Artists in Quarantine No.5 So much has changed that going out to see things and meet people, let alone see and touch real physical art works has the taste of forbidden fruit. No one of us has ever experienced what now appears as a dystopia come true. The possibility of re-infection is ever present, and […]
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Category: art
A sight for sore eyes
Oh no, not another Impressionism show! Gauguin again? Is this to pull in the punters with a bankable display of old favourites? Recycling the reliable? Well, actually no. The first major London show to open since the pandemic is not a spectacular blockbuster. Instead it’s an intimate and moving experience. Beautifully displayed in the Royal […]
Mind games under lockdown
Artists in Quarantine No. 3 “Far away from the merry-go-round of the market place, the only reasoning is to keep going on and stay safe” Since the March lockdown Peter Clossick’s life has been cloistered. He has not left his house, apart from a few car journeys for food “click and collects”, to protect not only […]
Virus – dimensions unknown
Artists in Quarantine No. 2 The Freud Museum was the perfect location. An artist who plumbs the depths of the human psyche and one of the most distinguished psychotherapists of our time were to have a public conversation. The theme? Oil paint on canvas as “a metaphor for the disintegration of personality and self”. Frances […]
A silver lining for a scary time
Artists under Quarantine: The first in a new series by Corinna Lotz When the coronavirus pandemic broke out, Michele del Campo felt he could not bear to carry on painting in the same way as before. The extremity of the moment drove him to reconsider. “The alarming situation of the pandemic and being forced into […]
The best of times and the worst of times
We are locked down, and yet the wealth of offerings via digital platforms has blossomed to extraordinary proportions. It’s truly an embarrassment of riches. Artists, performers, galleries, museums and television producers are making use of video-conferencing, pod casting and Instagram in ways that we could not have possibly imagined. This week, on the occasion of […]
Baroque: art in a turbulent time
King Charles II, his red cape borne aloft by cherubs, sits enthroned on a mound of prancing steeds, muscular servants, tritons and nymphs. So what is this crazy hodge-podge painted by the Neapolitan artist Antonio Verrio all about? Verrio’s Sea Triumph, a forerunner of Britannia Rules the Waves, depicts the King as a triumphant victor, […]
All is not what it seems: the mysteries ...
Deep in the Surrey countryside, the Watts’ Gallery is hosting an intriguing display of work by William Orpen. Orpen was one of the most successful First World War artists and society painters in early 20th century Britain and Ireland. He was celebrated for his record of World War I and thousands flocked to see his […]
Escaping the gilded cage
By Corinna Lotz Spirit of Contemplation, a large sculpture by Albert Toft, confronts you right at the beginning of The Enchanted Interior. Toft’s slip-sliding nude usually adorns the entrance stairway at Newcastle’s Laing Art Gallery. But here she can be viewed in the round and is doubly disturbing. Is she a female version of Rodin’s […]
Who am I? New work by Frances Aviva Blan...
“Beauty will be CONVULSIVE or it will not be at all”. The last sentence of André Breton’s 1928 Surrealist novel Nadja could have been written in reaction to the work of Frances Aviva Blane. Her latest book, FAB, accompanying her forthcoming exhibition at De Queeste Art in Belgium, delivers a series of visceral shocks. Its […]
Semblance and reflection
There is a tension, a longing, in this splendid first-ever retrospective of Peter Clossick’s work. Through prolonged observation and countless applications of the brush, pencil or charcoal he creates a sensuous image of inner thought. This is slow object art. The opposite of fast art. And yet, there is a powerful sense of immediacy and […]
Russia’s female firebrand – a history wi
The world is on fire but it’s a great time for art – thus Tate Modern’s director, Frances Morris, opening the first-ever UK show devoted to Russian artist Natalia Goncharova. Political and constitutional crisis, the rise of populism and species extinction surround us. At the same time, galleries and museums are offering a huge range […]
Ruskin – a man of his time and of our ti
Events around the country are celebrating the bi-centenary of John Ruskin’s birth on 8 February – #Ruskin200. Thinker, campaigner, artist, scientist, educator and social critic John Ruskin was one of the most contradictory of all the famous Victorians. He was both a man of his time and a man looking to the future – even […]
Beyond Wigan: themes & actions
The world of work – global precarity and inequality It’s the shock doctrine in action. The major focus of neo-liberalism has been to destroy workers’ rights and drive down wages by creating self-employed precarious workers – or oppressed workers with no rights. This is global! The tendency is for workers to be involved in […]
Creating identity in a neoliberal world
Identity, ideology & culture in a neoliberal world Presentation at Wigan Teach-In, 24 November 2018 Is culture only a tool for the 1%? What does a cultural strategy for an emancipatory movement look like? Beyond divide and rule – privileging and celebrating diversity. The neoliberal form of capitalist globalisation has seen an unprecedented pace […]
Protest at British Museum’s Assyria show
Elegantly attired staff adorned with BP logos greeted journalists at the entrance to the British Museum’s big winter show, I am Ashurbanipal: king of the world, king of Assyria. We’re so used to corporate sponsors having pride of place at cultural venues that this aroused no surprise. But it was a spoof mounted by the […]