It’s always worth seeing what Blain|Southern’s gallery space is showing at any particular time and these two exhibitions have much to recommend them. Bosco Sodi’s wall and floor pieces deal with elemental material: earth and clay with eloquent simplicity And no, this isn’t a weird camera angle, the stack is not perpendicular to the painting or the […]
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.
Frank Lloyd Wright room at the Metropolitan Museum
Don’t you love it when whole environments are recreated? This Frank Lloyd Wright room, at the Metropolitan Museum in New York was originally designed for Francis and Mary Little and is all but, being pretty huge. Every detail has been considered within the interior right down to the flower arrangements. Can you imagine the parties […]
Line by Atopia at Walmer House, Regent Street, London
I was walking down Regent Street the other day and caught sight of this. Retracing my steps to look more closely the camera just had to come out. Vong Phaophanit and Claire Oboussier (collectively known as Atopia) created this 20m long piece, Line, for the Portland stone entrance to Walmer House. It is derived from the […]
Tom Otterness: art on New York’s subway
I really wasn’t expecting to find this whilst waiting for a train at 14th Street on a recent visit to New York. What a delight to see these narratives by Tom Otterness around my platform. Commissioned by the Metropolitan Transport Agency, Life Underground consists of various scenes, a few of which are shown here. Oh […]
L’oscar, a new hotel in Holborn, London
Looking for a decadent-feeling place for a drink (or more) in Central London? Then L’oscar is the place for you. From the back-lit onyx bar and mirrored ceiling of Café L’oscar to the alabaster birds perched around the place, this hotel exudes a delightful loucheness – in a luxurious way, of course. The hotel’s strapline – […]
Klimt/Schiele at the Royal Academy
I discovered the work of Egon Schiele at the age of 16 and remain staggered by the power of his work. This exhibition of his drawings at the Royal Academy, along with those of Gustav Klimt, is a rare treat. I’ve seen his powerful, sometimes disturbing portraits before but these tender drawings of a mother […]
Oceania at the Royal Academy
A fascinating cross between an ethnographic and art show, Oceania at the Royal Academy let my imagination run free yet was sometimes frustrating with the lack of text for scholarly purposes. Still, I now have the catalogue which should answer many of my questions. This huge stitched tarpaulin of the sea, Kiko Moana, at […]
Cornelia Parker at the Royal Academy
I’m not sure how long Cornelia Parker‘s Transitional Object Psychobarn is going to stay in the courtyard of the Royal Academy but pop in to see it in Piccadilly if you can. Based on the house in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, it was made from a dismantled traditional American red barn. Just a tad unsettling?
The Fitzrovia Chapel, a mosaic jewel in London
For those of us old enough to remember, the Middlesex Hospital used to be on this site and had an exquisite 19th Century chapel as its place of worship, known only to those working there. Grade II listed, the Fitzrovia Chapel, designed in the 1880s by one of the foremost Gothic Revival architects John Loughborough […]
Alice Kettle: Thread Bearing Witness at the Whitworth Gallery Manchester
I get out of London every now & again and when I do, visit as many galleries and museums as possible. A recent flit to Manchester meant I could finally get to see the Whitworth Art Gallery, revamped a few years ago. A wonderful space with a brilliant cafe too – their full English breakfast […]