Adriano Costa, ‘Novos Contemporâneos, New Contemporaries, tea time’, 2015
London’s embassies can be good places for art. Germany and Sweden take an interest, and both Brazil and Canada have interesting shows freely accessible by the general public – and just a few yards apart at Trafalgar Square. The Brazilian Embassy actually has two large and characterful spaces. The first, known as Gallery 32 (USP: vertical neon tube lighting) recently showed British photographer Jason Oddy’s super-controlled explorations of Oscar Niemeyer’s modernist buildings in Algeria. The second, the grand Sala Brasil, is the former ticket hall for the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company. There HS Projects have installed four top Brazilian artists: Tonico Lemos Auad, Adriano Costa, Rodrigo Matheus and Matheus Rocha Pitta (to 2 July). ‘What separates us’ explores value systems and exchange mechanisms, complete with the chance to buy what has proved one of the most-commented-on garments I’ve ever worn. Costa’s range of T-shirt’s presents the hallucinogenic vine and leaf brew Ayahuasca, known for triggering vomiting and spiritual insight in shamanistic Amazonian ceremonies, as if it were a commercial brand. At Canada House, it’s well worth making your way through the airport-level security for ‘The Tremendous Elusive: Emily Carr and the Canadian Imaginary’ (to 19 June). That links paintings by the increasingly acclaimed Group of Seven member Emily Carr (1971-1945) to work by various Canadian successors.
Emily Carr: ‘Wood Interir’, 1932-5
Most days art Critic Paul Carey-Kent spends hours on the train, traveling between his home in Southampton and his day job in London. Could he, we asked, jot down whatever came into his head?
