REVIEW: Soul of a Nation – the extraordinary art of the black power era
16 July 2017 • Syndicate
Tate Modern, London
Civil rights meet aesthetics in this riveting survey of 20 crucial years of black American art and struggle
Tag: Critics
Giacometti review – master of all things thin
22 May 2017 • Mark Westall
Tate Modern, London
Fight your way through the spindly hordes at this huge, overcrowded Giacometti show and you’ll find a tender, protean artist who is still uniquely strange
REVIEW: Damien Hirst: Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable – beautiful and monstrous
17 April 2017 • Syndicate
Punta della Dogana and Palazzo Grassi, Venice
Filling two museums with ancient ‘treasure’, Hirst’s spectacular mix of storytelling, invention and humour is art for a post-truth world
A World View: John Latham; Speak review – a time-bending experience
6 March 2017 • Mark Westall
Serpentine Gallery; Serpentine Sackler Gallery, London
From proto-psychedelic film to book chewing, the hardcore conceptual art of John Latham continues to inspire
Revolution: Russian Art 1917-1932 review – when anything was possible
14 February 2017 • Syndicate
Royal Academy, London
From singing peasants to Soviet mugshots, history shapes everything in this momentous show
REVIEW: David Hockney – sunshine superman
12 February 2017 • Syndicate
Tate Britain, London
From sunny California to the landscapes of his native Yorkshire, Hockney’s humanity and optimism are never far away, as this sprawling retrospective shows
Ragnar Kjartansson review – a brilliant fusion of humour and sorrow
19 July 2016 • Syndicate
Barbican, London
Prepare to be enchanted by the playful, melancholy, sociable art of Iceland’s Ragnar Kjartansson
Francis Bacon: Invisible Rooms; Maria Lassnig review – an embarrassment of riches
22 May 2016 • Syndicate
Tate Liverpool
The raw melodrama of Francis Bacon meets the humour and humanity of Maria Lassnig in this superb double bill
What’s Wrong With Art? Artist-Curators
21 April 2016 • Tabish Khan
Step forward the artist curator. Surely a successful artist must be good at curation?
REVIEW: Agnes Martin – beauty and steeliness at Tate Modern
8 June 2015 • Mark Westall
Tate Modern, London
This major Agnes Martin retrospective contains some gems, but overemphasis on her less original work disguises her worth
REVIEW: 56th Venice Biennale – more of a glum trudge than an exhilarating adventure
10 May 2015 • Staff
There’s an awful lot of fretting about the state of the world in the Biennale’s 88 national pavilions, but little power, wit or bravado
REVIEW: Y.Z Kami: Paintings – making visible the invisible
12 April 2015 • Staff
Gagosian Gallery, London
The Iranian artist strives to depict the inner lives of his subjects in portraits that are as modest as they are monumental
REVIEW: Sculpture Victorious – everythng here was made to make us marvel
1 March 2015 • Mark Westall
Tate Britain, London
In room after room of busts and bling, Tate Britain’s Victorian sculpture show brings out the best and worst of a patriotic era
REVIEW: Jockum Nordström: For the insects and the hounds @DavidZwirner
22 December 2014 • Mark Westall
David Zwirner; National Gallery, London
Sweden’s Jockum Nordström unsettles with work that seems to tap into childhood. And prepare to be surprised by the long-forgotten art of Peder Balke
Conscience and Conflict: British Artists and the Spanish Civil War review – rousing, revelatory and poignant
16 November 2014 • Mark Westall
Pallant House, Chichester
How did British artists respond to the war that so famously inspired Picasso? This exemplary show is the first devoted to finding out
Walk Through British Art – review
19 May 2013 • Mark Westall
Tate Britain’s ambitious rehang has been widely hailed as a triumph, but our critic finds the new display congested and frustrating
Fiona Rae; New Order: British Art Today – review
28 April 2013 • Mark Westall
Towner Gallery, Eastbourne; Saatchi Gallery, London
Ilya and Emilia Kabakov: The Happiest Man; Two Mountains – review
9 April 2013 • Mark Westall
Ambika P3; Sprovieri Gallery, London
Extraordinary Stories About Ordinary Things – review
3 February 2013 • Mark Westall
An exhibition of objects amassed by the Design Museum over 24 years shows it has yet to shake off a bad postwar hangover. Perhaps a trip to Milan is in order…
