Yinka Shonibare taking the reins at Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

Last year’s show was delayed for the first time in its history because of the pandemic.

Yinka Shonibare holds his CBE for services to art (Yui Mok/PA)

By Sherna Noah, PA Senior Entertainment Correspondent

April 08 2021 11:27 AM

Yinka Shonibare will co-ordinate the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition this year.

The artist, famous for his Nelson’s Ship In A Bottle installation which stood on Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth, will explore the theme of Reclaiming Magic and celebrate the “sheer joy of making” art.

The Summer Exhibition is the world’s largest open submission contemporary art show.

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Renowned artist Yinka Shonibare RA will be co-ordinating this yearâs #RASummer Exhibition.

The theme of âReclaiming Magicâ will celebrate the visceral joy of creating art, and give a platform to artists marginalised by the western art narrative. @SHONIBARESTUDIO pic.twitter.com/U6INVv0GMF
— Royal Academy (@royalacademy) April 8, 2021

It has taken place every year without interruption since 1769, even during the First and Second World Wars.

Last year, because of the pandemic, it was delayed to the autumn for the first time in its history.

Shonibare said: “Reclaiming Magic is an exhibition which seeks a return to the visceral aspects of art-making.

“It will transcend the Western canon which formed the foundations of the Royal Academy and Western art history’s points of reference.

Yinka Shonibare’s work Nelson’s Ship In A Bottle (Stephen White/PA)

“The exhibition will be a celebration of the transformative powers of the magical in art, a return to the ritualistic and the sheer joy of making.”

Around 1,200 works will be selected for display from approximately 15,000 submissions, sent in by artists and architects from around the world.

The majority of works will be for sale, with funds raised going to support the exhibiting artists, the postgraduate students studying in the RA Schools and the not-for-profit work of the Royal Academy.

Turner Prize-nominated siblings Jane and Louise Wilson co-ordinated last year’s show.

Online Editors