Feature: Exhibition - ROYAL ACADEMY SUMMER SHOW 2010 - School's show

Published: 24 June 2010
by JOHN EVANS

YORKSHIREMAN Jonathan Trayte sold out his last exhibition and expects the same outcome with his latest efforts, part of the final-year postgraduate students’ show at the RA.

Jonathan, 29, has already exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery, and has experience working as an assistant to painter Gary Hume and at the London foundry which has produced work for such as Anish Kapoor.

From Huddersfied, Jonathan is exhibiting “rethought and dressed for here and now” painted bronze sculptures, meticulously layered and “ pop” like in presentation. Most are food-inspired. The artist has worked as a chef and even ventured to prepare a meal for fellow students and tutors.

As with the other 17 students, completing a unique three-year course at the RA, all works are for sale.  Jonathan’s bronzes range from £3,300 to £4,800, but these are at the top end of the prices in the show, which sees the students’ studios transformed into gallery space for the occasion.

And the range of media and endeavour is, of course, impressive. Head of the Schools Professor Maurice Cockrill believes they are “…at the present time the creative nexus of the London art world”.

Chris Baker has produced a number of oil paintings, including Jimi Hendrix and Blue Guitar, in work including “muddled up” references from high art; Michael Armitage, who was born in Nairobi, engages with “cultural exchange” and “cultural cliche” producing his works on traditional palm leaf matting; New Yorker Rachael Champion’s installation, 32 Components, features grass cakes, barrels, conduits, a fan and much more to examine our “shifting and uncertain relationship 

with technology and the natural world”.

What next for Jonathan? He expects he will head back north in search of a less urban environment, but also plans another project. “Baking bread,” he says, “something I want to learn more about. Food and art, the same thing…”

• Royal Academy Schools Show is in the Schools Studios, Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, W1, until June 27, free,
www. royalacademy.org.uk