• Jeremy Deller, It Is What It Is (2009)

    Not many objects could be juxtaposed with an entire country. But touring the US with the wreckage from a car bomb in a Baghdad market has surely done so. You would think the crumpled car would prove as unwelcome as an early readymade sculpture in a museum of fine art. But it seems Americans are …

    August 18, 2010

  • Alice Neel, Frank O’Hara No.2 (1960)

    The face of Frank O’Hara in this portrait by Alice Neel is in its way shocking. With his bad teeth, sharp nose and wild eyes the New York poet appears ugly at first, even repellent. There is no composure in this likeness and his expression is raw. But with all its imperfections, his face is …

    August 15, 2010

  • Welcoming Technorati

    Here is my claim code: TG8BTEVHUMAE. Let’s see if this works

    August 11, 2010

  • 12 pieces of conceptual art that would probably work as tweets

    From the 20th century onwards, the beauty of much art is it has no need for the eye of a beholder. Conceptual works, in theory, place as much importance on the idea as the finished visual object. And while lots can be said about the dozen pieces below, the kernel of each is a thought …

    August 10, 2010

  • Giorgio Sadotti, Went To America Didn’t Say A Word (1999)

    A 24-hour recording of ambient city noise is, on the face of it, boring. Few people will ever sit through all of the 1999 Giorgio Sadotti piece currently on show at Milton Keynes Gallery. Behind the soundtrack, however, is an amazing story. Sadotti flew from London to New York, stayed overnight, and came home the …

    August 6, 2010

  • Interview: John Gerrard

    Canary Wharf underground station offers the best and the worst opportunity an artist could hope for. “There are 45 million people who will travel through that station per annum, which is extraordinary. There’s no gallery in the world which could even boast a fraction of that kind of potential audience,” says John Gerrard. “But of …

    August 5, 2010

  • Tamoko Takahashi, Clockwork at De La Warr Pavilion (1998-2010)

    This installation is an open invitation to skeptics. The materials are literally rubbish. There is no apparent order to the display. If this work was collected up and put in a skip we would walk past without a second glance. So Takahashi’s work can seem a byword for mischief. She takes the world’s least valuable …

    August 1, 2010

  • Antony Gormley, Critical Mass (1995-2010)

    Fifteen years after its inception, Antony Gormley has revived the piece Critical Mass for the roof of De La Warr Pavilion. Since then his life-size casts of the human form have conquered London, New York and even Crosby Beach near Liverpool. They are contemporary icons. An inestimable number of people have seen these works first …

    July 30, 2010

  • Ignacio Uriarte, The History of the Typewriter Recited by Michael Winslow (2009)

    Skill and accomplishment are at the forefront of this unusual work. But instead of technique with a brush or a chisel, we are treated to the novel and maybe useless vocal imitation of 32 typewriters. This is representational art of the highest order. Each sequence of hammer strikes does sound, it must be said, just …

    July 25, 2010