• 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

  • Review: Ron Terada – Who I Think I Am

    Exhibition: Ron Terada – Who I Think I Am, Ikon, Birmingham, until May 16 2010 A brief digression on Vancouver may be needed. Thanks to a generation of artists that includes Jeff Wall, the third largest city in Canada has become an unlikely art world capital. So Ron Terada has emerged from a local scene …

    April 2, 2010

  • Review: Susan Collis – Since I Fell For You

    Exhibition: Susan Collis – Since I Fell For You, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, until May 16 2010 There are 25 pieces in this show by Susan Collis, but if it wasn’t for a gallery handout and some helpful attendants, you could easily miss the lot of them. The walls do not look ready for art. Nails …

    April 1, 2010

  • Preview: Laura Taylor – Speedboat Matchsticks

    Exhibition: Laura Taylor – Speedboat Matchsticks, Surface Gallery, Nottingham, March 27 – April 8 2010 In a gallery, it may be impossible for an object to become completely useless. Laura Taylor will strip away the functionality from her ready-made sculptures, only to find new purposes for each assemblage. Her raw materials are oddments of motorised …

    March 29, 2010