:00:18. > :00:22.Hello and welcome to this special edition of The Culture Show, coming
:00:22. > :00:32.to you from the Royal Academy of Arts in London to mark the 243rd
:00:32. > :00:35.
:00:35. > :00:43.On the show tonight, we are behind the scenes as the latest exhibition
:00:43. > :00:48.comes together. I go to New York to meet Jeff Koons. This is rubber.
:00:48. > :00:53.it is aluminium. He is sculpture now dominate the Royal Academy's
:00:53. > :00:59.courtyard. Nancy Durrant explores a room based on the old idea of the
:00:59. > :01:04.frame to frame salon hang. I cast a critical eye over gallery made up
:01:05. > :01:11.of work only by Royal academics, among them some of the most famous
:01:11. > :01:15.names in British art today. And Tom Dyckhoff chats to Piers Gough about
:01:15. > :01:21.the star exhibits in the architecture room. Look what
:01:21. > :01:27.happens behind your house, things go bananas. Also, I will be
:01:27. > :01:31.following the fortunes of five artists, including my mum. She
:01:31. > :01:36.submitted work to this exhibition, the largest and longest running
:01:36. > :01:40.submission art show in the world. Jana Street-Porter and philip will
:01:40. > :01:46.be revealing what they think of the exhibition this year. And we will
:01:46. > :01:49.be announcing the winner of the 25,000 pound Wollaston Award for
:01:49. > :01:52.the most distinguished work on display.
:01:52. > :01:55.Every year, more than 150,000 people come to the Royal Academy to
:01:55. > :01:57.visit the Summer Exhibition. And that is an enormous number, and
:01:57. > :02:01.proves quite how popular this extraordinary show is, where work
:02:01. > :02:04.by amateurs can hang side by side with pieces by some of the world's
:02:04. > :02:14.most famous artists. But as a show it's quite unlike any other, so
:02:14. > :02:18.
:02:18. > :02:21.here's a little guide from me to The Summer Exhibition has played a
:02:21. > :02:27.key role in the British social calendar ever since the Royal
:02:27. > :02:33.Academy of Arts was established in 1768. Every year its opening party
:02:33. > :02:37.attracts the great, the good and the glitterati. But behind the
:02:37. > :02:40.glamour the event is steeped in ritual and tradition. I've put
:02:40. > :02:50.together a few facts and figures to show how this famous exhibition
:02:50. > :02:52.comes together year after year after year. The main reason why the
:02:52. > :02:57.Summer Exhibition causes so much excitement is because it's the
:02:57. > :03:00.biggest open art exhibition in the world. And the idea is that anyone
:03:00. > :03:04.can submit up to two works of art and, if they're accepted, they'll
:03:04. > :03:14.be shown in the longest established gallery in the UK opening up a
:03:14. > :03:19.
:03:19. > :03:28.whole new world of opportunity for This is Meeting King Neptune While
:03:28. > :03:35.All At Sea. A reject for 2009. Giving it another go. How many
:03:35. > :03:41.times have we submitted before? Probably about 10. One of this
:03:41. > :03:45.year's artistic hopefuls is someone very close to my heart. This is a
:03:45. > :03:50.picture of Alastair aged about eight years old. A my mum is a keen
:03:50. > :03:53.amateur painter but this is her first attempt to get into the
:03:53. > :03:59.summer exhibition. These are the two paintings I have decided to
:03:59. > :04:07.submit. I have let rip and really just had a ball doing it because,
:04:07. > :04:11.as you can see, I love colour. I would be thrilled to get in. If
:04:11. > :04:14.somebody says "yes, you can be hanging on the wall in the Royal
:04:15. > :04:20.Academy" it will be fantastic. have been doing some research into
:04:20. > :04:25.my mother's chances of getting in, and the news is not great. Over
:04:25. > :04:31.11,000 people have submitted work for this year's exhibition. That is
:04:31. > :04:36.what that represents. 1200 works by 650 artists end up on display, but
:04:36. > :04:41.of these some are by famous artists invited to take part, and over a
:04:41. > :04:46.third are by Academy members. The rest come from public submissions,
:04:46. > :04:53.but less than 200 of these artists will be showing for the first time.
:04:53. > :04:57.Frankly, the figures don't really work in my mother's favour. The
:04:57. > :05:02.judging of the public's work is carried out by a group of eminent
:05:02. > :05:12.members of the Academy. They make sure the Summer Exhibition judging
:05:12. > :05:17.
:05:17. > :05:22.occurs in exactly the same way as it has come for nearly 250 years.
:05:22. > :05:28.think it is basically Bovril with some sherry in it. It sounds
:05:28. > :05:32.disgusting, but in cold conditions it warms you up a bit. The rituals
:05:32. > :05:35.of the selection process are the same every year. Works are rested
:05:35. > :05:38.on this ancient stool and pictures are marked with an X, meaning
:05:38. > :05:48.they've been rejected, or a D, meaning they'll go on to be
:05:48. > :05:51.
:05:52. > :05:56.Artists don't have to give their real names when submitting. In 1947,
:05:56. > :06:01.a painter called David Winter had two pictures accepted. Winter
:06:01. > :06:03.turned out to be Winston Churchill. Like many good old-fashioned
:06:03. > :06:08.British establishments, you get voted into the club by other
:06:08. > :06:13.members. And at any one time there are meant to be 80 academicians and
:06:13. > :06:23.all of them have to be under 75. New members are voted in once old
:06:23. > :06:24.
:06:24. > :06:30.members reach 75, or if an No, I don't know who died to make
:06:31. > :06:36.space for me. I suspect he moved on and got older. I say he because
:06:36. > :06:41.there are a disproportionate number of men. Grayson Perry has just been
:06:41. > :06:46.elected. I think there are obligations, obviously to uphold
:06:46. > :06:56.the honour of artists, but I don't think artists necessarily have much
:06:56. > :06:57.
:06:57. > :07:03.honour to uphold. I look far -- for what to joining in the running of
:07:04. > :07:08.the Royal Academy. Many visitors to the Royal Academy may not realise
:07:08. > :07:13.their entrance fee support not just an art gallery but an art school as
:07:14. > :07:18.well. Students at the Royal Academy Schools can do a three-year
:07:18. > :07:21.postgraduate fine art course without paying any tuition fees.
:07:21. > :07:25.But how is such generosity possible? Partly because of the
:07:25. > :07:30.Summer Exhibition, one of the ways the Royal Academy makes its money.
