Summer Exhibition at the RA
Urban life, colour, humour and a sense of impending doom are some of the themes at this year’s summer show. Of course, you will still find landscapes, flowers and cats, though thankfully not so many of the latter as in previous years. There’s a lot to look at – in all there are 1,710 works, including paintings, prints, videos, photography, textiles, installations, portraits, ceramics and sculpture (barely any sculpture, actually; it seems to have been replaced by bits of dirty rope, carpet and embroidery).
Space to Grow (no. 150) by Kev Munday, edition of 20
The rooms too have themes, each with its own curator who has picked the final “hang”. Cornelia Parker’s Large Weston Room is a blast of colour, from the pop floral Space to Grow (no. 150, above) to Rana Begum’s colour changing panels (nos. 236-238, below), all standing out on the bright-blue painted walls.
Rana Begum RA’s colour-changing panels 93A, 93B and 93C (nos. 236, 237 and 238), edition of 25 each
Many of the prints have a retro Vorticist style, like Psychomanteum (no. 171), a linocut by Alex Bailey, and Utopia #1 (no. 219) by David Nemes. Meanwhile the schoolboy, well let’s say puerile, humour in Mark Denton’s Directions to the Chocolate Factory (no 180, below) is proving very popular with buyers.
Mark Denton’s Directions to the Chocolate Factory (no.180) is selling well!
It's good to see a significant piece by David Mach RA, an artist keenly tuned to the global zeitgeist. His The Destruction of Jericho (no. 427, £96,000!) shows a modern family in their car, driving towards the end of the world. Outside the sealed safety of the vehicle, everyone else is fleeing in the opposite direction; people are hammering on the windows; there are explosions all around. Mach’s comic-book style heightens the palpable sense of fear.
The Forgotten Place by Maxine Gregson (no. 1031)
This chimes with another large screenprint, The Forgotten Place by Maxine Gregson (no.1031, above), which creates a similar feeling of unease. It shows holidaymakers in some sort of postwar desert – where on earth are they?
Mull Head Cliffs, Orkney (no. 1250) by Vanessa Gardiner
Nature, bold plant life and some striking seascapes also make their mark. Apple Tree (no. 1112), a woodcut by Hilary Daltry, is selling well, and I particularly liked Mull Head Cliffs, Orkney (no. 1250, above) by Vanessa Gardiner, with its clean, spartan lines and northern brightness.
It waves: more ironic humour in Tunnocks Maneki-Neko (no. 1555) by Robert Mach
The retro humour continues in the three-dimensional work. Robert Mach’s Tunnocks Maneki-Neko (no.1555, above), a waving cat made from confectionary foil, and I Could Hold You for a Million Years (no. 1444), a ceramic picture of clutching dinosaurs, are both very amusing.
Delicate beauty in Joanne Lamb’s Imbolc Group I
The ropes, carpets, odd belongings and embroidery installations did nothing for me, but I was struck by the delicate, considered beauty of some woven vessels by Joanne Lamb, Imbolc Group I (no.1556, above). Made from tatami paper with natural yarns, their translucence – and arrangement – gives them a human vulnerability.