Why This Is Hell

Many Hands

Tue, 02 Jul 2013 15:05:24 GMT

Saturday I got up at daft o'clock to celebrate the 25th anniversary of my driving test - I caught the 6.00am train to Victoria, breakfasted in the Regency Cafe and was the first person through the doors of the Lowry exhibition. Imagine! Having the whole exhibition to yourself! After doing something similar for Lichtenstein and Hirst, I'd imagine crowds, but I had the place largely to myself - there were no more than four people in the same room as me at any time. A fantastic show, although light on biographical context.

And I am still pondering whether his liking of Pirandello might explain him somehow.

You could buy flat caps in the shop. But not, as far as I could see, whippets.

I also did Caulfield and Hume - shows rather light on explanation, and I rather bounced off.

I'd planned to do the Psycho show at Pace, but ambled first to the Pace at the rear of the RAA where I saw a Robert Irwin show (presumably not the same Robert Irwin...).

At this point I ran into and - against a certain degree of cynicism - watched half an hour or so of Pride. I confess and would like to risk expressing mixed feelings. It's the first one I've seen.

The theme this year seemed to be marriage and I can see the if-it-quacks-like-a-duck argument for extending civil partnerships, enshrining equal rights, clarity of medical decisions and access, inheritance of property etc. On the other hand, I have reservations about marriage as an institution for anyone. I'm also torn between the seashift of corporate attitudes that means people can now march as workers with Tesco and on the other hand the question of whether, say, BP and Barclays are in a position to gain positive PR from this. (I realise Apartheid is over now. I still have a distrust of Barclay's). I was all for the scattered placards complaining about the commercialisation of Pride, but on the other hand these were branded Socialist Worker.

On the other hand, it is good to see public displays of commitment, across the QUILTBAG spectrum.

On the other hand, whistles still annoy me...

Were there people marching for themselves or with partners who weren't under a brand? Or do you have to be part of a gang? (I suppose I should have been marching with my colleagues, had I chosen to, although I didn't recognise anyone there.) Was there a group of miscellaneous marchers at the back? If so I moved on before I saw them. The old visibility problem, perhaps. Where are the banners for people with no banners save their own visibility on the march?

Several of the crowd didn't remember - pace the placards - Lucy Meadows. I'm ashamed it took a couple of minutes to place the context.

It was hot in the sun. I was beginning to dehydrate. It was all rather moving.

It took a bit of wandering to locate Pace, proper, and it required an entryphone to be negotiated. I passed, for now.

Then a long wander up to a pub I like in Finsbury. On the other hand, I've twice been when Whitstable IPA was one of the choices and I can get that locally. Not all the beers taste great. And there was only one choice this time. I rapidly moved onto Clerkenwell and the Craft Beer Co, where there was only one beer at 4%. The rest was 7% plus. I settled for a 7% Thornbridge/Dark Star collaboration and a Sirens at 11.4%, but only a half. £10.50. Ouch. On several levels.

That left a stagger down to Temple, and the train home from Victoria.

comments

Exhibitions for Expotitions

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:41:04 GMT

As always these are provided as much for my own benefit and interest as anyone else's - check opening times and venues before travelling; additions, suggestions, corrections and company welcome. I also have a Google Calendar which I add to. Exhibitions in red are on now (in theory).

ETA:
Rothko in Britain 9-Sep-2011 26-Feb-2012 Whitechapel Gallery London http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/rothko-in-britain
Artists in Residence: Shiraz Bayjoo and DARTER 16-Dec-2011 26-Feb-2012 Whitechapel Gallery London http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/artists-in-residence-shiraz-bayjoo-and-darter
Government Art Collection: Selected by Simon Schama: Travelling Light 16-Dec-2011 26-Feb-2012 Whitechapel Gallery London http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/government-art-collection-selected-by-simon-schama-travelling-light
Zarina Bhimji 19-Jan-2012 9-Mar-2012 Whitechapel Gallery London http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/zarina-bhimji
Steven Clayton: Culpable Earth 4-Feb-2012 7-May-2012 FirstSite Colchester http://www.firstsite.uk.net/page/culpable-earth-2
Andrea Zittel, Lay of My Land 10-Feb-2012 20-May-2012 BALTIC Gateshead http://www.balticmill.com/whatsOn/future/ExhibitionDetail.php?exhibID=161
Elizabeth Price 3-Feb-2012 27-May-2012 BALTIC Gateshead http://www.balticmill.com/whatsOn/present/ExhibitionDetail.php?exhibID=160
Gillian Wearing 28-Mar-2012 17-Jun-2012 Whitechapel Gallery London Tickets http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/gillian-wearing
The Bloomberg Commission: Josiah McElheny: The Past Was A Mirage I Had Left Far Behind 7-Sep-2011 20-Jul-2012 Whitechapel Gallery London http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/the-bloomberg-commission-josiah-mcelheny-the-past-was-a-mirage-i-had-left-far-behind
The London Open 3-Oct-2012 25-Nov-2012 Whitechapel Gallery London http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/the-london-open
Mel Bochner 12-Oct-2012 30-Dec-2012 Whitechapel Gallery London http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/mel-bochner
Ends February 2012

London: National Gallery “Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan” 9-Nov-2011-5-Feb-2012
London: Serpentine Gallery “Lygia Pape: Magnetized Space” 7-Dec-2011-9-Feb-2012 http://www.serpentinegallery.org/2011/03/lygia_pape.html
London: Royal Academy of Arts Tennant Gallery “Driven to Draw: Twentieth-century Drawings and Sketchbooks from the Royal Academy’s Collection” 3-Nov-2011-12-Feb-2012 http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/the-tennant-gallery/
London: National Portrait Gallery “Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2011” 10-Nov-2011-12-Feb-2012
London: Haunch of Venison 103 New Bond Street, London “The Mystery of Appearance” 7-Dec-2011-18-Feb-2012 http://haunchofvenison.com/exhibitions/current/the_mystery_of_appearance/
London: British Museum “Grayson Perry The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman” 6-Oct-2011-19-Feb-2012 http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/grayson_perry.aspx
London: Barbican Art Gallery “OMA/Progress” 6-Oct-2011-19-Feb-2012 http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/event-detail.asp?ID=12472
* Chichester: Pallant House “Edward Burra” 22-Oct-2011-19-Feb-2012 http://www.pallant.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/forthcoming/main-galleries/edward-burra1/edward-burra
Birmingham: Birmingham Museum Gas Hall “Lost in Lace: New approaches by UK and international artists” 29-Oct-2011-19-Feb-2012 http://www.bmag.org.uk/events?id=1415
London: Tate Britain “Has The Film Already Started?” 27-Jun-2011-26-Feb-2012
London: V&A “The House of Annie Lennox” 15-Sep-2011-26-Feb-2012

Ends March 2012

Birmingham: Birmingham Museum Gallery 20 “A Life in Prints: The Tessa Sidey Bequest” 17-Sep-2011-4-Mar-2012 http://www.bmag.org.uk/events?id=1538
London: Royal Academy of Arts Sir Hugh Casson Room “Contemporary prints from RA Editions” 2-Dec-2011-8-Mar-2012 http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/hugh-casson-room-for-friends/prints-from-ra-editions,397,RAL.html
Gwynedd: Mostyn Gallery “Artist Rooms: Anselm Kiefer” 26-Nov-2011-10-Mar-2012
Edinburgh: Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Modern Two “The Scottish Colourist Series: F C B Cadell” 22-Oct-2011-18-Mar-2012 http://www.nationalgalleries.org/whatson/exhibition/5:368/19917
Oxford: Modern Art Oxford “Graham Sutherland: An Unfinished World” 10-Dec-2011-18-Mar-2012 http://www.modernartoxford.org.uk/whats-on/present/
Sheffield: Sheffield Graves “Blk Art Group” 27-Aug-2011-24-Mar-2012 http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/museums/graves-gallery/exhibitions/current/the-blk-art-group
* Birmingham: Birmingham Museum “Ten Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci: A Diamond Jubilee Celebration” 13-Jan-2012-25-Mar-2012 http://www.bmag.org.uk/events?id=1389
London: Tate Modern “Photography: New Documentary Forms” 1-May-2011-31-Mar-2012
London: Tate Modern “Artist Rooms: Diane Arbus” 16-May-2011-31-Mar-2012
London: Tate Modern “Artist Rooms: Jenny Holzer” 16-May-2011-31-Mar-2012
London: Tate Modern “Artist Rooms: Joseph Beuys” 16-May-2011-31-Mar-2012
Edinburgh: Scottish National Portrait Gallery “Missing” 1-Dec-2011-31-Mar-2012 http://www.nationalgalleries.org/whatson/exhibitions/missing

