Summer Exhibition – does it suck
Well I had to do it …. visit the summer exhibition at the Royal Academy. After submitting three pieces of work – ‘Breathless’, ‘just arse in around’ and ‘full bodied – vintage 1964′ which were rejected (along with 9,000 other artists work!) I bit the bullet and went and had a look for myself what the panellists accepted
First gripe: It had already cost me about £150 to enter – entry forms, art moving firm(who are brilliant by the way) and then they want you to pay £7.00 entry fee… having been to a lot of museums this past year and all for free this niggled me. At this stage I wasn’t in a particularly responsive mood for what was deemed ‘largest open submission contemporary art exhibition, with a tradition of showcasing work by unknown and emerging artists alongside that of more established names.’
At least going on this day the crowds had died down and we were able to view all the exhibits with ease. With a catalogue in hand we ventured into gallery 1 – quote ‘unknown and emerging artists’ not many in here; names such as Jasper johns, RB Kitaj, Antoni Tapies covered the walls shouting out there recognizable artwork, it had the feeling of seeing old friends around a room – looking to catch their eye in the vain hope we could say a brief hello or a little nod of recognition for our efforts in attending.
Gallery 2 – feeling that things might change and discover something new to the eye, that click of the finger moment… drawn to as you might expect – Tom Philips ‘the library at Elsinore’ whose ‘A humument’ I first came across in 1982 and was mesmerized by the way a simple page could be created into beautiful artworks that work on different levels
onto the large weston room: large works by household names -it is good to see that up and coming artists do get a look in!!!
The printmaking exhibition within brought about no surprises – well executed etchings, aquatints and wood/lino cuts – nothing really jumps out, rather safe, nothing challenging or provocative ( I suppose that comes only with Colin Self – ‘A trilogy: The Iconoclasts(Triptych)
Although, whilst perusing the prints the comment ‘I could have done that’, ‘its not that difficult’ came from the mouths of an elderly couple in M&S beige clothing when observing the intricate work ‘tiny pig’ by Christopher Brown (£55). Which I suppose has to sit up there with the likes of Lucian Freud and the New Yorker etching!
Small weston room – promising I thought – lots of unknown artist (possibly) except of course Ken Howard. Looking around at the cattlemarket of canvas and gilt framing all I saw was poorly painted artwork; ‘the Stock Market, London’, do me a favour… sh*t, it was even naive enough to be within the realms of naive painting ‘tennis players’… wimbledon bores and so does this painting; wher’s the skill, the concept or is chocolate box painting the new ‘in thing’ I f*****g hope not or I will stop right now and return to painting by numbers canvases bought from the pound shop.
Skipped the blue room as a fan of lego and paper art I could come back to this to clear my head, I do like the miniature foam trees as used by model train enthusiasts, aha someone’s not using them – acrylic balls instead of trees that’s avant-garde for you!
I was not in the best of moods by this stage!!
And then.. passing through the photography with the usual glance I became aware of a photograph of a street scene which seemed to mix modern urban dereliction with a hint of sixties memorabilia – the camera the girl was holding. Still, I passed by it but the lighting made me look again … it was a painting, truly beautiful; technically, subject matter, the sense of time and place, a possibility of maybe having passed their at one stage I let my eyes take in all the visual references, the application of paint, the mark making. Here was something to be seen, that click of the fingers moment, the reason for looking at art, every time you looked further into the work you saw something new, a new story line, what happened then, will the corrugated metal slip or were the weeds entangled about it support it for another day? Beautiful.
‘Scene from a contemporary novel’ Nicholas Middleton at last the summer exhibition was meeting its remit showcasing work by unknown and emerging artists’ I was inspired, I wanted more, I was in a positive mood, I hunted around, eyes fervently scanning the walls, the floor, looking for that work to make me feel that art is new, exciting and challenges you.
I found more, although these artists are known but the work does that…..
‘Rack 14′ Bill Woodrow, just plainly beautiful, it hangs majestically, you want to run your hand over the smooth glass, explore the golden shapes placed within the base of each vessel. Without moving it gently sways, you stand and admire, like waiting for that droplet of rain to link with another down a pane of glass, memories of St Marks venetian glass shops float into my mind, I’m taken elsewhere, I return, I look at the simplicity of the execution, understanding or trying to, the process, did he blow them himself, did he make more and did some of them break (questions a child would ask), it reaches you on many levels, you ask it and it asks you questions.
THIS IS GREAT ART
And there was more….. Tim Noble & Sue Webster ‘metal f*****g rats’ apart from the humurous element, very skilled work
Verdict:
I entered my work for this exhibition, hoping it would be accepted, it wasn’t, after visiting the show I can see why. There are two elements that make up this show – known artist and RA members get first look in and secondly: good painting that expresses true emotions, with cutting edge vibrancy is rarely chosen.
I’m glad that I could walk away knowing that my work doesn’t ‘fit in’, it’s not chocolate box painting and the art world isn’t ready for me……yet