:07:30. > :07:35.It cost �25 to enter work and there are usually around 11,000
:07:35. > :07:40.submissions, that is already around a quarter of a million pounds in
:07:40. > :07:45.the bank. Revenue is also created by tickets, and work in the show is
:07:45. > :07:50.up for sale with the Royal Academy taking a 30% cut. Surprisingly, the
:07:50. > :07:54.Royal Academy receives no public funding whatsoever, but there is a
:07:54. > :08:01.secret to its financial survival, which is the rent on Burlington
:08:01. > :08:10.House only cost them �1 a year, thanks to a lease agreement that
:08:10. > :08:14.was sagely negotiated in 1868 to last for 999 years. The arrangement
:08:14. > :08:18.has given the Royal Academy the freedom to stick to its own
:08:18. > :08:22.traditions and rituals, particularly around the Summer
:08:22. > :08:27.Exhibition. It's not every gallery that invites its artists to parade
:08:27. > :08:31.down the street before the show, but its love of the old fashioned
:08:31. > :08:36.has sometimes felt out of step with the times. Most famously just after
:08:36. > :08:44.the war, when the President of the Royal Academy used the after dinner
:08:44. > :08:49.speech to attack Modern Art. I find myself a president of the body of
:08:49. > :08:59.men who feel that there is something in this so-called modern
:08:59. > :09:05.
:09:05. > :09:09.art. If you paint a tree, for Lord's sake, try and paint it!
:09:09. > :09:13.Royal Academy has been accused of occasionally taking refuge from
:09:13. > :09:18.radical new ideas and being out of touch, but more recently it has
:09:18. > :09:23.made a strong effort to shed that image. People love the summer show.
:09:23. > :09:27.It is still going every year for almost two-and-a-half centuries,
:09:27. > :09:32.despite everything. One of the reasons it has surprised his
:09:32. > :09:38.because it keeps a dream alive for hopeful young artist and a few
:09:38. > :09:47.years ago one of those hopefuls was me. I submitted this piece. It is a
:09:47. > :09:53.conceptual sculpture consisting of a jar of red Mantel's. It is a
:09:53. > :09:57.portrait of my mother about maternity, memory and a tribute to
:09:57. > :10:02.the ready-mades of Marcel Duchamp. I don't think those complexities
:10:02. > :10:06.were understood, and even if they did it got rejected. This year it
:10:06. > :10:11.is my mother chasing the dream of getting into the exhibition. Let's
:10:11. > :10:15.hope she did better than I did. We will find out later if my mother
:10:15. > :10:19.has managed to get her paintings into the show, but I have been
:10:19. > :10:25.joined by two people who have been to lots of exhibitions over the
:10:25. > :10:30.years - Janet Street-Porter and philip. What do you normally make
:10:30. > :10:35.for the exhibition? It is normally a bit of a mess, normally quite
:10:35. > :10:40.chaotic. In the middle of it there are some gems. Over the last few
:10:40. > :10:48.years they have been trying to make it more serious and engaged.
:10:48. > :10:54.broadly speaking, a fan? Yes. Qualified. Qualified than. Jan it,
:10:54. > :11:00.what about you? I am a snob about it. I always come out of good
:11:00. > :11:04.thinking why did I bother, it is so annoying. At the same time there is
:11:05. > :11:09.this art show in Venice, the Venice Biennale, and people are more
:11:10. > :11:14.forgiving. You have this huge show and you have complete rubbish
:11:14. > :11:18.BRILLIANT work. But when you go around the Royal Academy, I'm
:11:18. > :11:22.afraid there is good stuff but it is like going to a car boot sale,
:11:22. > :11:26.you have to pick through to find something rewarding. I am sorry to
:11:26. > :11:31.put you through this again, but he both kindly agreed to have a look
:11:31. > :11:37.and we will catch up with the later. Before we go inside, I want to show
:11:37. > :11:41.you this enormous and very playful joyful stainless steel sculpture
:11:41. > :11:49.called Coloring Book. It is by the American artist Jeff Koons, and
:11:49. > :11:55.recently I went to New York to meet him. In the world of contemporary
:11:55. > :12:00.art, Jeff Koons is a global superstar. His work delights in the
:12:01. > :12:04.aesthetics of trash culture and it sells for millions. I have always
:12:04. > :12:09.found Jeff Koons a fascinating artist, partly because it is so
:12:09. > :12:13.tricky to get a handle on what he does. He is the king of kitsch and
:12:13. > :12:19.his work makes people feel uneasy because it seems like the epitome
:12:19. > :12:23.of bad-taste, and yet it sells for so much money. I can never work out
:12:23. > :12:27.whether it is purely superficial or perhaps offers a searing commentary
:12:27. > :12:37.on the banality of our world. Nobody ever really knows for sure
:12:37. > :12:39.
:12:39. > :12:47.and that is what makes his work so interesting. Can I do what you did?
:12:47. > :12:52.This looks like rubber, is it metal? It is aluminium. There is
:12:52. > :12:56.something I have always wanted to ask you, because you really use
:12:56. > :13:04.popular culture so much in your work and I can never work out if
:13:04. > :13:11.you are celebrating it, or may be satirising it. Which is it? It I am
:13:11. > :13:18.celebrating it. I enjoy the life, I enjoy the world, and I don't
:13:18. > :13:22.believe in judgment so it is about acceptance. I work with inflatables
:13:22. > :13:26.because they are life-saving devices. It is like being in the
:13:26. > :13:31.water and you have something to hold onto. In the water with this,
:13:31. > :13:36.you would sink. It is a symbol. are producing objects which most
:13:36. > :13:41.people would overlook, replacing them in the gallery, but you try to
:13:41. > :13:46.make banal things. What is the thinking behind it? I am not
:13:46. > :13:54.trying! I follow my interests, and I think honesty is something people
:13:54. > :13:59.find shocking. Am always very honest about my interest. One of
:13:59. > :14:03.his particular interests is the imagery of childhood. His stainless
:14:03. > :14:13.steel sculpture for the summer exhibition is based on a picture
:14:13. > :14:14.
