This summer brings exceptional color to the age-old the Royal Academy of Art. The British institution’s Summer Exhibition is celebrating its 247th year of showcasing an overview of the state of contemporary art. Some of the earlier iterations featured works by Constable and Turner. Now, the world’s oldest open-submission exhibit features the likes of El Anatsui and Zaha Hadid, from painting to photography to sculpture to video installations.
Michael Craig-Martin, the curator for this year’s exhibition, has transformed the interior of the respected institution into a world of vivid colors and textures. The normal white gallery walls have been lacquered in loud hues of magenta, blue, and turquoise, creating an interesting tension with the regal seriousness of the surrounding architecture. The show reaches even beyond the walls into the academy’s courtyard with Conrad Shawcross‘s expansive steel structure, “The Dappled Light of the Sun.”
Many of the artists showing are Royal Academicians, of which there are never more than 80 at a time (including at least 14 sculptors, 12 architects and eight printmakers). The rest are dubbed Honorary RAs. Craig-Martin, given the chance to invite specific artists to be Honorary RAs, used the criterion that they be over 65 years of age. Rose Hilton and Dick Smith are among the lucky senior artists invited to participate in the show.
Proceeds from the art sold at the exhibition – over 1,000 pieces selected from nearly 12,000 submissions – are destined for the Royal Academy Schools, the only free postgraduate school in the UK.
The summer exhibit is on view to the public until August 16th, so if you’re in London this summer and want to experience this colorful show in person- Click here to buy tickets!
