Reviews Archives - Page 3 of 32

Cindy Sherman NPG Retrospective A Major Blockbuster – Edward Lucie-Smith

The Cindy Sherman retrospective just opened at the National Portrait Gallery is a major blockbuster, illustrating all aspects of a very prolific career.

Scott Eaton Artist Plus AI – Edward Lucie-Smith

A rather too brief exhibition, well hidden away in the bowels of Somerset House and not mentioned in the official handout listing what is currently on view in the main gallery spaces there, raises many questions that aren’t being asked in our rather smug London contemporary art world. Entitled The Artist + AI, it is a compact solo show for an American artist called Scott Eaton.

Donald Sultan Huxley-Parlour Sam Jackson Charlie Smith London 2X Reviews – Edward Lucie-Smith

This is the time of year when London’s grandee galleries – official and commercial – are so busy presenting us with blockbuster shows that lesser lights tend to get squeezed out, at least where publicity is concerned. Here are a couple of exhibitions on a somewhat lesser scale that it would be a pity to miss. One, at Huxley-Parlour in Swallow Street, offers the work of the American artist Donald Sultan, one of the stars of the return to painting (as opposed to other forms of artistic expression) that took place in American art in the 1980s.

Paula Rego Where The Personal Is Political – Marina Vaizey

All art is perforce autobiography, and every picture tells a story. How could it be otherwise? No outstanding artist almost literally makes visual these underlying possibilities more than Paula Rego.

Gender Fluidity Celebrated In New Hayward Gallery Exhibition – Teo Robinson

Kiss My Genders at the Hayward Gallery curated by Vincent Honore is a dynamic voyage and vivacious celebration of infinite representations of gender-diversity, gender non-conformity, androgyny and gender-subversion over the course of 50 years, featuring a mélange of 100 artworks by 35 international artists.

Keith Haring: A Sign Of The Times – Tate Liverpool – Alice Lenkiewicz

The highly anticipated first UK exhibition of Keith Haring’s work has opened at Tate Liverpool. It is vast, covering most aspects of his work and career. This was my first experience seeing so many pieces by this seminal figure from the 1980s,’ in the flesh, so I was curious to learn more about the man.

Mark Dean Mediating Between Creation And Creator – Revd Jonathan Evens

In his book, God in the Gallery: A Christian Approach to Modern Art Daniel Siedell suggests that many works of modern and contemporary art are ‘poignant altars to the unknown god in aesthetic form.’

Bartolome Bermejo And The Paper Museum – Two Free Exhibitions – Edward Lucie-Smith

Once again the National Gallery offers a small, free, finely crafted show devoted to an Old Master painter that few people will know much – or indeed – anything about. In this case, to works by Bartolome Bermejo (c.1440-c. 1501).

Oscar Murillo A Cultural Hero Of Sorts – Edward Lucie-Smith

I’ve just read a piece on the web complaining that the one area of the contemporary art world where gender equality is making no progress is in the exhibition programmes of big commercial galleries.

Francis Bacon – The Power Of The Illicit – Edward Lucie-Smith

The new Francis Bacon show at Gagosian Grosvenor Hill is something of a landmark event. It contains a sumptuous array of top-quality works. Only a very few of these come from museum collections, so see them while you can. The show is brutally frank about Bacon’s homosexuality, and about the role that his sexual orientation […]

Keith Tyson – Enrique Martínez Celaya Two London Shows – Edward Lucie-Smith

If you want to take the temperature of the London art world, here are two places to do so. One is the show for Keith Tyson, at Hauser & Wirth. The other is an exhibition for Enrique Martinez Celaya at Blain/Southern. These two dealers rank very high amongst the international commercial spaces in London.

Lee Krasner Abstract Expressionist – The Barbican – Edward Lucie Smith

The catch-up continues: two more female artists, from different phases of the now safely defunct Modern Movement, are now being given their due. They are Lee Krasner, with a solo show at the Barbican; and Natalia Goncharova, at Tate Modern. Both of these were considerable talents. Were they game-changers? That, I think, is a slightly different question.

Frank Bowling: In The Presence Of A Significant Painter – Sue Hubbard

It’s rare to walk into an exhibition and be bowled over (forgive the pun). To encounter work that touches the heart as well as the mind in these insouciant times. Frank Bowling’s exhibition at Tate Britain is one such rare show, reminding us of what painting can do.

Four London Art Exhibitions To See – June 2019 – Edward Lucie-Smith

London’s posher galleries offer exhibitions of all kinds right now, but they tend to have a slightly depressing characteristic in common. The artists concerned are usually either very senior or dead. Few of them are British. The days when the YBAs dominated the British art scene are long over. In a way, this is a tribute to the cosmopolitanism of today’s London art world.

Manga: Masterpieces Of Narrative Art – British Museum – Edward Lucie-Smith

It is bold of the British Museum to embark on an exhibition of Japanese Manga in their most significant and grandest temporary exhibition space – the one right at the back of the building, on the ground floor.

Vicky Crowe: 50 Years Of Painting – Clare Henry

Venice, the Pentland Hills, Prince Charles?” They may not have a lot in common, but all have provided Vicky Crowe with significant inspiration. They also encapsulate her three main concerns: still life, landscape and portraiture. That she excels in each is a cause for admiration and astonishment!

Anish Kapoor: Splashing Bloody Wombs And One Penis – Jude Cowan Montague

I can’t see an Anish Kapoor exhibition at the moment. I can’t talk about Anish Kapoor at the moment. Not without the first thing on my mind being that infamous black paint copyright purchase.

Leonardo Da Vinci A Man Of Seductive Charm – Edward Lucie-Smith

This will be a great year of Leonardo celebrations because 2019 marks five centuries since the great artist died and Leonardo is now one of the great monuments of Western culture. Various countries are squabbling over who can do his memory the most honour.

Artificial Intelligence More Than Human – Barbican – Edward Lucie-Smith

Right now, the Curve Gallery at the Barbican has a big show entitled More Than Human that seems exceptionally relevant, not so much to what is happening in the visual arts right now, as to what seems likely to happen. Its theme is AI (artificial intelligence).

Piero Manzoni The grid And Everyday Materials – Ilka Scobie

Self-taught artist and avant-garde predecessor to the Arte Povera movement, Piero Manzoni was born to an aristocratic family in Soncino, Italy in 1933.

Cathy Wilkes: Resurrecting The Forgotten British Pavilion Venice Biennale – Sue Hubbard

May you live in interesting times is the overarching theme of this year’s Biennale. Dystopia and dissonance are everywhere played out in the themes of climate change and post-human CGI that take us to some dark places.

Whatever Happened To Anthony Caro? – Three Reviews – Edward Lucie-Smith

Whatever happened to Anthony Caro? In Jonathan Jones’ new book about the history of British art from Hogarth to Banksy, Caro gets about half a page. It describes how his abstract sculptures climbed down off the pedestals that three-dimensional works had previously been displayed on and placed firmly on the floor. If you want to […]

Jonathan Jones Sensations – Book Review – Edward Lucie-Smith

Jonathan Jones’ new book from Laurence King Publishing is a quality job. Entitled Sensations, it bears on its back cover a recommendation from none other than Tracey Emin, which reads as follows:“I never loved Jonathan’s writing when he slagged my work off! He is a true thinker: a brilliant art historian who can back up his opinion with more than just criticism.”