0:00:02 > 0:00:05Welcome to this year's Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.
0:00:05 > 0:00:07For three centuries, this event has celebrated
0:00:07 > 0:00:10the genius of artists from Turner to Tracey Emin.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14And this year's show promises to be even more ambitious than before.
0:00:14 > 0:00:18There's beauty, there's tragedy and there's technical wizardry.
0:00:30 > 0:00:31Coming up...
0:00:31 > 0:00:34We'll be talking to the sculptor Richard Wilson,
0:00:34 > 0:00:39the man taking on the huge challenge of organising the Summer Exhibition.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43What I'm really after is to have a "wow" factor in every room.
0:00:43 > 0:00:49We'll meet and play with the key artists of this year's show.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54Go on a shopping spree with two celebrity art lovers.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00We'll experience the highs and the lows of those aspiring artists
0:01:00 > 0:01:04who have submitted their work to hang amongst the greats.
0:01:05 > 0:01:10And hear ABC bring their art-pop to the Royal Academy.
0:01:10 > 0:01:12It's a very chic crowd,
0:01:12 > 0:01:15and that kind of suits ABC all these years on.
0:01:32 > 0:01:37The Summer Exhibition is now a firm fixture of the social calendar.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44But the show actually begins a few months earlier,
0:01:44 > 0:01:48when the RA opens its doors to people of all backgrounds and ages...
0:01:50 > 0:01:55My picture of a multicoloured bird that I drew in pastel.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59..to have their work judged by a panel of esteemed artists.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03It just gives an opportunity for anyone in the world to be
0:02:03 > 0:02:06hung in the most beautiful art gallery in London,
0:02:06 > 0:02:08I would say, yes.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14It's nervous, yeah. It's quite an imposing building, isn't it?
0:02:14 > 0:02:17We are going into the tradesman's entrance, though.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21This year, 12,000 people have submitted their work digitally.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26They were then whittled down to approximately 2,000 hopefuls,
0:02:26 > 0:02:29who have been invited to drop off their work.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34It's then an agonising few days before they find out
0:02:34 > 0:02:36if they're either in or out.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41I'm really happy, and praying.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44If I got in, I would probably...
0:02:44 > 0:02:47nothing crazy, have a cup of tea and a sit down, read a good book.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52Many of the artists entering may be largely unknown.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54My painting is of Colonel Gaddafi.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57I've been painting a series of dictators for a number of years.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00He looks a little bit like a camp airline pilot.
0:03:00 > 0:03:06But that doesn't prevent the odd celebrity amateur from showing up.
0:03:06 > 0:03:07It's great fun.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11And you can dream for a moment that you're an artist and then,
0:03:11 > 0:03:14when you do get in, it's just fantastic.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17You can stand behind people slagging off your painting
0:03:17 > 0:03:20because theirs didn't get in.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23That's good, that one. I like that one.
0:03:23 > 0:03:28Last year, Harry Hill's portrait of Damien Hirst was successfully hung.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33But will sticking to famous faces pay off this time around?
0:03:34 > 0:03:39Well, I've brought along this one. It's called David Beckham Diptych.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44And it's basically the national treasure David Beckham.
0:03:44 > 0:03:50I'm envisaging him with his tattoos of crazy golf courses.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54I don't know if you know the crazy golf course in Herne Bay?
0:03:54 > 0:03:58It's a very good one. No windmill, unfortunately.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01- That's what that's based on. - Do you fancy your chances this year?
0:04:01 > 0:04:02Not really, no.
0:04:04 > 0:04:10Amongst those dropping off their work is 69-year-old Janette Byrne.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12This is the one
0:04:12 > 0:04:14- when you've gone in and they go... - GASPS
0:04:14 > 0:04:16I mean, you know, even my son's heard of it
0:04:16 > 0:04:18and that's saying something.
0:04:18 > 0:04:23Janette lives in Bolton and came to art later in life,
0:04:23 > 0:04:26after a career in teaching with young offenders.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29When we were all made redundant from the Prison Service, I was
0:04:29 > 0:04:31at a loose end.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35Got quite depressed actually, not knowing what to do with myself.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39And sitting down to do some art gave me a focus. It was fantastic,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42absolutely saved my life, I'm sure it did.
0:04:43 > 0:04:48As a mature student, Janette had a creative, as well as emotional
0:04:48 > 0:04:53breakthrough, with the discovery of long-forgotten family portraits.
0:04:53 > 0:04:58There's my dad. Look at that. That's going to be a painting.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02I found the photographs and then started working from them.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06But they also triggered memories, you know - the child who's
0:05:06 > 0:05:10never smiling, the dominant father, the submissive mother.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13It all fit in when I looked at the pictures.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19To resolve her past, Janette re-imagines the family portraits
0:05:19 > 0:05:24by first building up layers of detail
0:05:24 > 0:05:29before removing everything but the merest trace of the original image.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34I've got to the stage now where I can completely make a painting
0:05:34 > 0:05:36and scrub it all out.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40And I like the effect, because the memory's gone and that helps.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42Not very pretty, is it?
0:05:44 > 0:05:48Cleansing, isn't it? Washing is cleansing.
0:05:48 > 0:05:50Those are the cleanest canvases I've ever done.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56The Royal Academy is like the best feedback you could
0:05:56 > 0:06:01have from anybody, to be recognised as being worthy.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05If I get in, it's champagne, lots of phone calls.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07And if I don't get in, it's gin and tonic.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19Another artist dropping off her work is Rose Blake.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24Rose is an illustrator based in London.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27I'm working on a children's book at the moment.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32The main character that talks you through the book is basically a kid version of me.
0:06:32 > 0:06:34She says she wants to be an artist.
0:06:39 > 0:06:43Last year, she began making artworks inspired by her
0:06:43 > 0:06:46passion for nosing around museums and galleries.
0:06:47 > 0:06:53I find it really weird calling it art. I call it pictures.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58I suppose, though, the illustration work,
0:06:58 > 0:07:01there's always a kind of starting point that isn't necessarily mine.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05I'll get a kind of brief and then my main thought is,
0:07:05 > 0:07:08"How am I going to communicate this?"
0:07:08 > 0:07:10With the pictures that I make,
0:07:10 > 0:07:13it's a lot more about just, like, letting myself go.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18I love it. I always have clients, all the time.
0:07:18 > 0:07:19It's so nice not to have a client.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22That's the main purpose of it, basically.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26Artistic talent runs in Rose's family.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30Her father is legendary pop artist Sir Peter Blake.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33Yeah, I'm really inspired by him, yeah.
0:07:33 > 0:07:39He's 83 this year, and he's so enthused by everything.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44It's precisely the anonymous nature of having work
0:07:44 > 0:07:48judged for the Summer Exhibition that is so appealing to Rose.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54They like it and they say yes, or they don't and they say no.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56And there isn't that thought of,
0:07:56 > 0:07:59"Oh, that's a picture by Peter Blake's daughter."
0:08:01 > 0:08:05Rather ingeniously, Rose is submitting two works to
0:08:05 > 0:08:09the RA which both depict a scene that will be familiar to the judges.
0:08:11 > 0:08:12I went to the Summer Exhibition
0:08:12 > 0:08:16and saw that pink room that Michael Craig-Martin had curated,
0:08:16 > 0:08:19and just was just completely blown away by it.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23So, they're two drawings, both based in that big, pink room.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27Hopefully it'll catch their eye, because they'll remember it.
