For the last twenty-five years there has been a concerted effort by the RA to use the annual event to reflect what is going on in art and architecture across the land. Alongside the big names on display, interesting curatorial choices have introduced the large audiences the exhibition attracts to the full breadth of British art.
One of the innovations that has brought a 'wild card' element to a section of this big, lively show is the appointment of the artist/curator from among the RA’s membership. This year a portion of the hang has been organised by the artist Ryan Gander OBE RA, who while he enjoys an international profile happens to be based in rural Suffolk.
Many may still be unaware of his work even though he has built his reputation in solo exhibitions here in the UK and internationally. It is easy to dismiss his carefully calculated installations. Gander has had an approach that is broadly conceptual. Although he rightly objects to this descriptive shorthand, because he embraces lots of different outcomes, sculpture, kinetic, graphics, typefaces, painting, texts, publications and performances that amuse, illuminate, tease, and wrong-foot the viewer. He has also been described as a trickster, following in the Duchampian tradition. This sounds too clever by half. But his work is not as confounding as this sounds. It is often playful, and deceptive operating like a coda or puzzle and therefore genuinely hard to categorise.
However, here goes... Ryan Gander's individual works feel like they relate in some way to each other, so much so that while each work stands alone, somehow they seem like an ongoing series. A series the artist is producing deliberately out of sequence, and in different media, that makes it hard to perceive a pattern. In fact the only consistent feature in his diverse output is that there is often an element in each work that makes the viewer question their perception.
Ryan Gander installation Houghton Hall 2022
Gander had two stone sculptures installed at Houghton Hall four years ago (2022), that so many people walked past, not even realising that they were exhibits. The two sculptures were beautifully carved in stone to look like domestic furniture casually clustered and covered by a dust sheet.
They were based upon the artist's discovery of dens made by his children at home, each covered in a tarpaulin to keep the purpose of their play secret, away from adult gaze. In sculptural terms these two works referenced the long history of mausoleum sculpture, shrouded figures or caskets, motifs of eternal rest. In this context they felt like meditations upon childhood's short span.
They were subtle, clever, touching and installed in an architectural context (In the Loggia of a large, early eighteenth century English country house), guaranteed to mess with the viewer's experience of the sculptures and the expectations of convention.
As you may imagine, we were excited to see who Ryan Gander had selected for the RA show. The first was painter and printmaker Peter Wylie, who showed a selection of his North Sea seascapes last November, alongside Carolyn Brookes-Davies shell encrusted sculptures in viewing room 4.
Peter Wylie
The idealism of modernist architecture is a consistent theme that runs through most of Peter Wylie's work. A well-known South London tower block Alexander Fleming House by Erno Goldfinger is the subject of Peter's painting submitted to the RA. The building was renovated as part of the multi-million redevelopment of the Elephant and Castle a decade or so ago. During this process the building lost its original name to become Metro Central Heights, The painting maintains the block's original name, and is maticulously reproduced as if stubbornly denying the 'placemakers' their re-assignment of the area.
Peter returned to painting full-time in 2007. It was his series of works that he called ‘Buildings’, a re-examination of the legacy of Twentieth Century Modernism in architecture, that has been the chief focus in his practice over these years and cemented his reputation. He has exhibited his work across the east of England, throughout the UK, and in London at the Royal Academy, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Royal-Overseas-League and in China, France and Cyprus.
Peter is based in London, although he was born in Lowestoft, Suffolk and completed a Foundation there in 1975. He gained a BA (Hons) degree in Fine Art from Canterbury College of Art 1978. After several decades pursuing his career, and continuing to paint, he decided to enrol on the MA Fine Art Printmaking at Camberwell College of Art, London (University of the Arts London) 2017.
"Of the multiple paintings of brutalist buildings, Peter Wylie’s image of Alexander Fleming House is the best". Eddy Frankel, The Guardian, 9 June, 2026
Painting by Peter Wylie: Alexander Fleming House, architect Goldfinger
VIEW MORE OF PETER WYLIE'S PAINTINGS HERE
Alexander Costello
Alexander Costello is an award winning sculptor, video and performance artist. He is from London and has exhibited his work many times at different venues throughout the city. This is the first time he has selected to exhibit at the RA. The work is titled: Everything that is not everything else - an idea in my head that is now in your head. It is a conceptual work of varying dimensions represented on the gallery wall by a gap between other work. A wall label with the number 990 and title as described in the catalogue for the exhibition are the only other clues to the work's existence, except of course for the certainty that the artist's idea is now in your head.
Alexander is based in Lowestoft, Suffolk, where he oversees a programme of contemporary art exhibitions at 303 Projects, on London Road South.
He is going to be performing at the viewing room (viewing room 11) next month, in a one-off performance that will result in an installation to be displayed from 11 to 25 July 2026.
Alexander graduated with an MFA from the Slade School in 2001, following a First Class Honours in Fine Art at Middlesex University. Exhibitions include the Courtauld Institute, London, Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers, and the Swiss Institute, New York. Alexander's work is held in public and private collections, including the British Film Institute (BFI).
Amanda Edgcombe
Printmaker and painter Amanda Edgcombe is also showing several of her paintings at the RA. Based in Suffolk for more than a decade now, she worked as an architectural glass designer for many years. The visual discipline she developed working in this arena has informed Amanda's beautiful, light-filled abstract paintings and prints that look so right in the context of this year's exhibition.
Related artist
About the author
Paul Vater
PAUL VATER
Paul conducts studio visits to maintain strong relationships with artists, designers and craftspeople who show their work with us. He manages the main C&C website and has developed the online shop where selected works are presented for sale.
Paul established his design company, Sugarfree, in 1990 and quickly gained a reputation for delivering fresh, effective marketing campaigns and brand identities for clients including Save the Children Fund, United Nations Association and UNHCR. Over the years those added to the roster include IPC Magazines, Arts Council England, The Roundhouse, Barbican Centre, Arts Marketing Association, Look Ahead Housing and Care, Paddington Waterside, BBC Worldwide, Commonwealth Foundation, Prestel, City of London Corporation, Baker Street Quarter, Victoria BID and the University of East Anglia.