7 December 2012
The current batch of photography shows on around Central London are marked by a refreshing, if occasionally baffling, straightforwardness, the likes of which would have been too irony or concept free for the scene a few years ago. This is a reflection, one might argue, of a growing confidence in the market for ‘straight’ photography […]
7 December 2012
On The Third Day Of His Diary Ben Austin Discovers Size May Matter To Some But Reputation Trumps Size! So, enter the big guns. The mega money and serious players are fully primed and ready to go trophy hunting. They want the big names, the blue chip stuff, artwork that needs no introduction. After all […]
5 December 2012
Day one: Roll up, roll up, the circus is in town. Miami Basel is the Big Top, the main event. Come all you collectors, critics and curators. Welcome art tourists, party people and socialites. The guest lists are filling up and bars are being stocked. The fancy hotels on Collins are teeming and the high-end […]
5 December 2012
Design Miami in its eight edition opened last night with an impressive roster of 29 international participants in the gallery program and 7 emerging galleries as part of the Design On/Site program. One of the more interesting booths was mounted by Didier Ltd who put on a special featured exhibition of sculptural jewellery created by […]
1 December 2012
What would you sooner, solo show or group? This month I feature three solos varied enough to look like groups, tightly-themed and more disparate group shows and a solo (or is it?) with multiple guests… not to mention an artist with three substantial London shows at once – would that be a group solo? And even […]
29 November 2012
For many aspiring artists who are lucky enough to crack the proverbial nod, the Bloomberg New Contemporaries represents their first step up the ladder of the art world. With funding from the Arts Council England and the National Lottery, the organisation assists new art school graduates at the beginning of their careers by introducing them […]
28 November 2012
There is a famous story about Giotto, Cimabue, and a fly. Cimabue, the master, left Giotto alone in the studio one day for an unrecorded reason. Giotto painted a fly on one of Cimabue’s unfinished works. Cimabue came back, and spent an unknown amount of time trying to shoo the fly away before realising it […]
27 November 2012
A new exhibition by the British sculptor Antony Gormley. Titled ‘Model’, at White Cube Bermondsey consists of an ambitious construction containing 100 tons of sheet steel forming an architectural installation which challenges the physical possibilities of the gallery space and investigates our experience of architecture through the body and of the body through. Made in […]
27 November 2012
Tony Cragg is exhibiting a powerful new selection of works at Lisson Gallery in London from tomorrow 28 November. This is Cragg’s twelfth exhibition at Lisson, representing more than three decades of collaboration since his groundbreaking first show in 1979. Cragg’s work is based first on observation and understanding of the natural and material worlds, […]
23 November 2012
In Peter Doig’s show the other day, speaking with the charming girl working there, I was told that Peter Doig had finished the pink hat on ‘Cave Boat Bird Painting’ (2010-2012) in the gallery, as it was hanging there, hours before the opening. This anecdote has some importance to the entirety of this exhibition. The […]
19 November 2012
An interesting premise here, as curator William E. Ewing challenges the legacy of Henri Cartier Bresson’s ‘decisive moment’ through a survey of post-war, pre-conceptual colour photography, as well as some more recent examples. Cartier-Bresson hated colour, as did many, for black and white was considered the higher status approach until the sixties and seventies, but […]
10 November 2012
The air is getting crisper, the days are getting shorter, but it’s not quite winter yet. This weekend I was able to enjoy the remaining sunshine with a stroll through Shoreditch and Hoxton to check out some art. Setting out with a cozy scarf and a hand-drawn map (smart phones and GPS are too complicated […]
7 November 2012
Fresh from their successful exhibition of the works of iconic London artist Duggie Fields, mere weeks ago, curator partnership DuoVision (James Lawler and Martin Green) have pulled off another coup with their newest exhibition, a retrospective of the works of sculptor, performance artist, jewellery-maker, portraitist and painter Andrew Logan – Andrew Logan: Welcome To My […]
5 November 2012
There are only a handful of museum exhibitions that become events each year and the Hollywood Costume exhibition at the V&A certainly falls into this category. It is one of those unpredictable occurrences, when the public engages and embraces an exhibition, that transcends into a phenomenon. Like a hit film, there are plenty of good […]
4 November 2012
The Young Masters Prize is an unique annual award which encourages artists to engage in art from an historical context. This year It will be presented to the artist who combines 21st-century originality with art that has existed before us. The creators of the Young Masters Art Prize believe that; “Art loses power if it […]