0:08:29 > 0:08:35Also entering two prints are duo Janet French and Emma Buckmaster.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39We've done everything we can.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42They're going to be on their own now.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51At their studio in Suffolk, Emma and Janet print woodland scenes
0:08:51 > 0:08:55onto paper made from the leaves of the trees being depicted.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02That's going to be good.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04We both collect the leaves.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07- We normally say we need a thousand leaves.- Yeah, at least.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13We're like bag ladies going round with bags full of leaves.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15Ow!
0:09:15 > 0:09:19We're so lucky to be able to do something we really love doing.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21Not everyone can say that, can they?
0:09:21 > 0:09:26- Not everyone has the chance to express themselves.- Yeah.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29For Emma and Janet,
0:09:29 > 0:09:33the print-making studio has become a sanctuary.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37When we're working together, we have to be quite frank
0:09:37 > 0:09:40with each other about what's happening in our own lives.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42I might tell you things that I wouldn't tell anyone else,
0:09:42 > 0:09:47because it's so important to our mental wellbeing and calmness.
0:09:47 > 0:09:52If I'm tense, I can't work. And the same with Janet.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56This is the moment of truth, has it worked or not?
0:09:56 > 0:09:57Yes.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01Despite their apparent calm, the pressure is on.
0:10:01 > 0:10:03Tension's mounting now, isn't it?
0:10:03 > 0:10:07Because it matters so much, that you can't really not think about it.
0:10:07 > 0:10:09It can just change everything overnight, really,
0:10:09 > 0:10:14because it takes you from sleepy Suffolk to suddenly the big time.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23We'll be catching up with all our hopefuls later in the programme.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27Each year, one of Britain's leading artists takes
0:10:27 > 0:10:29control of the Summer Exhibition.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32This time around, that honour falls to a sculptor who just loves to
0:10:32 > 0:10:34take people's breath away.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44Richard Wilson has a unique, creative mind, with a genius for
0:10:44 > 0:10:49dazzling artworks that have a dose of old-fashioned British humour.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51He paid homage to the Michael Caine film,
0:10:51 > 0:10:55The Italian Job, in Bexhill-on-Sea,
0:10:55 > 0:10:59and poured gallons of oil into a room at London's Saatchi Gallery.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05So, Richard Wilson is a sculptor who loves spectacle.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07But I don't think ever before I've actually got to interview
0:11:07 > 0:11:10a sculptor in one of his own creations.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14So, here I am on the River Thames and I'm about to go into a ship,
0:11:14 > 0:11:15but this isn't any old ship.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17This is a slice of a ship.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23Welcome aboard.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25Slice of Reality was created by Richard for
0:11:25 > 0:11:28the 2000 millennium celebrations,
0:11:28 > 0:11:33a witty and poignant reminder of the Thames' declining maritime prowess.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39I like the idea that captains and pilots and seamen and seawomen
0:11:39 > 0:11:42would be coming up the Thames and think, "Am I seeing things?"
0:11:42 > 0:11:45Well, it's certainly an extraordinary thing to see,
0:11:45 > 0:11:48and most people, when I used to be onboard, working,
0:11:48 > 0:11:50would walk by and say, "What is it?"
0:11:50 > 0:11:54I'd say, "It's a slice of a ship," you know, because it is!
0:11:59 > 0:12:02When you were asked to do the Summer Exhibition,
0:12:02 > 0:12:04what was your first thought?
0:12:04 > 0:12:09I mean, were you excited? Or was it a workaday thing? What did you want to achieve?
0:12:09 > 0:12:11I thought it was a great privilege to be asked.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15I do know that there had been thoughts that perhaps
0:12:15 > 0:12:19I could do it a year or two ago, and I'd said I was too busy.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23And this year, I thought about saying I'm too busy, because I was.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25I tried one or two excuses just to test the water, to see
0:12:25 > 0:12:27if I could get out, and I couldn't.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30So, once you make the commitment then you're committed. You have to do it.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32So, what was the idea?
0:12:32 > 0:12:35How are you going to approach every different space?
0:12:35 > 0:12:37Well, I think there's a sense of the wow factor.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40I mean, I have depended, through my own work,
0:12:40 > 0:12:42on the notion of spectacle.
0:12:42 > 0:12:46That can be a dirty word in the art world with certain people, certain artists.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48But it's something I quite like. I like
0:12:48 > 0:12:49that wow factor that you get,
0:12:49 > 0:12:52and then you have to digest the wow factor.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56You have to think, "Why was the hair on the back of my head tingling? What's going on?"
0:12:56 > 0:12:58Then you start to engage.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01But you need that moment where you draw someone in.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05So I started to think every room had to be a different experience.
0:13:05 > 0:13:10So, here we have you, the artist, and the Royal Academy exhibition,
0:13:10 > 0:13:12what do you think about that?
0:13:12 > 0:13:15It was a great privilege to be invited to be this year's coordinator
0:13:15 > 0:13:19and to be part of the tradition,
0:13:19 > 0:13:22this great cultural tradition that takes place annually,
0:13:22 > 0:13:26every summer, hopefully in good weather,
0:13:26 > 0:13:31and it's a grand cultural occasion in...
0:13:31 > 0:13:34OK, very much in London. But it's international.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37It seems to capture people's imagination.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39- They want to know about it. - And you get to do it.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42And you get to sort of have a say in it, yes.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46With my friends, the Beatles, try with a little help from my friends.
0:13:57 > 0:14:02It's crunch time back at the Royal Academy, as judging begins.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08Just call out yes or no, I mean, if anyone wants...
0:14:12 > 0:14:14Not for me.
0:14:14 > 0:14:15Yeah, definitely.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18- It's nail-biting stuff...- Yes.
0:14:18 > 0:14:23..as every work of art goes before a distinguished team of experts.
0:14:24 > 0:14:25Yeah.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29All that separates being in or out is a single
0:14:29 > 0:14:32yes from one of the judges.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35- No.- Yes.- Yeah? OK.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40Judging works of art for the Summer Exhibition may be
0:14:40 > 0:14:43an exhausting process. RICHARD SIGHS
0:14:44 > 0:14:48However, being judged is even harder.
0:14:48 > 0:14:55This year alone, over 11,000 will have their work rejected,
0:14:55 > 0:15:01a morale-sapping rite of passage, shared by artists through history.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05Even from the very early days, in the 1770s,
0:15:05 > 0:15:07we know that pictures were being rejected.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11There wasn't enough room on the walls to hang everything,
0:15:11 > 0:15:14so this idea of selection, of filtering grew.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18We know that Edouard Manet was rejected,
0:15:18 > 0:15:22because he wrote about it in a letter to Baudelaire.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24Even Constable, he got rejected
0:15:24 > 0:15:27when he was actually sitting on the selection panel.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29This is a rejection letter from 1935.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32It's Stanley Spencer, who was a member of the Academy,
0:15:32 > 0:15:35but that year's submissions hadn't gone too well.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39He'd sent his six pictures and three were rejected.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42He's taken this, quite reasonably, very badly.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45He says, "If by doing this you wish to show me you could have
0:15:45 > 0:15:48"what pictures of mine you liked and not what you did not, I will take
0:15:48 > 0:15:51"care you never have another picture of mine so long as I am alive.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55"If it is your idea to tease me, by hanging onto these pictures
0:15:55 > 0:15:58"and to make me unhappy by doing so, you are succeeding in doing so.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01"Do please, please, let me have my pictures back. I want my pictures."
