art blog since 2009
This week has indeed had its quota of hard-to-ignore links: Let’s get Damien out of the way. Here’s a well argued piece from Tom Jeffreys which puts the new Tate show in the bigger picture. And in case you should need to know what Jay Jopling eats for lunch, here’s a highly readable interview with …
April 4, 2012
It turns out that despite ourselves, even the most urbane and politically correct audience can still love a beauty pageant. The sequence of young women in swimsuits could not be more easy on the eye It is obvious what heterosexual men might get from this. But women too were enjoying it. There were no shortage …
March 31, 2012
Almost too many links to choose from this week, but here are the best all the same: Government ministers sack head of Arts Council England. Could it be they want someone who will cosy up to big business instead? (via @MutualArt) Here’s a reality check for London and New York. The world’s most visited exhibition …
March 26, 2012
Like many a good artist’s studio, that of Lucian Freud required a mirror. And when David Dawson was in the studio it would have become a rich metaphor. Freud‘s longterm assistant was also a painter. The master would also paint Dawson. And Dawson in turn made portraits of his employer – photographic, like the one …
March 21, 2012
The Art Newspaper reports on a ‘major systemic shift’ as sales go to the world’s many art fairs, rather than through traditional galleries. No less than 56 rhino horns have been stolen from museums since 2011. Der Spiegel reports on this worldwide crime trend. The Smithsonian website looks back at the trailbrazing career of guitarist …
March 19, 2012
Pictured above is a view from upstairs at the brand new Jerwood Gallery in Hastings. If those fishing boats weren’t already picturesque enough, now they are framed. At the foot of the shot is a yellow poster. And as you might know, there are several of these nearby, all voicing opposition to the new £4m …
March 17, 2012
Stories you may or may not have seen from the last seven days: Succumbing to the fact we may need rolling new coverage of Damien Hirst in 2012, here’s a fine analysis of his spots from The Point + here’s a revealing interview in the Guardian (via @artnet) Gilbert and George now also have a …
March 12, 2012
You may not think much of this picture and I should point out quickly it is not by the artist Jeremy Deller. It is by an anonymous young person and fan of therein mentioned band. But the onetime inclusion of this work and many like it, in a show given over in its entirety to …
March 9, 2012
Some links from the week that was: China Miéville offers a dystopian portrait of London which most will recognise. Can he do some more cities, please? (via @AnnaMinton) Martin Creed, artist behind a redesign of part of Sketch restaurant, tells The Independent he prefers to eat at home. On art-Corpus, there’s an in depth review …
March 4, 2012
When Asheq Akhtar answered a small ad calling for non-professionals to take part in a film, he could not have predicted the results. After three week’s training in method acting he was out on the streets before a full feature film crew. And no one who saw the movie Self Made will forget his barely …
February 29, 2012