This huge (152 x 122cm) orange pastel drawing by Carla Groppi displayed by Alicia David Gallery stopped me in my tracks at The Affordable Art Fair. She is obsessed by the Belle Epoque photography of Eugène Atget, repeating the same imagery in subtly different ways as you can see below.Apart from her obvious technical skill, I’m fascinated […]
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.
The Last Hug at the Geffrye Museum
Seen at The Geffrye Museum over the Christmas period, The Last Hug, a piece by locally based product designer Meital Tzabari. She develops the strength of leaves in her product development project Re:connect. I think it will be there till final disintegration. A fun idea to develop in lots of ways if you have some leaves.
seX-fiction at Fiumano Projects
This was young curators Paul Spez and Jonathan F. Kugel‘s first collaboration held at the new Fiumano Projects’ space near King’s Cross, showing the work of artist and designer Baron Emmerich von Flughafen, formerly known as Diego Fortunato I’d go as far as to say that these happy, decorative pieces remind us of the sheer fun of […]
Lighting at Tent
I don’t know about you but finding just the right lighting can be a very tricky thing so I’m always happy to see interesting lights. Whilst looking back through my database I found these, all pendants and from last autumn’s Tent London. Norwegian design is consistently strong, illustrated by these prototype glass lights, Sling, from Silje Nesdal. More from Norway, this […]
The spa at The Beaumont Hotel, London
The Beaumont Hotel, in London’s Mayfair, designed by specialist hotel architects ReardonSmith Architects, is another of London’s five star hotels but the only one to boast of a public art work doubling as a bedroom, Room, by Anthony Gormley. That’s been covered in lots of places and my photos taken inside were too dark to mean anything […]
Contemporary Artist’s Editions by The Multiple Store
The Multiple Store commissions contemporary artists every year to create work available in limited editions, making pieces affordable to a wider audience. Whilst most earlier editions have completely sold out, work is still available from some artists, a few of whom are shown below from a recent show at One Canada Square in Canary Wharf. Cornelia Parker used her […]
Before it closes: Ai Weiwei at the Royal Academy
Even though I don’t normally feature mainstream exhibitions I thought you might like to see these pictures, taken back at the very beginning of the Ai Weiwei show at the Royal Academy which ends at the weekend. Unusually for most exhibitions, image-taking was actively encouraged; I only found out at the end so did a quick […]
Body painting by Carolyn Roper for Channel 4
I’d just popped out to get some fruit & veg from my local greengrocer when I came across this: a man being painted to merge in with his background. No it wasn’t the Chinese artist Liu Bolin but a piece by twice world champion of body painting Carolyn Roper using this setting as part of […]
Creativity on display at the People’s Climate March in London
An estimated 50,000 people marched through central London on a damp grey day before the beginning of the UN climate summit in Paris and here are some of the ways people chose to illustrate this crucial global issue. Wonderfully mobile animal heads at the beginning of the march at Hyde Park Corner Polar bear topped ice floe by […]
Images from Digging Deeper at Frameless Gallery
Frameless Gallery is a wonderful little space always worth visiting. Curators Julian Page and Joanna Bryant create thought-provoking collections of work which never disappoint so I was delighted to learn that they have planned a regular programme there for the coming year. In the meantime here are a few images from their recent show, Digging Deeper. Stephen Gill’s layered photography contrasted with Peter […]