art blog since 2009
I struggled to find an art angle for the News of the World story, so here are the rest of the week’s most readables: Cy Twombly, already in the news with a show at Dulwich Picture Gallery, made more headlines by dying. Sebastian Smee in the Boston Globe compares his work to 1,000-year old bedsheets, in …
July 10, 2011
The clock face above Debenhams is one of the most mundane and predictable sights in any town. But Ruth Ewan has removed just two of the integers and the effect is hallucinatory. It may not slow traffic and find itself on TV idents in the way some public art has done over the years. But …
July 7, 2011
By the 18th July we may find out on what grounds the Algerian artist Zinedinne Bessaï was refused entry to the UK to attend the launch of a group show at Cornerhouse Manchester. This is not as a result of my earlier blog post on the subject, but rather the fact that crossbench peer the …
July 5, 2011
Things which I have come across this week include: Even as cuts cause pain elsewhere, last week’s auctions at Christie’s and Sotheby’s confirm that business is booming for blue-chip art. Check out this shrewd report from A Kick up the Arts. In a video for the Guardian, Jonathan Glancey turns his somewhat intense gaze on …
July 3, 2011
Paddling naked, save for a life jacket, through the dark waters of a harbour is so difficult it seems comic. Since the swimmer is in a video piece, one really hopes this is a performance. But this is a real life moment in the life of a would-be migrant to Britain. Art is the last …
June 28, 2011
Here are some links from the last seven days. Enjoy: The good news, at least to some degree, is that Ai Weiwei has been released on bail. This deserves a televisual breaking news report, as sourced by Leg of Lamb blog. Even more good news, yesterday a Picasso masterpiece went on show in the Palestinian …
June 25, 2011
In a town where one of the most risky things you can do is ride a log flume on a Grade-II listed pier, Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt are an anomaly. The Brighton duo known as Semiconductor have been to the real ends of the Earth to source material for their art. A new show …
June 23, 2011
As widely noted, the biggest shock of this year’s Turner Prize shortlist is painter George Shaw’s affinity with the enthusiasts who build model Spitfires. He doesn’t hide the fact that Humbrol enamel is his medium of choice. And it now looks like a conceptual statement carried to an extreme. He will have got through gallons. …
June 21, 2011
The big news this week is that criticismism was down for about 24 hours. Apologies to anyone who tried to visit on Thursday or Friday. Anyway, it’s back…with links: 18 war photographers talk about shots which almost got them killed in the Guardian. This is an agonising piece that somehow conveys more than the pictures …
June 19, 2011
There’s an elephant in the room at the ICA. In fact, the elephant is the room. The spiritual home of the avant garde in London is a well-to-do Regency building on the capital’s grandest street. That alone could have been a reason for industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten taking pneumatic drills to the floor in 1984, …
June 14, 2011