Philip Guston at Tate Modern is a big show, providing me with much-needed insight into the artist. I wasn’t a big fan of his but can now appreciate him more than I did. The child of Russian Jews escaping persecution in Odessa, he was born in 1913 in Canada, the family moving to Los Angeles […]
One-minute blog of interesting things
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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.
Body Politic: Antony Gormley at White Cube London
This exhibition, Body Politic by Antony Gormley, was held at White Cube Bermondsey, one of my favourite London galleries. Upon entry you encounter Gormley’s core subject, the human body, abstracted to a collection of blocks. Each of these pieces has a small square opening. He calls it a mouth, a cavity to the interior space. […]
Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael: Florence, c. 1504 at the Royal Academy. Post 2 of 2.
In this post the drawings relate to large commissions for both Leonardo and Michelangelo to paint murals on opposite walls of the newly built council chamber, the Sala del Gran Consiglio in Palazzo della Signoria now known as Palazzo Vecchio. Leonardo was given the subject of the Battle of Anghiari ( The Fight for the […]
Impressionists on Paper at the Royal Academy, London. Post 2 of 2.
This second post takes a slightly different view of Impressionists on Paper: Degas to Toulouse-Lautrec, the exhibition at the Royal Academy in London. Most of my blog posts are about observation and these drawings show some of the detailed study, the background work that now-famous artists have done to hone their craft. Look at the […]
Impressionists on Paper at the Royal Academy, London. Post 1 of 2 – Degas.
Art needs to be viewed in context. You can see this in the Impressionists on Paper: Degas to Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition, currently on at the Royal Academy in London. The interesting thing about this exhibition is that the works on display may never again be seen together due to their fragility. A group of artists from […]
A.R. Wallace at the Linnean Society, London
This is a small yet fascinating exhibition in the library of the Linnean Society, celebrating the life of A.R. Wallace, the co-developer of the theory of evolution independently of Charles Darwin. It’s free to visit – just sign in to enter the building. These photographic visiting cards show Alfred Russel Wallace as an older man, […]
Théâtre de la Mode: An Exhibition by David Downton hosted by M.C. Gray.
This show of Haute Couture drawings by David Downton, hosted by M.C. Gray at exhibition venue 4 Cromwell Place, took me back to my days working in the world of fashion. The glamour of the catwalk shows were the highlight of so much work yet over so fast. I remember seeing illustrations by the wonderful […]
Igshaan Adams at Thomas Dane Gallery
I’m glad to see that it’s become an increasing trend to see textile-based artwork exhibited in a commercial fine art gallery. Things have certainly changed since I left art school, and not before time. As one gallerist said to me recently, it’s the artist’s intention that counts, not the materials they use. You can see […]
Makers at MADE London
It’s always a pleasure to visit a MADE show as the standard of work on display is of such a high standard. This time MADE London was in a new pop-up venue in Islington. Ceramics were the main thing that caught my eye; here are just a few of the makers whose work I admired. […]
In the Archive Library at the Royal Academy, London.
The Open House Festival is the chance to see places not normally open to the public. It used to be over a single weekend in September but now spreads over a longer period. One of the places I visited this year was the Archive Library at the Royal Academy on Piccadilly in London. I’ve been […]