We love the Guerilla Girls and their tactics. I came across these pieces in Tate Modern’s permanent collection and wanted to share them as they are far from historical documents. As luck would have it Katy Hessel’s Great Women Artists podcast featured them this week too and I highly recommend it. Here’s the link. I’m […]
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.
Mirtha Dermisache at Tate Modern
During a recent visit to Tate Modern I came across this collection of drawings by Argentinian artist Mirtha Dermisache. She was a new discovery for me as was the term Asemic writing. Asemic writing, according to Wikepedia, is a “wordless open semantic form of writing. The word asemic means ‘having no specific semantic content’, or ‘without the smallest unit […]
Installations at Tate Modern
I wandered around the deserted general galleries at Tate Modern recently after visiting the Andy Warhol show. It made me realise that I often ignore the permanent collections in favour of temporary shows, you know, that assumption that you can always come back later. This time I didn’t leave before exploring further and came across […]
Hanna ten Doornkaat at Muse Gallery
I first met Hanna ten Doornkaat several years ago then witnessed her work at a Draw to Perform weekend and was interested in the ritual and meditative repetition of her mark-making. This recent solo exhibition at Muse Gallery was the first time I had seen some of her larger pieces. I’ve been used to seeing […]
Gauguin & The Impressionists at the Royal Academy.
I sometimes ask myself : “do we really need another Impressionist exhibition?” so visited this Royal Academy show of work from the Danish collector Ordrupgaard with no expectations. My looking, however, was well rewarded. I have an issue with Gauguin (not the one you might think) which I won’t go into here so haven’t included […]
Balcony Life & The Nomadic Dye Garden
On until the end of September, Ross Belton’s Balcony Life, a fabric installation and nomadic dye garden by Modern Eccentrics (Ross & Jonathan) can be seen at St Saviour’s, (formerly The Florence Trust). I attended one of Ross’s workshops a few years ago and have stayed in contact since. I discovered this new location where […]
Aubrey Beardsley at Tate Britain. Post 2 of 2
It’s always interesting to see who and what has directly influenced an artist and it was enlightening to find more out in this exhibition. Contemporary artists instrumental in Beardsley’s development included Edward Burne-Jones and JM Whistler. Japanese woodblock prints exerted a huge influence on many artists in terms of format as well as style – […]
Aubrey Beardsley at Tate Britain. Post 1 of 2
I visited the Aubrey Beardsley exhibition at Tate Britain when it reopened and was surprised at how large it was, especially considering the brevity of his career: only 6 years. Most remembered now for his illustrations of Oscar Wilde’s Salomé, (as a teenager I had a poster of the Peacock Skirt on my wall), his […]
Visiting the National Gallery by appointment.
The pandemic has changed the museum experience for the foreseeable future with many organisations moving collections online. There’s nothing thought like standing in front of the real thing. Walking around a pre-selected route in the National Gallery brought me to paintings I’d either never seen or that I hadn’t previously had much chance to spend […]
Masculinities: liberation through photography at the Barbican. 3 of 3
A much darker aspect of masculinity shown in Masculinities at The Barbican is My Mother’s Cupboards and My Father’s Words, a pair of small notebooks by Anna Fox. Contrasting the neatness of her mother’s cupboards with phrases spoken by her father to either his wife or his daughter, I found this deeply disturbing. I’ve only […]