My last cultural day out before the shut-down was visiting galleries with Tabish Khan of The Londonist and already feels like an age ago. I don’t normally mention my exhibition companions but it’s only fair to include him as he’s in the photo above and did suggest the venues that day. The Library of Exile […]
The Library of Exile by Edmund de Waal, British Museum
JD Malat Gallery, London
Jean-David Malat, director of JD Malat, presented a group show, The Contemporary Human Condition, which I was able to see in March just before the shutdown. The range of work was broad, as is the subject, and here are a few of the works including Liu Fei‘s trademark bald women. Mio Yamato, with her mesmeric […]
Kimono:Kyoto to Catwalk at the V&A
This exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum covers the history of the Kimono right up to the present day, from a contemporary bridal outfit above, to the individual component panels, below. A small projection showed how the kimono is constructed: made up from 8 panels the form is deceptively simple yet as a canvas […]
Me, Myself & I at Collyer Bristow Gallery
Although the gallery is a well-established space it was my first visit; a friend of mine was exhibiting in this group show curated by Rosalind Davis around the theme of self. As ever, I’ve only included a few pictures of the work here. Charmaine Watkiss‘s almost life-sized drawings were the first pieces I saw as […]
Hedda Sterne at Victoria Miro gallery
It’s always enriching to learn more about artists and the work of Hedda Sterne was no exception. This exhibition at Victoria Miro, the first solo show of her work in the UK, focused on a series of paintings and drawings from the early 1960s when she spent over a year in Venice on a Fulbright […]
Léon Spilliaert at the Royal Academy
This exhibition at the Royal Academy led me to discover the work of Belgian Symbolist Léon Spilliaert who I confess I’d never heard of before. His brooding, melancholic paintings exude isolation, even anguish, but all in a rather beautiful way with masterful use of ink, gouache, charcoal and pastel. These works ooze a sense of […]