( Ends April-December 2012 )

( Ends 2013 or Later )

comments

Exhibitions for Expotitions

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:59:11 GMT

A listing of exhibitions which may be of interest, with starred items things which especially interest me or things I've seen and would recommend. Check with venues for opening times - not all galleries open Sundays and/or Mondays. Corrections welcome. I've been updating things up to N of late - the rest of the alphabet to follow, but curiously this means seventeen items for the newly refurbished Scottish National Portrait Gallery and a couple for the National Galleries Scotland. It's a south-eastcentric list for reasons of practicality though. Must add Kettle's Yard, Cambridge and some of the design museums. Ordered by closure, red titles are in progress. There is a fuller list on a Google calendar.

[I didn't spot these yesterday - fuller update to follow:

Dulwich: "Ragamala" Dulwich Picture Gallery 25-Jan-2012-27-May-2012 http://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/exhibitions/coming_soon/ragamala_paintings_from_india.aspx
Dulwich: "Van Dyck in Sicily: Painting and the Plague" Dulwich Picture Gallery 15-Feb-2012 -27-May-2012 http://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/exhibitions/coming_soon/van_dyck_in_sicily.aspx
Dulwich: "Andy Warhol: Life & Legends" Dulwich Picture Gallery 20-Jun-2012-16-Sep-2012 http://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/exhibitions/coming_soon/andy_warhol_life_and_legends.aspx
Dulwich: "Cotman in Normandy" Dulwich Picture Gallery ??-???-2012-??-???-2012]

London: "Beatrix Potter: Botanical Illustrations" V&A 14-Jun-2011- 11-Dec-2011
London: "William Dobson: A Portrait Revealed" Courtauld Institute of Art 12-Sep-11- 11-Dec-2011 http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/exhibitions/future/index.shtml
Canterbury: "Fictional Hybrids, Vera Möller" Sidney Cooper Gallery 5-Nov-2011- 17-Dec-2011 (Free)
Kendal: "Richard Long" Abbot Hall Art Gallery 21-Nov-2011- 17-Dec-2011 http://www.abbothall.org.uk/
Kilmarnock, Ayrshire: "Artist Rooms: Bill Viola" The Dick Institute 3-Sep-2011- 24-Dec-2011
Birmingham: "Home of Metal" Birmingham Museum 18-Jun-2011- 25-Dec-2011 http://www.bmag.org.uk/events?id=893
Birmingham: "Staffordshire Hoard" Birmingham Museum 24-Jul-2010- 31-Dec-2011 http://www.bmag.org.uk/events?id=892

Ends January 2012

London: "Wilhelm Sasnal" Whitechapel Gallery 14-Oct-2011- 1-Jan-2012
Edinburgh: "Elizabeth Blackadder" Scottish National Gallery 2-Jul-2011- 2-Jan-2012
London: "Power of Making" V&A 6-Sep-2011- 2-Jan-2012
London: "Barry Flanagan" Tate Britain 27-Sep-2011- 2-Jan-2012
Eastbourne : "Franziska Furter" Towner 8-Oct-2011- 2-Jan-2012 (Y) http://www.townereastbourne.org.uk/exhibition/franziska-furter/
London: "Love, Magic and Power" V&A 10-Sep-2011- 8-Jan-2012
Margate: "Nothing in the World But Youth" Turner Contemporary 17-Sep-2011- 8-Jan-2012
London: "Pipilotti Rist" Hayward Gallery 28-Sep-2011- 8-Jan-2012
* London: "Gerhard Richter: Panorama" Tate Modern 6-Oct-2011- 8-Jan-2012
London: "George Condo: Mental States" Hayward Gallery 18-Oct-2011- 8-Jan-2012
London: "Painting Canada: Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven" Dulwich Picture Gallery 19-Oct-2011- 8-Jan-2012 http://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/exhibitions/coming_soon/the_group_of_seven.aspx
London: "Private Eye at 50" V&A Rooms 17a and 18a 19-Oct-2011- 8-Jan-2012 (Free)
London: "The First Actresses: Nell Gwyn to Sarah Siddons" National Portrait Gallery 20-Oct-2011- 8-Jan-2012
Gateshead: "BALTIC Presents Turner Prize 2011 (Karla Black / Martin Boyce / Hilary Lloyd / George Shaw)" BALTIC 21-Oct-2011- 8-Jan-2012 http://www.balticmill.com
Nottingham: "Klaus Weber: If You Leave Me I'm Not Coming" Nottingham Contemporary 22-Oct-11- 08 Jan 2012 http://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/art/klaus-weber
London: "Hokusai's Great Wave" British Museum 3-Nov-2011- 8-Jan-2012 (Free) http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/hokusais_great_wave.aspx
* Bexhill: "Warhol is Here" De La Warr Pavilion 24-Sep-2011- 9-Jan-2012 (Free) http://www.dlwp.com/WhatsOn/ExhibitionDetail.aspx?EventId=1335
Wolverhampton, West Midlands: "Traced" Wolverhampton Art Gallery 15-Jan-2011- 15-Jan-2012
London: "John Martin: Apocalypse" Tate Britain 21-Sep-2011- 15-Jan-2012
* London: "Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970-1990" V&A 38, 39, and North Court 24-Sep-2011- 15-Jan-2012
London: "The Spanish Line: Drawings from Ribera to Picasso" Courtauld Institute of Art 13-Oct-2011- 15-Jan-2012 http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/exhibitions/future/index.shtml
Cardiff: "Joseph Beuys" National Museum Cardiff 22-Oct-2011- 15-Jan-2012
London: "One Hundred and One Cartoonists" Cartoon Museum 3-Nov-2011- 21-Jan-2012 http://www.cartoonmuseum.org/
* London: "Building the Revolution: Soviet Art and Architecture 1915-1935" Royal Academy of Arts Sackler Wing of Galleries 29-Oct-11- 22-Jan-2012 http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/building-the-revolution/
Liverpool: "Alice in Wonderland" Tate Liverpool 4-Nov-2011- 29-Jan-2012
Edinburgh: "Turner in January" Scottish National Gallery 1-Jan-2012- 31-Jan-2012 http://www.nationalgalleries.org/whatson/on-now-and-coming-soon/turner-in-january-2012

( Ends after January 2012 )

comments

Exhibitions for Expotitions

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 11:13:03 GMT

A bit out of practice with these - I need to update my listing, and I see there's a William Morris exhibition somewhere in London. As always, check with the venue before travelling - especially on Sundays and Mondays. Starred ones I want to see or have seen.

