RScotAcad

Royal Scottish Academy ready for 194th exhibition

The 194th Annual Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy will open later this month.

Running from 28 March – 3 May at the RSA Upper and Lower Galleries on Princes Street, Edinburgh, the annual exhibition is the most extensive exhibition of contemporary art and architecture in Scotland.

Having been a mainstay of the academy’s calendar since its inception 193 years ago, the annual exhibition has evolved over the years, providing a platform for Scottish art alongside international artists, often including topical or political elements, to give an uncensored, independent voice to artists. The historic Neoclassical galleries at the Royal Scottish Academy will again host the exhibition.

Building on the successful reintroduction of the RSA Open Exhibitions of Art and Architecture into the RSA Annual Exhibition in recent years, this year a panel of Royal Scottish Academicians has selected works for the Open elements of the exhibition.

With works submitted from all over the world and in a vast range of mediums, the exhibition promises to be both diverse and thought-provoking.

Convenor Graeme Todd RSA, assisted by deputy convenor Henry McKeown RSA, is tasked with bringing together a wide array of contemporary painting, sculpture, film, printmaking, photography and installation, alongside work by some of the country’s leading architects.

The exhibition will include a group of works, selected by Todd, centring on the idea of interior space. Invited artists include Liz Adamson, Maria Chevska, Steven Cox, Angus Hood and Richard Walker. Ideas concerning presence, occupancy, the intimate and the everyday will be explored through painting, photography, performance, sculpture and video. The exhibition will show the habitual necessity for interior spaces in modern society to be a potent idea for artists to explore.

Graeme Todd RSA said: ‘I have worked on many exhibitions in many galleries in different countries over the years as an artist and curator, but the scale, range and context of the RSA Annual Exhibition, particularly in its revitalized format combining annual and open exhibitions, is a new and invigorating challenge – one that comes with its own particular sense of scale and history.

‘Bearing in mind the success of its most recent iteration, I decided to introduce a complimentary element by inviting artists, some of whom are new to the Academy. I hope to bring new and relevant art to the RSA Galleries in unexpected combinations, that speaks of the diversity of contemporary experience.’

Director Colin Greenslade added: ‘It is very exciting to bring the reinstated, wider format of the RSA Annual Exhibition back to its usual springtime slot for 2020. Now in its 194th year, the exhibition is shaping up to be an important opportunity for visitors to see new works by Academicians and other artists from across Scotland, the United Kingdom and beyond.’

The Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture has a proud tradition of promoting excellence in contemporary art and architecture in Scotland. Led by eminent artists and architects it supports the creation, understanding and enjoyment of the visual arts through exhibitions, artist opportunities and related educational talks and events.

For further information about the RSA visit www.royalscottishacademy.org

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