What a hotch potch.. !

Over stuffed, over rated and over priced... yes, that's my lasting impression of this year's Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. I was excitedly expecting great things from the world's biggest open exhibition, but it was not to be. The most striking thing about the show is the higgeldy piggeldy arrangement of the pieces. Some of the rooms are literally stuffed with pieces, which is refreshing and not stuffy like other galleries but sadly, even this couldn't lift my spirits. I know modern art can sometimes appear to look like the work of a 6 year old. Some artists mistakenly call a random collection of 'things' juxtaposed in a random way 'art'. I prefer to believe that art has to have some meaning. I like art that pulls at the emotional heart strings. It may make me smile, I may think it's clever, I may think it's sad but I'd rather not think it's rubbish. I did try very hard to like some of the pieces but sitting in the middle of the gallery, I got the distinct impression that 99% of the other visitors were thinking the same thing. Were we being fooled into believing that this is the best we have to offer? None of us are art critics, we don't profess to know much about the art world or the artists, but we certainly all have an opinion. I think the show lacks originality and unlike Scope where I was last week, this seemed very amateurish. There wasn't the excitement of a new experience around every corner. There are just walls and walls of mostly random pieces that lack spirit and any joie-de-vivre. It was hard to pick out many gems but amongst the mediocrity, there were just a few shining lights.


The Damien Hirst sculpture was exceptional and I'd have happily walked out with a couple of small pieces if it weren't for the silly prices. I could have been tempted to take Cy Twombly’s big blowsy roses home but sadly, it's a whopping great piece and much to pricey for my liking. The chopped up postcard pictures were also good, though once I'd seen one of them, each subsequent one was just a repeat of the process which lessened the impact of the first. I was quite partial to the wire letter cube and ironically, as it was an empty cube, you could pick out some of the lesser pieces behind it. I don't get Tracey Emin. Everyone wants to buy a piece of her, though certainly not for her talent. Tell me it's just for some silly investment, please! All in all, there was a faint glimmer but no leading lights at this year's exhibition. It remains in my head as the world's most expensive jumble sale!