RA Schools Show 2023
Royal Academy of Arts, London
8 June – 25 June 2023
Lurcher, 2022
Oil on canvas, 180x220cm (diptych).
Courtesy of the artist
Too Much Haha, Very Soon Boohoo, 2022
Oil on linen, 120 x 160cm
Courtesy of the artist
Deep Pool, 2022
Oil on canvas, 90 x 200cm.
Image courtesy of Tom Carter
The RA Schools Show 2023 presents the work of 14 contemporary artists graduating from the Royal Academy Schools this year: Motunrayo Akinola, Nancy Allen, Daria Blum, Max Boyla, Daniel Davies, Enej Gala, Anna Higgins, Rachel Hobkirk, Clark Keatley, Louis Morlæ, Thirza Smith, Elinor Stanley, Mary Stephenson and Oliver Tirré.
The exhibition marks the public culmination of an intensive period of study that encourages experimental and discursive approaches to artmaking. Through 14 individual presentations, the exhibition explores different perspectives of the world through its diverse forms, materials, stories, and politics. It includes a wide range of media from sculpture, painting and print to performance, installation and moving image.
Artwork on display include large-scale paintings where the figure in the foreground creates a sense of vertigo, a digital manipulation and animation that brings sculptures to life, a gigantic hanging mobile made from wood pulp, music-influenced performances that make and break multiple selves, and a purring sculpture that permeates the space. The exhibition is showing across the Royal Academy: in the North West Corner of Burlington Gardens, The Jillian and Arthur M. Sackler Wing of Galleries, the Weston Studio and the Ronald and Rita McAulay Gallery.
Untitled, 2023
Carbon pencil on paper. 66 x 44 cm.
Courtesy of the artist
Circumbendibus Vol. 1, 2022
Live performance, 25 min.
Courtesy of the artist
Stickpool, 2022
Foil platters, sticks, 142 x 110 x 30 cm.
Courtesy of the artist
The Royal Academy Schools is an independent school of contemporary art that offers up to 17 artists each year the opportunity to participate in a free, three-year, postgraduate programme. Founded in 1769, the RA Schools remains independent to this day. This independence enables the postgraduate programme to constantly adapt to the individual needs of each student. Discussion and debate is fuelled by a variety of lectures, artist talks, group critiques and tutorials given by leading contemporary artists, Royal Academicians, critics, writers and theorists. Graduates of the RA Schools include Rebecca Ackroyd, Michael Armitage RA, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Rachel Jones, Eddie Peake, Anthony Caro RA, JMW Turner and William Blake. The Keeper of the Royal Academy is Cathie Pilkington RA.
Work on the vital restoration and renewal project for the RA Schools is currently underway and is due for completion in spring 2024. Designed by David Chipperfield Architects, together with conservation specialists Julian Harrap Architects, the project will preserve the heritage of the RA Schools and create state-of-the-art facilities in order to ensure the RA School’s position as one of the leading art schools in the UK. Whilst the renewal project is taking place, the students’ studios have temporarily moved to other spaces across the Royal Academy’s buildings.
Urine Deflector, 2022,
Steel and emulsion. Pair of sculptures, each 90 x 110 x 60cm
Courtesy of the artist
texture piece, 2022
Perspex and glue
Courtesy of the artist
Leashes, 2017-2023
Oil on wood, wood flour, cellulosis, wire, thread, variable size.
Installation view at TJ Boulting 2023.
Photo credit: Tom Carter
Ain't No Sunshine, 2022
Ink and Velvet on Satin, 190 x 130cm
Courtesy of Sim Smith, London
Cathie Pilkington RA, Keeper of the Royal Academy, said: ‘It has been a huge privilege to share the journey with the class of 2023 - to witness their deepening critical awareness and material ambition.’Brian Griffiths RA, Senior Lecturer at the RA Schools and artist, said: ‘This is an exceptional group of artists making significant art for now and the future.’
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS, LONDON
