The Petrina Hicks exhibition, Bleached Gothic, at the NGV in December, 2019, https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/petrina-hicks/ was a rich experience. Her photographs date from 2003 to 2019, and are a mysterious portrayal of the female experience. I found the super-real photographs delicate in colour, but intense in content, and it took time to discern the meaning. It was a […]
I was very taken with the Roger Kemp exhibition at the Ian Potter Gallery, Melbourne, https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/roger-kemp/ in December, 2019, for three main reasons. Firstly, we had the opportunity to see the progress of an artist’s work from his youth to later years. He painted with great immediacy, often with oil on cardboard, flattening forms, which linked him […]
Ah!! We had made it to the RA exhibition once again this year, as symbolised by the amazing rose-petal macaroon tower in one of Burlington Arcade’s corner shops. As we turned into the RA courtyard, we were welcomed by Anish Kapoor’s red-disc tribute “Symphony for a Beloved Daughter”. And, once in, hiding unobtrusively up the […]
I was first introduced to the abstract expressionist painting of Robert Motherwell (1915-1991) after a visit to the Abstract Expressionist exhibition in Bilbao in 2017. It is, however, Motherwell’s paintings on Elegy to the Spanish Republic, painted between 1948-1967, which interest me most. He painted over 100 paintings on the subject, and was always seeking […]
Over time I have become really interested in shapes, and why some artists have a bee in their bonnet about certain shapes which appeal and intrigue, frustrate or mystify – Cezanne and his mountain, for example. During a visit to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao in 2017, I was also introduced to the work of […]
The shapes in the Royal Academy of Art Academician Vanessa Jackson’s work are intriguing. It is as though some initials or Roman numerals have been used in different ways, with ranging colours, to convey different meanings and moods. Splice is an interesting work: I can see Vanessa’s initials VJ used in various and interesting […]
I have long been an admirer of Paul Klee, particularly his fish paintings, and enjoyed viewing the textures and techniques of this artwork in the flesh at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. The fish is orbited by his iconography which evolved out of his teaching at the Bauhaus. The arrow, which he used as […]
With light shining through this masterpiece, Chagall’s America Windows makes a fine display at the Art Institute of Chicago: I found myself looking at the play of colours for a long time. At the end of World War II, Chagall sought new artistic expression, and working with master stained-glass maker, Charles Marq, made 86 windows […]
This was my favourite artwork by Charles Ray at his Art Institute of Chicago 2015 exhibition. Although this work is made from solid stainless steel, the woman reminds me of the Sleeping Venus by Giorgione or Ophelia, the latter also painted by various artists including a more recent version by a Royal Academician in Britain. Ray marvelled […]
In moving slowly through the wonderful American Portrait Gallery in Washington, this artwork of Katharine Hepburn (1907-2003), painted by her friend Everett Raymond Kinstler (born 1926) caught my eye. Kinstler is one of America’s foremost portrait painters – the National Portrait Gallery has acquired 75 of his works for its permanent collection, and in 1999 it […]
In June this year, we visited the Picasso Museum in Carrer de Montcada, Barcelona. The museum was constructed in 1983, and was not only in an extremely atmospheric part of Barcelona, but the museum showed some of Picasso’s more unusual works, from his formative years up to 1904, and also 40 ceramic pieces which were […]
“waRAW“, a three-week exhibition of paintings, sculptures, digital art and photography, was held in February 2015 at the Moores Building Contemporary Art Gallery in Fremantle, Western Australia. Lynda Fynn Dickinson, Roger Dickinson, and two other local artists featured artworks exploring some core elements that make Western Australia visually unique. waRAW was officially opened by arts veteran June Moorhouse, and […]
Pangaea: new art from Africa and Latin America was held at Saatchi from 2nd April to 2nd November 2014. The African and Latin American theme was stunning, and appealed on both emotional and conceptual levels, as many paintings dealt with war, suffering and religious conflicts. The sculpture “Casa Tomada” by Columbian artist Rafael Gómezbarros was outstanding. The artist had used […]
The Henri Matisse: Cut-Outs exhibition ran at London’s Tate Modern from 17th April to 7th September 2014. Built in the former Bankside Power Station, Southwark, the Tate Modern might arguably be one of the most-visited modern museums in the world and it was a great venue for this popular exhibition from one of France’s finest artists. I so enjoyed the […]