In pictures: Summer Exhibition

Abstract sculptor's Antoni Tapies "Baignoire"

Peter Blake, one of the key figures in the British Pop Art movement, has invited artists whose work he admires - including Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst and Sarah Lucas - to participate in the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition.

But playwright Tom Stoppard has criticised such artists for producing work he said was artless, self-indulgent and without spiritual meaning.

To help you make up your own mind, here are some of the main images from this year's Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.

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Exhibit One: Tracey Emin's Chair

Tracey Emin - There's a lot of Money in Chairs

Tracey Emin first hit the headlines in 1995 when she produced her Everyone I've Ever Slept With tent. Her notorious drunken appearance on a Channel 4 Turner prize debate in 1997 and her much talked about bed (nominated for the Turner prize in 1999) kept her in the spotlight. Her latest show, You Forget to Kiss My Soul, is showing at the White Cube gallery, London.

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Exhibit 2: Clive Barker's Fridge

Clive Barker - Fridge

Pop artist Clive Barker was born in 1940 in Luton. In 1962 he was represented at the exhibition Young Contemporaries at the RBA Galleries, London. In 1968 he had his first one-man exhibition at the Robert Frazer Gallery, London. He has shown at various exhibitions of British artists in Europe, and also at the exhibition of Pop Art in 1987 in Japan.

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Exhibit 3: Sarah Lucas - Willy

Sarah Lucas - Willy

Sarah Lucas studied at the London College of Printing, and Goldsmiths College, London. Lucas works with a variety of materials and media, including photographs, sculpture and installations. Lucas met Emin in 1992 and is largely credited with getting Emin back into art. Her exhibitions include The Fag Show at Sadie Coles HQ, London.

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Exhibit 4: Rankin - Wax Kylie

Rankin - Wax Kylie

Acclaimed celebrity photographer Rankin's recent exhibition Male Nudes at the Proud Galleries, London, supported the Everyman campaign to raise awareness of prostrate and testicular cancer. Rankin co-founded Dazed and Confused in 1991. His recent advertising work includes Guinness and he works on a voluntary basis for the Big Issue.

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Exhibit 5: Antoni Tapies - Baignoire

Antoni Tapies - Baignoire

Antoni Tapies, born in Barcelona in 1923, became a leading abstract painter and sculptor of postwar Spain. Tapies caused controversy with his sculpture for the National Museum of Catalan Art in Spain in 1992, a 60-foot white sock with a hole in it. There is a museum dedicated to him in Barcelona, The Tapies foundation.

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Exhibit 6: Peter Blake - Madonna of Venice Beach

Peter Blake - Madonna of Venice Beach

Peter Blake was born in 1932 in Dartford, Kent. He became one of the leading exponents of pop art in the 60s. He is best known for his cover designs for the Beatles LP Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. In 1983 he was given a retrospective exhibition at the Tate Gallery, London, which travelled to Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hanover.

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Exhibit 7: Peter Davies - From Anti-Art to Zurbaran: an A to Z of Art I Like

Peter Davies - From Anti-Art to Zurbaran: an A to Z of Art I Like

Peter Davies was born in Edinburgh in 1970, and lives and works in London. He studied at Goldsmiths College and had his first solo show at The Approach, London, in 1998. His work has been shown at Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection, 1997 - 1999 at the Royal Academy, London. His most recent exhibition was his first one-man show at the Gagosian Gallery, London.

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Exhibit 8: Anish Kapoor - Untitled, 1999

Anish Kapoor - Untitled, 1999

Kapoor, who was born in India in 1954, is one of Britain's leading young sculptors. He attended the Chelsea School of Art in1978 and went on to teach at the Wolverhampton Polytechnic. Kapoor was artist-in-residence at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool in 1982. He won the Turner Prize in 1991. His most recent solo exhibition was at the Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York.

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The Royal Academy of Art's Summer Exhibition opens on 5 June