Damien Hirst: The Unseen Drawings Behind The Velvet Curtain
For an artist synonymous with shock, scale, and spectacle, Damien Hirst’s most revealing works may be his most discreet yet.
13 May 2025
Reviews
Stephen Cox: Atavistic Sculptures Adorn Houghton Hall Norfolk – Sue Hubbard
Houghton Hall, in Norfolk, was commissioned by the first British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole.
7 May 2025
Underwater Extravaganza Hastings Contemporary – Jude Montague
Undersea is the latest exhibition on a maritime theme, curated by art historian James Russell, for the Hastings Contemporary. It completes a trilogy following Seaside Modern (2021) and (2022).
22 April 2025
Archibald Knox The Visionary Manx Designer – Sara Faith
Archibald Knox (1864-1933) is best known as a designer for The Silver Studio and then for Liberty & Co. in the early years of the 20th century,
22 April 2025
Giuseppe Penone Thoughts in The Roots Serpentine – Sue Hubbard
Giuseppe Penone’s show brings together Penone’s sculptures, installations and drawings from 1969 until now.
11 April 2025
The Frick And Other Delights New York Spring Exhibitions Round Up – Ilka Scobie
In 2020, the beloved Frick temporarily relocated to the former Whitney Museum’s Brutalist Breuer building. Five years later, the museum has re-opened with a glorious 220 million dollar renovation of the original Gilded Age mansion…
7 April 2025
Arpita Singh Social Observations Serpentine North – Revd Jonathan Evens
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
Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur A Raucous Romp Through The Wallace Collection
Grayson Perry has always been a master of holding up a carnival mirror to society, and his latest exhibition, Delusions of Grandeur, at the Wallace Collection…
26 March 2025
Victor Hugo Astonishing Things Royal Academy – John K Grande
Astonishing Things, the RA show’s title comes from a comment Vincent van Gogh made on seeing Victor Hugo’s drawings.
24 March 2025
Siena: The Creative Achievement Of Christendom – Revd Jonathan Evens
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
Amsterdam: Anselm Kiefer & Vincent van Gogh – Mariella Guzzoni
The Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, collaborating for the first time on a common project, present Anselm Kiefer – Sag mir die Blumen sind (Where have all the flowers gone?…
15 March 2025
Edvard Munch Portraits: Personas With A Body – John K. Grande
“Nature is the vast eternal kingdom which nourishes art,” Munch observed, and this vast source was not a choice but a reality…
13 March 2025
An Uncommon Thread Hauser & Wirth Somerset – Revd Jonathan Evens
The exhibition features 10 contemporary artists driven by curiosity and inventive approaches to materiality and process.
10 March 2025
Tadek Beutlich Weaving On and Off the Loom – Claudia Barbieri Childs
Textile weaving has long been undervalued as a creative art form. But this is changing. A year ago, at London’s Barbican Gallery, Unravel….
5 March 2025
The Myth of Leigh Bowery Laid Bare in New Tate Show – James Payne
Leigh Bowery was a groundbreaking performance artist, club entrepreneur, fashion designer, musician…. a thief, a shitkicker and…uh…he wanted to be famous.
27 February 2025
Caillebotte Painting Men – The Elephant In The Room – Getty Center – Sara Faith
The largest display of French 19th-century artist Gustave Caillebotte’s (1848–1894) work on the West Coast of the USA in 30 years has just opened at The Getty in Los Angeles.
26 February 2025
Frieze LA Week 2025: Reflections In A Golden Sun – Paul Carter Robinson
Frieze LA week finishes today (Sunday), and as this is the first opportunity I have had to sit down and evaluate the overload of visuals…
23 February 2025
Goya to Impressionism Masterpieces from the Oskar Reinhart Collection – Sue Hubbard
“Even if such works may legally be owned by an individual, in a higher sense they belong to everyone, their… Read More
22 February 2025
Anonymous Artists: American Photography At The Rijksmuseum – Marcus Howard-Vyse
The Dutch Survey of American Photography is the first in Europe. It traces America’s self-documented history with cool detachment…..
13 February 2025
The Scottish Colourists: Radical Perspectives In Context – Clare Henry
Exactly 100 years ago, the four Scottish Colourists had a very successful London show. It was only their second group appearance.
11 February 2025
New York Gallery Notes Winter 2025 – Ilka Scobie
Chris Martin’s expansive vision encompasses astrophysical orbs, aluminium, and constellations choreographed with bursts of glitter…
3 February 2025
Brasil! Brasil! Great Modernist Art But Look Deeper – Iluá Hauck da Silva
Brasil! Brasil!, the new show at the Royal Academy in London, claims that at the time of the emergence of its modernist art movement in the 1910s, Brazil was ‘a young, ambitious, and optimistic nation’ and that its modernist artists’ rejected European tastes for academic art.’
1 February 2025
Futurism and the Origins of Experimental Poetry Estorick Collection – Sue Hubbard
The early 20th century was an era of dramatic social and political upheaval. Futurism, the art movement that began in Italy, embodied a love affair with speed and new technology that ‘aimed to liberate Italy from the weight of its past’.
24 January 2025
Small But Mighty: Gainsborough’s House and Leighton House – Claudia Barbieri Childs
Artists’ homes can offer an intriguing insight into their life and work. Gainsborough’s House in the silk-weaving town of Sudbury, in Suffolk, and Leighton House in the heart of Kensington, London…
16 December 2024
Philippe Parreno VOICES Haus der Kunst Munich – Jude Montague
Philippe Parreno Haus der Kunst, Munich: The current curation of Haus der Kunst, driven by Andrea Lissoni is a subject of discussion among the staff and those preparing for the latest significant opening….
14 December 2024
Art Is For Life Not Just Christmas – London Gallery Round-Up – Nico Kos Earle
This is a roundup of the shows we have managed to see that seem to speak to the idea of collecting instead of gifting for Christmas…
13 December 2024
Michelangelo Leonardo Raphael At The Royal Academy Review – Revd Jonathan Evens
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
Hew Locke: Thought Provoking Exploration Of Imperialism – British Museum – Sue Hubbard
The Guyanese-British artist Hew Locke worked for two years with staff across the British Museum to select objects with which to explore the cultural impact of British Imperialism.
25 November 2024
Dora Carrington: Beyond Bloomsbury Pallant House – Brian Childs
Dora Carrington was, and remains, an enigma. A rebel who shunned the public gaze, an outsider who immersed herself in the Bloomsbury set…
20 November 2024
Surrealism At 100 Celebrated With Epic Pompidou Centre Exhibition – Lee Sharrock
100 years of Surrealism is celebrated with an epic exhibition at the Pompidou Centre in Paris………….
15 November 2024
Xenia Artistic Retreat Imaginary Lines Daniel Katz – James Payne
What defines a drawing? Is it the line, the mark, the tone? What does “drawing” actually mean?
It is a question explored by the exhibition Imaginary Lines, opening 14th November, through a unique interplay of historical and contemporary works.
12 November 2024
Mike Kelley A Blue Collar Minimalist Tate Modern – James Payne
Mike Kelley: Ghost and Spirit, currently on display at Tate Modern until March, 2025, offers a very extensive exploration of the American artist’s multifaceted career
12 November 2024