One of Britain’s leading artists, Michael Craig-Martin is coordinating this year’s summer exhibition at the Royal Academy. Following this announcement it has been confirmed that he will focus on a new layout of the main galleries, where the rooms will be characterised by colour.
Craig-Martin has invited the Turner-Prize nominated Jim Lambie to create a multi-coloured installation for the Royal Academy’s main staircase leading to the exhibition.
As coordinator for the summer exhibition, the artist has also decided to invite a number of mature artists to exhibit their work in the display, many of whom whose work he has admired for a long time. Those he has invited include: Vanessa Jackson, Stephen Buckley, John Thompson and John Hilliard.
Some of the highlights of the exhibition include Humument by Tom Phillips that has been a work in progress since 1966! Over the past 49 years, the artist has transformed every page of a Victorian book titled A Human Document by WH Matlock to create an entirely new work.
For this year’s exhibition, the Royal Academy received 12,000 entries, from which a committee of Royal Academicians selected 2000 artists to be included in the annual display.
The majority of the 1,200 pieces on display will be available for the public to purchase, giving them a chance to own an original piece of artwork.
The types of work included in the exhibition range from painting and drawing to sculpture and film.
This year’s Summer Exhibition will open on Monday 8th June and will run until the 16th August.