Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

09 June, 2010
by: Tom Jeffreys

With over 1,200 pieces, the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition can be a little overwhelming. Tom Jeffreys picks his top ten works.

The very first Royal Academy Summer Exhibition took place way back in 1769 – it's the largest open exhibition in the UK and really rather a distinguished institution. As a submissions-based show, it's never one that will have a strong narrative (although the presence of individually themed and arranged rooms does help) nor does it really attempt to provide a survey of the contemporary art world. It's just a lot of art.

In a sense though, that's the exhibition's strength. There's no lengthy intro spiel, no superfluous theoretical flim-flam, there's not even any info next to each work – they're just numbered. I like it – you can just engage with the work on show, and there's such a lot that you're bound to come across something you like. But with over 1,200 pieces (wittled down from over 10,000 submissions) it can be easy to overlook some hidden gems. So here are the ten pieces I think you should look out for:

Yinka Shonibare, Crash Willy
Wohl Central Hall (1140)
You won't miss this – it's right in the middle of the Wohl Central Hall – but it's definitely worthy of attention. At the wheel of a mangled red jalopy sits a decapitated figure in snazzily printed trousers and sturdy black Oxfords – it's like if Toad of Toad Hall had got dressed up as Nelson Mandela.

Hiroe Saeki, Untitled
Gallery IV (624)
There's a dream-like quality to Hiroe Saeki's delicate little drawing. It's peculiar but not in a troubling way; rather, the strangely impossible figures are imbued with an odd and understated charm.

Ruth Dupre, Butchery
Gallery IV (721)
Globules of meat-like matter gloop over and off a flimsy little wooden table. Butchery – but they're made of glass. It's interesting how these shapes look so alive, when they're both inanimate and so closely linked to death.

Tacita Dean, Studies for Großsteingrab, Riesenbett II, Hünengrab II
Gallery V (643-5)
By applying blackboard paint to fibre-based prints, Tacita Dean has created works of austere grandeur. Each depicts a single large boulder, that somehow shines, emerging from the black. These works radiate a subtle sense of something monumental.

Paul Winstanley, Veil 2 & 3
Gallery V (674-5)
There's a feeling of ethereal intrigue to these two works by Paul Winstanley – just visible through two flimsy semi-transparent curtains is a vaguely wooded landscape beyond.

Johan Voordouw, Spatial Crusades
Lecture Room (1076)
My favourite work in the brilliant, if overwhelming, architecture room. An old atlas – open at the Mediterranean – has been overlaid by a three-dimensional ribbon structure that spans most of the continent. Architecture for megalomaniacs, or a world without national borders.

Petros Chrisostomou, Forever
Gallery VIII (836)
In this captivating and gradually humorous photograph, a giant bottle-blonde wig dominates an elegant white stucco room. The marble floor shimmers in bemusement.

Paul Murphy, Untitled
Gallery X (1197)
Worthy winner of the Rose Award for Photography, Murphy's image depicts a back yard of timber huts, a bland conservatory, a bench. A large tree has recently had a branch removed. Mountains fade in the background. Is this beautiful? Or eerie? Or just so unremarkable? I love it, and have no idea why.

Tracey Emin, For You
Large Weston Room (157)
Brian Sewell didn't seem too impressed with Emin's little print of jumping penises, but this one just nearby is really rather sweet. It's just an etching of a little blue dog, but it's charming, and only £280.

Josephine Greenman, Silence I & II
Small Weston Room (443-4)
Probably the two smallest works in the whole show, and almost certainly my favourites. Hidden away in a corner at knee-height, Greenman's two tiny blue and white oils depict intimate 1930s interiors. Hints of gilt and lamp and mirror – these are glamorously dishevelled and utterly beguiling.

The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition is at the Royal Academy until 22nd August 2010.

Click here to see all London exhibitions.
Click here for things to do in London.

Return to Spoonfed's London Art homepage.

Tom Jeffreys