· London: "Only Connect" National Portrait Gallery 16-Apr-2011-27-Nov-2011

· * London: "Signs of a Struggle: Photography in the Wake of Postmodernism" V&A 38a 11-Aug-2011-27-Nov-2011 (Free)

· London: "Beatrix Potter: Botanical Illustrations" V&A 14-Jun-2011-11-Dec-2011

· London: "William Dobson: A Portrait Revealed" Courtauld Institute of Art 12-Sep-11-11-Dec-2011 http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/exhibitions/future/index.shtml

· Kilmarnock, Ayrshire: "Artist Rooms: Bill Viola" The Dick Institute 3-Sep-2011-24-Dec-2011

· Birmingham: "Home of Metal" Birmingham Museum 18-Jun-2011-25-Dec-2011 http://www.bmag.org.uk/events?id=893

· Birmingham: "Staffordshire Hoard" Birmingham Museum 24-Jul-2010-31-Dec-2011 http://www.bmag.org.uk/events?id=892

· * London: "Wilhelm Sasnal" Whitechapel Gallery 14-Oct-2011-1-Jan-2012

· * Edinburgh: "Elizabeth Blackadder" Scottish National Gallery 2-Jul-2011-2-Jan-2012

· London: "Power of Making" V&A 6-Sep-2011-2-Jan-2012

· * London: "Barry Flanagan" Tate Britain 27-Sep-2011-2-Jan-2012

· Eastbourne : "Franziska Furter" Towner 8-Oct-2011-2-Jan-2012 (Free) http://www.townereastbourne.org.uk/exhibition/franziska-furter/

· London: "Love, Magic and Power" V&A 10-Sep-2011-8-Jan-2012

· * Margate: "Nothing in the World But Youth" Turner Contemporary 17-Sep-2011-8-Jan-2012

· * London: "Pipilotti Rist" Hayward Gallery 28-Sep-2011-8-Jan-2012

· * London: "Gerhard Richter: Panorama" Tate Modern 6-Oct-2011-8-Jan-2012

· * London: "George Condo: Mental States" Hayward Gallery 18-Oct-2011-8-Jan-2012

· * London: "Painting Canada: Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven" Dulwich Picture Gallery 19-Oct-2011-8-Jan-2012 http://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/exhibitions/coming_soon/the_group_of_seven.aspx

· * London: "Private Eye at 50" V&A Rooms 17a and 18a 19-Oct-2011-8-Jan-2012 (Free)

· * London: "The First Actresses: Nell Gwyn to Sarah Siddons" National Portrait Gallery 20-Oct-2011-8-Jan-2012

· * Gateshead: "BALTIC Presents Turner Prize 2011 (Karla Black / Martin Boyce / Hilary Lloyd / George Shaw)" BALTIC 21-Oct-2011-8-Jan-2012 http://www.balticmill.com

· * Bexhill: "Warhol is Here" De La Warr Pavilion 24-Sep-2011-9-Jan-2012 (Free) http://www.dlwp.com/WhatsOn/ExhibitionDetail.aspx?EventId=1335

· Wolverhampton, West Midlands: "Traced" Wolverhampton Art Gallery 15-Jan-2011-15-Jan-2012

· * London: "John Martin: Apocalypse" Tate Britain 21-Sep-2011-15-Jan-2012

· * London: "Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970-1990" V&A 38, 39, and North Court 24-Sep-2011-15-Jan-2012

· London: "The Spanish Line: Drawings from Ribera to Picasso" Courtauld Institute of Art 13-Oct-2011-15-Jan-2012 http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/exhibitions/future/index.shtml

· Cardiff: "Joseph Beuys" National Museum Cardiff 22-Oct-2011-15-Jan-2012

· * London: "Building the Revolution: Soviet Art and Architecture 1915-1935" Royal Academy of Arts Sackler Wing of Galleries 29-Oct-11-22-Jan-2012 http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/building-the-revolution/

· London: "Grayson Perry The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman" British Museum 6-Oct-2011-19-Feb-2012 http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/grayson_perry.aspx

· London: "OMA/Progress" Barbican Art Gallery 6-Oct-2011-19-Feb-2012 http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/event-detail.asp?ID=12472

· * Chichester: "Edward Burra" Pallant House 22-Oct-2011-19-Feb-2012 http://www.pallant.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/forthcoming/main-galleries/edward-burra1/edward-burra [Going to Nottingham next year]

· Birmingham: "Lost in Lace: New approaches by UK and international artists" Birmingham Museum Gas Hall 29-Oct-2011-19-Feb-2012 http://www.bmag.org.uk/events?id=1415

· London: "Has The Film Already Started?" Tate Britain 27-Jun-2011-26-Feb-2012

· London: "The House of Annie Lennox" V&A 15-Sep-2011-26-Feb-2012

· London: "Andy Warhol" Museum and Contemporary Collection, Central St Martins 24-Sep-2011-26-Feb-2012

· Birmingham: "A Life in Prints: The Tessa Sidey Bequest" Birmingham Museum Gallery 20 17-Sep-2011-4-Mar-2012 http://www.bmag.org.uk/events?id=1538

· Edinburgh: "The Scottish Colourist Series: F C B Cadell" Dean Gallery Modern Two 22-Oct-2011-18-Mar-2012 http://www.nationalgalleries.org/whatson/exhibition/5:368/19917

· London: "Photography: New Documentary Forms" Tate Modern 1-May-2011-31-Mar-2012

· * London: "Artist Rooms: Diane Arbus" Tate Modern 16-May-2011-31-Mar-2012

· London: "Artist Rooms: Jenny Holzer" Tate Modern 16-May-2011-31-Mar-2012

· * London: "Artist Rooms: Joseph Beuys" Tate Modern 16-May-2011-31-Mar-2012

· London: "Artist Rooms: TBC Late" Tate Modern 1-Sep-2011-1-Apr-2012

· London: "The Unilever Series: Tacita Dean" Tate Modern 11-Oct-2011-9-Apr-2012

· Nottingham: "Klaus Weber: If You Leave Me I'm Not Coming" Nottingham Contemporary 22-Oct-11-08 Jan 2012 http://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/art/klaus-weber

comments

Exhibitions for Expotitions

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:43:22 GMT

A listing of exhibitions which have caught my interest - either open or due to open in August 2011, and ordered by urgency. Starred items are ones I especially want to see or recommend having seen.

Please check with venue or venue's website before travelling - not all galleries open on Sundays and/or Mondays and municipal galleries have reduced hours. Corrections and additions welcome - I may have copied details wrong.

