Karen Wright notes that: The Royal Academy Summer show is a fixture – like Wimbledon and strawberries – in the social calendar. With over 12,000 submissions the selection committee chose 1250 works to fill the 10 rooms spanning the Piano Nobile. The coordinator for this the 248th Summer Exhibition, the much respected Richard Wilson Royal Academician who chose to focus on artists who work as a duo. But I guess she is not a fan of this year’s exhibit … cramming too much work into even large galleries sadly makes everything look tacky.
Over the decades, what is considered art has changed. While I do love contemporary academic art and even some of the more cutting edge works, it is sad to see what has happened to this great exhibition over the years. But hey, 100 years from now people may look back and say — what has happened to all the great of of the 21st century. For me, I can always bury my head in one of the 19th century Paris Salon or Royal Academy exhibition catalogs … so what if the images are only black and white.
Source: The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, review: ‘Not enough courage in its own mission’