art blog since 2009
With surrealism and sound, fauna and flesh, there is much to tempt you indoors this June. Here’s some monthly highlights for contemporary art written for Culture24. Cage Mix: Sculpture and Sound, BALTIC, Gateshead Eight artists who work with the ideas and writings of John Cage are brought together by design rather than chance. Their schemes …
June 9, 2010
Exhibition: Susan Stockwell – Flood, York St. Mary’s, York, June 18 – October 31 2010 The cutting edge of technology in 1020, the year York St. Mary’s is thought to date from, was the astrolabe. So it may come as a shock to find the medieval church soon filled with obsolete computer components. The wires …
June 9, 2010
Here’s a selection of half a dozen of the most exciting contemporary art shows from around Britain this month. Written for Culture24. Agnes Martin, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge Martin’s minimal paintings, characterised by airy colours and hand-drawn grids, map out a fragile, yet peaceful, interior world. It makes sense that the Canadian-born artist took to painting …
May 15, 2010
Exhibition: Tatton Park Biennial 2010 – Framing Identity, Tatton Park, Knutsford, Cheshire, until September 26 2010. Living in a stately home might just be the quintessential British fantasy, and Tatton Park in Cheshire is certainly the quintessential stately home. “People come here with a plan,” says co-curator Jordan Kaplan. “I’ll go to the house, I’ll …
May 15, 2010
Art is getting noisier. Galleries echo with moving image installations. The quieter ones provide you with audio-guides. Sound is now such a vital dimension of art, some artists are making art about that very phenomenon. In a boxlike construction at Ikon in Birmingham, you can pull up a beanbag and enjoy some music. On a …
May 12, 2010
Exhibition: Underwater, Towner, Eastbourne, until June 20 2010 In the landscapes paintings of Eric Ravilious, the South Downs look like green waves in a rough sea, at least they do so after a visit to Underwater at Towner. The Eastbourne gallery has a reputation for landscape art and the local painter is one of many …
April 28, 2010
Exhibition: Shuruq Harb – A Book of Signatures, Ikon, Birmingham, until May 16 2010 Mohammed is not a name like any other. Moreso than say, John, it is also a religious label. In secular or non-muslim societies it has the potential to stigmatise its bearer. But in Shuruq Harb’s homeland, Palestine, more than 250,000 men …
April 17, 2010
Museums at Night is a nationwide campaign running the weekend of May 14-16, organised by Culture24. Here are my picks of the best after-hours activities in the world of contemporary art: Light Night at the Bluecoat, the Bluecoat, Liverpool, Friday May 14 Local musicians with world influences bring rhythms of the night to Bluecoat. Sit …
April 15, 2010
Exhibition: Andrew Stonyer – Audio Kinetic Solar Sculpture, Fermynwoods, Northamptonshire, until September 26 2010 It has been a few decades since music fans frequently used terms like “cosmic” and “far out”, but such language seems about right for a new work at Fermynwoods. Andrew Stonyer’s sculpture hangs between a small group of Elder trees and …
April 8, 2010
Exhibition: A Certain Distance, Endless Light – A Project by Felix Gonzalez-Torres and William McKeown, MIMA, Middlesbrough, until July 4 2010 Energy is the theme of the North-East’s 10th AV Festival and the inclusion of Felix-Gonzalez-Torres looks like a no-brainer. Some of the Cuban-born artist’s best known works feature lightbulbs on string and six of …
April 8, 2010