0:16:01 > 0:16:05And at the end of all of this he just puts, "Please excuse pencil."
0:16:08 > 0:16:11Janette, Rose...
0:16:11 > 0:16:13Oh, my God.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17..and our duo, Emma and Janet, are about to receive
0:16:17 > 0:16:21an e-mail from the RA informing them if the judges liked their work.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27If successful, they're still in with a chance of getting their work
0:16:27 > 0:16:29hung at the Summer Exhibition.
0:16:29 > 0:16:30COMPUTER CHIMES
0:16:30 > 0:16:34Oh, here we go - Summer Exhibition.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37"Thank you for entering this year's Summer Exhibition.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40"With almost 12,000 entries, the competition was extremely strong...
0:16:40 > 0:16:42"I am pleased to inform you...
0:16:42 > 0:16:45"Your artworks are still under consideration."
0:16:45 > 0:16:48LAUGHTER
0:16:48 > 0:16:51"..is still under consideration."
0:16:52 > 0:16:54Amazing!
0:16:54 > 0:16:57The way it's worded makes you think that you haven't got through.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59Oh, my God, that's amazing.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01- I can't believe that. - I can't believe it.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04I think we'll have to read it again.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08"You will receive further notification on the 28th of May."
0:17:09 > 0:17:11What's that all about?
0:17:11 > 0:17:13I don't know what to say.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18I've only rehearsed, in my own mind, the not getting through.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23Champagne, I think, yeah. And not go back to work this afternoon.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26Oh, my God, that is so good. Wicked!
0:17:26 > 0:17:28Cheers. Cheers. Cheers.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34I hope this is the good stuff.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40One of Richard Wilson's big ideas for the Summer Exhibition is
0:17:40 > 0:17:43to feature artists who work not by themselves, but in a pair.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47Making a work of art can be intense. Is it harder or easier
0:17:47 > 0:17:50when you're dealing with not one artistic ego, but two?
0:17:52 > 0:17:56- How was that, Kirsty? - Pretty good, maybe one more.
0:17:57 > 0:17:58HE SIGHS
0:18:01 > 0:18:03In the world of comedy,
0:18:03 > 0:18:09music and sport, the idea of a duo feels just right.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13# It takes two baby
0:18:13 > 0:18:16# It takes two baby
0:18:16 > 0:18:17# Me and you... #
0:18:17 > 0:18:19But less so in art.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21What's your favourite TV programme?
0:18:21 > 0:18:23Songs Of Praise.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26Creative double acts, like Gilbert & George,
0:18:26 > 0:18:30seem the exception rather than the rule.
0:18:30 > 0:18:35And the RA has historically not allowed artistic duos to become members.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40I've been a campaigner for bringing duos into the RA.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43In 1984, Gilbert & George won the Turner Prize
0:18:43 > 0:18:45and there wasn't a debate about it.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47It was like, two people can win the Turner Prize
0:18:47 > 0:18:50and the RA is a little bit backward in that way,
0:18:50 > 0:18:53with that thinking. Should we address it?
0:18:53 > 0:18:55So I put together a duo show.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58Now, the idea of the duos isn't that I want to corral them
0:18:58 > 0:19:01and make them sort of an oddity.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03You know, "Look at them all - the duos."
0:19:03 > 0:19:06The idea is to spread them right the way through all the rooms.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10So, this year's show will feature some of the most exciting
0:19:10 > 0:19:12artistic duos working today.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15The worst thing about cameras in the studios is then you have to
0:19:15 > 0:19:17act at being an artist.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21- This is more like The Two Ronnies, they used to sit on chairs like this.- The Two Ronnies.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25Husband and wife, Ivan Morison and Heather Peak,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28live in a remote and sedate part of Herefordshire.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33And in this pastoral atmosphere, the Morisons
0:19:33 > 0:19:37create work that is clever, disturbing and often magical.
0:19:41 > 0:19:46We're very, very different to each other, and it's between those
0:19:46 > 0:19:48two differences that all this work is made.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51We don't agree on lots of things.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54And it's a real kind of challenge and a real pleasure
0:19:54 > 0:19:56to work in that way.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04Their work is all tinged with dark humour,
0:20:04 > 0:20:06like these fake personal ads.
0:20:08 > 0:20:12Another ongoing series involves sending postcards from different
0:20:12 > 0:20:16parts of the world that play with the idea of being a married couple.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23People who don't know what they are, they can seem like it really concerned them.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27A question about who sent this. "What do they want of me, really?"
0:20:27 > 0:20:29That's what a lot of people ask of those sort of things.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32This one says, "It got to the point where I just had to get out,
0:20:32 > 0:20:35"that's when I built my first escape vehicle."
0:20:35 > 0:20:37That's from Los Angeles, California.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41This one says, "I used to love her, but look what she's done.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44"I hate her, I hate her." That's from Tasmania.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47LAUGHTER
0:20:48 > 0:20:52These postcards give you little glimpses or hints into quite
0:20:52 > 0:20:56what's happening to us and to the world around us
0:20:56 > 0:20:58and the things that we're working on at the time.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02I think something interesting about working in a partnership,
0:21:02 > 0:21:06is how intrigued people are about that relationship, what is that?
0:21:06 > 0:21:10And I think it's quite irresistible to play on that.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18Over in East London are another artistic duo whose work
0:21:18 > 0:21:20and lives couldn't be more different.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24Noble and Webster's art is often created out of junk,
0:21:24 > 0:21:27transforming base material into bracing sculpture.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33Being in a duo, you feel that you don't need the rest of the world
0:21:33 > 0:21:36because it's you two against the rest of the world, if you like.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39With a collaboration, you get contradictions.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41You end up doing things that you wouldn't necessarily do.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44You just come up with ideas and the two of you bounce those
0:21:44 > 0:21:47ideas off and, before you know it, they're set into place.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49It's a belief system.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53I guess there was one point, because we were both using the same hair dye, whereas...
0:21:53 > 0:21:56You almost become the same.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58You have the same thought, don't you?
0:21:58 > 0:22:02Noble and Webster are famous for their haunting shadow sculptures,
0:22:02 > 0:22:05and these works have now taken on an extra dimension.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12We were very much together when we started out making them,
0:22:12 > 0:22:14but when you look back at them now, you can see,
0:22:14 > 0:22:16instead of those two figures being joined together,
0:22:16 > 0:22:20those are two figures that are actually not facing each other any more.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24Having been a couple since the late 1980s, Noble and Webster now
0:22:24 > 0:22:29live apart, but they still collaborate as an artistic duo.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33If two people have had a very, very intense relationship,
0:22:33 > 0:22:35and I think it was quite intense,
0:22:35 > 0:22:39obviously it was full of pleasure and it was full of magic and...
0:22:39 > 0:22:41it's an amazing life story.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44But when you, sort of, say, "Well, how long is forever?"
0:22:44 > 0:22:47Forever does come to an end sometimes.
0:22:47 > 0:22:48The dynamic's changed a little bit
0:22:48 > 0:22:51because, of course, we're not living and working together any more,
0:22:51 > 0:22:56but we still, when we do meet up, we still feel that there's,
0:22:56 > 0:23:00you know, there's ideas that still need to be pursued.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03When two people come together, there is a greater force.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07But, in a sense, being in a show,
0:23:07 > 0:23:09it connects, you have to connect with people.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12People have that ability and the artwork to make it
0:23:12 > 0:23:15transcend into, like, a bigger possibility, don't they?
