Sargent & Fashion, currently on at Tate Britain, connects the artist’s paintings with some of the garments used in his pictures. If you wanted a portrait in the late 19th – early 20th century in Europe or the USA you really couldn’t go wrong with John Singer Sargent – there was no-one quite like him […]
One-minute blog of interesting things
Subscribe to my blog
As a working contemporary artist I visit many exhibitions and shows, but sometimes it is the things I see that are part of daily life that capture my interest. My one-minute blog of interesting things reflects the fact that although we are increasingly time-poor, there is creativity all around us. Email me at info@carolinebanks.co.uk with your name and email to receive a weekly post that only takes 1 minute to read.
Richard Serra drawings at David Zwirner.
David Zwirner held this exhibition of six drawings by Richard Serra which I managed to catch just before it closed. “My whole drawing practice is involved with repetition, knowing there’s no possibility of repeating, knowing that it’s going to yield something different every time.” —Richard Serra in Conversations About Sculpture, 2018 Pigment is mashed up with […]
Michelangelo: the last decades at the British Museum
Packed with information, this exhibition Michelangelo: the last decades currently on at the British Museum, covers the final 30 years of the artist’s life. As usual I’ll only focus on a very few pieces. You can see a projection of The Last Judgement, a huge fresco (13.7 x 12 metres) on the alter wall of […]
Unravel: The Power & Politics of Textiles in Art at the Barbican Gallery
Coming from a background in Mixed Media (textiles), I’m always interested to see how fibre and fabric are used in the expression of ideas. Viewed by the predominantly male Fine Art world as “craft” and historically gendered as female (i.e. of lesser importance) by scholars, textiles as fine art has had to fight against much […]
Andrea Dobreva: Public Grapes, Anonymous Meat at Fiumano Clase
Public Grapes, Anonymous Meat is a solo show by Andrea Dobreva at Fiumano Clase. Dobreva spent eight years in Munich working with refugees of many nationalities and found that, even though each individual had their own unique story, they were often treated as merely ‘migrants’ or ‘refugees’. Dobreva elevates the people she met and the […]
Purple Hibiscus at the Barbican
Purple Hibiscus, a massive textile installation by Ibrahim Mahama covering the entire lakeside facade, is now up at The Barbican in London until the 18th August. The photos below were taken during the installation. Part of the current exhibition Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art , this was created with hundreds of […]
The Broad in Los Angeles
My recent trip to Los Angeles, where I exhibited at The Other Art Fair, was all too brief. The only museum I managed to get to was The Broad, impressive for its architecture as well as contemporary art. Julie Mehretu‘s Invisible Sun (algorithm 8, fable form) was one of the paintings I was able to […]
Annamarie Dzendrowskyj at Muse Gallery, London
This solo show by Annamarie Dezendrowskyj at Muse Gallery is an exploration of ambiguity, or as she calls it, “indiscernability”. It’s the otherworldliness, the in-betweenness that I appreciate. These small oil paintings are not just pictures, they’re also objects taking up space – read on to see what I mean. It’s intriguing to see how […]
Theatre land in Downtown LA
There was little time for exploring on my first trip to LA but I did find myself Downtown and, after a quick manicure at Nails Envy (bluebell nail polish in case you were interested), came across these buildings in what seemed to be the Latino jewellery district. I later read that this was the Theatre […]
Cloud songs on the horizon by Ranjani Shettar at the Barbican Conservatory
The Barbican conservatory is one of those hidden London gems: a tropical garden inside a Brutalist complex. And it’s free to visit. This sculptural installation by Indian artist Ranjani Shettar, Cloud songs on the horizon, sits happily within the lush environment. As you can see from my photos it was a beautiful spring day when […]