Let's Get Arted!

If you want to get to know contemporary visual Art, the Summer Exhibition 2013 remains the place to be. Located at the Royal Academy of Arts in Burlington House, the 245^th edition of the event will give something to everyone through a wide selection of paintings, photographs, architecture, drawings, prints... And the simple fact that I enjoyed some pieces and hated others can confirm its laudable versatility.

 

First we get an introduction in the Wohl Central Hall with a few basic ‘raw’ pieces made out of wood, stone and iron. Then, we get to the main plat-de-resistance with a room filled of paintings, from bright-coloured and very graphic ones to more classic and dark ones.

In the Large Weston Room, a 'provocative' painting will inevitably be much discussed, as is its (only) point: a painting representing many penises, entitled Affluenza, by Ian Daniell. It made me think of someone that would have gone naked in the street in the sole intention of bringing attention over him, without any real driving motivation underneath: it is pointless. 

Surprisingly enough, I found at least one indirect interesting aspect: people's reaction over it, especially women. They would look away quickly and continue their walk ignoring it, or even peer more closely at the multitude of paintings just below it, ostensibly oblivious of the main one above. But inevitably, when their gaze shifted from painting to painting, it would make a half-second detour by checking the big ugly one above. They thought it would go unnoticed...

In Room IV though, I encountered a striking and intense painting, with an actual story to tell this time: that of the still recent French-German conflict over the region of Alsace. Melancolia, by the (obviously German) painter Anselm Kiefer Hon, gives a black-and-white view of the Rhin river and of the opposite shore, from a forest of one of the two banks. A weird cage is in the air: a prison owned by no one, since there have been suffering from both sides of the river, in the end.

For those not fond of painting, there are also architectural constructions, like cars made out of rusty grids (Large Weston Room: Blame the Tools, by Ron Arad) or other more conceptual works (in Room V and VI). But there is also, out of the blue, a rather classic little sculpture: a slightly modernized and silvery Nike figure, by James Butler, very elegant and simple.

You will be able to enjoy some photography too, and in Room X, a collection of six wide tapestries. This medium may be original, but the works themselves actually made me uncomfortable. Colours of all shades, and shapes going in all directions were overwhelming, giving an overall nightmarish impression. It was very lively, but certainly not peaceful – almost aggressive.

In the end, the Exhibition manages well to propose as many various pieces as possible, for all tastes. Go there alone, with friends or family; it brings a nice change to afternoons spent in front of the telly.

Visit the website of the Exhibition.

This article was written as an assignment for the London School of Journalism.