Visual Arts Features
10 Questions for art historian and fiction writer Chloë AshbySaturday, 11 June 2022
“Is she at a pivotal point in her life but unable to pivot…?” Eve, the young heroine of Chloë Ashby’s dazzling debut novel, Wet Paint, asks this question standing in front of Édouard Manet’s painting "A Bar at the Folies-Bergère" (1882). Yet she could easily be asking herself the same question. Read more... |
Venice Biennale 2022 review - The Milk of Dreams Part 1: The GiardiniWednesday, 08 June 2022
Cecelia Alemani's vision for The Milk of Dreams, the International Exhibition at the Venice Biennale 2022 had me excited – and perplexed – from the moment I heard about it. Read more... |
'A nun destroyed my tent': artist Kate Daudy talks about NFTs, refugees, and having her work thrown out with the trashWednesday, 10 November 2021
It’s been a turbulent week for British artist Kate Daudy. Am I My Brother’s Keeper, her refugee tent (main picture), the art installation and seminal work that propelled her to international fame is gone, thrown out with the trash. Read more... |
'Of course art doesn't change the world': Situationist artist Jacqueline de Jong on violence, eroticism and the importance of humourFriday, 22 October 2021
Jacqueline de Jong doesn’t want to talk politics. But this should have been foreseeable. After all, she has travelled to Mostyn, in Llandudno, for her first solo exhibition in a UK art institution. And this is a painting show, not a political rally. Read more... |
Christo (1935-2020) - 'Beauty, science and art will always triumph'Wednesday, 03 June 2020
The death of Christo, aged 84, was announced on Sunday, marking the end of a visionary and flamboyant artistic career. Read more... |
Visual Arts Lockdown Special 2: read, search, listen, createTuesday, 05 May 2020
Arguably one of the most poignant effects of the lockdown has been to simultaneously draw attention to the connections between the arts and the distinct ways they have evolved into their own forms. Read more... |
Visual Arts Lockdown Special 1: DIY art, Russell Tovey's chat show, and guided tours onlineTuesday, 21 April 2020
As the art world adjusts to our new reality, social media has allowed galleries and museums to remain open in spirit at least. Read more... |
Foragers of the Foreshore - London's mudlarks on showSunday, 01 September 2019
Over the weekend, exhibitions and installations have started to bubble-up on the riverside walkway in London. Still-life photography of mudlark finds and a "scented history" of Barking Creek outside the National Theatre. Artwork from a dozen national and international river cities at the Royal Docks. An installation of 550 jerry cans at the Oxo Tower. Read more... |
theartsdesk in Treviso - cultural patronage, Italian styleFriday, 05 July 2019
Fortunate those Italian towns and cities whose Renaissance rulers looked to the arts to enrich their domain. Now neglect of cultural heritage can be laid at the doors of successive governments, but regional enlightenment can make a difference even in the era of Salvini. Read more... |
First Person: Robert Hollingworth on I Fagiolini's 'Leonardo - Shaping the Invisible'Friday, 26 April 2019
Leonardo da Vinci died 500 years ago on 2 May this year. We all know he was a painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, pioneer of flight and anatomist – yet according to Vasari, Leonardo’s first job outside Florence was as a result of his musical talents. Read more... |
Pages
latest in today
Album: Gregory Porter - Christmas Wish
The cat in the hat with the mellifluous voice delivers his Christmas Wish for the festive season, his first Christmas album, and it...
Paul Lewis, Wigmore Hall review - Schubert sonatas revisited...
A decade has passed since Paul Lewis concluded an endeavour of a kind never previously undertaken: to perform, over two and a half years and...
The Homecoming, Young Vic Theatre review - Pinter's dis...
As the audience enters, thick mist envelopes the thrust stage and jazz music fills the...
Blu-ray: Blackhat
The Boxing Day release of Michael Mann’s first feature in eight years, Ferrari, finally follows up Blackhat, a Chris Hemsworth-...
Kin, BBC One review - in Dublin's not-so-fair city
Folklore tends to depict Dublin as a convivial and picturesque city, with a bar on every corner full of revellers on wild stag weekends, but that’...
Voces8 Foundation Choir and Orchestra, Smith, Voces8 Centre...
There’s a game called Whamageddon, where people see how deep into December they can go without hearing “Last Christmas”. I’m like that, but with...
Dreaming and Drowning, Bush Theatre - dense and intense mono...
Kwame Owusu’s 55-minute one-hander does...
Infinite Life, National Theatre review - beguiling new comed...
A sun deck with seven pale-green padded loungers is the latest setting for the latest...
Rodelinda, The English Concert, Bicket, Saffron Hall review...
If ever a marriage was made in heaven, it would have to be the one between Lucy Crowe’s beleaguered Queen Rodelinda and Iestyn Davies’ King...
£1 Thursdays, Finborough Theatre review - dazzling new play...
It’s 2012 and the London Olympics might as well be happening on the Moon for Jen and Stacey. In fact, you could say the same for...