* Broadstairs: "Bran Jones and Shaun Madden Life's A Beach" Old Lookout Gallery 28-Jul-2011-4-Aug-2011 (Free)
* London: "Eric Gill: Public and Private Art" British Museum Room 69a 10-Feb-2011-7-Aug-2011 (Free) http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/eric_gill.aspx
* Chichester: "Nick Blinko: The Visions of Pope Adrian 37th" Pallant House 21-Jun-2011-7-Aug-2011
* Broadstairs: "Karen Shepherdson & Nigel Breadman: Replay '11 " Old Lookout Gallery 4-Aug-2011-11-Aug-2011 (Free)
Sheffield: "The Triumph of Maximilian I" Sheffield Graves 31-Mar-2011-13-Aug-2011
* London: "Fred Sandback" Whitechapel Gallery 25-May-2011-14-Aug-2011
* London: "Summer Exhibition 2011" Royal Academy of Arts 7-Jun-2011-15-Aug-2011
* Broadstairs: "SM: Not Waving But Drowning" Old Lookout Gallery 11-Aug-2011-18-Aug-2011 (Free)
London: "Richard Long / Giuseppe Penone" Haunch of Venison 6 Burlington Gardens 27-May-2011-20-Aug-2011
Canterbury: "Canterbury Society of Arts and East Kent Art Society Joint Exhibition" Sidney Cooper Gallery 6-Aug-2011-20-Aug-2011 (Free)
Canterbury: "MA Show" Sidney Cooper Gallery 6-Aug-2011-20-Aug-2011 (Free)
London: "Watercolour" Tate Britain 16-Feb-2011-21-Aug-2011
* London: "James Stirling: Notes from the Archive" Tate Britain 5-Apr-2011-21-Aug-2011
* Broadstairs: "Andrew M. Butler: 'Stairs, Steps, Stares" Old Lookout Gallery 18-Aug-2011-25-Aug-2011 (Free)
London: "Tracey Emin: Love is What You Want" Hayward Gallery 18-May-2011-29-Aug-2011
London: "Camden Town and Beyond" National Portrait Gallery 27-Nov-2010-31-Aug-2011
* Broadstairs: "Ben Rowley: Film @ The Old Lookout" Old Lookout Gallery 25-Aug-2011-1-Sep-2011 (Free)
Walsall: "Eduardo Paolozzi General Dynamic F.U.N" The New Art Gallery 2-Jul-2011-3-Sep-2011
* Sheffield: "John Martin: Painting the Apocalypse" Sheffield Millennium Gallery 30-Jun-2001-4-Sep-2011
Edinburgh : "Portrait of the Nation at the Scottish National Gallery" Scottish National Gallery 2-Oct-2010-4-Sep-2011
* London: "This is Whitechapel" Whitechapel Gallery 11-Mar-2011-4-Sep-2011
London: "Government Art Collection: At Work" Whitechapel Gallery 3-Jun-2011-4-Sep-2011
* London: "The Vorticists: Manifesto for a Modern World" Tate Britain 14-Jun-2011-4-Sep-2011
London: "Falling Up: The Gravity of Art" Courtauld Institute of Art 23-Jun-2011-4-Sep-2011 http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/macuratingexhibition/index.shtml
Bexhill: "Catherine Yass" De La Warr Pavilion 25-Jun-2011-4-Sep-2011 (Free) http://www.dlwp.com/WhatsOn/ExhibitionDetail.aspx?EventId=1379
* London: "Miro" Tate Modern 14-Apr-2011-11-Sep-2011
* London: "Out of Australia Prints and drawings from Sidney Nolan to Rover Thomas" British Museum Room 90 26-May-2011-11-Sep-2011 http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/australian_season/out_of_australia.aspx
London: "Watch Me Move: The Animation Show" Barbican Art Gallery 15-Jun-2011-11-Sep-2011 (Charge) http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/event-detail.asp?ID=11989
London: "Thomas Struth: Photographs 1978-2010" Whitechapel Gallery 6-Jul-2011-16-Sep-2011
Wolverhampton, West Midlands: "Home of Metal: You Should Be Living" Wolverhampton Art Gallery 18-Jun-2011-17-Sep-2011
London: "Jake or Dinos Chapman" White Cube Hoxton Square and Mason's Yard, 15-Jul-2011-17-Sep-2011
London: "BP Portrait Award 2011" National Portrait Gallery 16-Jun-2011-18-Sep-2011
London: "Toulouse-Lautrec and Jane Avril" Courtauld Institute of Art 16-Jun-2011-18-Sep-2011 http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/exhibitions/2011/Lautrec.shtml
London: "Forests, Rocks, Torrents Norwegian and Swiss Landscapes from the Lunde Collection" National Gallery 22-Jun-2011-18-Sep-2011
St Ives, Cornwall: "Artist Rooms: Agnes Martin" Tate St Ives 14-May-2011-25-Sep-2011
Gateshead: "Robert Breer" BALTIC 11-Jun-2011-25-Sep-2011 http://www.balticmill.com
London: "Art Now: Corin Sworn" Tate Britain 27-Jun-2011-25-Sep-2011
London: "Twombly and Poussin: Arcadian Painters" Dulwich Picture Gallery 29-Jun-2011-25-Sep-2011
Edinburgh: "Hiroshi Sugimoto" Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art 4-Aug-2011-25-Sep-2011
Walsall: "Leo Fitzmaurice You Try to Tell Me but I Never Listen" The New Art Gallery 17-Jun-2011-1-Oct-2011
Wolverhampton, West Midlands: "Manufactory by Chris Coekin" Wolverhampton Art Gallery 18-Jun-2011-1-Oct-2011
Chichester: "Anna Fox: RESORT" Pallant House 25-Jun-2011-2-Oct-2011
Gateshead: "Maurizio Anzeri" BALTIC 25-Jun-2011-2-Oct-2011 http://www.balticmill.com
* London: "Eyewitness: Hungarian Photography in the 20th Century: Brassaò, Capa, KertÄsz, Moholy Nagy, Munkçcsi" Royal Academy of Arts Sackler Wing of Galleries 30-Jun-2011-2-Oct-2011
London: "Devotion by Design: Italian Altarpieces before 1500" National Gallery 6-Jul-2011-2-Oct-2011
Chichester: "Frida Kahlo *Diego Rivera" Pallant House 9-Jul-2011-2-Oct-2011
Nottingham: "Jean Genet" Nottingham Contemporary 16-Jul-2011-2-Oct-2011
Eastbourne : "The Art of Giving: How gifts have shaped the Towner Collection" Towner 9-Apr-2011-9-Oct-2011
London: "Treasures of Heaven: saints, relics and devotion in medieval Europe" British Museum 23-Jun-2011-9-Oct-2011 http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/treasures_of_heaven.aspx
Edinburgh: "Dürer's Fame" Scottish National Gallery 9-Jun-2011-11-Oct-2011
Liverpool: "Artist Rooms: Robert Therrien" Tate Liverpool, Merseyside 24-Jun-2011-16-Oct-2011
* Liverpool: "Rene Magritte: The Pleasure Principle" Tate Liverpool 24-Jun-2011-16-Oct-2011
London: "Junya Ishigami: Architecture as Air" Barbican Art Gallery The Curve 28-Jun-2011-16-Oct-2011 (Free) http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/event-detail.asp?ID=11988
London: "Journeyings: Recent Works on Paper by Frank Bowling RA" Royal Academy of Arts 27-May-2011-23-Oct-2011
Hull: "Artist Rooms: Francesca Woodman" Ferens Art Gallery 11-Jun-2011-23-Oct-2011
London: "Glamour of the Gods: Hollywood Portraits: Photographs from the John Kobal Foundation" National Portrait Gallery 7-Jul-2011-23-Oct-2011
Wolverhampton, West Midlands: "Artist Rooms: Ed Ruscha" Wolverhampton Art Gallery 28-May-2011-29-Oct-2011
Gateshead: "Mariah Robertson" BALTIC 25-Jun-2011-30-Oct-2011 http://www.balticmill.com
Leeds, West Yorkshire: "Artist Rooms: Damien Hirst" Leeds Art Gallery 15-Jul-2011-30-Oct-2011
London: "Art for the Nation: Sir Charles Eastlake at the National Gallery" National Gallery 27-Jul-2011-30-Oct-2011
London: "Doctor Who in Comics 1964-2011" Cartoon Museum 27-Jul-2011-30-Oct-2011 http://www.cartoonmuseum.org/
London: "Taryn Simon" Tate Modern 25-May-2011-6-Nov-2011
Edinburgh: "Tony Cragg" Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art 30-Jul-2011-6-Nov-2011
London: "V&A: So Noble a Confection: Producing and Consuming Chocolate, 1600-2000" V&A Sackler 19-Oct-2010-14-Nov-2011
London: "Only Connect" National Portrait Gallery 16-Apr-2011-27-Nov-2011
London: "Signs of a Struggle: Photography in the Wake of Postmodernism" V&A 38a 11-Aug-2011-27-Nov-2011 (Free)
London: "Beatrix Potter: Botanical Illustrations" V&A 14-Jun-2011-11-Dec-2011
Birmingham: "Home of Metal" Birmingham Museum 18-Jun-2011-25-Dec-2011 http://www.bmag.org.uk/events?id=893
Birmingham: "Staffordshire Hoard" Birmingham Museum 24-Jul-2010-31-Dec-2011 http://www.bmag.org.uk/events?id=892
Edinburgh: "Elizabeth Blackadder" Scottish National Gallery 2-Jul-2011-2-Jan-2012
Wolverhampton, West Midlands: "Traced" Wolverhampton Art Gallery 15-Jan-2011-15-Jan-2012
London: "Has The Film Already Started?" Tate Britain 27-Jun-2011-26-Feb-2012
London: "Photography: New Documentary Forms" Tate Modern 1-May-2011-31-Mar-2012
London: "Artist Rooms: Diane Arbus" Tate Modern 16-May-2011-31-Mar-2012
London: "Artist Rooms: Jenny Holzer" Tate Modern 16-May-2011-31-Mar-2012
London: "Artist Rooms: Joseph Beuys" Tate Modern 16-May-2011-31-Mar-2012
London: "Michelangelo Pistoletto: The Mirror of Judgement" Serpentine Gallery 12-Jul-2011-17-Sep-2011 http://www.serpentinegallery.org/2011/03/michelangelo_pistoletto.html
London: "Peter Zumthor: Hortus Conclusus" Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 1-Jul-2011-16-Oct-2011 http://www.serpentinegallery.org/2011/04/serpentine_gallery_pavillion_2011_zumthor.html

comments

Exhibitions for Expotitions

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 13:32:02 GMT

Partially updated - more to follow.

