The Summer Exhibition 2015 at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.

David Franchi – Sunday, 16th august 2015.

Wohl Central Hall, Summer Exhibition 2015, Ph. John Bodkin © Royal Academy of Arts, London.

It was a renewed Summer Exhibition 2015, at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.

The Royal Academy of London has made a big attempt to deliver a trendy and fashionable Summer Exhibition 2015.

At its 247 edition, the Summer Exhibition has been held since 1769, annually, without interruption. It is the longest-running open submission exhibition in the world.

Significant teacher and artist, the British Michael Craig- Martin CBE RA is the coordinator of the 2015 edition. He focused on a new layout of the Main Galleries with rooms enlivened by vivacious colours. Artist Jim Lambie, Turner Prize winner, created a specific installation for the Royal Academy main staircase, while artist Liam Gillick made a site-specific work for the Central Hall.

Highlight of the Summer Exhibition 2015 is ‘Humument’ a monumental work by Tom Phillips RA in progress since 1966, a Victorian book published in 1892 by WH Matlock, of which the artist altered every page.

The youngest Royal Academician, sculptor Conrad Shawcross, has installed a colossal site-specific installation in the Annenberg Courtyard central space outside. Entitled ‘The Dappled Light of the Sun’ (2015) the immersive work consists of a group of five steel ‘clouds’. The branching forms are made up of thousands of tetrahedrons and stand at over six metres high and weigh five tonnes each. Conrad Shawcross said, “The Greeks considered the tetrahedron to represent the very essence of matter. In this huge work I have taken this form as my ‘brick’, growing these chaotic, diverging forms that will float above the heads of visitors who will be able to wander beneath them. I am extremely excited to see the completed work exhibited for the first time in the RA’s historic Annenburg Courtyard, for which it was conceived.”

The Summer Exhibition 2015 offers an exceptional platform for emerging and established artists and architects to display their works to a worldwide audience, including a range of media from painting to printmaking, photography, sculpture, architecture and film. This year the Royal Academy received 12,000 entries, from which a committee of Royal Academicians, made a selection to hang on the walls of the Main Galleries in Burlington House. Over 1,100 artworks are on display, the majority of which will be for sale.

The Summer Exhibition offers to visitors an opportunity to purchase original artwork by high profile and up-and-coming artists. It plays an important role in raising funds to finance the current students of the RA Schools.

Together with the main exhibition, the Royal Academy, London, presents the ninth A-Level Summer Exhibition Online. It is an open-submission online exhibition, providing an exclusive opportunity for 16 to 18 year old student artists to show their artwork. All students currently studying at A-levels or equivalent at secondary schools and sixth form in the UK were eligible to enter.

Over 1,200 aspiring artists attending sixth form colleges or schools submitted their work to the A-level Summer Exhibition Online 2015. However, 38 exceptional works of art only were selected by an expert panel: Andrea Tarsia (Head of RA Exhibitions), RA Schools student Maria de Lima, and artist Lisa Milroy.

Official sponsor is Insight Investment, owned by BNY Mellon.

The Summer Exhibition 2015 is at the Royal Academy of Arts, Piccadilly, London, from 8th June until 16th August 2015.