:14:14. > :14:18.from a child's colouring book. comes from an image from Winnie the
:14:18. > :14:25.Pooh so I made my own watercolour drawing on top of it. Is that what
:14:26. > :14:29.this is? Yes, this is taking the watercolour and the market during,
:14:29. > :14:34.and then breaking it down into those colours so I can create a
:14:34. > :14:39.sculpture from it. Childhood dreams are so strong in your work, is that
:14:39. > :14:46.an important way of looking at the world? Children do not participate
:14:46. > :14:50.in judgment. They are open to everything. They love colours and
:14:50. > :14:54.to smell the grass. There is no judgment. There is a sadder side to
:14:54. > :14:59.his fascination with childhood. Coloring Book is part of a series
:14:59. > :15:03.of work called Celebration, which he used to reach out to his son
:15:03. > :15:12.after being taken to Italy following a custody battle with his
:15:12. > :15:17.My son was taken to a foreign country, I was never able to get
:15:17. > :15:26.him back. To a distance, this helps me to communicate to my son, how
:15:26. > :15:30.much I loved him. Can I ask why you are drawn to working in stainless
:15:30. > :15:34.steel? It is something that has happened again and again through
:15:34. > :15:39.your career? It reflects you and it needs you. Without you it does not
:15:39. > :15:43.exist. If you state something that is polished and put it in a dark
:15:43. > :15:48.room, it disappears. It only reflects its environment. Art is
:15:48. > :15:54.never in the object, art is inside the viewer. A reflective surface
:15:54. > :16:00.continues to communicate that. Imagine it will be a very different
:16:00. > :16:05.experience seeing an 18ft high stainless steel coloured sculpture,
:16:05. > :16:11.to seeing the drawing, so I'm looking forward to it a lot. Thank
:16:11. > :16:16.you. Thank you, I enjoyed today. Jeff Koons is one of the biggest
:16:16. > :16:20.names in contemporary art, yet here he is in a show with a load of
:16:20. > :16:23.unknowns. That is the charm for me of the Summer Exihibition. I was
:16:23. > :16:27.allowed into the vaults of the Royal Academy to rifle through the
:16:27. > :16:32.works sent in by the members of the public, to see if I could spot
:16:32. > :16:36.anything that may make it on to the walls of the final exhibition.
:16:37. > :16:41.These are all works of art that have made it through the first
:16:41. > :16:45.stage of the selection process, but there is no guarantee that they
:16:45. > :16:50.will be chosen by the curators. I want to have a quick rummage around
:16:50. > :17:00.and see if I can pull out a few artworks that catch my eye and I
:17:00. > :17:02.
:17:02. > :17:07.think are good enough to be So let's have a little leaf through.
:17:07. > :17:12.I think that the judges have 11,000 submissions, they have to look at
:17:12. > :17:16.them so quickly, to make a snap judgment, in a sense I'm doing it
:17:16. > :17:23.too slowly. I should be whipping through it. Oh, look at this box.
:17:23. > :17:30.Now, this I really like. It seems to be a book and the pages are
:17:30. > :17:36.hollowed out. Inside is a mad, what looks like a 19th century prints of
:17:36. > :17:41.dogs and people from the tropics, soldiers and old maps. Let's have a
:17:41. > :17:45.look at the label. The book sculpture is made by Alexander
:17:45. > :17:48.Korzer-Robinson, an artist from Berlin, based in Bristol. He has
:17:48. > :17:54.never submitted anything to the Summer Exihibition before. The way
:17:54. > :17:59.that I work, I cut out images in the books where they are in the
:17:59. > :18:04.books. I build a composition from the front to the back. I like to
:18:04. > :18:09.work with Encyclopaedias a lot. You get a variety of different themes
:18:09. > :18:14.and images that are really un- related other than by their place
:18:14. > :18:18.in the alphabet, really. So there is a lot of potential to develop a
:18:18. > :18:23.narrative. I think that this has got a great deal of imagination. It
:18:23. > :18:33.is different. So, for that reason, I'm going to go with it. I think
:18:33. > :18:33.
:18:33. > :18:43.that this will make it into the final show. This piece is very
:18:43. > :18:44.
:18:44. > :18:48.different to what has come before, but when you say Royal Academy
:18:48. > :18:51.royal -- Royal Academy Summer Exihibition, it conjures up, in
:18:51. > :18:57.many people's minds, I suspect, something painted like this. It is
:18:57. > :19:04.very well painted. It is possibly a little bit old-fashioned, but I
:19:04. > :19:12.think there is a deaf place for it, so I will hedge my bets and say
:19:12. > :19:19.this is a contender. The painter of The Greenhouse is by David Newens.
:19:19. > :19:25.He has submitted every year since the mid-1980s and so far has been
:19:25. > :19:34.selected six times. I have painted greenhouse interiors several times
:19:34. > :19:38.before. I do like the relationship between almost an abstract
:19:38. > :19:43.structure against the flowers. I'm not a flower painter. I don't just
:19:43. > :19:48.paint a bunch of flowers, but the colour harm onis that you get of
:19:48. > :19:58.the various plants in a greenhouse, off-set against a strong structure,
:19:58. > :20:01.
:20:01. > :20:06.provides to me a very nice subject. Now this... This piece is so weird!
:20:06. > :20:14.Check this out. It's a painting. I should not be touching the frame.
:20:14. > :20:20.The paint has continued on to the frame by someone called PJ Crook
:20:20. > :20:25.called "The Infant". I describe the style as naive. PJ Crook has shown
:20:25. > :20:32.15 times at the Summer Exihibition, "The Infant" is one of two painting
:20:32. > :20:37.she has submitted for consideration this year. There is something
:20:37. > :20:42.obviously -- obvious about the idea of a naked new-born riding on a
:20:42. > :20:49.tiger. It feels like Blake. A visionary piece of another world.
:20:49. > :20:55.It is odd, I quite like the oddness. So I think I'll pick this one.
:20:55. > :21:02.feels evocative to me of the situation we are in now, where the
:21:02. > :21:10.tiger is an endangered species and our environment is in danger too. I
:21:10. > :21:16.like the idea that the infant and the tiger in it are in harmony. So
:21:16. > :21:26.rather like man and his environment should be, they are working
:21:26. > :21:26.
:21:26. > :21:33.together and the angels there as a guiding presence. That's quite hard
:21:33. > :21:39.to read this, initially. It seems quite gloomy. It looks like, I
:21:39. > :21:44.guess a big glass skyscraper and there, that seems to be graffiti? I
:21:44. > :21:50.guess the thing that caught my eye here is all of this mark-making all
:21:50. > :21:57.over the place. Let's have a look at the label. What is it? Wow!
