25 January 2013
Edouard Manet is one of the best-known and influential figures in the development of modern art, yet somehow, the Royal Academy’s “Manet: Portraying Life” is the first major exhibition of the artist’s work in the UK. Additionally, never before has there been an exhibition that focuses on Manet’s portraiture, despite the continued presence of portraits […]
23 January 2013
Francesco Clemente found fame as part of the Neo-Expressionist movement of the late 1970s and early 1980s, or the ‘transavanguardia’ as their early supporter Achille Bonito Oliva named them. The intent was to react against the anti-painting sentiments common at the time, and to return to the ‘internal motives, to the constitutive reasons of working’, […]
20 January 2013
This year’s Photo50 at the London Art Fair provided, yet again, a diverting and fascinating escape from the throngs browsing the fair below. In the past, this curated exhibit has been assembled by a panel of selectors, but this year free reign was given to Nick Hackworth, owner of Paradise Row gallery. Allowing for one […]
20 January 2013
“Ascending With Our Earth Star”, an art event which opened on 21 December 2012, is an exhibition incorporating a mixture of performance and visual art combined with the healing arts. The 21st of December is a date which the Mayans predicted would bring in a new Earth phase and welcome an expansion of human consciousness. […]
7 January 2013
John Chamberlain (1927-2011) lived just long enough to help plan his retrospective at the Guggenheim, New York (Feb 24 – May 13, 2012) and it proved exemplary. First, it looked good spiralling up the ramps, where its chronological ascent made sense. Second, the ‘Choices’ – a title designed to emphasise that Chamberlain selected his materials, […]
7 January 2013
After such a good end to the year for Photography in London, a barren 2013 seemed likely, but though there will be fewer outings by some of the major institutions, there looks to be some quite exciting shows on the horizon. January Photo50 @ The London Art Fair: 16-20 January, Islington Business Design Centre First […]
5 January 2013
‘Yeah, you missed it’, stated Tony Andre the Director of Guerilla Galleries (London) whom I rang today to ask how last nights opening event went. A very private PRIVATE VIEW of the ‘100% NUDE’ exhibition was mobbed, with 300 attending the show, half in the buff. It was held in the Daniel Libeskind designed building […]
4 January 2013
Ah, the London Art Fair (Previews 15 Jan, public opening 16-20 Jan at the Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, Islington). So why bother? In fact, there’s always enough interesting work to make a visit entertaining and worthwhile, it’s just a matter of speeding past where appropriate and slowing down for the good stuff. That […]
31 December 2012
What is movement? Ok, fine, maybe we know what movement is, but how should we think about it? In the medieval period medicine considered movement to equal life, and stasis to be death – a supposed aetiology of the black plague was “stagnant air”, and restoring circulation and movement to the air would solve the […]
16 December 2012
I’m no great fan of Christmas (wouldn’t once every two years be enough?) but here all the same is a fairly arbitrary box of not entirely festive goodies for the festive season: a candle, cards, a film, a show with gifts, a Tate selection, a trip and a book… CHRISTMAS CANDLE NAKED FLAME Giorgio Sadotti: […]
12 December 2012
The booths have all been dismantled, the artwork packed up, crated and carted off in trucks to planes to be dispersed all over the cultural globe. The dealers count their sales and curse the ones that got away. The hordes of international art world people have all left town, exhausted and partied out. The art […]
11 December 2012
In honour of the festive list season, and the need to have something to talk about at the countless social events about to befall us all, here’s my list of the best photography shows in London from this about to be past year. If the Mayans were wrong, 2013 promises to build upon what was […]
9 December 2012
Miami Beach Art Basel is so much more than a merging of international galleries in what is disputably the most important commercial art event in the calendar. Art comes together in all shapes and forms to create a meeting of minds and a collective experience in an environment conducive to sharing trends in any sort […]
8 December 2012
I apologise in advance if this entry is somewhat sparse and not quite up to speed, as I am nursing a harsh hangover with added sleep deprivation. No sympathy please for self inflicted wounds. So, yesterday I met up with the fair gang, Cyril and Richard, both of who are collectors and dealers. We arrange […]
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 […]