0:23:15 > 0:23:17So, really, if Sue and I kind of drop dead tomorrow,
0:23:17 > 0:23:19it's about the artwork, isn't it?
0:23:21 > 0:23:26Jake and Dinos Chapman emerged out of the '90s Britart explosion,
0:23:26 > 0:23:30their work straddling the fine line between the horrific
0:23:30 > 0:23:31and the hilarious.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36Everything on here's been touched by Jake and me with a paintbrush
0:23:36 > 0:23:37and a glue gun.
0:23:39 > 0:23:40With these hands.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46Even though Dinos recently moved to America, the Chapman
0:23:46 > 0:23:50partnership still continues to challenge the art establishment.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55Deciding to work together was less to do with the choice
0:23:55 > 0:23:58dictated by being siblings than it was to do
0:23:58 > 0:24:01with identifying with each other's ideas about art.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05If anything, the dynamic of being brothers just merely makes
0:24:05 > 0:24:08the hostility towards each other a little bit more sort of
0:24:08 > 0:24:12bearable, and any argument can always be arbitrated by our mother.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18The Chapman brothers have always enjoyed the unease that being
0:24:18 > 0:24:20an artistic duo can provoke.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25The idea of the intimacy with a singular relationship between
0:24:25 > 0:24:29one artist's work and one viewer has a kind of intimacy and a proximity,
0:24:29 > 0:24:33and an authenticity to it, which is kind of broken by the notion
0:24:33 > 0:24:36of you standing in front of something made by more than one person.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39You don't know who you're talking to when you're looking at the work of art.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43So, it's not surprising that a kind of phobia to duos persists.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49At one point, Dinos was offered membership of the Royal Academy,
0:24:49 > 0:24:52but Jake was not.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54I mean, I did sort of say, if they're going to be that
0:24:54 > 0:24:56sort of squeamish about it, why don't they give Dinos an R
0:24:56 > 0:24:58and I can have an A?
0:24:58 > 0:25:01You know? I'm not even sure how it actually came to him,
0:25:01 > 0:25:05but I told him if he took it, I would sue him.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08- And I'd break all his work. - LAUGHTER
0:25:09 > 0:25:12The courtyard installation at the Summer Exhibition is
0:25:12 > 0:25:15one of the great artistic commissions of the year.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19In 2016, the honour goes to a true maverick of the art world.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27All of these objects are by Ron Arad,
0:25:27 > 0:25:31whose work has always defied categorisation by the critics.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42Ron Arad's sculptures and one-off commissions,
0:25:42 > 0:25:45made in everything from highly polished steel to car seats
0:25:45 > 0:25:48found in scrapyards, have seen him celebrated as one of the most
0:25:48 > 0:25:51creative minds working in Britain today.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58Arad has been based in this studio in North London
0:25:58 > 0:26:01for the past 25 years.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06It's a place humming with creativity and Ron's work.
0:26:09 > 0:26:14Ron has always advocated the importance of mixing work with play.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19- Why is the table bent? - It slows the game.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23Yeah, it feels pretty fast to me!
0:26:23 > 0:26:25Like this...
0:26:25 > 0:26:29'And he can't resist showing me some of his more fun designs...'
0:26:29 > 0:26:31It's like a matryoshka.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34'..including these 3D-printed vases and lights.'
0:26:38 > 0:26:41'This is the model for the work he's creating for the courtyard
0:26:41 > 0:26:43'of the Royal Academy.'
0:26:43 > 0:26:47Can I just make sure I'm pronouncing it right. It's Spyre, isn't it?
0:26:47 > 0:26:51I'm sure your English pronunciation is better than mine.
0:26:51 > 0:26:57Spyre, it's just like a church spire, but we change the "i" to "y"
0:26:57 > 0:27:03because it has a camera here and it "spies", so to speak.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06Normally, you look at sculptures,
0:27:06 > 0:27:09but this sculpture also looks back at you.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12It needs very clever mechanical engineering
0:27:12 > 0:27:17and it needs a lot of knowledge that I don't have.
0:27:17 > 0:27:22They make it in Holland by some shipbuilders.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24People can look at this moving
0:27:24 > 0:27:28and they don't have to worry too much, "How does it do it?"
0:27:28 > 0:27:32"How does a television work?" You know, it just does it.
0:27:34 > 0:27:39The camera at the top of Spyre will record people coming into the RA and
0:27:39 > 0:27:43then broadcast their images online and onto the front of the RA itself.
0:27:44 > 0:27:49Spyre makes me think of two things - the first one is CCTV,
0:27:49 > 0:27:52but also internet surveillance, people looking at what's happening.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55Yeah, but at least it's not hiding.
0:27:55 > 0:28:00At least it's standing in the centre stage of the art world.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04But do you feel like you're drawing attention to that state of affairs?
0:28:04 > 0:28:09Look, you can never control the use or the interpretation
0:28:09 > 0:28:12that your work will induce.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16It's a very, very heavy piece of steel and then it
0:28:16 > 0:28:21sort of moves gracefully, and I hope it will cheer people up.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30A couple of weeks before the Summer Exhibition opens,
0:28:30 > 0:28:34Ron is on site at the Royal Academy to supervise the arrival of Spyre.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41This is some bird shit - excuse my language.
0:28:45 > 0:28:50And the show's co-ordinator can't resist having a sneak peak.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53When it came, it was full of bird shit.
0:28:53 > 0:28:55I love prints.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01This is a great moment, to be lived with an animation
0:29:01 > 0:29:04that we did for so long.
0:29:04 > 0:29:07This is life imitating art, if you want.
0:29:09 > 0:29:14You'll see Spyre in its full glory at the end of the programme.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22And inside the Royal Academy,
0:29:22 > 0:29:25the rest of the Summer Exhibition is starting to take shape.
0:29:27 > 0:29:31The Marina Abramovic to be hung over there.
0:29:34 > 0:29:38- And your predecessor, Michael Craig-Martin.- Yes.
0:29:38 > 0:29:41- This is a pretty hefty piece. - He's been rather naughty.
0:29:41 > 0:29:43He's exceeded the size limit.
0:29:49 > 0:29:54So, give me an idea of where you are now in terms of the hang?
0:29:55 > 0:29:58- Yeah, in full chaos. - LAUGHTER
0:29:58 > 0:30:02I'm not an expert on how to hang a show.
0:30:02 > 0:30:06It's the diversity that is my problem because, not only do
0:30:06 > 0:30:09you have these wonderful large works, you have much smaller works.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12You have abstract work, you have figurative work.
0:30:12 > 0:30:15It's very difficult to find the right combinations to make each work
0:30:15 > 0:30:19have its own territory and hold the presence in front of an audience.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22And your hair's still a normal colour, it's not grey.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25- No, I'm getting thinner! - LAUGHTER
0:30:30 > 0:30:34One of the highlights of last year's show was Jim Lambie's
0:30:34 > 0:30:38colourful transformation of the Royal Academy's grand staircase.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44But this year,
0:30:44 > 0:30:47Richard Wilson has given this spectacular space to a duo
0:30:47 > 0:30:50who create complex and brooding art.
0:30:53 > 0:30:56This is a CGI rendering of what Jane and Louise Wilson
0:30:56 > 0:30:59plan to display on the walls around the staircase.
