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 the state of art schools: premiums 2005
 to access audio and video on collective you need real player.Are Royal Academy students really better than all the rest? London’s art schools are the best in the world. Students gather from every continent to get a dose of good old-fashioned British creativity, from the places that polished everyone from Peter Blake to the YBAs. However, something’s recently been happening in British art schools, particularly on the fine art courses. The teaching at the London Institute has changed dramatically over the past 20 years. Tutors are bombarded with paperwork and bureaucracy. Students are forced to create work which is ideas-based and have to continually defend their work. Blame Margaret Thatcher’s legacy, blame the popularity of conceptualism, but the result is homogenised, bland and bad art. Art schools shouldn’t judge students with the rigour and methods of a university exam board. It doesn’t suit the subject. When did creative expression have to tick the boxes?  The Royal Academy has the reputation as a rather stuffy institution, largely due to the tweeness of the Summer Exhibition. But its MA art school stands outside the London Institute colleges or the over-hyped Royal College of Art. It focuses largely on painting and photography, with a dose of sculpture thrown in, and the results in recent years have been brilliant. It’s obvious in the work produced that there’s less pressure on the teaching and more focus on the art. The second-year artists on show at Premiums are varied and exceptionally talented. Highlights include Serbian painter Djordje Ozbolt’s blue lobster in a style to rival Poussin, Elena Andersson’s violent explosions of oil and ink on linen, and Katarina Forss’ small gothic paintings of hooded men and suits of armour. Also, Jessica Holmes’ delicate pebbles painted on newsprint called You Can’t Remember Your Name. The talent is obvious. The approach modern. Fingers crossed the RA can continue to be as invigorating.
Francesca Gavin
Premiums 2005 is at The Royal Academy, London, until 13 February 05.
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