art blog since 2009
It is not clear what Work No. 1197 set out to achieve. But few could misunderstand just what it was they had to do, or what happened. At inestimable numbers of people came together to ring all manner of bells. They met in churches, galleries, schools and theatres. You could even try this at home. …
July 27, 2012
Democracy has, one assumes, been going downhill since the time of ancient Greece. And here are the ruins of the principle: twelve abandoned, jumbled and toppled lecterns. In the midst of their cluster is a nod to the classical world that spawned public speaking. But the statue which has long sat in the gardens here …
July 25, 2012
Not the most newsy of weeks, so go here for a Tate Tanks video. Otherwise: My dream gallery since I can but dream of going there. Hyperallergic pokes around in The State Tretyakove Gallery, Moscow. From that to this. A nightmare from the pages of Kafka turned into a sculpture currently on show at the …
July 24, 2012
If gardens are symbols of mankind’s dominion over the natural world, then fountains are the suggestion of a triumph over physics. That’s one in your face, gravity. Having said that, there is nothing too agressive about the many spouts of water you can find in many a city square, many a palace or not-even-stately home. …
July 20, 2012
Greetings art lovers. Have some links from the week just gone: Having once left Facebook and been lured back, my hat goes off to Man Bartlett who turned his departure into performance art Few writers have ever got to grips with evil like author of The Kindly Ones, Jonathan Littell. Now he’s doing journalism in …
July 16, 2012
Visitors to the Yoko Ono show in London may well come away with a piece of debt to the redoubtable artist. To be precise that would be a jigsaw piece of debt. Early in her show at Serpentine hang some half a dozen WWII helmets filled with segments of a giant puzzle. You can guess …
July 13, 2012
Apologies to anyone who checked in last week, I was on a break. Back on it now: So, Londoners, are you pro or anti the Shard? I only ask because nothing can compete with the wrath of Simon Jenkins in the Guardian. The same paper reports on a 5 year old abstract art prodigy from …
July 9, 2012
This is a work of many layers, the earliest one being a portrait of Dorothy Quincy by American realist painter John Singleton Copley. Quincy was the wife of the first man to sign the Declaration of Independence. So her portrait is also a slice of history, nevermind art history. Shawn Huckins has reproduced this grave …
July 7, 2012
The Disney Corporation is perhaps the most obvious of targets. Obvious because its saccharine values bear no relation to the harsh realities of life in late capitalist society. But taking on Disney is no easy matter. The values are promoted by one of the world’s most recognisable brands. The brand is protected by the world’s …
June 30, 2012
If superstition ran riot, might not every human casualty take on the complexion of a sacrifice. Every death would register as an appeasement of one of our many gods. Admittedly, that is wacko. But here Chris Agnew juxtaposes what must be the most rational system of government, communism, with one of the least, Mayan. In …
June 28, 2012