Royal Academy of Arts

I recently began frequenting the RA as my AMEX card allows me into exhibitions for free. And boy am I glad of it!
The RA’s last few exhibitions have more than met my expectations — from Ai Wei Wei to Liotard to Monet. The spectrum of art that the Academy covers is extensive, making it accessible and likeable by many. Also, each exhibition is beyond rich, so much so that I’m needing to go back to see the Monet exhibition once more to be able to take it all in. Says a lot about the substance of the RA’s exhibitions and curation skills.
I also appreciate the cozy ambience. Not too big and yet not too small, the venue is perfect for a 1.5−2hr excursion without it being too exhausting.
Last but not least, I find the location ideal. Situated across from Green Park, you can enjoy a day in the park afterward if you’d like, or pop by a nice restaurant for a posh meal. Otherwise, you can go across the street for some window shopping at Fortnum and Mason. It’s less than 5min walk from the tube too.
The RA has become my favourite playground for sure.

The Al Weiwei 56 hours craze was my first experience with RAA and I loved it. Any gallery that can pull that kind of event so smoothly deserves five stars and a watchful eye for what it will come up with next. (I mean, sure. It’s the Royal Academy of Arts, I guess it is no surprise it comes up with great things, as far as artistic content is concerned. But what I mean is that pulling off such a playful and well flowing special event definitely puts RAA on my ‘places to do exciting things in London’ list.)
So here is the deal. The Al Weiwei exhibit was so popular that for the last weekend, the RAA stayed open for 56 hours straight, night and day. I reserved a slot for 11:30 pm, but was pleased to see that the times were rather indicative and there was no issue with me coming a bit later.
I ended up using the gallery space between midnight and 2 am and loved how despite the late time of the day, the staff everywhere starting from the ticket and cloakroom guys all the way to the exhibit guides was ever so helpful, cheerful and organised. They really upped the atmosphere a notch and made me feel like we were all sharing some great special sleepover experience.
The café was open all night long and served some decent cakes and good selection of drinks much needed for energy restoration. I really appreciated how the exhibit itself was perfectly organised — the e-​guides provided with each ticket gave really excellent background on the curating process and the art pieces, and definitely helped me gain a whole lot more from the experience. The RAA also just didn’t bank on the artist’s popularity and the novelty of being open all night to get the people in — the whole night and weekend were packed with talks, performances and events to give the exhibit a really proper send off.
RAA is housed in a stunning building with imposing traditional interiors which provide a lovely backdrop against some of the very modern art on exhibit. I particularly appreciated being able to enjoy the contemplative atmosphere of the large space and the full arrangement during the night hours without the distraction of too many visitors. So if you can, I recommend getting there during the off peak hours too to get the best out of your experience. I hope this is not the last late opening like this — what a perfect concept for a city which truly never sleeps! Hopefully we shall see it again.

I am a philistine, a heathen, an uncultured lout of epic proportions, After living here for several years I had no idea that this place even existed. I cam here for the David Hockney exhibition and the scale of the place is simply mindblowing,
The exhibition had floor to ceiling prices with whole walls being covered by painting from the master, many painting using the iPad (I can hardly touch the screen on one correctly!)
It seems I have grown too used to the easy and free world class art that London has to offer and missed out on this place. I shall now vow to be less cheap in my art appreciation.

We went to check out the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy. On walking into the courtyard, you are greeted by The Dappled Light of the Sun by Conrad Shawcross — a weathering steel cloud effect.
As we entered the foyer, we saw the wonderful colorful staircase by Jim Lambie — with an intriguing arrow guiding you up to the exhibition!
The polycarbonate and stainless steel coloured figure by Matthew Darbyshire welcomes you into the rotunda as you venture on your exploration of the Summer Exhibition.
On entering the adjacent room, your eyes are drawn towards the artwork created by Paul Hosking titled Mimic — mirrored acrylic on aluminium.
Though our favourite pieces were the fantastic Buddha and Sunimi coat hanger creations by David Mach.
The Summer Exhibition had amazing creations on display!

