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“The Meddling Fiend” (2024). Installation view at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.

In the Royal Academy Courtyard, ‘The Meddling Fiend’ by Nicola Turner Connects the Living with the Past

For more than 250 years, London’s Royal Academy of Arts—known today simply as the RA—has held the world’s largest open-submission exhibition annually. The Summer Exhibition showcases hundreds of works by British artists and architects, merging displays by Royal Academicians and leading figures with entries from emerging practitioners and the public.

This year, artist Nicola Turner was invited to respond to the bronze statue of English painter Sir Joshua Reynolds in the institution’s courtyard, nodding to the 18th-century artist’s legacy as the founder and first president of the RA. Turner’s monumental, undulating sculpture, “The Meddling Fiend,” appears to move on spindly legs and rise up to meet Reynolds, who holds a hand out to greet a delicate tendril.

Photos by Maxwell Attenborough. All images © Nicola Turner

“The Meddling Fiend” (2024). Installation view at the Royal Academy of Arts, London

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