Visual Arts Reviews
Lucian Freud: New Perspectives, National Gallery review - a powerful punch in the gutWednesday, 05 October 2022
There stands Lucian Freud in Reflection with Two Children (Self-portrait), 1965 (main picture) towering over you, peering mercilessly down. Is that a look of scorn on his face or merely one of detachment? His two kids seem to be squirming and giggling beneath their father’s unblinking stare. Who wouldn’t be, especially when the huge lamps hanging overhead are reminiscent of an interrogation chamber? All the better to see you with, my dear. Read more... |
Hallyu! The Korean Wave, V&A review - frenetic but funTuesday, 27 September 2022
Remember Gangnam Style, the music video that went viral in 2012? PSY’s cheeky lyrics and daft moves attracted 1.6 billion hits on YouTube, sparked dozens of parodies and turned the world on to K-pop. And that was just the beginning; K-pop has since mushroomed into a global phenomenon characterised by catchy tunes and fast-paced dance routines performed by beautiful young people in snappy outfits. Read more... |
Marina Abramović: Gates and Portals, Modern Art Oxford and Pitt Rivers Museum review - transcendence liteMonday, 26 September 2022
I have powerful memories of performances by Marina Abramović. Back in 1977 at Documenta in Kassel, Germany, she and her then partner Ulay stood either side of a doorway, facing one another. There was only enough room to squeeze through sideways and, since both were naked, choosing whom to face was an interesting challenge. Read more... |
Winslow Homer: Force of Nature, National Gallery review - dump the symbolism and enjoy the dramaTuesday, 20 September 2022
Across the pond Winslow Homer is a household name; in his day, he was regarded as the greatest living American painter. He was renowned especially for his seascapes and his most famous painting, The Gulf Stream, 1899/1906 (main picture) features in the National Gallery’s retrospective. Read more... |
Carolee Schneeman: Body Politics, Barbican review - challenging, in-your-face and messyThursday, 15 September 2022
Life is messy and so is Carolee Schneeman’s work. She wanted it that way. Breaking down the barriers between art and life, between inhabiting a woman’s body and using it as primal material, was a key objective. Read more... |
Germany / The 1920s / New Objectivity / August Sander, Centre Pompidou review - expansive and thought-provokingMonday, 15 August 2022
The businessman in Heinrich Maria Davringhausen’s Der Schieber (The Profiteer), 1920-1921 sits several floors above the city streets, pencil in hand; the high-rise buildings pressing at the windows around him. Not in Germany. In France. Read more... |
Gustav Metzger: Earth Minus Environment, Kestle Barton review - an illuminating glimpse of a visionary activist-artistWednesday, 10 August 2022
In later life Gustav Metzger appeared a marginal, eccentric figure. The diminutive, white-bearded artist, was often to be seen round London’s galleries in the early to mid-2010s, dropping off piles of hand-produced fliers urging his fellow artists to “remember nature”. Read more... |
Milton Avery: American Colourist, Royal Academy review - from backward-looking impressionist to forward looking-colouristThursday, 14 July 2022
I’ve always been bemused by the American painter, Milton Avery. Not having seen enough of his paintings together, I couldn’t gauge if they are quirkily naive – lodged in a cul de sac aside from the mainstream – or hyper-sophisticated harbingers of things to come. Read more... |
Eric Ravilious: Drawn to War review - a lovingly crafted documentary portraitMonday, 27 June 2022
There’s a sharp observation, delivered in Alan Bennett’s soft tones, that sums up the reputation of the painter Eric Ravilious: “Because his paintings are so accessible, I don’t think he’s thought to be a great artist. It’s because of his charm. He’s so easy to like and things have to be hard, if they’re not hard, then they’re not great." Read more... |
Vivian Maier: Anthology, MK Gallery review - what an amazing eye!Tuesday, 21 June 2022
The story is riveting. A nanny living in New York and Chicago spent her spare time wandering the streets taking photographs. She learned to develop and print, but her plan to publish the images as postcards fell through and, as time passed, she stopped bothering even to develop the negatives let alone print them. Read more... |
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