2015 is my year of culture, don’tcha know. And so with my guides in the form of long time London friends I went to the summer exhibition at the RA. Two very pleasant hours were spent pretending to be a lot richer than I am, judging by all the artwork I wanted and liked the most I have expensive tastes, however by my lack of skill in guessing the price of what I like I clearly wasn’t aware of how expensive my tastes are. No wonder I can’t afford the food or anything from the gift shop at the academy.
Loved the artwork on the stairs, really enjoyed the exhibition. Never going to be able to afford to buy any art that isn’t from ikea.

This review is most specifically for the summer exhibition but we also included the Joseph Cornell in the same trip.
I am not known to favour large institutions over edgier venues but I Love Joseph Cornell so a visit was a no brainer during out staycation in London.
We viewed the summer exhibition first and I found it such a refreshing change to standard exhibitions. The walls were brightly coloured and the works were a punchy collection with the rooms displaying works that resonated with each other in either form or subject.
The entrance of the stripey steps is beguiling as you go to enter and the central room really packs a punch (probably the biggest of the lot) with an interesting yet identifiable collection of modern art. The other rooms are great but a lesser version of the entrance.
We loved the catalogue and viewing the price of the works we really liked and imagining in a parallel universe that we would buy the cheaper ones at around £700, then we laughed, ‘yeah right!’. But, this was more than I ever expected from the summer exhibition and I salute the curator.
The Joseph Cornell was also good but it turns out I much prefer the pics of his work that offer a more 2D ambiance and strangely different take on it, who knew!!? It was also very cold which I’m not a fan of!
If you like art then worth a visit, if you don’t get art then worth a visit for an interesting overview.

Well, the evening started badly, with a quick bite to eat in the Friends café. Was charged £9.50 for a very small luke warm chicken pie plus about £3 for an even colder cup of coffee, which they promised to change, then forgot about me, despite the place being practically empty. The staff are not very competent and clearly have no interest in the ‘Friends’ who I gather pay about £90 per year for the privilege.
Round at the other site (Burlington Gardens) it was a completely different story, with lavish hospitality and highly trained catering staff at the launch of Lankaran Forest, a new Azeri-​inspired perfume. It certainly is a beautiful building and the exhibit of a real forest inside a small room must have taken considerable resource and skill to set up. Didn’t have enough time to visit the Rubens exhibition unfortunately.

The RA is a veritable institution that hosts some of the best exhibitions in town but unlike other galleries has no permanent collection of its own. There are two galleries, firstly what are called the main galleries, where the largest exhibitions are held (e.g summer exhibition). I just saw the Rubens exhibition on a Friday night there and it was never so packed that you couldn’t view the paintings. Contrast this space with the Sackler Galleries which are effectively in the eves of the RA. It is the most miserable gallery space in London. Like holding an exhibition in your attic. Hot, airless and small, they are always a trial. There’s a standard café for friends and non friends, but nothing like as good as the Tate in my view. Three stars due to the Sackler.

I generally prefer weird and funky underground venues hidden down dark alleys, but the Royal Academy just is THE institution for arts and as such attracts massive crowds for big name shows, you can imagine the queues for the likes of Chagall, Manet or Rubens.
More edgy shows like Sensation during the height of the YBA, or most recently Allen Jones make for an exciting mix of young and old — both in terms of the artists as in members of the audience.
The building and its impressive courtyard just off Piccadilly are worth a visit in their own right. I’ve recently decided to take out membership which allows you to jump the queues and exclusive access to its members café — always a good selling point.

Reubens exhibition — I am a member of the royal Arcady and do enjoy the size and ambience of the venue. The Rubens exhibition was more about the power of Reuben’s on other artists. The exhibition was nice, bUt if you want to see more Reuben’s then there r better places in london for this. However the exhibition is well shaped.

Royal Academy of Arts has two sites next to each other: the Piccadilly site and the Burlington Garden site. Even though they are very closely located, they aren’t connected to each other. However I heard this will be changed in 2015.
I went for the Allen Jones exhibition and it was really interesting. Besides the exhibtion there are a few nice dining options from cafes to restaurants.
However this is not a gallery like the National Gallery, where there are large permanent collections. Usually there are 2 or 3 specific exhibitions going on at a time but you probably wouldn’t spend all day in it. It is at an ideal location though. My preferred itinerary is to have early afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason, pop in here for an exhibition, then check out the beautiful arcades near here.