0:31:01 > 0:31:06A series of large-scale prints from their photographic series, Atomgrad,
0:31:06 > 0:31:09showing the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
0:31:14 > 0:31:18The Wilsons work in a non-descript industrial estate in London.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25These twins create photographs
0:31:25 > 0:31:29and films that often depict the most traumatic events of the Cold War.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36People have a preconception about the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition,
0:31:36 > 0:31:38champagne, strawberries, all this kind of stuff.
0:31:38 > 0:31:41How do you think the public will respond to your staircase?
0:31:41 > 0:31:46Well, people come expecting to be challenged,
0:31:46 > 0:31:49presumably, as well, and to be, you know, they find art challenging.
0:31:49 > 0:31:51And it is challenging, hopefully.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55Could it go wrong? Could it have everybody going back out the door?
0:31:55 > 0:32:01- I think they might well not go back out the door, they might just run. - LAUGHTER
0:32:01 > 0:32:05MUSIC: 99 Red Balloons by Nena
0:32:07 > 0:32:12The Wilsons are drawn to places that are haunted by the ghosts of history.
0:32:14 > 0:32:19For Stasi City, they were granted unique access to the old offices
0:32:19 > 0:32:23and interrogation rooms of the East German Secret Police.
0:32:29 > 0:32:33We are looking at sort of fairly banal office interiors,
0:32:33 > 0:32:38and even the interview rooms that were probably actually really
0:32:38 > 0:32:41a site of terror for people who were held, because they were
0:32:41 > 0:32:43political prisoners, you look at these interview rooms
0:32:43 > 0:32:48and you think, actually... You know, these double padded doors with net curtains.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51So, there was this concession to humanity, but in actual fact,
0:32:51 > 0:32:54it really has this sort of theatre.
0:32:54 > 0:32:57And I think there is something about that, that we
0:32:57 > 0:33:00definitely were fascinated to kind of document somehow.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06It was over a period of many trips that we went there,
0:33:06 > 0:33:10and gradually it became a way of being able to locate keys, being
0:33:10 > 0:33:13able to open doors, being able to go through into separate spaces that
0:33:13 > 0:33:16hadn't been processed, hadn't been looked at, hadn't been opened out.
0:33:16 > 0:33:22That is so interesting, because essentially what you were having to do was negotiate with people
0:33:22 > 0:33:25that you must have known were probably former Stasi officers.
0:33:25 > 0:33:27Well, that was the curious thing, it was like having someone
0:33:27 > 0:33:30inspecting you while you were inspecting it.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36The sisters' curiosity took them to another Cold War landmark,
0:33:36 > 0:33:39the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant,
0:33:39 > 0:33:43a place they documented in the film The Toxic Camera.
0:33:46 > 0:33:502016 is the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl meltdown,
0:33:50 > 0:33:54and the Wilsons feel it's timely to display their photo series
0:33:54 > 0:33:56Atomgrad in the Royal Academy.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01You come across as incredibly
0:34:01 > 0:34:08- funny, warm, joie de vivre, optimistic.- Yes.- Positive.
0:34:08 > 0:34:10You're going to ask why we were photographing in Chernobyl.
0:34:10 > 0:34:15I'm going to ask you why you're drawn to territory which is
0:34:15 > 0:34:18much, much more difficult, and territory where
0:34:18 > 0:34:21there are dreadful echoes in all your photographs?
0:34:21 > 0:34:24I think you have to approach it with a degree of optimism, oddly enough.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28You know, for us, it's that fascination in a way of seeing spaces that would
0:34:28 > 0:34:31have been very difficult to have gained access to,
0:34:31 > 0:34:33or to even be made visible in a sense.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37So, I think there's a kind of imperative there to visualise something,
0:34:37 > 0:34:41- to picture something.- But it's also certain, specific kind of sites
0:34:41 > 0:34:44and certain kind of specific spaces which have
0:34:44 > 0:34:49marked us and our upbringing and our childhood and our thinking.
0:34:49 > 0:34:53Obviously, something which we're showing in the RA around Chernobyl.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56That was '86. That impacted everybody.
0:34:56 > 0:34:59It's going to look incredibly baroque.
0:34:59 > 0:35:01And in fact, because of the chandeliers,
0:35:01 > 0:35:03because of the red carpet...
0:35:03 > 0:35:08but then also to have this image of what radioactive destruction
0:35:08 > 0:35:12created in the architecture of these buildings, to have that pictured
0:35:12 > 0:35:17in this space will be powerful in the context of the Royal Academy.
0:35:17 > 0:35:22Also to see actually what civilisation was. What's happened.
0:35:22 > 0:35:26- You know, not what's happened generally, just this idea. - What CAN happen.
0:35:26 > 0:35:31What man's hubris can actually, you know, create.
0:35:38 > 0:35:40The wait for our hopefuls is over.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45They've passed the judging stage, but now they will discover
0:35:45 > 0:35:49if they've actually made it onto the hallowed walls of the RA.
0:35:49 > 0:35:50COMPUTER CHIMES
0:35:50 > 0:35:52Yeah, it's arrived.
0:35:52 > 0:35:56"The members of the selection committee have given careful
0:35:56 > 0:35:58"consideration to your entry but regret to inform you that
0:35:58 > 0:36:01"it has not been included in the final selection."
0:36:01 > 0:36:04Didn't get in. No.
0:36:04 > 0:36:06Ah, that's so annoying, two not getting in.
0:36:06 > 0:36:08I thought maybe I'd get one in.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14It's all right. No problem.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18Ah. "Dear Janette Byrne, the members of the selection committee have
0:36:18 > 0:36:22"given careful consideration to your entries,
0:36:22 > 0:36:25"but regret to inform you that it has not been included
0:36:25 > 0:36:28"in the final selection."
0:36:28 > 0:36:31Well, there we go.
0:36:31 > 0:36:35After all that, I have to try next year again.
0:36:35 > 0:36:38And again. Not champagne today, sorry.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41Sorry, everybody can put the champagne away.
0:36:41 > 0:36:43I'll have it on my birthday.
0:36:46 > 0:36:51With two out of our three artists falling at the last hurdle...
0:36:53 > 0:36:58..will duo Emma and Janet suffer a similar fate?
0:36:58 > 0:37:02Or will their tribute to trees be hung on the walls of the Royal Academy?
0:37:04 > 0:37:06- BOTH:- Yes!
0:37:06 > 0:37:11We're in! two pictures hung in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition!
0:37:11 > 0:37:13So exciting!
0:37:17 > 0:37:20It's varnishing day at the RA,
0:37:20 > 0:37:24when exhibiting artists see their work for the first time.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28But before Emma and Janet are allowed inside the gallery, there is
0:37:28 > 0:37:31a small matter of the rituals of the Summer Exhibition itself.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37Fittingly, for an institution as unique as the Academy,
0:37:37 > 0:37:41varnishing day begins with a parade through Central London
0:37:41 > 0:37:43and even takes in a church service.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54In the sacred setting of St James's, Piccadilly,
0:37:54 > 0:37:58aspiring artists rub shoulders with some rather famous figures.
0:37:58 > 0:38:01..Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.
0:38:01 > 0:38:03Amen.
0:38:03 > 0:38:07Ancient formalities over, it's time for the festivities to begin.
0:38:09 > 0:38:14Now, Emma and Janet can finally enter the Royal Academy itself.
