Visual arts
theartsdesk in Paris: Inside Anish Kapoor's LeviathanSunday, 22 May 2011![]() All aboard! 4000 visitors a day are queuing up for a voyage in the belly of a whale. Anish Kapoor’s Leviathan, a commission for the Monumenta series at the Paris Grand Palais, is a runaway success, one of those Zeitgeist-attuned mega-installations... Read more... |
The Hepworth WakefieldSaturday, 21 May 2011![]() A town in desperate need of regeneration commissions David Chipperfield, the architect of the moment, to build an art gallery in the hope of attracting visitors with deep pockets. In case you are suffering an attack of déja vu, this is not an action... Read more... |
Max Bill, Annely Juda Fine ArtThursday, 19 May 2011![]() Max Bill might be the missing link in modern art. He died only in 1994, yet he studied at the Bauhaus in Dessau in the 1920s, taught by Josef Albers, László Moholy-Nagy, Paul Klee and Kandinsky. It is hard to imagine that someone who was working at... Read more... |
The Mountain That Had To Be Painted, BBC FourWednesday, 18 May 2011![]() Half of Wales is visible from the blustery summit. “Of all the hills which I saw in Wales,” recalled George Borrow, author of the prolix Victorian classic Wild Wales, “none made a greater impression upon me.” He was not alone. Arenig Fawr, a... Read more... |
Tracey Emin: Love Is What You Want, Hayward GalleryTuesday, 17 May 2011![]() That Tracey Emin is one of the defining personalities of our time isn’t in doubt. Even if you never want to hear another second of her guileless wittering, another word about her abortions, traumatic early rape and relentless onanistic... Read more... |
Christine Borland & Kerry Tribe, Camden Arts CentreMonday, 16 May 2011![]() “As a student at Glasgow School of Art I used to visit the amazing anatomy, zoology and ethnographic collections at Glasgow University,” says Christine Borland. “I couldn’t understand why I was so intrigued, except for the question of how something... Read more... |
Photo Gallery: Moby, DestroyedSaturday, 14 May 2011![]() As well as a new album, Destroyed, Moby is putting out a book of photographic prints under the same title. The idea of the book is to capture the essence of being on a global tour, from the mundanity of waiting in airports to the majesty of... Read more... |
Ai Weiwei, Lisson Gallery & Somerset HouseThursday, 12 May 2011![]() It is now 37 days since Ai Weiwei was detained at Beijing international airport by the Chinese authorities. His family and friends have heard nothing since. His lawyer, to whom under Chinese law he must have access, was arrested as well, and since... Read more... |
Burke + Norfolk: Photographs From the War in Afghanistan, Tate ModernThursday, 12 May 2011![]() How easy is it to stage a dialogue between two artists when they are, in fact, separated by over a century? And is it really an artistic conversation that takes place or merely an imposition of values by the living over the dead? This pertinent... Read more... |
Mike Nelson to represent Britain at the Venice BiennaleTuesday, 03 May 2011![]() Mostly the Venice Biennale passes me by entirely: ho-hum, another tired bit of Brit Art, I think, and turn the page. But Mike Nelson, twice nominated for the Turner Prize, is a terrific artist, too little seen, too odd, too unsettling to have... Read more... |
Ivor Abrahams, Mystery and Imagination, Royal AcademyWednesday, 27 April 2011![]() In this month of royal weddings, endless bank holidays and (possibly?) equally endless good weather, it can be hard to focus, so perhaps this is the perfect opportunity to catch up with a show that nearly got away. Instead of winsome blockbusters... Read more... |
Alice Anderson's Childhood Rituals, Freud MuseumSunday, 24 April 2011![]() Freud’s West Hampstead house is tied up in a cat’s cradle of thick rope. The rope is the same colour as the brick, a deep orange but with a sheeny lustre. It makes the house look not quite real, a Brobdingnagian doll’s house transplanted to this... Read more... |
