Crowd control

‘Times have changed,’ I was told by one disgruntled Academician. Once the members were guaranteed to have their work hung ‘on the line’ (i.e., in pride of place at eye-level), and non-members would get the remaining positions if they were lucky. This year John Hoyland’s large paintings have been ‘skied’, and one of Craigie Aitchison’s screenprints (he refuses to send in paintings because the summer show is such a ragbag) has been hung ‘on the floor’. Jeffery Camp has declined to show anything at all because he’s fed up with his pictures being hung too high to be properly seen. The summer show is doing a grand job of not pleasing its own members, while the non-members compete for less and less room once the Honorary RAs have been given the best places. Many professionals are disheartened at the repeated failures to get into the summer show: even if works are accepted, this is no guarantee that they’ll be hung.