:21:57. > :22:03.Medium Photography. What?! That's amazing. I thought that this was a
:22:03. > :22:06.painting. I quite like this. Let's hang on to it. The picture is by
:22:06. > :22:11.Isidro Ramirez, a Spanish photographer living in London. This
:22:11. > :22:15.is the first time he has tried to get into the Summer Exihibition.
:22:15. > :22:19.There are four photographs of the same building, photographing the
:22:19. > :22:26.four corners of the building and then putting them together through
:22:26. > :22:33.a digital process. It creates a very glostly image at the end. That
:22:33. > :22:38.does not correspondent to anything. It is a creation. The work is about
:22:38. > :22:45.the limitations of photography, what it has to represent a place.
:22:45. > :22:49.In this case a building. Now I'm not saying that those four works
:22:49. > :22:52.are necessarily the greatest pieces of art ever made, but I do think
:22:52. > :22:56.that they deserve a place in the Summer Exihibition. They caught my
:22:56. > :23:00.eye, you have to follow your instinct. They had a certain
:23:00. > :23:04.strangeness. The sad thing is that I have no say in the process
:23:04. > :23:07.whatsoever. It is the curators that have the final decision about all
:23:08. > :23:13.of the works in the Summer Exihibition, but I will be keeping
:23:13. > :23:18.my fingers firmly crossed. I'll let you know if my choices turned out
:23:18. > :23:23.to be good ones, but I want to show you this, far and away, the biggest
:23:23. > :23:26.gallery in the show. As you can see, it's been hung in a busy American.
:23:26. > :23:35.An attempt to refer back to the history of the Summer Exihibition.
:23:35. > :23:40.Nancy Durrant was here when the room was put together. The Summer
:23:40. > :23:47.Exihibition has never looked quite like any other show. Right from the
:23:47. > :23:51.start, back in 1769, the RA crammed its walls what paintings hung from
:23:51. > :23:54.floor-to-ceiling in a style known as the Salon Hang. A visit to this
:23:54. > :23:59.show was very different to our experience of galleries now. We are
:23:59. > :24:03.used to a cool, calm, light, open space with a great deal of thought
:24:03. > :24:13.put into how best it hang a work. The Summer Exihibition, on the
:24:13. > :24:13.
:24:13. > :24:21.other hand was mayhem! So, tell me about the Salon Hang, how did it
:24:21. > :24:26.work? Well, as this print shows, you stacked them high, racked them
:24:26. > :24:31.deep, essentially, frame-to-frame, literally touching each other.
:24:31. > :24:37.There is not an inch of space? is what they were trying to achieve.
:24:37. > :24:42.In recent years, when the smaller paintings have packed the walls,
:24:42. > :24:45.the larger gallery spaces were hung more sparsely, however, that is not
:24:45. > :24:51.what academician, Christopher Le Brun, is planning for this year.
:24:51. > :24:56.It's not working. Let's put them up on the rack. He is responsible for
:24:56. > :25:01.the biggest gallery in the show. He decided to revisit the idea of the
:25:01. > :25:05.Salon Hang. A lot of the strategy of contemporary art is to control
:25:05. > :25:09.the responses of the vier. So you go into the whilst gallery, there
:25:09. > :25:14.is a single painting. You appreciate it, it is wonderful, but
:25:14. > :25:17.you are controlled as to how you see it, what is said. When you come
:25:17. > :25:22.into a gallery with 500 paintings in it, you cannot control the
:25:22. > :25:30.response of the spectator. So, it is a very, very different notion.
:25:30. > :25:34.It is very anarchic and exciting. Is there anybody to be a bit
:25:34. > :25:39.disconcerted by where their picture ends up? It is difficult to please
:25:39. > :25:43.everybody. Year after year as we come in, you never know how your
:25:43. > :25:48.colleagues feel about where their work is. The problem is that there
:25:48. > :25:53.are many different languages going on at the same time. It could be
:25:53. > :25:57.tote chaos, a sort of Babel, really confusing. To make sense of the
:25:57. > :26:02.chaos, Christopher Le Brun is hanging the framed and unframed
:26:02. > :26:06.works on different walls. There is a sort of logic to it. The framed
:26:06. > :26:13.paintings coming down here, more figure rative, smaller scale of
:26:13. > :26:20.touch and handling, narrative, moving through, coming round to get
:26:20. > :26:24.a more, a sort of more questioning sense of space and a freer sense of
:26:24. > :26:29.comma. Although inspired by the traditional Salon Hang, he has not
:26:29. > :26:33.followed the old rules to the letter. There is more wall space
:26:33. > :26:40.visible in the gallery than would have been the case in the 18th and
:26:40. > :26:46.the 19th centuries. This is a scaled representation of the 1851
:26:46. > :26:54.exhibition. And the pictures are hung floor-to-ceiling frame-to-
:26:54. > :27:04.frame? Yes, here is the prime position given to 551. That work
:27:04. > :27:04.
:27:04. > :27:12.down there, 561 is a work by mill away -- Millais. Why so low? Maybe
:27:12. > :27:22.the Academy were making a point?! Really? There used to anybody the
:27:22. > :27:28.traditional hanging such a thing as "skying" that was a snub, but there
:27:28. > :27:32.are these Irvine up at the top, but they work out? The reason it was a
:27:33. > :27:38.snub, you could not see them, but with Christopher Le Brun, you can
:27:38. > :27:43.see that right from the other side of the room. It still works. Were
:27:43. > :27:49.you ever tempted to do the real, kind of proper, squeezed in Salon
:27:49. > :27:54.Hang? It was partly my idea to do that, but in fact, you have to be
:27:54. > :28:02.flexible. It is no good coming in with a tough idea and shoe horning
:28:02. > :28:12.everything into it. We are just watching and adapting as we go.
:28:12. > :28:13.
:28:13. > :28:16.It's kind of like a jigsaw, suspect it? Jigsaw, meets Sudoku, meets 3-
:28:16. > :28:21.dimensional chess! Now, this room through here is one of the smaller
:28:22. > :28:27.galleries in the show. It is the Architect's Room. It is packed full
:28:27. > :28:33.of the surprisingly beautiful and intricate models and drawings. Tom
:28:33. > :28:37.Dyckhoff went to have a look at it as it was installed. It is strange
:28:37. > :28:41.to come to thekm architect's Room in the Summer Exihibition, but what
:28:41. > :28:50.draws me here is that you are guaranteeed to find surprises
:28:50. > :28:58.inside. I'm expecting a wealth of surprises this year. As Piers Gough,
:28:58. > :29:04.the flamboyant architect is in charge. Maybe the playful one? Yeah,
:29:04. > :29:11.that thing. Piers Gough is famous for his colourful, bold buildings
:29:11. > :29:18.and has stated that his mission is to combat dreariness. This room
:29:18. > :29:22.reflects that, a rye ot of colour, texture and ideas. Oh, kpwre!