0:38:15 > 0:38:19It's a day of celebration for all those lucky enough to be here,
0:38:19 > 0:38:22and the duo can find out exactly where their two
0:38:22 > 0:38:23works are positioned.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27- It's in an amazing position. - Yeah, it's really good.
0:38:27 > 0:38:29- I can't believe it.- Great position.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31It's about as good as it can be.
0:38:31 > 0:38:33- Let's go and find where the other one is.- Yeah, let's go.
0:38:38 > 0:38:41- Wow.- Fantastic.
0:38:41 > 0:38:45That just changes that little picture into something
0:38:45 > 0:38:47- completely different. - It's amazing.
0:38:47 > 0:38:49I feel a bit out of my depth, actually.
0:38:51 > 0:38:53Just a touch overwhelmed.
0:38:56 > 0:38:58As well as the success of Emma and Janet,
0:38:58 > 0:39:02it's another triumphant year for Harry Hill.
0:39:06 > 0:39:10And varnishing day is extra special this year as it hosts a very
0:39:10 > 0:39:12unusual artistic duo.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17Eva and Adele claim to have come from the future,
0:39:17 > 0:39:20though you might remember this unique Austro-German pair
0:39:20 > 0:39:23as the Eggheads on the programme Eurotrash.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27We love it so much to be here
0:39:27 > 0:39:30because it's incredible energy...
0:39:32 > 0:39:34..and it's so surprising as well.
0:39:36 > 0:39:43We also love this main hall, where our painting is here behind us.
0:39:43 > 0:39:47So it's, for us, a very lucky experience to come to the
0:39:47 > 0:39:49Summer Exhibition of Royal Academy.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54The night before the launch of the Summer Exhibition,
0:39:54 > 0:39:58the RA holds a grand dinner for its members and invited guests.
0:40:05 > 0:40:07APPLAUSE
0:40:10 > 0:40:14Tonight's Speaker is Marina Abramovic,
0:40:14 > 0:40:18the performance artist who fearlessly pushes her own body
0:40:18 > 0:40:20to create provocative images.
0:40:22 > 0:40:26Ladies and gentleman, I'm sorry I cannot give you a speech
0:40:26 > 0:40:30full of English wit, with eloquent references to Boris and Brexit.
0:40:30 > 0:40:35- LAUGHTER - But perhaps you will allow me
0:40:35 > 0:40:38to tell you where I find inspiration,
0:40:38 > 0:40:41both for my art and for my life.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44When an idea appears in front of me,
0:40:44 > 0:40:48I always ask myself, "Am I afraid of it?
0:40:48 > 0:40:53"Or do I like it?" If I like it, I'm not interested.
0:40:53 > 0:40:56I'm not after comfortable ideas.
0:40:56 > 0:41:00I'm only interested in ideas that deeply disturb me.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03Ideas that are difficult to realise.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06Then the idea becomes some kind of obsession,
0:41:06 > 0:41:08and the more I think about it,
0:41:08 > 0:41:13the more I want to find a way to make it and share with others.
0:41:14 > 0:41:18And so, it is the great pleasure for me
0:41:18 > 0:41:22to invite my fellow guests to rise and join me
0:41:22 > 0:41:27in a toast to the Royal Academy Of Art - past, present and future.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32CHEERING
0:41:36 > 0:41:38But the main event is
0:41:38 > 0:41:42the announcement of the winner of the Charles Wollaston Award.
0:41:42 > 0:41:47The prize of £25,000 is given for the most distinguished
0:41:47 > 0:41:49work in the exhibition.
0:41:49 > 0:41:53And I'm delighted to announce that the winner is...
0:41:54 > 0:41:56..David Nash.
0:41:56 > 0:41:58APPLAUSE
0:42:06 > 0:42:09Nash's winning piece is Big Black,
0:42:09 > 0:42:13created from a 1,000-year-old Californian redwood tree.
0:42:15 > 0:42:19It was Big Red, because I wanted to make the most of the red colour.
0:42:19 > 0:42:23But it didn't really work, so I charred it.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26And that's very connected with the redwood,
0:42:26 > 0:42:30because they need fire for their seeds to open.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36And why does David think he won?
0:42:36 > 0:42:39Because it's big and it's black.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41And it's not a pretty thing.
0:42:41 > 0:42:46That certainly would be some of the criteria, I imagine, of the judges.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49It never occurred to me that it would be getting this prize.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55It's an accolade for the work and for Big Black.
0:43:01 > 0:43:06At last, it's the day of the opening party of the Summer Exhibition.
0:43:06 > 0:43:11In the morning, Gilbert & George, the most famous duo in art,
0:43:11 > 0:43:13are doing a photo call.
0:43:22 > 0:43:26And now I have exclusive access to the show.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30Ron Arad's sculpture is here.
0:43:30 > 0:43:33It's monumental. It's all moving, it's all working.
0:43:33 > 0:43:37It's a piece of architectural beauty, a piece of design genius.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40This delivers Richard Wilson's first wow.
0:43:51 > 0:43:55So, on the staircase, the second kind of wow that Richard wanted
0:43:55 > 0:44:00was the Wilson twins and their extraordinary images of Chernobyl.
0:44:00 > 0:44:02And I think he really has succeeded in this,
0:44:02 > 0:44:06because they're disturbing and they're strangely beautiful,
0:44:06 > 0:44:09and you can see the foliage coming in, where they've been abandoned.
0:44:09 > 0:44:12And actually, it's incredibly thought provoking,
0:44:12 > 0:44:14and they are utterly beautiful prints.
0:44:16 > 0:44:20Now I'm off to meet the show's coordinator for a guided tour.
0:44:24 > 0:44:25SHE LAUGHS
0:44:25 > 0:44:29Well, you got a wow. I mean, the Noble and Webster up there.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32- God, it's fantastic, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36I think that's the message for our Royal Academy future, "Forever".
0:44:37 > 0:44:41There are 22 duos in the exhibition spread throughout
0:44:41 > 0:44:43all of these 14 galleries.
0:44:56 > 0:45:00And then straight into another huge blast of colour in this room.
0:45:00 > 0:45:06Gallery Six, yes. Chapman brothers, one of our duos.
0:45:06 > 0:45:08These of course are dress dummies.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11They've made their own audience for the piece of work.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14- And you'll notice that, in their hands...- Are their eyeballs.
0:45:14 > 0:45:16..are their eyeballs, gouged from the figures,
0:45:16 > 0:45:19but the eyes aimed at staring at the work.
0:45:20 > 0:45:22It's so disturbing.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25And then this wonderful piece of bronze.
0:45:25 > 0:45:29I mean, it's just... It just seems so powerful.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32It's almost like a meteorite has landed in the room.
0:45:32 > 0:45:36Something that's been jettisoned, perhaps out of a volcano,
0:45:36 > 0:45:39and thrown into the sky and landed in Gallery Six.
0:45:39 > 0:45:43And it's...it's a fist. It's the RA saying, "We're here."
0:45:44 > 0:45:47So this is almost like the last minute of calm
0:45:47 > 0:45:50before the crowds are going to rush in and see what you have
0:45:50 > 0:45:54- put together for them, what delights you've collected for them.- Yes.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57Do you think you've succeeded? How do you feel about all this now?
0:45:57 > 0:46:00We will be meeting our critics for the first time this evening.
0:46:00 > 0:46:03I'm feeling pretty good about it. I know we've done a good job.
0:46:03 > 0:46:05And if I know I've done a good job,
0:46:05 > 0:46:07I know that there will be a good response to it.
