This exhibition at the National Gallery is a blockbuster and yes, many of the artists are big-hitters, names familiar to many of us. What’s interesting here though is the number of paintings from private collections. I was impressed to find so many pieces had been loaned from anonymous owners so here are a few paintings […]
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.
Tess Jaray: For Your Eyes Only at Room 2, Karsten Schubert
If you’re in Soho and looking for a different kind of exhibition space then I recommend Room 2. Situated above Andrew Edmunds, the celebrated restaurant on Lexington Street, Room 2 is an intimate gallery run by Karsten Schubert. The experience begins from the front door where you must press a buzzer to be admitted. Walking […]
Tyler Hobbs at Unit Gallery
The subject of AI is daily news. Generative artist Tyler Hobbs has been exploring the intersection of human-made and digital art for a while and this exhibition shows some of the results. Mechanical Hand, his first solo show in the UK at Unit Gallery, revealed influences including Agnes Martin. I also saw connections with Paul […]
Spain and the Hispanic World at the Royal Academy
Spain and the Hispanic World, the exhibition at the Royal Academy, covers a huge range of artefacts and artworks so I decided to focus on just one item for this blogpost, a map of the world from 1526. Probably made as a gift for Charles V on his marriage to Isabella of Portugal, it details […]
Shadows on show at Collect
Shadow is, for me, a key element in how an object influences its environment. It’s something I have played with over decades, most recently with my Drifts and I find it almost magical. You can see then why these pieces caught my eye at Collect at Somerset House. Lovely as they are in themselves, the […]
Bridget Bailey at Collect, Somerset House
These photos only give an impression of Garden of Making, Bridget Bailey’s installation at this year’s Collect, held at Somerset House. Imagine a soundtrack of birdsong and breeze while looking at these pictures. Bailey, a textile artist, uses precise millinery techniques to capture the atmosphere and impressions of the natural world as experienced on her […]
At Somerset House
Ooh, things have changed since I was last here and what a delight – the roadworks outside Somerset House have finally ended to reveal a new pedestrian area (East Strand). It’s larger than I expected, stretching from the previously isolated St. Mary le Strand through to Aldwych. You now move from open to narrow (Somerset […]
Brigid McLeer at the Crafts Council Gallery
Part of the Cotton: Labour, Land & Body exhibition at the Crafts Council Gallery, Brigid McLeer’s installation was especially moving for me. I found this exhibition particularly interesting due to my personal and professional connection to the subject. I studied mixed-media textiles at art school and use fabric in my work today. Much of my […]
Alice Neel at The Barbican
The spareness of this portrait, unfinished yet complete, struck me by its beauty. Titled Black Draftee (James Hunter) and painted in 1965, I wondered why it was never finished. Did he go off to war, never to return? Or was it too painful to continue? After a bit of research I learnt that he only […]
Günther Förg at Hauser & Wirth London.
Tupfenbilder, a solo show of work by Günther Förg at Hauser & Wirth on Savile Row, contains some absolutely towering paintings. I wasn’t familiar with his work and can’t say I’m a fan of everything he’s done but found that these late paintings (from 2007 – he died in 2013) exude a vibrant, often joyful […]