February Arts Newsletter
Whispers of Winter, 151×51cm oil on canvas, now hanging in A Brush with the Past exhibition
And January is finally over! I hope it was been a productive month for you - I always see it as a month to get organised and get things done. My biggest challenge has been to rework and launch my new website - something way out of my comfort zone. I have also been busy in the studio painting, teaching and working on the Brush with the Past exhibition.
Exhibitions to see this month
Last night we had a hugely successful Private View of A Brush with the Past in the Wimbledon Museum. It is an exhibition that Katie and I, as Common Works Gallery, have curated in conjunction with the museum. We have 10 contemporary artists responding to specific works in the museum collection. It was a real pleasure to organise, do go and have a look. Wimbledon Museum until 30 Mar.
Brasil Brasil! The Birth of Modernism is the Royal Academy's first big show of the year. The exhibition charts modernism in the early 20th century Brazil-style with 10 artists' work. These artists having seen European modernism, took the bits they liked, discarded the bits they didn't and then injected some Brazilian politics and a whole load of colour. Brilhant! Royal Academy until 21 April
Ai Weiwei 'A New Chapter' at the Lisson Gallery is all work made in the past year. This show is billed as a 'provocative exploration of contemporary issues through the lens of historical and artistic references'. Weiwei continues to use Lego as one of his media so you might want to take kids over half term - however be warned that several of the works have the word Fuck in the title! Lisson Gallery 7Feb - 15Mar. Free.
The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence, at the V&A focuses on creative output produced during three Mughal Empires starting of Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan. They reigned between 1550 to 1660 and in that time a huge number of luxury goods were made and traded drawing from influences across the world and in particular, Iran. Rugs, jewellery, weapons, painting and fabrics all show how craftmanship was taken to new heights. Beautiful. V&A until 5 May
Is London's art world going broke on woke?
There is a really interesting article in this week's Evening Standard about the types of exhibitions museums and galleries are putting on. Inevitably there is a struggle between what they want to put on versus what brings in the audiences but is this reaching a crunch point? Read the article here.
I was very excited to have one of my paintings used as a book cover at the end of last year. Sonia Sehil got in touch about my painting of Uzes, Provence, where her novel is set. I love the way, the painting goes round the spine. The only hitch is that the book is in French so I'm going to sharpen up my A-level French before reading.
Thank you to my painters who joined the Picasso workshop. We had lots of interesting conversations about ways of looking at things and the need/ ability to seperate the art from the man. Meaty stuff!
