• Review: Tony Bevan goes large with painting installation at De La Warr Pavilion

    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
  • News: Towner Gallery aims to bring £100,000 Art Fund Prize to Eastbourne

    The steel and concrete fixtures of a contemporary art gallery ring with the ancient call of a town crier. He cuts an incongruous figure, in tailcoat, top hat and gold brocade. “Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Please support Towner’s entry in the Art Fund Prize by putting an entry on the computer.” It is …

    April 15, 2010
  • Preview: Art Must-Sees in Museums at Night 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
  • New blog: artwigging.wordpress.com

    artwigging = earwigging in art galleries. My new blog contains comments made when the authors think no one is listening. Consider yourself a fly on the white walls, and click here to enjoy.

    April 12, 2010
  • Preview: Andrew Stonyer – Audio Kinetic Solar Sculpture

    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
  • Preview: Helen Frik – Difficult

    Exhibition: Helen Frik – Difficult, Chapter, Cardiff, until May 9 2010 Most art shows demand just time and attention. This one put out an urgent appeal for homemade soft toys. Along with the usual mental graft, it required considerable craft. Many snips and stitches later, these objects can be enjoyed with childlike wonder. Helen Frik …

    April 7, 2010
  • Walls Have Ears #1: Miroslaw Balka – Unilever Series at Tate Modern

    Introducing a new section of the blog in which I collate comments overheard while in galleries. Part One: Miroslaw Balka – How It Is. Description: a vast metal crate which you can walk inside and experience near total darkness. “That is so freaky.” “It’s really weird. Go out there and walk back in again.” “I …

    April 7, 2010
  • Art must-sees of the month: April

    Painting merges with sculpture, sculpture merges with sound, and sound merges with light this month – in a UK-wide guide to the best of contemporary art written for Culture24. Brian Eno – 77 Million Paintings, Fabrica, Brighton Religion was never so chilled out. Brian Eno offers a slow-changing digital stained glass window and soporific ambient music …

    April 7, 2010
  • Music Review: Turin Brakes at Concorde 2, Brighton

    Turin Brakes were better than expected, on the last night of their UK tour at the end of March. Here’s a review I wrote for News of the World. The paper also recently sent me to Editors, who were so-so at Brighton Dome, and Grizzly Bear, who were outstanding at the city’s Corn Exchange.

    April 6, 2010