comments

Exhibitions for Expotitions

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:08:39 GMT

Closes August 2010

• * Henry Moore 24/2/2010-15/8/2010 Tate Britain Recommended
• The Wyeth Family: Three Generations of American Art 9/6/2010-22/8/2010 Dulwich
• Summer Exhibition 2010 14/6/2010-22/8/2010 RAA
• Picasso: Peace and Freedom 21/5/2010-30/8/2010 Tate Liverpool
• Rineke Dijkstra: I See a Woman Crying 30/4/2010-30/8/2010 Tate Liverpool

Closes September 2010

• Urban Africa: David Adjaye 31/3/2010-5/9/2010 Design Museum
• * Rude Britannica: British Comic Art 9/6/2010-5/9/2010 Tate Britain
• Francis Alys 15/6/2010-5/9/2010 Tate Modern
• Ernesto Neto 19/6/2010-5/9/2010 Hayward Gallery
• The New Decor 19/6/2010-5/9/2010 Hayward Gallery
• * Surrealism in Sussex 29/5/2010-12/9/2010 Pallant House, Chichester
• * Close Examination: Fakes, Mistakes and Discoveries 30/6/2010-12/9/2010 National Gallery
• The Surreal House 10/6/2010-12/9/2010 Barbican
• John Bock 10/6/2010-12/9/2010 Barbican
• Kati Horna: The European Years 16/6/2010-12/9/2010 Pallant House, Chichester
• * Surreal Friends: Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo and Kati Horna 19/6/2010-12/9/2010 Pallant House, Chichester
• Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera 28/5/2010-19/9/2010 Tate Modern
• The Courtauld Collects! 20 Years of Acquisitions 17/6/2010-19/9/2010
• BP Portrait Award 2010 24/6/2010-19/9/2010 National Portrait Gallery
• Walk in the Park: Images of the South Downs 1/5/2010-26/9/2010 Towner Gallery, Eastbourne
• Sargent and the Sea 10/7/2010-26/9/2010 RAA
• Lily van der Stokker 15/5/2010-26/9/2010 Tate Liverpool
• Tate Collection Display: The Languages of Modernism 15/5/2010-26/9/2010 Tate St Ives

Closes After September 2010

• Frederick Cayley Robinson: Acts of Mercy 14/7/2010-17/10/2010 National Gallery
• Camille Silvy, Photographer of Modern Life, 1834 - 1910 15/7/2010-24/10/2010 National Portrait Galley
• Salvator Rosa (1615-1673): Bandits, Wilderness and Magic 15/09/2010-28/11/2010 Dulwich Picture Gallery
• Tate Britain Duveens Commission 2010 28/11/2010 Tate Britain
• Turner Prize 2010 5/10/2010-2/1/2011 Tate Britain
• Move: Choreographing You 13/10/2010-3/1/2011 Hayward Gallery
• Peter Lanyon 9/9/2010-6/1/2011 Tate St Ives
• Rachel Whiteread: Drawings 15/9/2010-16/1/2011 Tate Britain
• Venice: Canaletto and his Rivals 13/10/2010-16/1/2011 National Gallery
• Cezanne's Card Players 21/10/2010-16/1/2011 Courtauld Institute
• * Eadweard Muybridge 15/9/2010-16/1/2011 Tate Britain
• Gaughin 30/9/2010-16/1/2011 Tate Modern
• Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes 1900-1939 18/9/2010-16/1/2011 V&A
• Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion 15/10/2010-16/2/2011 Barbican
• Nam June Paik 17/12/10-13/3/2011 Tate Liverpool
• Love, Magic and Power 10/9/2011-8/1/2012 V&A
• Toulouse-Lautrec And Jane Avril 16/6/2011-18/9/2011 Courtauld Institute
• Postmodernism 8/10/2011-15/1/2012 V&A Rooms 38 and 39, and North Court
• Aestheticism: Beauty in Art and Design 1860-1900 4/7/2011-// V&A
• Mondrian || Nicholson: In Parallel February – May 2012 Courtauld Institute
• 100 Years of Hollywood Costume: Virgins and Vamps, Saints and sinners (TBC) 4/2013-7/2013

comments

Familiar Views: Eric and James Ravilious

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 10:18:35 GMT

I'm keeping a running total of money saved:

Rude Britannia: £5
Toy Tales: £5.50
Familiar Views: £2.75

Total: £13.25

Or, I've got an Arts Fund membership, and I'm not afraid to use it. (Side note - their webpage takes a lot of navigating to get to the point where it actually mentions prices: Join Us, then Join Now, then the form. Even then, I don't know offhand how much I've paid... I suspect £44. So, a third of the way into profit.)

I'd come across Eric Ravilious last time I'd visited the Towner: a British artist and engraver, pupil of Paul Nash and war artist missing, presumed dead, at 39. I'd not known he had a son, James, who was an artist, and in particular a photography influenced by Cartier-Bresson, and was for 18 years a chronicler of rural Devon.

This conjunction is the strength and weakness of the exhibition: it firmly situates them in the British neo-romantic landscape tradition, and the influence of Samuel Palmer is clear on Eric. On the other hand, I'd like to see the war work (I gather there was an Imperial War Museum exhibition in 2004 - must track down a catalogue; I believe there is a new volume of this work coming in September). Whereas Eric work is more likely to contain machinery than humans, most of James's photographs include people in the landscape; I don't get a sense of what else he did. All of the images are black and white, through a yellow filter, framed within the camera, and he has a habit of shooting into the sun.

ETA: I need to dig into Peggy Angus; a new name to me. Bought a cottage at Furlongs, South Downs, which other artists visited. At RCA with Hepworth and Moore and Edward Bawden, another name that needs investigation.

Meanwhile, I ran into someone whose face I recognised, and he waylaid me; yes, I was right to recognise him. For better or worse, this might translate into a commission a couple of years down the line; a lot of work, but a reasonable amount of money if experience is anything to go by.

I'd left home at 7.30, so I managed to catch the 8.04 train, and the connection at Ashford was smooth, as it was on the return home. I reached Eastbourne at 9.40, found the library (one book, three dvds...) and did the specialty arcade and the charity shops. Into the shopping centre, which I neglected last time, but missed nothing. Coffee and reading in Nerd, then the rest of the charity shops (two James Bond videos; I can watch and discard if necessary). Then following the non-existent signs to to Towner - the Congress Theatre is in scaffolding, which is only a improvement. I didn't leave enough time for a second coffee, and hit the secondhand bookshop; I bounced off. Too much stock, not enough space, and I didn't fancy the basement. Headed home on the 17.09 train. The weather had started by being Novembery, mostly mizzle, thus an umbrella would have been a waste of time. The sun came out as I left the gallery; a little late.

comments

Exhibitions for Expotitions

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 12:26:54 GMT

Red events should be open now. Check with venue before travel.
Closes July 2010
• * Ronald Searle: Graphic Master 3/3/2010-4/7/2010 Cartoon Museum
• * Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill 6/3/2010-4/7/2010 V&A
• Quilts 20/3/2010-18/7/2010 V&A Exhibitions, Room 39 and North Court
• Semâ Bekirovic 23/6/2010-25/7/2010 Hayward Gallery

Closes August 2010

• * Henry Moore 24/2/2010-15/8/2010 Tate Britain Recommended
• The Wyeth Family: Three Generations of American Art 9/6/2010-22/8/2010 Dulwich
• RAA: Summer Exhibition 2010 14/6/2010-22/8/2010 RAA
• Picasso: Peace and Freedom 21/5/2010-30/8/2010 Tate Liverpool
• Rineke Dijkstra: I See a Woman Crying 30/4/2010-30/8/2010 Tate Liverpool

( Closes After August 2010 )
•

comments

Tate Expotition

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:35:58 GMT

I spent part of the weekend debating about a London trip on Monday, which would be extraordinarily bad timing and like when am I going to get any more work done when most of this week is blocked out and next has its own awkwardnesses. On the other hand, it'll get done, apparently, I don't see Roger that often and I have seen Istvan and Ettie for three or four years, maybe longer.

