News
Royal Academy of Arts summer exhibition submissions
03/01/2020
Run without interruption since 1769, the Royal Academy of Art's summer exhibition is the world’s largest open submission art show and brings together a collage-like display of 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.
The first work I have submitted is 'And there were none'
Food production is being undermined by humanity's failure to protect biodiversity. Over the last 20 years, approximately 20% of the earth's vegetated surface has become less productive. In the UK alone, intensive farming and overuse of chemicals has boosted short-term productivity but will render large tracts of soil infertile within a generation. Global monoculture farming not only has an adverse impact on biodiversity, it puts pressures on water supplies that are already struggling to cope with demand.
The world's insects are hurtling down the path to extinction, threatening a catastrophic collapse of nature's ecosystems. More than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered. The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles. The total mass of insects is falling by a precipitous 2.5% per year, suggesting that they could vanish within a century.
This work is made entirely from plastic single-use forks and plastic figures. The main image is drawn in silverpoint, a Renaissance technique that has largely been forgotten when the graphite pencil became available and proved more convenient for drawing.
The second work is a sculpture entitled FINIS: Will humans be the agent of their own mass extinction??
In the last half-billion years, life on Earth has been nearly wiped out five times. These events are known as the Big Five mass extinctions, and all signs suggest we are now on the precipice of a sixth.
A 'biological annihilation' of wildlife in recent decades means a sixth mass extinction is already underway and more severe than previously feared, according to recent research. Wildlife is dying out due to habitat destruction, overhunting, toxic pollution, invasion by alien species and climate change. Key drivers of all of these factors is reliance on fossil fuels; food production methods; overconsumption; and, human overpopulation and continued population growth. All signs point to ever more powerful assaults on biodiversity in the next two decades, painting a dismal picture of the future of life, including human life. Added to this, our casual over-reliance on antibiotics has created a crisis. The rapid emergence of resistant bacteria is occurring worldwide, endangering the efficacy of antibiotics, which have transformed medicine and saved millions of lives. The antibiotic resistance crisis has been attributed to the overuse and misuse of these medications, as well as a lack of new drug development.
This work is made entirely from plastic materials, pieces of coal, empty packets of antibiotics and circuit boards and aims to be a visual representation of the sixth extinction.
What happens next?
The first round of selection is made from digital images of around 12,000 artworks, from which the judges will shortlist up to 4,000 entries to be delivered to the Academy for the final round.
The exhibition is open to the public from 9 June to 16 August 2020
www.royalacademy.org.uk
The first work I have submitted is 'And there were none'
Food production is being undermined by humanity's failure to protect biodiversity. Over the last 20 years, approximately 20% of the earth's vegetated surface has become less productive. In the UK alone, intensive farming and overuse of chemicals has boosted short-term productivity but will render large tracts of soil infertile within a generation. Global monoculture farming not only has an adverse impact on biodiversity, it puts pressures on water supplies that are already struggling to cope with demand.
The world's insects are hurtling down the path to extinction, threatening a catastrophic collapse of nature's ecosystems. More than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered. The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles. The total mass of insects is falling by a precipitous 2.5% per year, suggesting that they could vanish within a century.
This work is made entirely from plastic single-use forks and plastic figures. The main image is drawn in silverpoint, a Renaissance technique that has largely been forgotten when the graphite pencil became available and proved more convenient for drawing.
The second work is a sculpture entitled FINIS: Will humans be the agent of their own mass extinction??
In the last half-billion years, life on Earth has been nearly wiped out five times. These events are known as the Big Five mass extinctions, and all signs suggest we are now on the precipice of a sixth.
A 'biological annihilation' of wildlife in recent decades means a sixth mass extinction is already underway and more severe than previously feared, according to recent research. Wildlife is dying out due to habitat destruction, overhunting, toxic pollution, invasion by alien species and climate change. Key drivers of all of these factors is reliance on fossil fuels; food production methods; overconsumption; and, human overpopulation and continued population growth. All signs point to ever more powerful assaults on biodiversity in the next two decades, painting a dismal picture of the future of life, including human life. Added to this, our casual over-reliance on antibiotics has created a crisis. The rapid emergence of resistant bacteria is occurring worldwide, endangering the efficacy of antibiotics, which have transformed medicine and saved millions of lives. The antibiotic resistance crisis has been attributed to the overuse and misuse of these medications, as well as a lack of new drug development.
This work is made entirely from plastic materials, pieces of coal, empty packets of antibiotics and circuit boards and aims to be a visual representation of the sixth extinction.
What happens next?
The first round of selection is made from digital images of around 12,000 artworks, from which the judges will shortlist up to 4,000 entries to be delivered to the Academy for the final round.
The exhibition is open to the public from 9 June to 16 August 2020
www.royalacademy.org.uk