Two works by Keith Williams have been selected for the 251st Royal Academy Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy in Burlington House on London’s Piccadilly.
Run without interruption since 1769, the Summer Exhibition is the world’s largest open submission art show and brings together art in all mediums – prints and paintings, film, photography, sculpture, architectural works and more – by leading artists, Royal Academicians and household names as well as new and emerging talent. Around 1,200 works will be on display, most of them for the first time.
Keith Williams Architects are regular exhibitors at the prestigious annual exhibition, and this year the works are both in drawn form responding to the exhibition’s theme of Sustainability. The drawings are on display in the Large Weston Room.
They comprise “clare cultural centre : volumetric study + environmental concepts” and a drawing entitled “temporary theatre : volumetric study” exploring Keith’s designs for a new performance space at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre.
Keith commented ” The RA Summer Exhibition is a wonderful showcase for art and architecture. It is an honour to be chosen to exhibit and as an architect it forces me to find the space to step outside my day to day activities to think about and represent the work of my studio in a fresh and different way. This is a very good thing.”
The works in Gallery VI, works by architects, were chosen and curated by architect spencer de grey ra.
This summer, Jock McFadyen RA has coordinated the Summer Exhibition. Highlights will include an animal-themed ‘menagerie’ in the Central Hall, with works by artists including Polly Morgan, Charles Avery and Mat Collishaw. Artist sisters Jane and Louise Wilson RA will curate two galleries, one of which will showcase work exploring light and time. Further artists exhibiting include Jeremy Deller, Marcus Harvey and Tracey Emin RA, and Honorary Academicians Anselm Kiefer, James Turrell and Wim Wenders.
Outside the galleries, international artist Thomas Houseago will take over the RA’s courtyard with a group of large-scale sculptural works, and the exhibition will spill out into nearby Bond Street with a colourful installation of flags featuring work by Michael Craig-Martin RA.
As always, most of the artworks will be for sale with proceeds helping to fund the Academy’s non-profit-making activities, including educating the next generation of artists in the RA Schools.
The Summer Exhibition runs from 10 June until 12 August.