ART PODCASTS
London’s Gazelli Art House is currently hosting the third in a series of Virtual Reality art exhibitions, entitled Through the Headset 3 in which three artists/artistic groups are showing their different explorations of the media. Continue reading “Through the Headset 3 – Mbrionic, Magruder and CiRCA 69”
In keeping with his focus on artists who confront current themes by referencing art history, gallery owner James Freeman has invited five European artists to show work for his latest exhibition who take their inspiration from the political and social upheavals of the Early Modern period from the 1500s onwards. Continue reading “Early Modern Matters – various artists”
For 10 years until 2017, Sophie Morrish was a familiar sight to many of the 1200 inhabitants of North Uist, the remote island in the Outer Hebrides and one of the most bio-diverse places in the UK. It’s a windy place where the calmness of the top image, Evening light from Kyles Beach, 2013, is an all-too rare occurrence for more than a few days at a time.
As a self-confessed obsessive, Morrish would walk the beaches of the 100 square mile island, observing, finding, photographing and collecting some of the remains of the fauna washed up on the shore. Continue reading “Sophie Morrish – Island Time: North Uist Works”
Orlanda Broom’s paintings are unmistakable. Her landscapes portray steaming jungles of vegetation, full-on nature with colours vivid enough to make a Fauvist blanch. Leaves and stems swirl, shoot and flow in this riot of hues that entice the viewer with their luscious intensity. Continue reading “Ambiguous Nature – Orlanda Broom”
It could be the face, perhaps just a look, or maybe a certain personality trait. The attraction of the muse has been an ever-present phenomenon in art history, someone who can inspire creativity in an artist, someone they might return to time and again.
When you talk about the muse, historically it’s normally associated with the male gaze, but in a new joint exhibition at London’s James Freeman Gallery, entitled Muse, two contemporary artists, Gill Button and Sikelela Owen, offer us a female perspective on what a modern muse might be. Continue reading “Muse – Gill Button and Sikelela Owen”
There’s an anecdote recounted in this exhibition’s catalogue in which the American artist Walter Pach spends several hours talking about art to Henri Matisse. When Matisse asked the American if he could make an etching of him, Pach replied that he had an appointment and had to leave in five minutes, Matisse put his watch on the table and, within those five minutes, drew Pach’s outline on an etching plate. Continue reading “Matisse Prints- Bernard Jacobson Gallery”
Superimposition is a well-known term among graphic designers as the process of laying one image on top of another. In the new group exhibition at London’s Partners and Mucciaccia Gallery, four painters take the idea further both physically and intellectually. Paul Morrison, Barry Reigate, Michael Stubbs and Mark Titchner are leading British contemporary artists who, in their different ways, reference art history yet incorporate what they see in life around them in a mash up of styles and genres, all of which involve some type of superimposition. Continue reading “Superimposition – Stubbs, Titchner, Reigate and Morrison”
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”
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”
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”
Considering Art 