Not Quite in Winnipeg
Considering it’s fairly small (750,000) a lot of interesting work is made by artists in or from Winnipeg in Canada –
Author: Paul Carey-Kent
Art critic and curator, based near Southampton. I write most regularly for Art Monthly, Frieze, Elephant, State, Photomonitor... and, of course, FAD.
ESSAY: FROM NATURE
Much modern art uses unusual materials. The primacy of paint, canvas and marble are long gone. Often the material feeds… Read More
Being an Octopus
What is it like to be an octopus? Would that be a better model for how an AI might be regarded as ‘intelligent’ than assessing how its responses differ from the human? And what would that mean for the way people look at the world?
Virtually There
Normally, I see virtually everything. Now I see everything virtually. But it’s not all bad. Not surprisingly, the big galleries have upped their game: see for example….
Exclusive Artist Interview: Arturo the Cat
In a playful yet pointed counter to the human-centric view of the world, London-based Italian artist Ludovica Gioscia collaborates with her cat, Arturo. I was pleased to obtain an exclusive interview with him just as they opened a major show at Baert Gallery in Los Angeles.
Human Relations in the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020
The annual Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize exhibition – virtual, of course, this year – includes plenty of drawings directly referencing the locked down circumstances of their making.
Now and Then at the London Art Fair
The London Art Fair’s online edition runs 18th-31st Jan. As in the physical versions, the best material is fairly evenly split between 20th century British classics and contemporary work – so here are two picks from each category:
What to Make of John Kacere?
Back in the days when people asked ‘does my bum look big in this?’ rather than ‘does my bum look… Read More
An Array of Arrays
There’s a mode of work, developing from the found object tradition, which simply presents lots of something to potentially transformative effect.
Christmas Carrying On…
Just how long does Christmas last? Maybe it’s because covid time passes oddly, but I’ve recently noticed some artworks which might be taken as stretching it out somewhat…
Means of Glitching
One characteristic of the computer is its potential to cause glitches. That’s been of interest to artists, either as a… Read More
Jewellery by Artists
Artist jewellery isn’t rare, but it is normally produced by specialists in collaboration with the artist using the artist’s motifs,… Read More
Reporting from ‘Miami’
Already it seems somewhat normal that Art Basel Miami and its numerous satellites were held online this year. That doesn’t mean the sun and parties and in-person experiences of art aren’t missed, but they’re not easy to get to anyway… Here are four works which interested me among the 2600 works ‘shown’:
Plates
Plates are a rather convenient way to display art, somewhere between ceramic – for the most part, though metals are possible – and painting. Ceramics are in vogue anyway, and as functional objects go, plates are easy to display. In ascending order of price, here are three recent initiatives which have stepped up to the plate:
Shapes of Science
In this selection, which came out of research for the arts-meets-sciences magazine Seisma, five international artists use the theories and methods of science to generate art with distinctive shapes.
Dale Lewis’ Discerning Eye
The Discerning Eye (19 Nov- 31 Dec) is a show – usually in the Mall Galleries, online only this year… Read More
Less is More Online?
If the first round of ‘lockdown art online’ was characterised by the sheer volume of material, from galleries and fairs alike, the second UK lockdown coincides with attempts to enhance the focus. That was visible in two recent fairs: Art Basel and TEFAF (The European Fine Art Fair, here in its New York edition but online). ‘OVR:20c’, Art Basel’s Online Viewing Rooms.
Clare Price: Trauma, Glamour and Luck in Abstraction
I like it when you can track an artist’s development through their own account…
Clare Price hasn’t followed a conventional path:
Do Try This at Home
For the ‘festival in a box’ – in Director Shoair Mavlain’s words – ‘the artworks travelled to people’s homes, classrooms and community spaces’, so eliminating the reliance on personal travel ‘which itself relies on economic privilege’ and allowing the viewer to ‘become the curator’ by choosing how to hang the work.
What is that Really?
‘What is that really?’ is often a sensible question once you’re used to the tricky ways of artists. Four current shows are evidence.
1:54 – Real Life Art from Africa
You could say that 1:54 is the Frieze fair this week – at any rate it’s the only real life fair in the city during ‘Frieze week’. So it seems only fair to pay it attention.
Review: ‘Five Hides’
It’s not a criticism of the art in ‘Five Hides’ to say that the biggest wow moment is seeing the space, a vast Victorian hall close to Kennington tube station which is hosting its first exhibition. The soaring 800 square metres of Manor Place, which has been left empty over the last decade, has a colourful history.
Do’s and Don’ts of Instagram
You can’t put everything on the increasingly central art medium of Instagram, as it’s censored. Specifically, any photographic image of genitals, naked buttocks or bare female breasts are out. The fact that it’s art isn’t held to make any difference, which has caused some annoyance.
Small was Splendid: Tintype 2010-20
I was sorry to hear that the small but splendid Tintype Gallery is sailing into the sunset.