Cathy's Art Diary

Confusing exhibition at the Royal Academy, one of a series of three showcasing the work of 2nd year students in the schools. I have found all these shows annoying for the lack of information about the work. It’s often conceptual in nature and needs some explanation. It might cope with that if it was beautiful but on the whole it hasn’t been. This one took the biscuit as they had run out of the handout, not that it is that useful, so I didn’t even know which work was by which student. By checking the website I think I worked out that these striking paintings are by Djofray Makumbu and that possibly the small model is for an animation and is therefore by Zachariah Riley but if so it might have been nice to see one of his animations to put it in context. As for the other work presumably by Katrina Cowling and Joshua Fay who knows which was which. I rather liked a mechanical wave of corn which I thought was quite witty and the fact the arch of the staircase had been encased in fabri...

Interesting exhibition at the Royal Academy featuring work by three second-year students studying at the Royal Academy Schools. I   like to see these annual series of shows but do wish they would offer some explanation of the works. They are often conceptual work which you do need a bit of help to understand. I liked Lolly Adams’s weird sculptures using found objects centred, in both cases, on a bright pink mannequin head. One seemed to be a fountain and as the friend I was with said, it was a shame it wasn’t working. I also liked Dwayne Coleman’s large blue work made up of a patchwork of blue material. Was it a statement on Indigo and colonialism which is a common theme in contemporary art? His two smaller works seem to have had sound associated with them but I missed that. Maya Gurung-Russell Campbell offered a strange wall sculpture which looked like a discarded fishing net. Some help would be appreciated! Closed 16 February 2025