Joe Lycett: Summer Exhibitionist (BBC Two Saturday 23 July 2022)

Joe Lycett: Summer Exhibitionist is a celebration of why people love making and creating art of all kinds. In the programme, Joe follows a fascinating mix of artists submitting to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2022, the world’s largest open-entry art contest.

Joe will bring the contest to BBC audiences by exploring the stages of the judging process and by delving into the remarkable artworks and backstories of entrants hoping to realise their dream of making it onto the RA walls. From a self-taught photorealist to a retired primary school teacher, a moonlighting web designer and a contemporary Islamic artist, there are veterans of 20 years’ rejection and first-time success stories. Of the 15,000 works submitted this year, only 900 will end up in the final show.

Joining them at the various stages of their adventures, Joe is there to meet the artists as they drop off their works for further judging, as well as on nerve-racking results day, and also celebrate their success when the chosen few first get to see their works hanging in the Royal Academy galleries.

Joe Lycett: Summer Exhibitionist (1 x 60’) is a BBC Studios production for BBC Two and BBC iPlayer. It was commissioned by Mark Bell, BBC Arts Commissioning Editor and the Executive Producer is Tom Currie and the Director is Luke McMahon.

Airdate: Saturday 23 July 2022 at 8.00pm on BBC Two.