I also knew it would involve much attempted interrogation of Transport Direct, which would much rather default to the High Speed line and have you walk between stations than give you the journey you really want. There are options, but I'm not clear I picked the right one.

If I leave my house at 9.30 I can get to West by 10.00, usually grabbing a bus for laziness, and queue to get an £18 ticket to St Pancras which then gets me to London for 11.25. By the time I've walked to the Northern Line and gotten a tube to London Bridge it's gone 11.45, and that's by sitting at the front of the train. The Tate is a fifteen minute walk. There on the dot of noon, and we'll skip over the description of a cafe being on the ground floor but really being level 2.

If I leave my house at 9.30 I can get to East by 9.40 and queue to get a £13 ticket. This time last year this would have got me to London for 11.50, but they brought the departure time forward to 10.02 and added 10 minutes to the journey. Arrival at Victoria 11.40. I need a tube to Southwark, which is one change but claims to be a seven minute journey. I suspect you'd get there just gone noon. The next nearest tube is Blackfriars but supposedly that's a ten minute journey and besides is shut. Mansion House is a longer journey, but may be I can investigate Temple.

It still looks like I have to pay significantly extra to get to the the Tate before noon. And then I come home via St Rood so as to get a train back to East.

Anyway: the exhibition: Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera is a photography exhibition which trie to do too many not quite related enough things, but is mostly good. It begins with candids - Philip-Lorca DiCorcia's large photos taken of people who do not know they are being photographed. There's a moral and ethical dimension here, which presumably needs to be addressed in the catalogue as it isn't in the gallery. From these c. 2000 it jumps back to 19th century street scene portraits and factory photographs, all black and white, although it seems as if many of them are looking at the camera. The caption makes a distinction between annoying nonprofessionals and acute amateurs, without necessarily explaining the distinction (it looks as if it's a professional v nonprofessional opposition being set up). It then shifts to celebrity photographs - Monroe, Taylor and Burton, a nineteenth-century countess, Paris Hilton and the Alison Jackson parodies. There's no Diana among the pap stuff, but two old looking tabloids from the period after the crash.

It's perhaps a leap to desire - whilst there are voyeuristic photographs (most strikingly ones taken of sexual and drug related acts taken from next door to a seedy club), some of these are posed. There's a distinction between deciding to exhibit and being taken. There are some fetish shots, one Mapplethorpe, relatively tame, but the most striking images are the Japanese dogging/daisy chaining sequence (although in fact I think it's more of a third party intervening in a couple's sex without their knowledge) by Kohei Yoshiyuk. I didn't watch much of the Nan Goldin film, of various sexualised encounters between her friends.

Again a leap, to photographs of hangings, lynchings, shootings and death camps. Some very strong material here, very disturbing, and probably triggery for some. Iconic stuff by Weegee (who is featured elsewhere) and stuff by Lee Miller and Larry Clark. There's an infrared painting of a lynching, viewable via a video monitor, to implicate you in the picture (h'mmm). Some early war photographs, and the iconic Vietnamese girl screaming.

The final leap is to surveillance - some post 1991 Gulf War pictures whose inclusion seemed a little tenuous, many photographs of listening posts and watch towers, with landscapes tending to the abstract. There were two striking series: a photographer who posed as a chambermaid and photographed guests' property, and a daily photograph of a square taken of the artist via a security camera.

I think I spent two hours going round and could have spent longer, if stamina allowed. I shall pop back to pick up the catalogue. I do recommend it, but with a strong health warning in terms of the sex and violence on display. £5 with Art Fund card, £10 without, £8.50 discount.

comments

Exhibitions for Expotitions

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:37:42 GMT

Closes in April 2010

The Unilever Series: Miroslaw Balka 13/10/2009-5/4/2010 Tate Modern
A Different View 9/9/2009-11/4/2010 Towner, Eastbourne
Where Three Dreams Cross: 150 Years of Photography from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh 21/1/2010-11/4/2010 Whitechapel
Deutsch Borse Photography Prize 12/2/2010-17/4/2010 Photographers Gallery
Charly Nijensohn and Nova Paul 21/1/2010-18/4/2010 Whitechapel
The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters 23/1/2010-18/4/2010 Royal Academy of Arts
Afro-Modernism: Journeys through the Black Atlantic 21/1/2010-25/4/2010 Tate Liverpool

Closes in May 2010

* Mrs Delany and Her Circle 19/2/2010-1/5/2010 Sir John Soane's Museum
* Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective 10/2/2010-3/5/2010 Tate Modern
* Celeste Boursier-Mougenot New commission for The Curve 27/2/2010-3/5/2010 Barbican
Kingdom of Ife: sculptures from West Africa 4/3/2010-6/5/2010 British Museum
Paul Nash: The Elements 10/2/2010-9/5/2010 Dulwich Picture Gallery Recommended
Chris Ofili 27/1/10-16/5/10 Tate Britain
Van Doesburg and the International Avant-Garde: Constructing a New World 4/2/2010-16/5/2010 Tate Modern Recommended
Painting History: Delaroche and Lady Jane Grey 24/2/2010-23/5/2010 National Gallery

( Closes after May 2010 )

comments

Exhibitions for Expotitions

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:24:36 GMT

I've let this get a little out of date - I need to check various places again. I have a Google Calendar which I can give people access to.

Check with venue before travelling - exhibitions get cancelled or renamed. I cannot speak to cost of entry but recommend joining the Art Fund.

These are sorted by order of closure - it's a see now before it shuts aide memoire. Red items are running now. Starred events are ones I really want to see.

Closes in March 2010

Points of View: Capturing the 19th century in photographs 30/10/2009-7/3/2010 British Library
Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams 18/11/2009-9/3/2010 Design Museum
Ergonomics: Real Design 18/11/2009-9/3/2010 Design Museum
* British Council Collection: Thresholds 9/1/2010-12/3/2010 Whitechapel
* I shake you by the hand, comrade Bacon: British Art Abroad 19/12/2009-14/3/2010 Whitechapel
The Rise of Women Artists 23/10/2009-14/3/2010 Liverpool Walker Gallery
Richard Grayson 16/1/2010-14/3/2010 De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea
Robert Mapplethorpe Artist Rooms 19/12/2009- Sheffield-Graves Art Gallery
Mark Rothko: The Seagram Murals 2/10/2009-21/3/2010 Tate Liverpool
Dark Monarch 23/1/2010-21/3/2010 Towner, Eastbourne

Closes in April 2010

The Unilever Series: Miroslaw Balka 13/10/2009-5/4/2010 Tate Modern
A Different View 9/9/2009-11/4/2010 Towner, Eastbourne
Where Three Dreams Cross: 150 Years of Photography from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh 21/1/2010-11/4/2010 Whitechapel
Deutsch Borse Photography Prize 12/2/2010-17/4/2010 Photographers Gallery
Charly Nijensohn and Nova Paul 21/1/2010-18/4/2010 Whitechapel
The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters 23/1/2010-18/4/2010 Royal Academy of Arts
Afro-Modernism: Journeys through the Black Atlantic 21/1/2010-25/4/2010 Tate Liverpool

( Later Exhibitions )

comments

Exhibitions for Expotitions

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:11:09 GMT

I've let this get a little out of date - I need to check the Tates, Towner, Chichester and others, and add Nottingham. I have a Google Calendar which I can give people access to.

Check with venue before travelling - exhibitions get cancelled or renamed. I cannot speak to cost of entry but recommend joining the Art Fund.

These are sorted by order of closure - it's a see now before it shuts aide memoire. Red items are running now. Starred events are ones I really want to see.

