Chosen by: Gwen Ramsay, Artist and Family Programme Officer
Behind the bold and idealistic call to action, “Beings of the World, Unite!” is a very subtle painting. The seductive fleshy palette draws us into the work only to discover we are in the midst of a scene of terrible destruction. Human rubble is beautifully strewn across a geometric ash landscape. It is inspiring to see a young artist confronting complex issues with a thoughtful painterly approach.

Chosen by: Beth Schneider, Head of Learning
Shops Typology: Manchester Northern Quarter really grabbed my attention. We all walk past buildings with signs and images every day. But Laura, with her artist’s eye, sees the grid-like structure punctuated by colours, words, shapes and images and frames the photography bringing together a wide mix of elements in a structured and dynamic composition. The image also has a specificity of place that recalls, to me, the black-white photographs of signs and building by the American photographer Walker Evans. Evans’s works are quintessentially American and Laura succeeds in her goal of capturing a ‘British’ feel in her photograph.

Chosen by: Sam Phillips, RA Magazine Editor
I was immediately drawn to this portrait for its unconventional composition – a close-up section of the subject’s face is framed rather than his entire head. And as I looked closer, I had the feeling that I was in front of a landscape as much as a portrait, so deftly have the contours of features been painted: ridges of nose and lips, valleys under the eyes and around the mouth, sediments of skin spreading out across the canvas, with highlights from a sun somewhere to the side. But the soft eyes remind us that this is human geography, and give an impression of a thoughtful, intelligent soul.

Chosen by: Eliza Bonham-Carter, Curator of RA Schools
Buckingham Palace is a brilliantly drawn and very funny piece of animation. Key to the success of this work is Christopher’s keen choices about what information he needs to give the viewer in order tell the story; he has edited it down to the minimum which means we are focused where he intends. He uses the weights and counterbalances of the body to extract the maximum humour - see the way he lets a leg lengthen, moving in advance of the rest of its owner. The immobility of the guard heightens the ridiculousness of the other man’s actions and the denouement is one that I did not predict, try as I might.

Chosen by: Nick Barrett, Visitor and Friends Experience Co-ordinator
Nicole Cooper has created a very bold and confident image, which is made more striking by being monochrome. It’s interesting how even a few brush strokes can activate whatever instinctive cognitive processes occur when we look at such an image that tries to assemble recognisable facial features. In this case the image shifts and changes while our eye and brain creates a figurative image out of an abstract one.

Explore the A-level Summer Exhibition Online until 16 August 2015.