Author: Bob Chaundy

Former BBC News journalist now writing and podcasting for Considering Art.

James Oughtibridge – Ebb and Flow

Like so much good art, ceramicist James Oughtibridge’s work only begins with a vague idea of what he wants to end up with. His sculptures grow and evolve from slabs of clay to round, curvaceous forms in which perspectives change and deceive around undulations, peaks and troughs defined by sometimes smooth, sometimes sharp edges. There are openings like blowholes, spheres resembling bubbles with a certain lightness enhanced by the interplay of light and shadow that contradicts the weight of the medium.  Continue reading “James Oughtibridge – Ebb and Flow” →

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The London Open 2018

The London Open 2018, which was launched on Thursday at The Whitechapel Gallery, claims to feature some of the best contemporary art around by those resident in the capital. It happens every three years in a tradition dating back to 1932. Its judging panel, including the Gallery’s Emily Butler, whittled 2,600 applications down to those representing just 22 artists. They were chosen not only for the quality of their work, but also for representing various themes current in London over the past three years and for having a long-term engagement with their subject matter. Continue reading “The London Open 2018” →

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Just Putting It Out There – Morwenna Morrison and Andrew McIntosh

“I think we invent. We make up our own mythology about our past quite often without even realising it, and those moments were not all that fantastic.” So says Morwenna Morrison on the subject of nostalgia, the central theme of her work in a new two-handed exhibition with fellow artist Andrew McIntosh at London’s James Freeman Gallery. In their different ways, both artists merge past and present, giving familiar landscapes an enigmatic twist. Continue reading “Just Putting It Out There – Morwenna Morrison and Andrew McIntosh” →

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Tarka Kings – Still is Still Moving

The author Cressida Connolly once wrote of Tarka Kings, “Her drawings are so delicate and precise, they have a stillness and an openness that invites the viewer in. So little in contemporary art has that real beauty.” 

Though she wrote those words before Kings had drawn the portrait Lily III (above), the description fits it perfectly. Lily is a girl friend of Kings’s younger son. There’s a great sense of intimacy and delicacy in the drawing to be seen in those youthful eyes. What’s more, she has captured a degree of sadness in Lily’s dreamlike gaze. There’s a reason, Kings told me as we toured her exhibition.  “She’d been in the earthquakes in Nepal and she’s suddenly become much much older than her years, very unexpectedly.” Continue reading “Tarka Kings – Still is Still Moving” →

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Outside – Crossbones Garden

A group of students from the Masters in Fine Arts course at London’s Goldsmith College have come up with an usual sculpture exhibition at a most unusual venue.

In the backstreets of London near Borough Market, a stone’s throw from the site of the old Marshalsea debtor’s prison made famous in Charles Dickens’ Little Dorrit, lies a small patch of derelict land that has been turned into a wild garden. In the short distance one can see the towering buildings of the City, and closer still, the dominating presence of The Shard, London’s tallest skyscraper. The garden’s railings have become a shrine to honour those recently departed. Continue reading “Outside – Crossbones Garden” →

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Alexander James – View from the Shoreline

The image above is an example of how art can be used to highlight an environmental concern that is plaguing eco-systems the world over, in particular in areas vulnerable to the excesses of tourism. Spurred on by the publicity generated from the disturbing footage in Blue Planet 2, consciousness about the danger of plastic pollution has risen substantially recently. Yet, for many it’s been very late in coming. Continue reading “Alexander James – View from the Shoreline” →

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Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar – Oneness Wholeness

There are two things that immediately strike you when viewing Sassan Benham-Bakhtiar’s paintings together in this new exhibition – their large size and the abundance of colour within them.

This young France-based Iranian artist has spent the past seven years on a spiritual journey through meditative and energy-balancing practices to try to achieve a better understanding of himself and others. He has translated these ideas by visually depicting that energy through the vibrancy of colour and through a variety of brush techniques that accentuate it.  Continue reading “Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar – Oneness Wholeness” →

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Sensation – Iranian artists

Iran is something of a dirty word in the west, associated as it is with a repressive theocracy at home and support for groups hostile to western interests abroad. Yet Persian culture has a proud and rich history dating back thousands of years distinguishing itself in architecture, painting, weaving, pottery, calligraphy and sculpture.

The art scene in Iran has exploded in recent years. The capital, Tehran, now boasts more than a hundred galleries whereas five years ago you could count the number on one hand. The Iranian art market is outperforming that of any other Middle-Eastern country. For example, at last years’s 20th Century Art: Middle East auction at Sotheby’s, Iranian artists accounted for more than 60% of the sales. Continue reading “Sensation – Iranian artists” →

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Julian Opie

A group of female runners complete with all the typical paraphernalia – caps, earphones, water bottle, Nike swooshes on their trainers – are caught in mid-flight and their features reduced down to cartoon-like images and colour. It’s classic Julian Opie.  Running Women represents an everyday occurrence, distilled down and given a new dynamic by becoming an amalgamation of different moving figures. Continue reading “Julian Opie” →

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