Allen Jones at the RAA is pretty cool. It’s a bit weird, but it’s quite quirky. A bit like objectifying women though, but if you can get past that you’ll be fine. There are lots of colour and 3D representations of paintings.

Saw the Anselm Kiefer exhibit today. It is a massive collection, many pieces I didn’t see when sfmoma had an exhibit a few years ago. And when you approach the entrance there is a sculpture collection he did in 2007 of submarines that is incredible.
Even if you are just walking by, take a few minutes and check our the free submarine installation.
Inside the first piece is another sculpture of a pile of books and panels that has wings. Seriously, the magnitude of his work is inspiring.
The longer room explanations do a really great job of telling his perspective of his work. So read them, you will see so much more in the work. They didn’t glance o the surface, they really went with what he thinks of his work, what it means.
And then stare. Work it out. Let the sensory morph into emotion and then into your being. It happens if you let it. Not many artists can do that for me, but he is one. I wrote three poems while I was there, that is how moved I was. I stopped and stared and wrote.

I love it here. Amazing building. Amazing interiors. Amazing rooms and entrance. Matched by the numerous exhibitions I’ve been to.
I really should become a friend of the royal academy.
Just seen the Sensing Spaces exhibition/​installations incredible.

Wonderful building with awe inspiring ceilings. Somewhat old fashioned in its collections sometimes and the location in the middle of tourist hell lets it down. However they have moments of genius like the sensing spaces exhibition which blew my mind.

A bastion of British art for centuries, some of Britain’s best artists have come out of this pretty special place. The exhibitions here are incredibly varied and always interesting. There’s traditional 19^th Century fare with recent excellent Degas and Manet shows; a mammoth exhibition on Bronze stretching pretty much all of human history; and of course the (in)famous Sensation übercontroverscandal in 1997. A dirty bed with used condoms, a huge portrait of Myra Hindley in children’s handprints, a frozen head of blood: what’s not to love/​be incensed about?
The Royal Academy manages to swing between being stuffy establishment and almost needlessly provocative, and I kind of love that. My one reservation is these two opposing characteristics can make the place seem quite pretentious, and it seems to be a place for people in the know. Also the tickets can be pretty pricey unless you have a membership. And I never ever borrow my friend’s card to get in for free. No sir, never.
The most recent exhibition I saw here was Inside Out, a look at the architecture of Sir Richard Rogers, with the original models of the Lloyds Building and the Pompidou Centre. I’m sure Prince Charles will not be attending but I certainly enjoyed it.

As you may noticed I’m a big fan of art and art fairs. The Royal Academy is one of many art galleries in central London and provides more art and culture to the city. They normally have around two to three different exhibitions on at any time. Themes can vary massively, but mostly concentrate on 19^th Century art. Most of them cost between £7 to £12.
One of their main exhibitions (and a favourit of mine) is the annually Summer Exhibition, which allows normal people (non professional artist) to present their pictures and be displayed in the main galleries. I can only assume that the competition for spots is rather fierce. I love the Summer Exhibition as it shows the wide variety of everyday art next to the conceptional pieces of long established artist. It also has a room dedicated to architecture, which presents models next to drawings and concept ideas.

If the queues are long go to the front and become a Friend of the Royal Academy. This is an annual membership but not wildly expensive.
If you’re visiting the UK and want to see a true British institution become a Friend and go and have a cup of tea in the Friend’s room. Sit and watch!

The RA does some very interesting things– the curation is fascinating, they take on challenges, and they’re not in the game to pick the best, brightest, or biggest of anything.
Inside of a brilliant building they’ve managed to find their niche as an artistic building with major and minor exhibitions, and always something fasctinating. Well worth a visit.

Classy. but membership prices reflect this I used to be a member & adore the members’
room for coffee; great place to hang out with
a friend. I went there to see my old mate Frank
Bowling’s show the first black RA shame on
the whole art establishment for not promoting
our black artists sooner.
Stephen Fry says I do not think there is a more
pleasurable or fulfilling thing to be, than a Friend of
the Royal Academy. I am passionate about the Royal
Academy and think it stands for all the very best in
British cultural life