:29:22. > :29:27.Before putting his final touches to the room, he has agreed to show me
:29:27. > :29:31.some of the highlights from the show. The most important structure
:29:31. > :29:36.at the moment, with the Olympics coming up is King's Cross and what
:29:36. > :29:42.to do with it. What happens under the ground at King's Cross is
:29:42. > :29:47.almost beyond belief. Insane. There is this concourse, and underneath
:29:47. > :29:51.this calmness, the beautiful swan is this frantic pedalling
:29:51. > :29:55.underneath of getting the escalators, the routes, down into
:29:55. > :30:01.the various stueb stations sorted out. This is brilliantly engineered
:30:01. > :30:11.stuff. By this time next year, this magnificent piece of infrastructure
:30:11. > :30:14.
:30:14. > :30:19.Then a building that has a tin of mackerel. This is exuberance that
:30:19. > :30:23.you may not expect from an older generation, but it is so lovely. So
:30:23. > :30:33.much reflects the feeling of architecture now, that is that you
:30:33. > :30:36.
:30:36. > :30:42.You can see it is getting behind the facade, peeling the surface.
:30:42. > :30:47.am so jealous, I really wish I had designed that. It is so beautiful,
:30:47. > :30:53.the ridge and furrow. Some buildings, you just think I wish I
:30:53. > :31:00.had Dom R. That is one of them. What is fascinating about this new
:31:00. > :31:03.generation emerging is that they are so experiment are tiered. We
:31:03. > :31:11.have this building next to this building, I don't quite know what
:31:11. > :31:16.it is. Maybe it is a shelter that doesn't! The pavilion? It is coming
:31:16. > :31:20.towards sculpture and slightly towards a bicycle helmet. One thing
:31:20. > :31:25.you can't avoid is that the computer is allowing so many
:31:25. > :31:30.expressive forms to come through in architecture. He can design by
:31:31. > :31:35.computer for quite a long time, and now you can build it with a
:31:35. > :31:40.computer. He what about this staircase. Was that built in a
:31:40. > :31:45.similar way? Isn't it dreamy? Who would have thought the computer
:31:45. > :31:50.would bring you back to Art Nouveau? Businesses seem to have an
:31:50. > :31:57.image of toughness, and now they are being used for this insanely
:31:57. > :32:02.complicated gorgeous stuff. This is being built. It is not just a model,
:32:02. > :32:08.they have actually constructed it so it is very exciting times where
:32:08. > :32:17.these forms are made possible again and it is now just up to your brain.
:32:17. > :32:24.Can you invented? Can you think of it? If you look across the room, it
:32:24. > :32:29.is such a rich stew. Do you think that causes problems? It is so
:32:29. > :32:32.complex, a building can almost be anything. Does that present a
:32:33. > :32:38.problem? What could be more daunting than to be presented with
:32:38. > :32:43.an architectural establishment that really only does things more or
:32:43. > :32:48.less one way? And you have got to accept it. That was perhaps the
:32:48. > :32:52.perception of architecture in the 60s or 70s, now blown apart, but we
:32:52. > :32:56.are not even fighting amongst ourselves about that. It is just
:32:56. > :33:01.the nature of the way we are now and I welcome it because it gives
:33:01. > :33:08.me space to work. I know you have got a lot of work still to do, I
:33:08. > :33:13.don't want to hold you up any more. There it is, finished, and I think
:33:13. > :33:19.it looks fantastic. Over here is a room curated by an artist called
:33:19. > :33:26.Michael Craig-Martin, who is very influential, so I was intrigued to
:33:26. > :33:28.see what he had done when I came a couple of weeks ago. Michael Craig-
:33:28. > :33:32.Martin is one of the most important artists working in Britain today,
:33:32. > :33:36.not just because of his own work but because he was the
:33:36. > :33:43.inspirational teacher behind a whole generation of young British
:33:43. > :33:50.artists who studied at Goldsmiths College in the 80s and 90s.
:33:50. > :34:00.Grego six inches over? A member of the Academy since 2006, he has
:34:00. > :34:01.
:34:01. > :34:06.decided only to show work by fellow Royal academicians in his room. I
:34:06. > :34:10.have come to see this room before the exhibition has opened. There is
:34:10. > :34:19.obviously a piece that will go there, but first impressions...
:34:19. > :34:26.This feels strong. These are confident works, also recognisable.
:34:26. > :34:35.This is a Tony Cragg. Richard Deacon. This cloud, which looks
:34:35. > :34:40.like a metallic swarm of bees, that is by Antony Gormley. In is very
:34:40. > :34:45.enjoyable curating a show like this because, if you have good toys to
:34:45. > :34:49.go with, it is nice to go to the playground. Because I want this
:34:49. > :34:53.room to show off these people, I have encouraged people to show work
:34:53. > :34:57.that is recognisably theirs, rather than something which is off the
:34:57. > :35:03.beaten track from what people expect. There will be works which
:35:03. > :35:09.are signature works. One of the most easily identifiable pieces on
:35:09. > :35:14.display is a colourful word painting by Michael Grade. I quite
:35:14. > :35:18.like the fact that, quite unashamedly, he has hung a number
:35:18. > :35:28.of works next to his painting by artists that he taught. Fiona Rae,
:35:28. > :35:30.
:35:30. > :35:37.Gary -- Gary Hume... It he rejected me the first time I tried to get
:35:37. > :35:46.into the college in 2004, then accepted me later but I don't bear
:35:46. > :35:49.a grudge. This is a reworking of Cezanne's famous painting of
:35:49. > :35:55.bathers. The original hangs in the National Gallery, where Landy is
:35:56. > :36:00.currently Artist in Residence. It is literally a copy. But I
:36:00. > :36:03.didn't draw in front of the painting, I was too embarrassed, I
:36:03. > :36:07.got a postcard. It is a lovely thing to draw because once you get
:36:07. > :36:17.into the rhythm of that it is about shapes. Similar to what I would
:36:17. > :36:21.
