Royal Academy takes on critics by pushing boundaries of taste

 
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5 June 2013

The Royal Academy is confronting critics of its annual summer show — by devoting an entire gallery to taste.

Six tapestries by flamboyant Turner Prize winner Grayson Perry, called The Vanity of Small Differences, examine questions of taste in a counterpoint to the usual debate about whether the summer exhibition is any good.

Perry challenges expectations of what is acceptable with his depictions of characters and incidents in a William Hogarth-style journey through Sunderland, Tunbridge Wells and the Cotswolds.

“The tapestries are a wonderful thing to have in the summer exhibition because it is so much about taste and always has been,” said curator Edith Devaney.

“It is an opportunity for people to come and talk about the work. It would be nice if the critics embraced it more, but they have my sympathies. We are asking the Press to review it in the same way as Manet, but it is different.”

Ms Devaney said that it was interesting and gratifying that serious artists such as Michael Craig-Martin and Anselm Kiefer wanted to show work in the exhibition, which also includes pieces submitted by the public. “They believe in the exhibition,” she said.

The annual show has taken place since 1769, a year after the Academy was founded, and funds raised from the sale of works support students at the Academy’s schools.

New elements this year include a room dedicated to portraiture, with new works by artists including Frank Auerbach and Alex Katz. There is also work by members including Tracey Emin and Gary Hume.

The Summer Exhibition opens to the public next Monday and runs until August 18, admission £10.

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