John Le Carré insisted that he was a writer first, and sometime spy second – and this excellent exhibition drawn from the author’s archive honours that self-image. It’s easy to emerge from the exit thinking Le Carré was half man, half words but – appropriately enough – the reality is not so simple. The entrance…
Category: Exhibition review
Male gaze: Francis Bacon, ‘Human Presence’, National Portrait Gallery, London
This collection of more than 50 portraits painted by Francis Bacon is certainly intense – although perhaps not for the reasons one might have expected. Some of Bacon’s most famous and celebrated canvases show extremes of violence and distortion: the full-on body horror of the early figures at the crucifixion, or the melting abyss of…
Liner notes: Tavares Strachan, ‘There is Light Somewhere’, Hayward Gallery, London
This stunning exhibition educates as it enthrals. Strachan’s themes are serious and consistent: he focuses our attention on black people and their achievements that have been sidelined or obscured by our overwhelmingly white understanding – and re-telling – of history. He navigates this over-arching topic through a wide range of disciplines and media: sculpture, paint,…
‘Traces’ at the Lighthouse, Poole
Another gem of an exhibition in Dorset, this time at the Lighthouse arts centre in Poole. I first discovered David R Abram‘s extraordinary aerial photographs of ancient sites in Britain through Twitter, serendipitously just before Christmas 2022 when I was trying to find a suitable gift for my husband. David’s book, An Aerial Atlas of…
Elisabeth Frink : A View from Within
A concise, detailed and sensitively curated new exhibition of work by British sculptor and printmaker Dame Elisabeth Frink (1930-1993) is currently on show at Dorset Museum & Art Gallery in Dorchester. The exhibition focuses on the period when Frink lived in Dorset, working from her home and purpose-built studio at Woolland House near Blandford Forum….
Photo synthesis: Hiroshi Sugimoto, Hayward Gallery, London
I came to this exhibition very late, so this is something of an ‘emergency’ post to encourage any of you with some time over the holiday season to catch it in its final fortnight. Sugimoto’s photography is always different; always the same. The subjects change but they are all viewed, literally, through the same lens….
The vast picture show: ‘The Big Screen’, Kulturforum, Berlin
Any cinema enthusiasts within visiting distance of Berlin should head to the Kulturforum (the city’s major arts complex located near Potsdamer Platz) before the end of February. Until then, it plays host to ‘The Big Screen’, a huge, wide-ranging exhibition chronicling the development of the film poster, alongside the evolution of cinema itself. A show…
Moving images: ‘Yevonde – Life and Colour’, National Portrait Gallery, London
‘Madame Yevonde’ (born Yevonde Philone Cumbers) was a professional photographer whose versatile, pioneering career – lasting some 60 years until her death in 1975 at the age of 82 – reflected the relentless pace of change during the twentieth century. When visiting this major exhibition devoted to her work, it feels like walking through several…
Forward thinking: ‘Science Fiction’, Science Museum, London
With a lack of planning that would probably rule me out of any responsible position in the building of a future society, I have only just made it to this captivating exhibition – which has a single week left to run. Worth catching if you’re in the area, but as ever, I’ve tried to give…
Lightbulb moments: Mike Nelson, ‘Extinction Beckons’, Hayward Gallery
Has dystopian unease ever been so much fun? Mike Nelson’s exhibition is as serious and sinister as it needs to be. But I felt strong notes of dark humour, and the interactive elements display unchecked, unabashed brio. * ‘Extinction Beckons’ is a suitably foreboding name for an exhibition that – as the accompanying text makes…
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