:36:21. > :36:30.have done as a child, just copying out of books. And there is a Tracey
:36:30. > :36:35.-- Tracey Emin up here. I wonder if there was a risk of so many
:36:35. > :36:43.powerful and familiar pieces creating a slight sense of deja-vu.
:36:43. > :36:48.It is a little bit expected. These are artists whose work I feel like
:36:48. > :36:53.I have seen often, often at the Summer Exhibition as well. I think
:36:53. > :36:58.Michael Craig-Martin was going for an artist's brand, signature style,
:36:58. > :37:03.but in a sense I would like something more surprising. I wish
:37:03. > :37:09.there was more mischief in the room. That said, the one piece I have not
:37:09. > :37:18.talked about yet if is this. A think it is very beautiful. The
:37:18. > :37:24.artist who made the peace is Cornelia Parker. It is flattened
:37:24. > :37:28.sugar bowls made from silver plate. It is like an encyclopaedia of
:37:28. > :37:35.sugar bowls which have all been gone. They have been squashed by a
:37:35. > :37:45.metal bending press. I spend most of my time taking things apart, so
:37:45. > :37:50.I like to use objects found in the world and rejigging them slightly.
:37:50. > :37:55.I have rocked the volume but given it back through suspension so it is
:37:56. > :38:04.like a real animation. A one challenge was to create a dialogue
:38:05. > :38:08.between all the works on display. If you look up here you can see
:38:08. > :38:11.here's this Tracey Emin neon "I whisper to my past, do I have
:38:11. > :38:14.another choice?" and the answer is, if you look down below, Michael
:38:14. > :38:17.Craig-Martin's painting, which says fate with a very closed gate, the
:38:17. > :38:20.answer is "sorry, love, you don't". It's delicate though, isn't it? The
:38:20. > :38:23.idea of whispering to your past is sort of what's going on with the
:38:23. > :38:26.Cornelia Parker piece as well. Maybe I've been a bit unfair, maybe
:38:27. > :38:36.there is a greater degree of subtlety in the room than I first
:38:37. > :38:40.
:38:40. > :38:43.Michael Craig-Martin is famous for being a teacher as well as an
:38:43. > :38:47.artist, and if I were forced to try and grade his homework here, I'd
:38:47. > :38:50.say he'd done a very good job. It's very solid, a very substantial room
:38:50. > :38:55.but I wish there'd been a few more unexpected moments. I love art that
:38:55. > :38:58.has a slightly naughty, anarchic side. There's the odd moment like
:38:58. > :39:03.that, the David Mach collage really has it I think. The Bill Woodrow
:39:04. > :39:08.sculpture, which is just a little bit bizarre, has it as well. And I
:39:08. > :39:12.love those qualities. But this piece is the star of the show for
:39:12. > :39:14.me. This Cornelia Parker. It strikes a slightly different note
:39:14. > :39:21.to some of the more bombastic paintings and sculptures elsewhere
:39:21. > :39:25.in the room that have obvious wall power. This is just a bit more
:39:25. > :39:31.subtle and for that reason I think this is the piece I'll remember for
:39:31. > :39:33.the longest. I've come back outside into the sunshine to catch up with
:39:33. > :39:39.our guests, Philip Hensher and Janet Street-Porter, you've just
:39:39. > :39:43.been looking round the show. Now I brought with me the list of works
:39:43. > :39:46.and this year there are almost 1200 pieces in the exhibition. So Philip
:39:46. > :39:52.why don't you start, how on earth can anyone make sense of this
:39:52. > :39:58.cacophony of art? It is less cacophonous then it has been in the
:39:58. > :40:05.past. It focuses around two brilliant rooms. There is a
:40:05. > :40:12.fantastic room by Michael Craig- Martin which is very authoritative.
:40:12. > :40:17.There is also a great room of international contributors, with a
:40:17. > :40:22.Baselitz and Key For. The two German heavyweight painters. Yes,
:40:22. > :40:27.terrific. That is very positive. John it, you thought it was like a
:40:27. > :40:32.car boot sale before you went in. still think so. I would agree with
:40:33. > :40:38.Philip, the best room is without a doubt the one curated by Michael
:40:38. > :40:43.Craig-Martin. Isn't he a friend of yours? He is, but what is good
:40:43. > :40:49.about that room is that it has less in it. We start from a position of
:40:49. > :40:55.going into her room which is calm, ordered, and you agree with the way
:40:55. > :40:59.it is thinking. It really sings out, and you can only contrast it with
:40:59. > :41:04.the cacophony of some of the other rooms, where there is the Great
:41:04. > :41:10.Room, the largest room of all, it has this weird thing where they
:41:10. > :41:15.decided to hang it like the salon. I thought they would cram things in
:41:15. > :41:19.up against each other, but what it is they have put on one long wall a
:41:19. > :41:23.lot of completely abysmal - and I don't mince my words here -
:41:23. > :41:30.landscapes. It is what I call walking the dog in the Park
:41:30. > :41:35.paintings. It didn't even seem honk in the 19th century style, I
:41:35. > :41:39.couldn't see how it deferred. not like the salon hang, it is more
:41:39. > :41:46.like a miscellaneous village hall hang really. There was something
:41:46. > :41:50.very controlled and hierarchical about these salon hangs, which
:41:50. > :41:55.doesn't try to achieve at all. There is also the question that so
:41:55. > :42:01.much of the painting in that the groom is terrible. It is really,
:42:01. > :42:06.really terrible. I picked out four or 5 paintings which had any kind
:42:06. > :42:14.of quality, which is not a high strike rate. Given there are 40
:42:14. > :42:19.along the wall, it is not great. wrote down here "room five" Which
:42:19. > :42:24.was hung by Tess Jaray, a really good artist. She has written on her
:42:24. > :42:28.a note, "this room is hung for people who are sensitive,
:42:28. > :42:33.intelligent and thoughtful". Nothing like being patronising, and
:42:33. > :42:40.yet it has the same cacophony as all the other rooms. What was your
:42:40. > :42:47.stand out peas? Probably Cornelia Parker's work, the diptych with the
:42:47. > :42:52.Budget box. Not the levitating silver? I like the Budget box
:42:52. > :42:57.because I loved the diptych, the two images. What it is saying is
:42:57. > :43:06.that women control everything. Philip, how about you? No question,
:43:06. > :43:12.the Edmund De Waal ceramics Cabinet. It is 30 pieces of sports learn
:43:12. > :43:16.with that magical historic White delays. You are so drawn into this,
:43:16. > :43:23.it is so rich. I could look at it forever. It is a very tranquil
:43:23. > :43:27.peace, isn't it? Yes, he is a wonderful artist. I loved the
:43:27. > :43:32.levitating silver Cornelia Parker pieces, but I also enjoyed looking
:43:32. > :43:38.at the Baselitz painting. The upside-down Helms against this eye-
:43:38. > :43:45.popping yellow. It is basically the area of my flat, it is so big and
:43:45. > :43:49.it has a lot of war power. He is incredible, Baselitz. Those are our
:43:49. > :43:52.favourite artworks but sadly none of them made it on to the judges'
:43:52. > :43:59.shortlist for the Wollaston Award. It is not as famous as the Turner
:43:59. > :44:03.Prize, the winner does get the same amount of money, �25,000. Then
:44:03. > :44:13.Lewis went to look at the shortlisted works and listen in as
:44:13. > :44:15.
