Paul's Art Stuff Archives

Art at UCL, Japanese special

I hadn’t clocked University College London as much of an art destination until recently: sure, the campus between Euston and… Read More

Obsessions, Old and New

I’m not sure you have to be obsessive to be an artist, but plenty of artists have made bodies of work that are naturally described that way. The best-known examples tend to be individually produced:

Paul's Art Stuff

On with the Not-So New

It’s not entirely out with the old in the gallery world. Here’s a choice of ten free-to-visit London shows which… Read More

Art of Glass

The old distinctions between ‘art’ and ‘craft’ have reduced sufficiently in recent years that ceramics and textiles can now be… Read More

A seasonal tradition has developed of showing works small and affordable enough that they could plausibly make gifts. Flowers Gallery have the longest-running current exhibition with such a premise: this is the 39th year of ‘Small is Beautiful’

Radical Art at the Royal Academy

There’s still plenty of time to see this winter’s edition of the RA Summer Show, which runs on past Christmas…. Read More

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The (Biased) Best of Bournemouth

Tessa Farmer: detail of Swarming Fever, 2021 Bournemouth rose to prominence as the favoured Victorian tourist destination by the sea,… Read More

London’s No. 1

People quite often ask me what galleries I recommend. For the last few weeks, and quite possibly the next few… Read More

Paul's Art Stuff

Painting at Frieze London

Painting is always the dominant medium in art fairs, and despite all the talk of NFTs and new media, that… Read More

Frieze Masters is back

Enough of the crowding and superficiality of Frieze London’s opening day, this year I opted for the more measured pace… Read More

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Sculpture Outside the Gallery

There’s plenty of sculpture lying around outside in London now: not just the permanent stuff dotted about or combined into… Read More

Paul's Art Stuff

Not Quite What We Were Meant To See

When wondering what artists are seeking to express, it is worth remembering that we may not be looking at what they intended us to see. That struck me as I strolled around the Ashmolean in Oxford – not a bad place to wander, of course.

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On the Up in St Leonards

I grew up in St Leonards-on-Sea, the 19th century addition to Hastings. The two towns suffered a 50 year decline… Read More

Paul's Art Stuff

Liv Fontaine: The Performance of Drawing

Performance art had an increasingly high pre-pandemic profile, but the curtailment of live events affected that – and even in… Read More

Art Meets Poetry

Poetry was good in lockdown, being better suited to the screen than most literature or art. That makes it timely that two ambitious London shows currently combine art with poetry

Outposts of Art

I visited three places not so typically associated with art last weekend: Beckenham, Penge and Reading. But all had their points:

Art, Life and Everything

In ‘Art, Life and Everything’, Julie Umerle chronicles her life as an artist from 1978-2010. She hasn’t had an easy ride – for example, she’s never been represented by a mainstream gallery – but…

Beyond the Uncanny

Plenty of shows bring together paintings of figures and objects in unusual contexts or brought into unexpected conjunctions: the words ‘uncanny’ and ‘enigmatic’, ‘disturbing’ and ‘surreal’ are likely to be invoked. But, even if the paintings are good, you need more to turn such a display into a compelling whole. Two current exhibitions demonstrate how: