Pictures at an RA Summer Exhibition Take 2

So I headed back down to the Royal academy again today, with a fully charged phone so here is my second, slightly larger selection. Today’s visit just confirmed what my feelings from Monday – that it is a great Summer Exhibition and the curators and Artists have done a wonderful job. I could quite easily…

Pictures at an RA Summer Exhibition

Today I headed into this year’s summer exhibition for a quick once round as we have a few friends who have work on display. Unfortunately my phone died about three quarters of the way round so here is a selection of what took my fancy before charging issues stopped play. The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition…

Oceania at the RA Part 2

‘Oceania does not shy away from the interactions between Islanders and Europeans from the 18th century onwards – far from it. Towards the end, the exhibition tackles this important part of the story with sensitivity and nuance.’ Alastair Cooke One of the fascinating things about this exhibition is how it includes the creative responses of…

Oceania at the RA Part 1

In the autumn of 2018 ‘Oceania’, a once in a lifetime exhibition, opened at the Royal Academy. An awe-inspiring show that encompassed the entire Pacific Ocean – one third of the Earth’s surface, ‘…its waters were a sort of conduit, facilitating communication and cross-fertilisation between seafaring peoples.’ Alastair Sooke. Rather than grouping the exhibits by…

Transitional Object (Murder Barn)

‘Transitional object’ is a term borrowed from developmental psychology describing things like comfort blankets that children adopt as mother-substitutes, as props to test reality.’  Sam Jacob With art galleries and museums closed all over the country, and indeed all over the world, I am using this as an opportunity to go through my photo library…

Antony Gormley

Firstly, go and see this show NOW as it is only on till the 3rd of December… Few contemporary sculptors working today are as involved with the human form as Antony Gormley, who describes the body as ‘a place of experience, emotion, consciousness, memory and imagination.’ The Royal Academy’s autumn show is invariably a ‘blockbuster’,…

Abstract Expressionism

So I finally made it to the Abstract Expressionism show at the Royal Academy on the very last day. And I’m glad I braved the cold and cycled into town as what a great exhibition it was. Often these shows are billed as a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity, but this really was a chance to…