Rana Begum at Cristea Roberts

This was a close thing – I just managed to catch the Rana Begum show at Cristea Roberts then saw more of her work at Frieze before publishing this. Rana Begum works with colour. That may sound rather simplistic but it’s actually very complex and I selected one of her recent pictures in an attempt […]

If you want singing colours and a 60’s -70’s architectural vibe then Nick Grindrod is your man. His recent solo show with Smithson Gallery in London showed a range of work in different sizes on wood, canvas and paper. This isn’t cold , perfect geometry, splashes, dabs and washes humanise the canvas showing traces of […]

This set of rooms, (90 & 90a) in the British Museum displays pieces from the largest (and greatest) collection of drawings and prints in the world. Drawing attention: emerging British artists, an exhibition of recent acquisitions, was a pleasure to visit. It’s reassuring that the skill of drawing, which is sometimes unfashionable, is celebrated in […]

Installed in the Duveen Gallery at Tate Britain, Hew Locke’s aim is, in his words, to “mix ideas of attraction and ideas of discomfort – colourful and attractive, but strangely, scarily surreal at the same time.” I found it to be the case: bright colours and a glorious mix of textures and materials but really […]

This recent sculpture exhibition, Gargouilles, by Nicolas Deshayes at Modern Art has that seductive/repellent quality that I find so intriguing. What we think of as soft, organic forms are rendered here in hard, heavy materials. The beautiful production and finish of these pieces belies their subject matter – I feel fascination with an edge of […]