art blog since 2009
Like many a great still life, this one by James White is a dazzling piece of representation. But the scene represented is at one remove, painted from a photograph. His use of black and white draws attention this fact, as skilful as the reproduction may be. The result is a literal sort of photo-realism. It …
June 16, 2010
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
Sixties Pop Art had a “culpable banality” and Andy Warhol’s sculpture of Brillo boxes was a “real travesty”, according to one of the movement’s pioneers, Gerald Laing. The Scottish artist features heavily in a new show at Wolverhampton Art Gallery, in which Pop Art finds politics. Many of the works are from the past ten …
June 3, 2010
Exhibition: A Horse Walks Into A Bar, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, June 18 – August 8 2010 That a non-domestic animal in a pub should occasion hilarity tells us something about our relationship with nature. The proverbial horse in a bar is an old joke. Perhaps the nine artists in this group show at Castlefield Gallery …
June 2, 2010
Exhibition: Lily van der Stokker – No Big Deal Thing, Tate St Ives, St Ives, until September 26 2010 The last great taboo in art appears not to be death, sex or religion. Instead, Lily van der Stokker suggests it is niceness. The Dutch artist works in coloured pencil and pastel colours. She draws on …
May 27, 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: From Sickert to Gertler – Modern British Art from Boxted House, Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, until September 12 2010 Long before Brit Art, there was British Art. In the early 20th century this was typified by the painterly, figurative work of a group centred around Camden in London. Compared with contemporaries in Paris, …
April 19, 2010
Exhibition: Tony Bevan, New painting installation, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, until June 13 2010 Monumental painting can be a serious business. It brings to mind thickly laid on paint with an often spiritual dimension laid on just as thick. Tony Bevan’s installation at De La Warr Pavilion, on the other hand, is of the …
April 15, 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: 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