Royal Academy of Art Summer Exhibition

 For the past few years my husband and I have travelled to London every year to see the Royal Academy of Art Summer Exhibition.  It is an amazing exhibition that runs every summer.  Anyone can submit a piece to be considered, from a grandmother in wales, a student in Birmingham, a celebrity musician through to a member of the RA-anyone (BBC iplayer usually has a great programme where they follow some of the people through the submission process.  If you ever get a chance to watch them I recommend it).

 There are SO many different mediums from fabric, sculpture, glass, paint, digital etc with styles from classical to modern.  The picture above is a fabric and stitched piece.

  

This one of skaters was one of our favourite in the exhibition.

This Amy Winehouse figure was made from beads and findings.

 

 Some of the artists are instantly recognisable such as this Gilbert and George piece

 Whilst other pieces took you by surprise

 I particularly liked this piece

 This large piece of lace was a great piece to see hanging on the wall

 There was SO many different styles.

 These pieces had money stuffed into their mouths!

 In the architectural section this digital 'blueprint' was stitched onto fabric

 Whilst in another gallery this chair was made from spent ammunition cases

Once again my eyes were drawn to pieces such as this on old book pages.

Inspiration at every turn-a great day out

Kyla

 

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

 Thought I would update on our recent visit to the 248th Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.

I have not included all the photos I have taken (as that would be a HUGE post) but thought I would share just a few of them.

 This looked like oils on an old metal tray and was titled "Roman 2" by Jock McFadyen RA.

I loved the depth and colour as I felt I was able to transport myself into the picture and could hear the traffic and smell the ozone.

This amazing piece was called "Migration" by Cathy de Monchaux and is made from copper wire, bandages, silk and pigment

 Whilst this was "Silver Hart" by David Mach RA and was made from steel and coat hangers!

  

Sadly I didn't make a note of these two, but I loved them both

 This was a bronze statue of Iggy Pop (full size) by Stephen Haines and in the back ground you can see the shipping container "The Bridge" by Jimmy Cauty (of the band The KLF) with spy holes whereby you can look in and see the 'scene' 

 He produced a HUGE version (an entire room) of this for the Banksy exhibition at Dismaland" in Weston Super Mare last year.

 Sadly I didn't make a note of who created these (though the artist on the right we have seen in previous exhibitions)

 As previous years there was an architecture room and this pencil sharpener caught my eye.

Finally in one room was a large Gilbert and George painting (once again I didn't get the details of who created the skeleton piece).

The exhibition is on until 21 August in London.  

Anyone can submit a piece for consideration and the BBC (usually BBC4) make a programme each year following the story from the point of view of an artist-such an eye opener.  

If you get the opportunity I recommend it, the work is varied and there are over 1000 pieces, some by very famous people, other by unknowns but one thing they have in common is that they all got the opportunity to grace the walls of one of the most famous galleries in the world.

Kyla

 

Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition

So, you may have noticed that I have not blogged for a few weeks.  Mainly due to a combination of my RA flaring and leaving me exhausted and the 'pay the bills' job being in overdrive and taking up much more than the 40 hrs a week it is meant to!  Not a great combination.

In an effort to break the cycle, hubby and I decided to book a very last minute break in London for a long weekend.  We did lots of 'arty' stuff but the main reason was the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition.  We have been going for the last few years and this year was a fabulous mix of different styles and mediums.  

The Summer Exhibition has been running for 247 years, which in itself is amazing in its own right.   It is sometimes accused of  being stuck in the past however this year, the exhibition is co-ordinated by Michael Craig-Martin RA – a leading artist of his generation and the teacher who nurtured the talents of Gary Hume, Sarah Lucas and Damien Hirst.  It really showed, some of the room were painted bright colours and complemented the art.

I took lots of photos and these are just a few, I make no apologies for the photo heavy content of this post, if you'd like to see some of the art then please feel free to scroll down and enjoy.

 This sculpture was made from plastic sheets, similar to the sort you make conservatory roofs from, painstakingly cut and layered to create the figure.

 The art varies in size from large to small and intricate

 This one was created from various layers (like a tunnel book).

 When you looked through the apertures you caught a glimpse of the picture behind

 It gave me a feeling of snooping as you caught glimpses of life behind the curtains

 This piece was within a large glass block and the way it was cut meant you saw different views depending on where you stood

This giant head was made from coat-hangers!

 Some of the pieces were slightly disturbing

 Others blew me away

 The detail in this piece was breathtaking

 I love the fact that famous, infamous and the public can all submit pieces for consideration.  This was a large tapestry by Grayson Perry (we have been lucky enough to see a couple of his exhibitions over the years)

 The serenity of this painting was a joy

 Jim Lambie’s kaleidoscopic stairs lead up to the Main Galleries. It was really weird being able to walk over a piece of art!

 Outside you are greeted by the towering formation of steel 'clouds' by Conrad Shawcross

A fabulous trip and if you are in London over the summer and love art then I recommend a trip to the RA.  I will blog about the other exhibition we went to over the coming week or so.

Kyla