:44:15. > :44:19.The Wollaston Award is given every year to the most distinguished work
:44:19. > :44:23.in the Summer Exihibition. The judges have identified a short-
:44:23. > :44:28.list of seven artworks. I've come to take a look at what they have
:44:28. > :44:32.chosen. First on the list is a sculpture by a well-known
:44:32. > :44:37.minimalist, Martin Creed. It is four chairs of different sizes,
:44:37. > :44:42.stacked on top of each other. I can hear you scoff and say this
:44:42. > :44:50.is not a sculpture, but take a look at it. What makes us look at this
:44:50. > :44:55.to thing it is art? Well it is tall and totemic. It has an elgant
:44:55. > :45:00.colour scheme, it looks -- an elgaent colour scheme, it looked
:45:00. > :45:05.organised. There is precision in the size of each chair, the legs
:45:05. > :45:13.somehow fit the seat of the chair underneath. That is clever and the
:45:13. > :45:20.red chair forming a phinth. That is smart. Throw away junk and pop it
:45:20. > :45:25.on top of each other to get an organised structure? Ten out of ten.
:45:25. > :45:30.The judges have chosen two works in Michael Craig-Martin's room. One is
:45:30. > :45:35.by painter, Gary Hume. It looks very cute and in fact it is based
:45:35. > :45:43.on an image or photograph, perhaps, of a young child or a baby, but,
:45:43. > :45:47.what Gary Hume has done with this, he has created a cons mate abstract
:45:47. > :45:53.colour-filled painting in his own style. It is very, very refined. He
:45:53. > :45:58.has a wonderful sense of line and the colours are gorgeous. Lots of
:45:58. > :46:02.pastel pinks and blues and browns. It is a surprise for the eye to be
:46:02. > :46:07.moving around the painting and encountering different, unusual,
:46:07. > :46:13.splopblgs of colour. In the same room is a sculpture leaning against
:46:13. > :46:18.the wall, it is by Alison Wilding. It is composed of just three
:46:18. > :46:23.elements, a foam circle, a copper circle and a small resin sphere.
:46:23. > :46:27.You can see each of the decisions that the artist has taken here.
:46:27. > :46:32.Three simple contrasting textures. The best comparison that one can
:46:32. > :46:36.make is that this is like Italian cooking. That is about few
:46:36. > :46:40.ingredients but high-quality, you combine them, cook them quickly and
:46:40. > :46:45.end up with something delicious and fresh. Sitting amongst the three
:46:45. > :46:50.dimensional pieces in the Student tower Room is a abstract painting
:46:50. > :46:58.by Frank Bowling. It is like an essay in paint. There are dabs of
:46:58. > :47:02.green and turquiose and a lovely crimson orange background. Then as
:47:02. > :47:06.you come down the picture, the painting is cascading like a
:47:06. > :47:13.waterfall. You get to the bottom, the paint is trier, thicker. It is
:47:13. > :47:19.plastered on a bit. You could read it as foam or Earth. There you have
:47:19. > :47:23.it, a landscape made from the textures and the qualities of paint.
:47:23. > :47:27.Onya McAusland's piece. That slips from its boundaries and on to the
:47:27. > :47:31.side of it. It is saying something quieter about the nature of
:47:31. > :47:35.painting and the materials. The effort of this work is not in the
:47:35. > :47:39.surface, that is three brush strokes, if is in where the
:47:39. > :47:44.materials come from. The artist goes into mines and other obscure
:47:44. > :47:48.locations to find substances that she has to treat and process and
:47:48. > :47:51.then comes up with a wonderful shade of turquiose that is
:47:51. > :47:57.delivered to us in three brushstrokes on this small and
:47:57. > :48:01.slight work of art. It's a good trick.
:48:01. > :48:07.James Hugonin's painting is more complicated to look at. A grid of
:48:07. > :48:10.tiny multi-coloured boxes. This colour grid is not based on a
:48:10. > :48:19.random sequence of colours organised by a computer. This is
:48:19. > :48:25.all painted by the artist, it takes months! His work has meant he has
:48:25. > :48:29.looked at it close and from far away to create this painting. You
:48:29. > :48:35.get a feeling of something undulating and glowing and
:48:35. > :48:41.throbbing in front of us. It is gorgeous, pain-staking, deliberate
:48:41. > :48:51.work. Last on the list is a painting by Italian artist and
:48:51. > :48:53.
:48:53. > :48:57.honourary Royal Academician, mim ow -- MimmoPaladino.
:48:57. > :49:04.What a gorgeous painting. It is remarkable of a place that this
:49:04. > :49:08.chap can evoke with a few strokes of white paint on a fantastically
:49:08. > :49:13.bright, lucious, marine background. A good picture, a bit of a tour de
:49:13. > :49:18.force. So those are my thoughts on the seven artworks shortlisted for
:49:18. > :49:23.the Wollaston Award, but which will the judge's decide is the most
:49:23. > :49:27.distinguished? Is they going to go for sploshes, dribbles or the stuff
:49:27. > :49:34.that is done with masking tape? love the Onya McAusland for the way
:49:34. > :49:42.that it changes everything so subtley. Yet I think that I would
:49:42. > :49:47.elevate the Gary Hume or the Alison Wilding above that, each of them I
:49:47. > :49:53.find powerful and compelling and so of the moment, somehow. 7 Coming
:49:53. > :49:58.down to two, I think that I would pick Frank Bowling and Alison
:49:58. > :50:03.Wilding. For me, the Wildfire, this material of foam, gently sagging
:50:03. > :50:10.against the wall and then caught with this wonderful intervention of
:50:10. > :50:16.the copper and the globe-like object inserted into it, it does it
:50:16. > :50:22.for me. It is both discreet, awkward and in a way almost a
:50:22. > :50:26.little bit annoying in the space and so that one really does stand
:50:27. > :50:33.out for me and does have that quality of distinction and
:50:33. > :50:37.distinguishedness about it. Yes. Are we edging towards the
:50:37. > :50:45.Wilding? To be surprising at a time when art can be anything it is
:50:45. > :50:48.amazing. If it is surprising, which I thing -- think it is, I would
:50:48. > :50:58.support that. So, everybody is happy. We have a
:50:58. > :50:58.
