Royal Academy has finally opened its “younger” counterpart of the annual Summer Exhibition. Young Artists’ Summer Show has been first introduced five years ago and since then has been exhibiting the youngest and the most inspirational artists from all around Britain. Students aged 4-19 can apply to be exhibited at the Royal Academy, however this year only a 478 artworks of the boldest and the most imaginative artists out of the 21,000 applicants made the cut by the hard-to-impress Royal Academicians.
This year’s compositions are bursting with colour and imagination, giving interested visitors the opportunity to get a glimpse of the contemporary art trends and their creators, who soon will undoubtedly begin to take over the British world of art. Besides this, every year a small number of young artists gets picked out by the President of the RA, for producing the most inspirational work and receives the Royal Academy Prize.
One of this years’s 6 prizewinners Lucia Lotareva has created an undeniably whimsical piece of art — the painting named “Dog at the Opera” depicts a squinting black corgi drinking out of a golden ceramic bowl surrounded by blue theatre curtains. According to the 11 year old artist, the painting was intended as a way to introduce her dog, who is drinking hot chocolate in the painting, to one of her favorite places in London — the Royal Opera House.
Many other works at the Summer Show are pushing the boundaries of art even further and experimenting with different techniques and movements. From abstract doodles interlaced with promises to “give munei back” and group installation of thirty ceramic ducks to the Leytonstone Station model made with immense accuracy and a fountain in the form of a cobra that releases water instead venom — all this breaths with imagination and talent. A certain trend of this year were cat portraits that came in collages, pencil drawings, acrylic and watercolour paintings.
The Show doesn’t stop at just paintings and sculpture — works of young photographers are also displayed at the venue. As expected, the photos were provided by the more mature group of young artists and amaze with the level of professionalism of the authors and the depth of thought put into them.
While most of the photographic works focuses on the teenage photographers’ everyday life, one particular work stands out with an elaborate political message in support of Palestine. The resourceful author used Lego minifigures of people and homemade tiny posters to create an image of a protest. Another powerful political work was a life-size installation of the 10 Downing Street door, on which names of the past prime-ministers were written next to the author’s age respective of when each of the politician’s term started. It is great to see that the Royal Academy encourages young people to participate in political activism, as it is a good way help them learn to stand their ground, as well as to motivate interest for history and politics.
The Royal Academy’s Young Artist’s Summer Show is a celebration of young people’s creativity and imagination. This year’s Show is as astounding as ever and visiting it is a great opportunity to get inspired, dazzled and cultivated by the power of young art. Additionally, visitors can vote for their favourite art work. The Summer Show is on free display at the RA from 18 July to 13 August 2023.
