fri 11/10/2024

Britart

Damien Hirst's Tate retrospective - why now?

Damien Hirst is finally getting his first UK retrospective in a public gallery next year, but the question seems to be, “Why now?” It seems both far too late and far too early, especially since Hirst has made no significant work in some years. That...

Read more...

Modern British Sculpture, Royal Academy

Rebecca Warren's 'Helmut Crumb', 1999, conflates the names Helmut Newton and Robert Crumb and depicts female sexuality as imagined through both artist's eyes

Austere, elegant, impressive. Edwin Lutyens’s Whitehall Cenotaph is a thing of beauty, a monument that embodies permanence in the face of all that is impermanent, and solidity in the face of all that is ephemeral. It’s an inspired decision to bring...

Read more...

The Urethra Postcard Art of Gilbert & George

'4 Views on Flag', 2009: Postcard of a London landmark arranged as angularised symbols of the urethra

Radio interviewer: “Are you Royalists?” George: “Of course! We’re not weird.” Gilbert & George may have been accused in the past of being coprophiliac pederast fascists (owing to their love of turds, anuses, young men with cropped hair and...

Read more...

theartsdesk in Monte Carlo: Nouveau Musée Nationale de Monaco

Famous for its fast cars, casino, and stashing away Sir Philip Green’s gazillions, the principality of Monaco certainly isn’t a destination short on bling, nor a sense of faded, somewhat seedy glamour. So it probably isn’t high on anyone’s list for...

Read more...

A Gothic homage to late fashion icon

The portrait brings out the 'gothic quality' in Isabella Blow's personality, say the artists

A grisly "shadow portrait" of the late fashion muse and stylist Isabella Blow goes on show today at the National Portrait Gallery. Crafted from taxidermied animals, including a raven, a species of rat linked to the black death and a snake, as well...

Read more...

The Chapman Brothers: Children's Art Commission, Whitechapel Gallery

Grisly etchings for little folk that might scare the parents more than their children

When Jake and Dinos Chapman first came to the attention of a wider public at the Royal Academy’s Sensation exhibition, their work came with a parental warning: a sign barring under-18s. After all, naked child mannequins sporting surprised-looking...

Read more...

Learn to walk in Charles Saatchi's footsteps

Don't just look, buy: you too can be an art collector

Collecting contemporary art needn’t be daunting. Even if you’re just starting out, there are plenty of art fairs that offer a bespoke service designed for the budding collector. But if it’s insider tips from leading collectors and dealers you’re...

Read more...

The The Things Is (For Three), Milton Keynes Gallery

'1... 2': Has this artist chosen anonymity out of protest, or is it an act of suicidal perversity?

It’s not often you find yourself in an art gallery with the business end of a bullwhip whizzing inches from your nose. Wielded by a disconcertingly slight, black-haired woman who can barely be half its length, the terrifying instrument defines the...

Read more...

Shock and awe at Tate

Fiona Banner and her 'nose-diving' Sea Harrier

Two recently decommissioned fighter jets are in the incongruous setting of Tate Britain's Duveen Galleries. One plane, polished to a mirror sheen, lies belly-up, like an injured animal; the other hangs suspended from the ceiling, its matt surface...

Read more...

Imagine: Art is Child's Play, BBC One

It took Picasso four years to learn to paint like Raphael, but it took him a lifetime to paint like a child, or so he said. For Brancusi it wasn‘t a case of relearning childhood, but of being careful not to lose it in the first place. “When we are...

Read more...

Art Gallery: Rude Britannia - British Comic Art

There’s a rich vein of comic and satirical humour that runs through British art. Hogarth set the trend in the mid-1700s and heralded a golden age of graphic satirists. These included the three masters of the form: Gillray, Rowlandson and Cruickshank...

Read more...

Newspeak: British Art Now, Saatchi Gallery

'Dad with Tits': Ged Quinn's oedipal twist on the famous portrait of George Washington

These days, it seems that approaching any new Saatchi exhibition, especially one that promises to be even bigger than all the previous ones held at the multi-galleried, three-storey Chelsea venue, makes the heart fairly sink. How much bigger, you...

Read more...
Subscribe to Britart