:50:58. > :51:02.final decision and the winner is Alison Wilding's "Take A Deep
:51:02. > :51:08.Breath." So, this is the winner. I am really
:51:08. > :51:11.happy about that. This is beautiful. There is a simplicity. It has the
:51:11. > :51:16.beauty of transparency. You can see all of the decisions that the
:51:16. > :51:21.artist has made. Lastly, it has the beauty of modesty. It is just
:51:21. > :51:24.leaning against the wall, saying look at me if you want to, but I'm
:51:24. > :51:28.not going to dominate the space. Those are all very important things
:51:28. > :51:33.in art today. That's why I think this is a wonderful piece of
:51:33. > :51:43.artwork to win the prize. A few days later, I'm off to meet Alison
:51:43. > :51:44.
:51:44. > :51:51.Wilding in her studio. She thinks that we are here to give an
:51:51. > :51:59.interview, but I have been allowed to tell her about the competition.
:51:59. > :52:06.I have some wonderful news for you. Have you? You have won the
:52:06. > :52:11.Wollaston Award? Really? Are you joking? No! I think this that is
:52:11. > :52:15.amazing. Congratulations! So, very good news
:52:15. > :52:19.for Alison Wilding, congratulations to her, but what about my specially
:52:19. > :52:25.selected art works and my mum who entered the public process. Was it
:52:25. > :52:35.good news for them? Well, here they all are on the day that they got
:52:35. > :52:46.
:52:46. > :52:51.PJ Crook and David Newens had both shown oft no-one the past, but will
:52:51. > :52:55.their paintings be selected this time? Thank you for entering this
:52:55. > :53:02.year's Summer Exihibition, with over 11,000 entries, the
:53:02. > :53:04.competition was extremely strong, however I'm delighted to inform you,
:53:04. > :53:10.that your work, "Greenhouse Interior" has been selected and
:53:10. > :53:12.hung in the exhibition. "The Infant" and "Revolution" have
:53:13. > :53:20.been selected and hung in the exhibition.
:53:20. > :53:25.Great news. Really it is extremely pleasing. I
:53:25. > :53:33.was already delighted to be chosen by the art critic, Alastair Sooke,
:53:33. > :53:38.for the Culture Show programme. So this is really an added extra,
:53:38. > :53:43.brilliant news. I'm really delighted. Especially as they have
:53:43. > :53:48.exhibited both. Will things go so well for first-
:53:48. > :53:56.time applicants, Isidro Ramirez and Alexander Korzer-Robinson? Are you
:53:56. > :53:59.excited? Yes! I'm sorry to inform you that the work was not hung in
:53:59. > :54:04.the exhibition. However it was short-listed which is a fine
:54:04. > :54:09.achievement. So, it is not in the exhibition, it's not been selected.
:54:09. > :54:15.It is natural to be a little bit disappointed, but to be short-
:54:15. > :54:25.listed is an achievement so I will take the positive and be happy with
:54:25. > :54:26.
:54:26. > :54:32.it. I'm delighted to inform you that your work, Strictly Come
:54:32. > :54:38.Dancing It Takes Two has been accepted to the -- that your work
:54:38. > :54:42.has been accepted into the competition.
:54:42. > :54:49.Fantastic! There is one artist left to open her letter.
:54:49. > :54:57.Hello, how are you? Good. Have you been think being this?
:54:57. > :55:01.Only a little bit. Fleetingly. You do seem nervous? I am a little.
:55:01. > :55:06.Ready? Thank you for entering this year's Summer Exihibition, with
:55:06. > :55:10.over 11,000 entries, the competition was very strong. On
:55:10. > :55:15.this occasion, I'm sorry to inform you that your two works were not
:55:15. > :55:21.selected for this exhibition. Oh! Oh, well. That's a shame.
:55:21. > :55:26.That is a shame. I think that they made a mistake. My poor mum! I'm
:55:26. > :55:30.still feeling so gutted for her. I may be slightly biased, but I
:55:30. > :55:34.really thing that she deserved to make it through. The reality is
:55:34. > :55:41.that getting work past the hanging Committee, it can be tough. That
:55:41. > :55:45.said, I'm chuffed about the artists that I chose, three out of the four
:55:45. > :55:49.that I chose have made it through and their work is on display.
:55:49. > :55:54.Over there is the book structure, there is the greenhouse painting
:55:54. > :55:58.and up there, the two paintings by PJ Crook. If you would like to see
:55:58. > :56:04.them for yourself, and indeed the rest of the Summer Exihibition it
:56:04. > :56:09.is open until Monday the 15th of August. The Culture Show is back on
:56:09. > :56:13.mund with a show all about the Kennedys. Thank you for watching.
:56:13. > :56:18.Good night. I tend to like the things, I must
:56:18. > :56:24.admit, that I can recognise what they are. I come about eight times.
:56:24. > :56:30.You are kidding? I think it is nice that people can come to the Royal
:56:30. > :56:36.Academy and have works of arts, access to them for a few hundred
:56:36. > :56:39.dead pounds. It was an impulse buy. There is the dog in the trash can,
:56:39. > :56:43.it is moving around and all kinds of surprising.
:56:43. > :56:48.I think it is brilliant. There is something for everybody and
:56:48. > :56:54.everybody can enter. I am really impressed. I did not expect that.
:56:54. > :57:00.It is great, everything is so different. An excellent variety of
:57:00. > :57:06.artwork, some of it expensive, some of it is very cheap.
:57:06. > :57:10.We bought this, a little owl by Tracey Emin. I tried to buy a piece