A rare overseas sumo tournament was recently held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Before it began I attended a demonstration of sumo hairdressing hosted by Japan House out of curiosity. The presenter was sumo commentator Hiro Morita, the tokoyama (sumo hairdresser) was Tokoami, highly skilled with over 2 decades of experience and his […]
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.
Cosmos, Memory, Scale: Karl Singaporewala at SOAS Gallery. Post 2 of 2.
This solo show at SOAS focuses on Singaporewala‘s explorations of the religion he was brought up in, Zoroastrianism. In this post I look at his interpretation of the Ses, kept by the household for prayer and protection. It consists of four items on a tray: the soparo (sugar container representing the alegorical Mount Hara), pigani […]
Cosmos, Memory, Scale: Karl Singaporewala at SOAS Gallery. Post 1 of 2.
This solo show at SOAS explores the religion Singaporewala was brought up in, Zoroastrianism. I will concentrate in this post on 3 pieces I found quite profound as well as enchanting: Thoughts, Words and Deeds. A core tenet of Zoroastrianism is Humata, Hukhta, Huvarshta: “Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds”. Those who have watched the […]
Dirty Looks at the Barbican Gallery. Post 2 of 2.
This show, Dirty Looks: Desire & Decay in Fashion, currently on at The Barbican, covers many aspects of contemporary fashion’s fascination with desire and dirt, historically known as la nostalgie de la boue. The dresses above were buried with iron filings, letting chemical reactions do their work, before being exhumed and are from the early […]
Dirty Looks at the Barbican Gallery. Post 1 of 2.
This show, Dirty Looks: Desire & Decay in Fashion, currently on at The Barbican, covers many aspects of contemporary fashion’s fascination with dirt and desire, historically known as la nostalgie de la boue. Life time and the body itself all conspire against the perfection that fashion can aspire to. Solitude Studios bury fabric into peat […]
Encounters: Giacometti and Mona Hatoum. Barbican
This exhibition is the second in a series of three, where contemporary artists engage with the work of Alberto Giacometti. Titled Encounters, they are at the Barbican’s new gallery on level 2. I wrote about the first one in an earlier post which featured Huma Bhabha. This time it is the turn of British-Palestinian artist […]
Jenny Saville at the National Portrait Gallery
The Anatomy of Painting, Jenny Saville‘s retrospective at the National Portrait Gallery was one of the must-see shows of the summer for anyone interested in painting. The exhibition covers her career from early works including this piece below, Propped, one of her graduate show paintings. It was originally displayed opposite a mirror to enable the […]
Artist Rooms: Richard Long at Tate Modern
Richard Long is the current artist at The Artist Rooms at Tate Modern. He’s one of those artists whose work makes me slow down and breathe more slowly, something increasingly necessary in our current times. One of his mud paintings, Waterfall Line, is painted directly onto the gallery wall and exudes an energy that I […]
Alien Shores at White Cube Bermondsey
Alien Shores was a group show running over the summer at White Cube Bermondsey It explored contemporary interpretations of landscape, not something I was expecting to be gripped by but I was completely wrong. I’d planned to pop in quickly but ended up spending a substantial amount of time there as it was so engaging. […]
Noémie Goudal’s Supra Strata at White Cube Bermondsey
It’s rare that I devote a full blog post to a single work of art but this video by Noémie Goudal, part of the Alien Shores exhibition at White Cube Bermondsey, had me transfixed. The photo above marks the beginning of the 17 minute video which I watched till the end. The lush imagery gradually […]