With climate change looming above our heads every minute of everyday, sometimes it’s important to take a step back and remind ourselves of the organisms which give us the ‘breath of life’. Among the Trees at the Hayward Gallery blew me away with how immersive and engaging it could be without feeling overwhelmingly repetitive. AlthoughContinue reading “REVIEW | Among the Trees – Hayward Gallery”
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Top 5 London Art Exhibitions 2017: A Personal Selection
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! As festive cheer spreads throughout the country, let’s look at some of the best exhibitions this year. Below are my top 5 exhibitions of 2017 in London, in addition to some special honourable mentions:
Mapplethorpe in Paris
For the first time in the history of France, a major retrospective of Robert Mapplethorpe has landed in the Grand Palais in Paris. The show features 250 works by the American photographer ranging from his highly sculptural nudes to his controversial images of sexuality and eroticism, BDSM and sadomasochism. Robert Mapplethorpe, Sonia Resika, 1988.
“This is not painting, it is magic that casts a spell on people who see it” – Veronese at the National Gallery
If there was only one word to describe the works in this exhibition, it would be this: big. The National Gallery’s Veronese: Magnificence in Renaissance Venice brings together 50 paintings by the wonderful Paolo Veronese in the UK’s first ever monographic exhibition of the artist. And boy, did they do an impressive job! Unfaithfulness andContinue reading ““This is not painting, it is magic that casts a spell on people who see it” – Veronese at the National Gallery”
“Looks like country music has found a new home” – Country to Country Festival 2014
Country music. A genre that has constantly been overwhelmed with the stereotype of outlandish cowboys, horses and redneck women ever since their popularisation in Western cinema. Sadly, this view still remains within the majority of the British public. In an extraordinary attempt to break this stigma, the O2 arena in London has dedicated a two-dayContinue reading ““Looks like country music has found a new home” – Country to Country Festival 2014”
Vermeer and the role of music
I assume many of us are familiar with Johannes Vermeer’s painterly masterpiece entitled Girl with a Pearl Earring (c. 1665), on display at the Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshius in The Hague, the Netherlands. Well, unfortunately, the National Gallery’s latest exhibition doesn’t have anything to do with this painting, but it draws on a theme thatContinue reading “Vermeer and the role of music”
Lowry and the Working Class
They are symbols of my mood, they are myself. – L. S. Lowry Tate Britain’s recently opened Lowry and the Painting of Modern Life exhibition is a wonderful display of the works of the Lancashire-born artist. The retrospective, his first at Tate, features around 90 paintings alongside various sketches, most of which feature his distinctiveContinue reading “Lowry and the Working Class”
‘Olympia’ and the ‘Venus of Urbino’ in the same show?
That’s right. Two very inter-related paintings, set apart by three centuries, have finally been exhibited side by side for the first time in the Palazzo Ducale’s latest Manet exhibition in Venice. The exhibition, entitled Manet: Return to Venice, is an attempt at surveying the cultural models that inspired the artist during the course of hisContinue reading “‘Olympia’ and the ‘Venus of Urbino’ in the same show?”
Man of Steel – a slight…’fly’ problem
No, I am not referring to his newly-designed leotard that disguises itself rather nicely as his superhero suit – he finally learnt to wear his bright red underwear underneath. Nor am I referring to any problems with his actual flying – which basically starts off as a really good force-jump. There’s certainly no accidental cleavageContinue reading “Man of Steel – a slight…’fly’ problem”
Before Midnight – the perfect conclusion
Image via http://www.film-summary.com. Celine: You’re going to miss that plane. Jesse: I know.
Nigel Ip | Visual Arts Writer & Art Historian 