0:46:07 > 0:46:10- And the big word you wanted was "wow".- Yeah.
0:46:10 > 0:46:12I mean, so what I'm trying to do is...
0:46:12 > 0:46:14little flavours and little moments
0:46:14 > 0:46:17and surprises and wows in every room.
0:46:17 > 0:46:21So, the idea is to try and get as much punch going - fist, you know.
0:46:21 > 0:46:25You come out and you say, "There was that, there was that, there was that."
0:46:25 > 0:46:27And you come out and say, "Wow!"
0:46:27 > 0:46:30You come out and say, "Wow, well done, Richard Wilson."
0:46:30 > 0:46:33- Well done, Richard Wilson! - LAUGHTER
0:46:35 > 0:46:38It's party time, and an array of famous faces
0:46:38 > 0:46:40enter the Royal Academy.
0:46:40 > 0:46:44MUSIC: The Less I Know The Better by Tame Impala
0:46:54 > 0:46:58I kind of just run around with something to steal all of the art.
0:46:58 > 0:47:00I didn't bring a big enough bag!
0:47:04 > 0:47:06It's classy. It's gorgeous.
0:47:06 > 0:47:08Beautiful people in lovely dresses.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15I love that it's so eclectic and that it comes from, you know,
0:47:15 > 0:47:18incredibly well-known artists through to, you know, local artists
0:47:18 > 0:47:22who are making these pieces at home. So it's a lovely collection.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27It gets me so excited about art every year. I love it.
0:47:29 > 0:47:32This is our first, and I think it's brilliant because it's
0:47:32 > 0:47:36so lovely, anyone can enter. And we're so excited.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39The great thing about the Summer Exhibition is that
0:47:39 > 0:47:42just about everything's for sale.
0:47:42 > 0:47:46So, if you've got the money, there's artwork here at £200 or £20,000.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49And all the money from sales goes to the Royal Academy Schools,
0:47:49 > 0:47:52a free art college that's in this building.
0:47:52 > 0:47:56So, who's buying what? We tagged along with two celebrity regulars.
0:48:01 > 0:48:04First up, I met with Radio 1's Nick Grimshaw.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09So, Nick, are you somebody who comes to the summer show every year?
0:48:09 > 0:48:14- Yeah, I've been probably...maybe five or six times now.- Whoa.
0:48:14 > 0:48:17And I really, really love it. I love it because it's got absolutely
0:48:17 > 0:48:20everything from sculptures to architectural drawings to sketches
0:48:20 > 0:48:22to great photography,
0:48:22 > 0:48:25and then you've got great new, exciting artists
0:48:25 > 0:48:27- with the old greats, side by side. - Yeah.
0:48:27 > 0:48:31Meanwhile, I joined actress Jamie Winstone.
0:48:31 > 0:48:36- By the way, you have to pass Iggy Pop to go through.- Oh, do we?
0:48:36 > 0:48:39Oh, I love him.
0:48:40 > 0:48:43This event always gets me very excited.
0:48:43 > 0:48:46You have new artists, you have mixed artists, you have photography.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49And if you're not in the art world, and if you don't have loads of money, this is a great
0:48:49 > 0:48:52opportunity to come and see that and venture out in your art skills.
0:48:52 > 0:48:56- So... In fact, I can see something already.- Let's go.- Damn!
0:48:56 > 0:49:03Jamie is on a shopping spree for her dad, actor Ray Winstone.
0:49:03 > 0:49:08- I actually love these, but together. And that might be a little bit... - Together?
0:49:08 > 0:49:12You would buy both? Have you got carte blanche, then, from your father?
0:49:12 > 0:49:15- Yeah.- Have you, really?- What, have it all? Yeah, a little bit.
0:49:15 > 0:49:16OK, so he hasn't given you
0:49:16 > 0:49:18a budget, and that's very dangerous.
0:49:18 > 0:49:21He has given me a budget, but he has given me an idea of what he wants.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24There's something in here that we should go and have a little look at.
0:49:24 > 0:49:27I do buy art, and I do like to buy art, because I think it makes me
0:49:27 > 0:49:30- really, really happy more than anything else that I buy.- Yeah.
0:49:30 > 0:49:33I don't know, I've not come out to specifically get anything.
0:49:33 > 0:49:36But if I see anything... You never know with art.
0:49:36 > 0:49:40It's like music, you never know when it's going to grab you and take you.
0:49:40 > 0:49:43Oh, my God, I thought that was one of the waiters! LAUGHTER
0:49:43 > 0:49:45- I was going to, like...- Hello?
0:49:45 > 0:49:47I tried to get a drink from her earlier.
0:49:47 > 0:49:49I just thought she was being rude.
0:49:49 > 0:49:54Though, that hors d'oeuvre is not as appetising as the salmon.
0:49:54 > 0:49:55- I love this.- Yeah.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59There's something about having captured a moment
0:49:59 > 0:50:02in a rave or in a party.
0:50:02 > 0:50:05- So, this one's caught your eye. - Yeah, this one up here.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09Number, unfortunately, 666. Up there.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12I rarely do like colour in pictures that I have in my house.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15I like them if I'm in a gallery, but in my own home
0:50:15 > 0:50:18I don't have a lot of stuff with vivid colours in it.
0:50:18 > 0:50:20But I really like that.
0:50:20 > 0:50:22Look at this guy up here. These guys.
0:50:22 > 0:50:25- Wow.- They're quite fun.
0:50:25 > 0:50:27Have you ever bought from the Summer Exhibition before?
0:50:27 > 0:50:29Yeah, I bought a few pieces.
0:50:29 > 0:50:32One of my favourite pieces was by an artist who showed
0:50:32 > 0:50:35here for the first time called Pauline Edmond.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38She is amazing, and kind of like sketches and doodles.
0:50:38 > 0:50:42And it's so random that, when it got sent to my house, my friend thought
0:50:42 > 0:50:44it was, like, crazy fan mail.
0:50:44 > 0:50:47She was like, "Something really weird's turned up at the house.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50"Should I bin it?" I said, "No, I bought that, I love it."
0:50:50 > 0:50:53So that was someone who's above my bed. That's my pride of place.
0:50:53 > 0:50:54That is amazing.
0:50:54 > 0:50:56That is probably something more my dad would go for.
0:50:56 > 0:50:58OK, Jamie, it's £35,000.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01Oh, perfect! Let me just get my chequebook out.
0:51:02 > 0:51:08Every time a work is sold, a coloured dot is stuck to the wall.
0:51:08 > 0:51:11So, will our VIP buyers paint the town red,
0:51:11 > 0:51:14or will they keep their credit cards locked away?
0:51:15 > 0:51:19- This I really like.- Which one, this one?- And I love this one.
0:51:19 > 0:51:22- I really love this.- What is it about this one that you like?
0:51:22 > 0:51:24I always love skulls. I'm always drawn to skulls.
0:51:24 > 0:51:28I always doodle skulls, and I love black-and-white landscapes.
0:51:28 > 0:51:30I don't know. I think there's no reason to it.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32I always find it quite funny talking about it.
0:51:32 > 0:51:34It's just when you like it, I don't know.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37So is it just if something grabs you and you think,
0:51:37 > 0:51:39"Yeah, I'd like to have that in my space," and that's what you go for?
0:51:39 > 0:51:42Yeah, totally. Because you've got to be around it,
0:51:42 > 0:51:44and I think it's got to make you happy every day.
