
The Art Diary July 2025 – Revd Jonathan Evens
July’s Art Diary begins with exhibitions in and reflection on ecclesiastical buildings, through the Liverpool Biennial and the Waterloo Festival.
30 June 2025
July’s Art Diary begins with exhibitions in and reflection on ecclesiastical buildings, through the Liverpool Biennial and the Waterloo Festival.
30 June 2025
For the June diary, I begin with two important recently published books about religion and contemporary art.
2 June 2025
For the May Art Diary, I include three exhibitions involving gardens – at Gainsborough’s House, Philip Mould and Company, and Waddesdon Manor.
1 May 2025
Easter regularly brings exhibitions exploring themes drawn from Christianity; this year is no exception.
31 March 2025
Although Arpita Singh’s work has been seen in the UK previously, this is the first institutional solo exhibition of her work in London.
26 March 2025
A key exhibit in Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300‒1350, is a ‘Head of Christ’ by Lando di Pietro, which is split in two.
17 March 2025
The exhibition features 10 contemporary artists driven by curiosity and inventive approaches to materiality and process.
10 March 2025
The March Art Diary first highlights exhibitions in Essex (Firstsite, Focal Point and Beecroft Galleries) followed by group shows engaging with spirituality and social issues
4 March 2025
For the February 2025 Art Diary, I begin with exhibitions by artists I’ve followed and whose work I’ve written about. These include Peter Howson, Jonathan Anderson, Barbara Hepworth and Theaster Gates.
4 February 2025
This is the first Art Diary of 2025. Each exhibition listed will reward the paying of sustained attention, enabling entry to a state of contemplation and even contemplative prayer.
6 January 2025
The central premise for Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael: Florence, c.1504 at the Royal Academy of Arts is that at the turn of the sixteenth century, these three titans of the Italian Renaissance briefly crossed paths, competing for the attention of the most powerful patrons in Republican Florence.
3 December 2024
The December Art Diary takes us to Washington DC, New York, London and Bangkok.
2 December 2024
Modern Art Oxford has an enviable curation record with exhibitions that spotlight zeitgeist artists and themes.
6 November 2024
I begin the November Art Diary with exhibitions by artists with whom I have some former connections, starting with some I have interviewed, such as Michael Petry, Sean Scully and Genesis Tramaine.
4 November 2024
Leonora Carrington spent much of her childhood feeling out of place and not at home. As an adult and as an artist, she created replacement hybrid families by interacting with a wide range of artistic friends.
30 October 2024
The work of Ken Currie, Kehinde Wiley and Susie Hamilton can be seen currently in central London. Each knows the communities they paint intimately and create insightful figurative work as a result.
22 October 2024
I begin the October Art Diary with several monographs, which are also linked to launch exhibitions.
2 October 2024
In September’s Art Diary, I highlight a range of international exhibitions before returning to the UK for exhibitions at Hastings Contemporary, The Sainsbury Centre, The Fitzwilliam Museum and Elizabeth Xi Bauer.
2 September 2024
The Victorian Radicals featured in this exhibition were attempting to go back to the future, although, at points, they got lost in the past.
21 August 2024
August’s diary highlights a range of shows which engage with art as a form of storytelling by revealing hidden histories and telling lost stories.
6 August 2024
Cedric Morris and Arthur Lett-Haines ran The East Anglian School of Art and Design from their home, Benton End, Hadleigh.
23 July 2024
Michael Petry is interviewed by Jonathan Evens about his upcoming ‘In League with Devils’ exhibition.
8 July 2024
The July Art Diary includes exhibitions at Fitzrovia Chapel, Ingleby, The Gallery of Everything, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Cristea Roberts Gallery, The Parsonage Gallery, Wellhouse Gallery
2 July 2024
The June diary includes exhibitions by Judy Chicago, Belinda De Bruyckere, Isa Genzken, Nan Goldin, Dora Maar, Susie Hamilton, Samuel Walsh, Richard Kenton Webb, Caspar David Friedrich, Michael Takeo Magruder, as well as exhibitions exploring the influences of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, An Túr Gloine, art and faith, art and nature, art and space.
3 June 2024
May’s diary includes exhibitions exploring new towns, migration, literature, reflections, and martyrs at galleries
8 May 2024
Expressionists: Kandinsky, Münter and the Blue Rider, the focus of the current exhibition at Tate Modern, demonstrates the breadth of the group’s engagement in terms of transnational relationships
29 April 2024
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, as both a revolutionary artist and a violent individual in a violent age, divides eras and opinions.
22 April 2024
The April 2024 Art Diary covers exhibitions as far apart as Salem, Massachusetts, Hong Kong, Venice, Cumbria, Welwyn Garden City and London.
3 April 2024
Issam Kourbaj: Urgent Archive at Kettle’s Yard, with its concurrent exhibition ‘You are not you, and home is not home’ at Heong Gallery, is the largest solo exhibition to date by Cambridge-based Issam Kourbaj.
12 March 2024
The March Art Diary includes exhibitions at Kettle’s Yard, Gallery 1957, Dulwich Picture Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Compton Verney, Stanley Spencer Gallery, Benjamin Rhodes Arts
4 March 2024
In the February 2024 Art Diary, the Revd Jonathan Evens looks at the Pre-Raphaelites, the works of Alison Lapper, Monia Sjöö and various group exhibitions, including shows at Cross Lane Projects, Drawing Room and The William Morris Gallery.
1 February 2024
The boundary-defying artistic practice of Li Yuan-chia, particularly through his LYC Museum and Art Gallery, turns aspects of modern art history on its head.
10 January 2024