Top 10 – Artists Behaving Badly

Top 10 – Artists Behaving Badly

Artists were very likely the first ‘Rock Stars! Since Caravaggio, they have left behind a legacy of volatile extremes whether it be drunken incontinence or in your face infidelities. For every triumph achieved in their careers, there is always a story of excess and...
Top 10 – Come Up And See My Etchings

Top 10 – Come Up And See My Etchings

‘Come up and see my etchings’ was a students catchphrase in the 1940s that rapidly gained a much wider currency throughout the English speaking world. It may find its root in Mae West’s ‘come up and see me sometime!’. But Prof. S. H. Monk...
Top 10 – Most Violent Works Of Art

Top 10 – Most Violent Works Of Art

This is not an easy or palatable topic, but art is steeped in violence. The human condition seeks it out, and in doing so glorifies the deity of bloodlust. Interestingly enough with the advent of film and the demise of the church, splatter-art has taken a back seat at...

Top 10 – Monochrome: Works of Art in Black and White

A new exhibition at the National Gallery is a celebration of monochrome and in particular painting in black and white. The term monochrome is used to describe paintings, drawings, design or photographs in one colour or values of one colour. The show at the National...
Top 10 – Art Attacks

Top 10 – Art Attacks

Cultural vandalism manifests itself in various ugly ways. There are examples of government approved vandalism, like the destruction of TFL’s Eduardo Paolozzi Mosaic Arches At Tottenham Court Road Station. Or the council sanctioned removal of Banksy’s...
Top 10 – Outsider Artists

Top 10 – Outsider Artists

What is Outsider Art? Roger Cardinal the English art critic coined the term ‘Outsider Art’ in 1972 as the English alternative to ‘Art Brut’ (French: “raw art” or “rough art”).This was a label created by French artist...