0:51:44 > 0:51:46So, if you like it and you love the look of it...
0:51:46 > 0:51:48I guess it's like being attracted to a person.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51You see them and you're like, "I love them!"
0:51:51 > 0:51:55- I think this is really beautiful. - This, actually, how much is this one?
0:51:55 > 0:52:01- I want this one.- 703 is... Alcove And Garlic Cloves. It's £380.
0:52:01 > 0:52:02I absolutely love that.
0:52:02 > 0:52:05- I think you need to buy that. - I really want that.
0:52:07 > 0:52:10There we are. You can buy it there.
0:52:10 > 0:52:12- Sale.- Sale.
0:52:14 > 0:52:19MUSIC: Poison Arrow by ABC
0:52:21 > 0:52:25# Shoot that poison arrow to my heart... #
0:52:25 > 0:52:29Special guests at this year's party are the band ABC.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32# Shoot that poison arrow to my heart... #
0:52:32 > 0:52:34Fronted by Martin Fry,
0:52:34 > 0:52:37they were one of the most beloved groups of the 1980s,
0:52:37 > 0:52:40and in 2016 they've returned
0:52:40 > 0:52:43with their first Top 10 album in three decades.
0:52:43 > 0:52:45# Shoot that poison arrow. #
0:52:45 > 0:52:48First of all, Martin, what was your reaction when you were asked
0:52:48 > 0:52:50to play here?
0:52:50 > 0:52:53A sense of honour. Yeah, it's a great privilege to come down here
0:52:53 > 0:52:55to the Royal Academy and play for you guys, yeah.
0:52:55 > 0:52:57But you have got an art connection anyway,
0:52:57 > 0:52:59and I understand that is with Andy Warhol.
0:52:59 > 0:53:01Who better to have an art connection with?
0:53:01 > 0:53:04Yeah, originally, with ABC, we had a hit, Poison Arrow.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07We went to New York, and Andy Warhol came to the show.
0:53:07 > 0:53:10So, you know, it was a wonderful experience
0:53:10 > 0:53:12to be signing on in Sheffield two weeks before
0:53:12 > 0:53:14and then hanging with Andy.
0:53:14 > 0:53:16And The Factory... He'd obviously made Empire State
0:53:16 > 0:53:18and films that lasted for two days,
0:53:18 > 0:53:20but he was fascinated by the whole medium of MTV,
0:53:20 > 0:53:23the bands like Duran Duran and ABC.
0:53:23 > 0:53:27I just wish I had a credit card at the time to buy something.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31But he was really gracious and very encouraging to us, really.
0:53:31 > 0:53:32We were a very young band.
0:53:32 > 0:53:36- Well, you didn't have a credit card then, but you've got a credit card now.- To buy something, yeah.
0:53:36 > 0:53:39- In there?- Well, there's a lot of rock-and-roll in there.
0:53:39 > 0:53:41I'm always looking for the connection between music and art.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44- There's an Iggy Pop bronze in there, Steven Bains.- Yeah.
0:53:44 > 0:53:49That looks wonderful. My wife says I can't buy it. She says, "You can't put that in the garden."
0:53:49 > 0:53:51It's a beautiful statue of Iggy, yeah.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54He should be on every street corner, really, shouldn't he?
0:53:54 > 0:53:55He's a great icon.
0:53:55 > 0:53:58Well, it's all dark, everybody's out here, everybody's excited.
0:53:58 > 0:54:00What's that going to mean to you?
0:54:00 > 0:54:02Well, it's a very chic crowd.
0:54:02 > 0:54:07And that kind of suits ABC all these years on. We're survivors, yeah.
0:54:07 > 0:54:11So, it feels good. We're going to play a hell of a show for you guys.
0:54:19 > 0:54:21I think this has been the most glamorous year of the three
0:54:21 > 0:54:23- we've been doing this together. - Yeah.
0:54:23 > 0:54:26But I think my highlight out of the whole exhibition
0:54:26 > 0:54:29has to be the commission in the courtyard by Ron Arad, Spyre.
0:54:29 > 0:54:33- It's amazing.- Yeah, and I still think the Wilson twins are wonderful.
0:54:33 > 0:54:36And I know that everybody's in here with the razzle-dazzle, but,
0:54:36 > 0:54:39actually, in moments of quiet on the stairs, I think people will then
0:54:39 > 0:54:42look again and really be moved by that.
0:54:42 > 0:54:45So, all in all, I think it's a pretty fantastic...
0:54:45 > 0:54:48- People are enjoying themselves and spending.- Yeah.
0:54:48 > 0:54:50And now, ABC with Viva Love.
0:54:50 > 0:54:51CHEERING
0:55:10 > 0:55:14# You think the world will melt if you whistle
0:55:14 > 0:55:17# There's a certain spring in your stride
0:55:17 > 0:55:21# You face the future like a heat-seeking missile
0:55:21 > 0:55:25# You've got yourself a smile a mile wide
0:55:27 > 0:55:30# Yes, you have
0:55:31 > 0:55:33# Viva love
0:55:33 > 0:55:38# Viva love, viva love, viva love
0:55:38 > 0:55:41# Viva love
0:55:41 > 0:55:44# Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
0:55:44 > 0:55:46# Viva! Viva!
0:55:46 > 0:55:48# Viva love
0:55:50 > 0:55:51Yeah.
0:56:03 > 0:56:07# When lightning strikes, you don't look for shelter
0:56:07 > 0:56:10# You're floating free, gravity defied
0:56:10 > 0:56:14# It's hell for leather on a helter-skelter
0:56:14 > 0:56:18# Just steel your nerves for a bright white knuckle ride
0:56:18 > 0:56:21# Ride
0:56:21 > 0:56:23# Yes, you should
0:56:24 > 0:56:26# Viva love
0:56:26 > 0:56:31# Viva love, viva love, viva love
0:56:32 > 0:56:34# Viva love
0:56:34 > 0:56:37# Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
0:56:37 > 0:56:39# Viva! Viva!
0:56:39 > 0:56:42# Viva love
0:56:42 > 0:56:45# Viva love, viva love, viva love
0:56:47 > 0:56:49# Viva love
0:56:49 > 0:56:52# Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
0:56:52 > 0:56:54# Viva! Viva!
0:56:54 > 0:56:57# Viva love
0:57:14 > 0:57:15# Come on
0:57:22 > 0:57:23Yeah!
0:57:26 > 0:57:27# In the battle of the sexes
0:57:27 > 0:57:29# Victory's denied
0:57:29 > 0:57:31# I'm charging your tanks
0:57:31 > 0:57:33# With slingshots and knives
0:57:33 > 0:57:35# My troops they retreat
0:57:35 > 0:57:37# They run for their lives
0:57:37 > 0:57:38# I'm facing defeat
0:57:38 > 0:57:42# But somehow love survives
0:57:47 > 0:57:49# Viva love
0:57:49 > 0:57:53# Viva love, viva love, viva love
0:57:54 > 0:57:57# Viva love
0:57:57 > 0:57:59# Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
0:57:59 > 0:58:02# Viva! Viva!
0:58:02 > 0:58:04# Viva love
0:58:04 > 0:58:09# Viva love, viva love, viva love
0:58:09 > 0:58:11# Viva love
0:58:11 > 0:58:14# Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
0:58:14 > 0:58:17# Viva! Viva!
0:58:17 > 0:58:19# Viva love. #
0:58:21 > 0:58:23Thank you very much.