one of the very few major gallery shows where visitors can actually buy the artworks that are displayed on the walls. So what’s it all about?
This year’s exhibition was coordinated by British artist and Royal Academician David Remfry, who themed the show Only Connect. Remfry explained “Only Connect can be as simple or as complex as you like – as simple as putting a plug into a socket, as meeting a friend for a coffee or the fabric of the entire cosmos. In Howards End, E. M. Forster’s 1910 novel, the phrase ‘Only Connect’ meant a connection between the spiritual and the quotidian; I use it to mean a connection between oneself and everything else.”
‘Deborah’ by Irina Melsom and Hans Askheim, image supplied by artists
It has always been seen as a badge of honour to be included in the exhibition and this year 11,204 people applied and a total of 16,500 works were judged digitally. The show features 1,614 works spread across 13 rooms, as well as Huma Bhabha’s sculpture in the courtyard and Remfry’s own light installation on the staircase leading to the galleries.
Most of the works are for sale, and there are plenty of affordable pieces on offer, making it a great place to find something if you’re thinking about starting to build your own art collection, with prices from £45. Surprisingly, the most expensive work in the exhibition isn’t one by an established artist like Frank Bowling, Michael Craig-Martin, or Tracey Emin, but a painting by comedian Joe Lycett.
Having first had a sculpture included in the 2018 Summer Exhibition (a small bust titled “Chris” which Lycett priced at £10,500,000), Lycett continued to apply each year without success until having his painting accepted into this year’s show. The work is called I DRINK A CRISP, COLD BEER IN A POOL IN LOS ANGELES WHILE GARY LINEKER LOOKS ON IN DISGUST and is available for the princely sum of £1,354,999 (Gary Lineker’s reported salary from the BBC for 2022). Although I guess that could be considered a steal given the price of the 2018 sculpture…
Installation view of the Summer Exhibition 2023 at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, 13 June – 20 August 2023. Joe Lycett’s painting is seen in the middle. Photo: © David Parry/ Royal Academy of Arts
The works also vary dramatically in size. One of the smallest paintings I spotted was a portrait of the botanical illustrator Deborah Lambkin painted by Irina Melsom and Hans Askheim, measuring a mere 10×15 cm, while the Wohl Central Hall is filled by an enormous blue mobile sculpture by Richard Malone.
Anthony Eyton’s Protest and Survive. Photography: Mark Peachey
The exhibition also features a mixture of subject matters, some serious like Kara Walker’s The Omicron Variations, and Anthony Eyton’s Protest and Survive, while others are more light-hearted such as Martin Langford’s Daft Vader and Robert Mach’s Tunnocks Redcoat – a playful take on Jeff Koons’ balloon dogs where the artist has wrapped the dog in Tunnock’s teacake foils.
Robert Mach’s Tunnocks Redcoat. Photography: Mark Peachey
There are also a number of works that will play tricks with your eyes. James White’s “Water/Anadin 2” looks like a photograph but is actually a painting, while on the floor beneath it is Gavin Turk’s sculpture “Veg box”, which looks like a cheap Styrofoam box but is actually a painted bronze (hence the £90,000 price tag).
Clare Woods RA has curated Room VI with a focus on the still-life genre. Artist Gordon Cheung has subverted the traditional ‘flowers in a vase’ style of painting by adding beautiful 3D flowers to the canvas in his work “Augury of Wuxi”, while Anastasiia Borodina takes the more contemporary subject of a Lindt chocolate bear in her oil painting “Substitution”.
Anastasiia Borodina’s Substitution. Photography: Mark Peachey
The exhibition is not just about paintings. Peter Barber RA has curated a room centred around architecture, featuring models and more design-based work, alongside two sculptures by the late Phyllida Barlow. Tim Shaw RA curated the Lecture Room, filling it with sculptures such as a model of his own famous piece “Man on Fire” (the original of which is installed at the Imperial War Museum North), and Jemma Gowland’s contemplative work “Facebook turns 18: Coming of Age in the Digital World”.
There’s lots to see in this year’s show – just make sure you give yourself plenty of time to see it all – it’s definitely not an exhibition that can be whizzed through in half an hour – you will need two hours minimum if not longer. And maybe you’ll bag yourself a piece of art that will grant you the bragging rights to say to your friends “well you know, this piece has also been exhibited in the Royal Academy”.
