Ricochets, the current show by Francis Alÿs at the Barbican, deals with the concept of play worldwide. In addition to videos and small paintings (see my previous blog post) is a section upstairs on the history of play as well as a couple of spaces to experiment in. Do you remember making shadow shapes when […]
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.
Ricochets: Francis Alÿs at The Barbican
As Einstein famously said: “play is the highest form of research.” Play is how we learn about life and is, in fact part of my art practice. Francis Alÿs explores the importance and ubiquity of play worldwide in Ricochets, the current exhibition at the Barbican. Watch videos of games in different countries. Some are easily […]
Al Held at White Cube Bermondsey
Hard-edged geometric painting isn’t something I normally go for. These blog posts however, are about things I find interesting and my curiosity was piqued by this exhibition of Al Held’s work at White Cube Bermondsey. Seeing this felt like looking at a puzzle. I enjoyed discovering what seemed to me to be mathematical twists. Was […]
Miss La La – the person in that painting by Degas.
The National Gallery in London puts on fascinating shows giving context and background to some of its paintings. Degas and Miss La La is one of those exhibitions and is free to visit. I’ve seen this painting many times and had never really thought about who the subject was (not even that she was a […]
Zachary Eastwood-Bloom: Rewired at Pangolin London
Zachary Eastwood-Bloom: Rewired is an exhibition of mainly new work produced in response to the end of life and death of the artist’s father who was himself an artist. The show opens with these two pages found folded together among Eastwood-Bloom’s late father’s possessions. Norman Eastwood’s beautiful handwriting about abstraction sits next to drawings which […]
The Last Caravaggio at the National Gallery, London
Caravaggio‘s tightly cropped scenes and dramatic lighting are cinematic catmint, influencing many film makers including Derek Jarman and Martin Scorsese. The Last Caravaggio, a recent exhibition at the National Gallery in London, showed “The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula”, his last painting, dated 1610. A very dark, almost monochrome piece, it captures the moment the arrow […]
Probably the most beautiful art shop in Kyoto
This wasn’t the only art shop I visited but it was certainly the loveliest with an interior seemingly unchanged for over 100 years. Opened by the current owner’s grandfather Tsukio Fujimoto in 1863, this small shop specialises in everything required for Nihonga painting: brushes, accessories and traditionally made pigments, all in wooden cabinets and drawers. […]
Irie Taikichi’s home in Nara, Japan
Crowds make me edgy so I avoid them as much as possible. This is an issue when visiting world-famous sights; I endure the hordes but struggle after an hour or so. Imagine my joy then when coming upon this beautiful little museum down an almost deserted side street after the crowded Tōdai-ji Daibutsuden in Nara, […]
The Meddling Fiend by Nicola Turner
It’s the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy where you can see one of the most interesting pieces for free in the Annenberg Courtyard, just off Piccadilly. Sculptor Nicola Turner has created “The Meddling Fiend” after studying works by Joshua Reynolds, the Academy’s first President whose statue stands at the entrance. Made of a range […]
Fathi Hassan: I can see you smiling Fatma at Richard Saltoun Gallery
This was Fathi Hassan‘s first solo show at Richard Saltoun Gallery in London and is dedicated to his mother. Hassan was born in Egypt in 1957 to Nubian and Egyptian parents. The family had been forced to leave their home due to the building of the Aswan Dam in 1952. Now based in Edinburgh, his […]