31 October 2012
The exploration of the relationship between painting and photography is so large a topic that this complex, sober exhibition cannot help but omit some of the key strands that have come to define this symbiosis. Indeed, curator Hope Davis acknowledges this fact when stating the show sets out to make an argument about the links […]
22 October 2012
So it’s another belter from Simon Baker whose appointment as Head of Photography for the Tate has proven to be a good choice. After the excellent ‘Another London’ at the Tate Britain, he brings us this initially unlikely pairing of two monochrome image junkies, Working with a co-curator, as he did with the Tate Britain […]
20 October 2012
Review – Edmund de Waal certainly has a lot going for him. A glance at his biography shows that he always has. He received a place to study English at Cambridge, but deferred entry to be apprentice to Geoffrey Whiting, who in turn was disciple to Bernard Leach. During this time he made hundreds and […]
18 October 2012
Hollywood Costume, the V&A’s major autumn exhibition, is major indeed. This is the sort of blockbuster show that delivers what many museums only imagine possible. It is curated by Hollywood costume designer and senior guest curator Deborah Nadoolman Landis, along with the former rector of the RCA Sir Christopher Frayling, as guest curator and V&A […]
11 October 2012
Because I’ve never attended the London or New York fashion week shows, I assume the opening of Pace gallery’s new London space was like one; or at least like the gallery openings in films, where people you apparently should want to know only whisper in each other’s ears. Pace have had (what now looks like […]
3 October 2012
Review – The Zabludowicz Collection has commissioned the artist Matthew Darbyshire to recreate T Rooms an installation originally exhibited at Tramway in Glasgow. This new work builds on his previously successful concept, making modifications which fit more into the London urban-scape, but still play on the pastiche of familiar Glasgow and other 20th century design […]
1 October 2012
Review – Bharti Kher’s is one of India’s best-known contemporary artists. Collections of Her work has attracted the attention of important collectors such as François Pinault, Charles Saatchi and Frank Cohen. To name a few. Although the artist was born and bred in England, she settled in India permanently in 1992 after meeting her future […]
21 September 2012
Drawing was once considered one of the cornerstones of Western art. The reason for this is simple: if art was to be accurate and representational, then one had to learn how to draw first before one could paint or sculpt. For an example of how the practice of drawing was once considered to be so […]
16 September 2012
It’s difficult to know where to begin when discussing a show that includes 242 artists in 27 locations. Liverpool has given itself over to contemporary art for the next 10 weeks, exploring the theme of ‘hospitality’. Within that realm there is a sub-themed exhibition, ‘The Unexpected Guest’ curated by Lorenzo Fusi, in which works by […]
16 September 2012
Deriving from rinascere, an Italian word meaning ‘to be reborn,’ it is fitting that the work of Dutch Renaissance artist Hieronymus Bosch is reborn in a contemporary interpretation by Wolfe von Lenkiewicz. All Visual Arts current exhibition features large-scale drawings and paintings based on Bosch’s most famous work, The Garden of Earthly Delights (1490-1510). Held […]
16 September 2012
In the postmodern world of art, tertiary institutions have increasingly ditched technical skills in favour of conceptual innovation. In London, art colleges that pride themselves on technical excellence are a rare commodity. There are a number of reasons for this. In the twentieth century, artists began to challenge the role of art in society. Many sought […]
7 September 2012
International Arts Corespondent Andrea Shortell Sends This ArtLyst Exclusive Report, From The Sao Paulo Frontline. São Paulo flourishes with cultural energy the weekend before the 30th Biennial begins, as if it were preparing for a tsunami of visitors. Every cultural space from the contemporary arte commercial galleries in the chic neighbourhood of Jardims opens its […]
31 August 2012
A girl ironically goes into a Mayfair nightclub, the kind where attractive young women get in free, and the men pay £50 entry and for all the drinks. It will be a bit of a laugh. While in there, a man approaches her, buys her a few drinks, and more happens. They start seeing each […]
27 August 2012
A flash of colour and lingering pose adorn the walls of the Lazarides gallery near Tottenham Court Road. For a brief moment London is transformed into a modern Viennese court of wonder. New and old are mixed together with international flare at the new exhibition “Klimt Illustrated”. Nine international street artists have been working tirelessly […]
18 August 2012
London is getting better at showing Fine Art Photography. The number of galleries dedicated to the medium is negligible when compared to New York, mediocre as measured up against Paris and barely on par with the German cities. There is no British national institution dedicated the form, despite the efforts of those at the V&A, […]