Closes in January 2010

Sons of Pioneers: Matthew Houlding 16/10/2009-3/1/2010 De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea
Mind into Matter [architecture] 16/10/2009-3/1/2010 De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea
Astronomy Photographer of the Year 10/9/2009-10/1/2010 National Maritime Museum
The Dark Monarch: Magic and Modernity in British Art 10/10/2009-10/1/2010 Tate St Ives
John Baldessari: Pure Beauty 13/10/2009-10/1/2010 Tate Modern
Angels of Anarchy: Women Artists and Surrealism 26/9/2009-10/1/2010 Manchester Art Gallery
Joyous Machines: Michael Landy and Jean Tinguely 2/10/2010-10/1/2010 Tate Liverpool
Martin Parr Parrworld 17/10/2009-10/1/2010 Baltic, Gateshead
Jeremy Millar: Given 24/9/2009-17/1/2010 National Maritime Museum:
Pop Life [was Sold Out] 1/10/2009-17/1/2010 Tate Modern
Maharaja: the Splendour of India's Royal Courts 10/10/2009-17/1/2010 V&A
Drawing Attention: Tiepolo, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Picasso and more 21/10/2009-17/1/2010 Dulwich Picture Gallery
Turner and the Masters 23/9/2009-24/1/2010 Tate Britain
Moctezuma: Aztec Ruler 24/9/2009-24/1/2010 British Museum
Beatles to Bowie: the 60s exposed 15/10/2009-24/1/2010 National Portrait Gallery
The Sacred Made Real: Spanish Painting and Sculpture 1600-1700 21/10/2009-24/1/2010 National Gallery Admission Charge
The Making of a Spanish Polychrome Sculpture 21/10/2009-24/1/2010 National Gallery
Wild Thing: Epstein, Gaudier-Brzeska, Gill 24/10/2009-24/1/2010 Royal Academy of Arts
30 Years of Viz 4/11/2009-24/1/2010 Cartoon Museum
Order: Myth, Meaning and Beauty in Architecture 16/10/2009-30/1/2010 Sir John Soanes Museum
Capturing the Concept: The Sketchbooks of Sir Nicholas Grimshaw CBE PRA from 1982 to 2007 6/11/2009-31/1/2010 Royal Academy of Arts FREE
RAA GSK Contemporary 2009 3/12/2009-31/1/2010 Royal Academy of Arts-Burlington Gardens

Closes in February 2010

Kienholz, Hoerengracht 18/11/2009-21/2/2010 National Gallery Free admission

Closes in March 2010

Objects of Luxury: French porcelain of the eighteenth century /9/2009-/3/2010 V&A Room 146 Free admission
Only Joking 27/1/2010-1/3/2010 Cartoon Museum
Points of View: Capturing the 19th century in photographs 30/10/2009-7/3/2010 British Library
Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams 18/11/2009-9/3/2010 Design Museum
Ergonomics: Real Design 18/11/2009-9/3/2010 Design Museum
British Council Collection: Thresholds 9/1/2010-12/3/2010 Whitechapel
I shake you by the hand, comrade Bacon: British Art Abroad 19/12/2009-14/3/2010 Whitechapel
The Rise of Women Artists 23/10/2009-14/3/2010 Liverpool Walker Gallery
Robert Mapplethorpe Artist Rooms 19/12/2009- Sheffield-Graves Art Gallery
Mark Rothko: The Seagram Murals 2/10/2009-21/3/2010 Tate Liverpool

( Closes After 1 April 2010 )

comments

Mapping Mapplethorpe

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:11:15 GMT

I stumbled, by chance, onto there being a Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition in Sheffield, as part of the Tate/National Galleries of Scotland Artists Room tour - of which Beuys at Bexhill was a part. Having got all excited about a Richard Dadd exhibition at Dulwich, only to find the thing was cancelled made me suspicious of a lack of mention of the event on the Graves Gallery website. Searching around the innards, there was a news story, but no other mention - and the Artists Room website, which now should be covering events into 2011, left a little to be desired. I used the contact-us form but heard nothing back from Sheffield, and somehow never found time to ring. Ah well, I thought, at least the Comedians exhibition will be of interest.

It might be that the good people of Sheffield - perhaps - took fright at a exhibition of a photograph who had taken a self-portrait with a whip handle stuck up his own (excuse me), and whose section in the Barbican sex exhibition was hedged with even more warnings than any of the, yanno, female nudes elsewhere. But surely such things would be checked out in advance?

Let's go to Sheffield, anyway.

( Let's see if I waste my time )

In the next two rooms are the Comedians, and in some ways you'd have expected keeping the two areas distinct. This is National Portrait Gallery stuff - and was so-so. It seems as if there were no female comedians prior to Victoria Wood - when you expect there would be images of the music hall stars and Gracie Fields and so forth. It's not as if there were no obscure figures - but I think they needed more early stuff.

But it also strikes me that I'm not that interested in portraiture - the Gay Icons exhibition at the NPG was okay, but could have been (and was) a book - but I'm not sure it adds anything to my knowledge of the world. There's no real information on who was taking the pictures - they were credite, but who were they - who were the artists? I don't think it quite ticks my boxes, and I take few portraits myself.

comments

Expotitions - Update November

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:15:17 GMT

Closes in November 2009

Fragments 10/11/2008-8/11/2009 V&A Room 116, The Belinda Gentle Metalware Gallery Free admission

Artists Rooms: Celmins, Gallagher, Hirst, Katz, Warhol, Woodman 14/3/2009– 8/11/ 2009 Edinburgh – Scottish National Gallery Of Modern Art

A Higher Ambition: Owen Jones (1809-74) 28/3/2009-22/11/2009 V&A Free admission

Diane Thater 'Tigers and Other People' 26/9/2009-29/11/2010 Towner Gallery, Eastbourne

The Permanent Collection on display in the John Madejski Fine Rooms 20/12/2008-29/11/2009 Royal Academy

Closes in December 2009

Michael Kidner RA: Dreams of the World Order 1960s 25/9/2009-9/12/2009 Royal Academy of Arts

Experiments in Design: The Omega Workshops 1913–1919 Courtauld Gallery 7/9/2009-10/12/2009

Anish Kapoor 26/9/2009-11/12/2009 Royal Academy of Arts

The Artist’s Studio 26/9/2009– 13/12/2009 Compton Verney

Flashback: Bridget Riley 25/9/2009– 13/12/2009 Liverpool Walker Gallery

( Closes after December 2009 )

comments

In Which I Repeatedly Lose My Fu

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:24:31 GMT

This wasn't where I'd thought I'd be, but even in the run up we'd got to plan d or e, so spending a lump of money to avoid wasting a small about of money made sense, and it ticked something off the list.

( Euston, We Have a Problem )

( The Land of the Concrete Cow )

( Rainy City Blues )

( Angels of Anarchy )

( Porn )

( Tourette's )

( Sunday )

Soon I’d better go forth and investigate Sunday shopping, maybe even buy some lunch. The train is at 4.30. I have a work related email to seethe about. But I can’t deal with this until I’m home.

comments

Exhibitions - An Update

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:01:43 GMT

Full calendar at, I believe, http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=andrewmbutler42%40googlemail.com&ctz=Europe/London

Closes in October 2009

Fiona Crisp Subterrania 31/7/2009–4/10/2009 Baltic, Gateshead
Edward Burne-Jones: The Perseus Series 28/2/2009 - 4/10/ 2009 Birmingham Museum And Art Gallery
When You’re A Boy: Men’s Fashioned Styled by Simon Foxton 17/7/2009-4/10/2009 Photographers':
* Telling Tales 14/7/2009-18/10/2009 V&A The Porter Gallery Free admission
Jeppe Hein, Appearing Rooms 27/4/2009-23/10/2009 Hayward Gallery Free admission
Paper City: Urban UtopiasPaper City: Urban Utopias 31/7/2009-27/10/2009 Royal Academy of Arts Architecture space FREE

( Closes after October )

comments

Expotitions - Update October

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:05:55 GMT

Full calendar at, I believe, http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=andrewmbutler42%40googlemail.com&ctz=Europe/London

