Michael Landy: Saints Alive, at the National Gallery
‘Unpredictable’ was the adjective the National Gallery ascribed Michael Landy’s work, and unpredictability was the reason they chose him as their eighth associate artist in residence (beginning in November 2009). He was a risky choice, so said the National Gallery and – funnily – the artist himself. Looking back over Landy’s career, the evidence certainly stands. … Continue reading
Barbara Rae RA: Recent Paintings at Adam Gallery
There couldn’t have been a greyer day in May to be greeted with Barbara Rae’s paintings, which continue to serve as an antidote to grotty British weather. Despite picturing (sometimes in a very loose sense) France, Spain and Ireland with a vivacious palette of pure colours, these are not as we might expect, simply feel-good … Continue reading
God Save the Village Green at Cob Gallery
The ideas behind ‘God Save the Village Green’ are rooted in the past – in the pastoral sentiment of the countryside and the communities that gather on these village greens. The question Dmitri Galitizine asks in this unconventional exhibition is: can this Little England sustain itself? The exhibition ‘God Save the Village Green,’ goes about … Continue reading
Spaces in Transition at Hanmi Gallery
I didn’t take Hanmi Gallery’s claims about ‘Spaces in Transition’ seriously enough. I read the disclaimer they attached to the exhibition literature lightly – the forewarning that this exhibition was being held in the midst of the gallery’s major renovation project. I took it as a side note – a self-deprecating remark on the gallery’s … Continue reading
Dan Witz: Prisoners 2012-13 at Lazarides Gallery
Dan Witz has been in the street art ‘business’ since street art began in the seventies – he’s a master of his genre. But, from that introduction, what you find at Lazarides (Rathbone Place) is more Old Master than you might expect. That is: finely layered oil paints that build up soft-to-the-touch illusionistic paintings. Subtle … Continue reading
Cartier-Bresson: A Question of Colour at Somerset House
The Cartier-Bresson exhibition at Somerset House raises the debate: will we ever be able to see art through anything but modern eyes? What I came to the exhibition feeling (and not so incidentally left the exhibition feeling) was that I struggle to imagine we ever will; for so vivid is our picture of the world … Continue reading
Mauro Bonaventura at Venice Projects
Venice is, asides from the Biennale, a traditional city. It’s changed very little since its golden age, desperate to still shine of that golden age. This includes the production and sale of Murano glass. If I’d have known this … Continue reading
Look What The Cat Dragged In – Tom Beard at Cob Gallery
‘Look What the Cat Dragged In’ is an intimate and sideways look at the work of photographer Tom Beard and what he has become known for in his so-far short but very successful career. Since the age of 17 he has been shooting portraits of celebrities in their glamourous guises, particularly including Florence and the … Continue reading
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Pollock and Klein: A Bigger Splash at Tate
What makes Pollock and Klein the heroes of painting after performance? Contemporary art came to do many things differently. Just one, was the manner in which painting re-aligned maker with product. Avant-garde art challenged capitalists’ claims to art as a commodity; and one way this was seen in the fifties, was Jackson Pollock’s refashioning of … Continue reading →
Filed under Comment, Contemporary Art, Exhibitions, London, Painting, Visual Arts · Tagged with A Bigger Splash, Abstract Expressionism, colour, International Blue, Jackson Pollock, Tate Modern, Yves Klein