Closes in October 2009

Fiona Crisp Subterrania 31/7/2009–4/10/2009 Baltic, Gateshead
Edward Burne-Jones: The Perseus Series 28/2/2009 - 4/10/ 2009 Birmingham Museum And Art Gallery
When You’re A Boy: Men’s Fashioned Styled by Simon Foxton 17/7/2009-4/10/2009 Photographers':
* Telling Tales 14/7/2009-18/10/2009 V&A The Porter Gallery Free admission
Jeppe Hein, Appearing Rooms 27/4/2009-23/10/2009 Hayward Gallery Free admission
Paper City: Urban Utopias Paper City: Urban Utopias 31/7/2009-27/10/2009 Royal Academy of Arts Architecture space FREE

( Less Urgent )
Fragments 10/11/2008-8/11/2009 V&A Room 116, The Belinda Gentle Metalware Gallery Free admission
Artists Rooms: Celmins, Gallagher, Hirst, Katz, Warhol, Woodman 14/3/2009– 8/11/ 2009 Edinburgh – Scottish National Gallery Of Modern Art
A Higher Ambition: Owen Jones (1809-74) 28/3/2009-22/11/2009 V&A Free admission
The Permanent Collection on display in the John Madejski Fine Rooms 20/12/2008-29/11/2009 Royal Academy

Closes in December 2009
Michael Kidner RA: Dreams of the World Order 1960s 25/9/2009-9/12/2009 Royal Academy of Arts
Experiments in Design: The Omega Workshops 1913–1919 Courtauld Gallery 7/9/2009-10/12/2009
Anish Kapoor 26/9/2009-11/12/2009 Royal Academy of Arts
The Artist’s Studio 26/9/2009– 13/12/2009 Compton Verney
Flashback: Bridget Riley 25/9/2009– 13/12/2009 Liverpool Walker Gallery

Closes in January 2010
John Baldessari: Pure Beauty 13/10/2009-10/1/2010 Tate Modern
Angels of Anarchy: Women Artists and Surrealism 26/9/2009 – 10/1/2010 Manchester Art Gallery
Martin Parr Parrworld 17/10/2009–10/1/2010 Baltic, Gateshead
Jeremy Millar: Given 24/9/2009-17/1/2010 National Maritime Museum:
Pop Life [was Sold Out] 1/10/2009-17/1/2010 Tate Modern
Maharaja: the Splendour of India's Royal Courts 10/10/2009-17/1/2010 V&A
* Richard Dadd 14/10/2009 – 17/1/2010 Dulwich Picture Gallery
* Drawing Attention: Tiepolo, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Picasso and more 21/10/2009 – 17/1/2010 Dulwich Picture Gallery
* Turner and the Masters 23/9/2009-24/1/2010 Tate Britain
Beatles to Bowie: the 60s exposed 15/10/2009-24/1/2010 National Portrait Gallery
The Sacred Made Real: Spanish Painting and Sculpture 1600-1700 21/10/2009-24/1/2010 National Gallery Admission Charge
The Making of a Spanish Polychrome Sculpture 21/10/2009-24/1/2010 National Gallery
Wild Thing: Epstein, Gaudier-Brzeska, Gill 24/10/2009-24/1/2010 Royal Academy of Arts
* Capturing the Concept: The Sketchbooks of Sir Nicholas Grimshaw CBE PRA from 1982 to 2007 6/11/2009-31/1/2010 Royal Academy of Arts FREE
* RAA GSK Contemporary 2009 3/12/2009-31/1/2010 Royal Academy of Arts - Burlington Gardens

Closes in February 2010
Kienholz, ‘Hoerengracht’ 18/11/2009-21/2/2010 National Gallery Free admission

Closes in March 2010
Objects of Luxury: French porcelain of the eighteenth century /9/2009-/3/2010 V&A Room 146 Free admission
The Rise of Women Artists 23/10/2009 – 14/3/2010 Liverpool Walker Gallery
* Robert Mapplethorpe Artist Rooms 19/12/2009- Sheffield – Graves Art Gallery

Closes in April 2010

The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters 23/1/2010-18/4/2010 Royal Academy of Arts

Closes in July 2010

* Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill 6/3/2010-4/7/2010 V&A
Quilts 20/3/2010-18/7/2010 V&A Exhibitions, Room 39 and North Court

Closes in January 2011
Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes 1900-1939 18/9/2010-16/1/2011 V&A

Closes in January 2012
* Love, Magic and Power 10/9/2011-8/1/2012 V&A
* Postmodernism 8/10/2011-15/1/2012 V&A Rooms 38 and 39, and North Court

Closes in July 2011
* Aestheticism: Beauty in Art and Design 1860-1900 4/7/2011-// V&A

Closes in July 2013
100 Years of Hollywood Costume: Virgins and Vamps, Saints and sinners (TBC) 4/2013-7/2013 V&A

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Expotitions - Update September

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:01:10 GMT

I started to maintain a list of exhibitions and gallery type things, and set up a Google calendar for these - at https://www.google.com/calendar/render?tab=mc&gsessionid=tP4LVg7bacAkb1Bvnl2LxQ perhaps, but I can add you if you are interested. At the same time, it doesn't necessarily do all I want in letting me know what finishes when - you know, so that you go to see the thing that finishes next week now, not the one that's on until next year. So here's an update, and note the Richard Dadds at Dulwich. Starred entries at ones I'm pretty sure I'll go to.

I know this is a centric list - very South East UK, and based on what interests me or might interest people I know. Corrections, additions and comments welcome. I plan an update at the end of September and the calendar itself is a little behind. But: my gaff...

( Exhibitions for Expotitions )

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Wild Beuys

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:01:23 GMT

When Joseph Beuys crashed his plane during the Second World War, the Tartars who rescued him rubbed animal fat on his body, and wrapped him in felt. It should be no surprise to see felt and animal fat as recurrent elements in his ready mades and central to his art.

Beuys is the subject of the Artist Rooms exhibition at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on Sea. The Artist Rooms series of exhibitions are sponsored by Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland, and are scattered around the country - Warhol in Walsall, Mapplethorpe in Sheffield - but you need to do some digging to find the dates and locations of them (the Tate's own website not being that informative - http://www.tate.org.uk/collections/featuredworks_doffay.htm is one way in), and seems to be built around the donation of Anthony d’Offay (see also http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/aug/24/artist-rooms). ETA: http://www.tate.org.uk/collection/artistrooms/ gives dates and venues

( Beuys is Here )

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Eastbourne

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:03:15 GMT

Saturday and to Eastbourne - although I think the trains have been retimed so that it's a rush to get to the train at Ashford, and no longer coming in at an adjacent platform doesn't help. Still, I caught it with three minutes to spare and got a seat at a table. The two carriages are clearly not enough - but apparently there is no demand. It's a pleasant run through what sounds like Harry Potter land - Appledore, Ham Street - and thence to Rye and Hastings. There are numerou places here that look worth exploring.

I did two bits of research in advance - charity shops and bookshops. The charity shops are based along Grove Road and Terminus Road, and there is one second hand bookshop. I didn't locate the Towner Gallery in advance, as it's "one of the most significant public art collections in the South East" so obviously would be signposted.

Obviously.

....

I poked my head into what looked a promising arcade of fifty small shops, with a food hall at one end, but nothing leapt out, aside from the fish statue, and then crossed the main road again to the library. I could have bought a handful of DVDs here, but settled for Southland Tales and a reading copy of Tau Zero. Leaflets for the Towner Gallery were notable for their absence - or indeed any maps of Eastbourne. Then it was a case of working my way down Grove and popping into charity shops.

I'd forgotten the bookshop was there as well, and browsed the external 50p shelves and honesty box, and there was stuff I wanted but had, so no joy there. Inside made the Broadstairs Albion Bookshop (see icon on this post) look threadbare - immediately inside were piles of 30+ paperbacks a dozen deep. The visible spines were tempting, but mostly it was out of reach - as was the shelved stuff. I gingerly picked my way through the maze and tried to establish organising principles, and discovered there was a downstairs, which was even scarier. There was a lack of Tolkein on the stairs (and indeed Tolkien), and whilst some of the fiction a to z was relevant, I couldn't face the browse, and indeed nothing bar a Baudrillard leapt out, and I put that back. It's the sort of bookshop that could kill you with a pile of paperbacks - what a way to go, but still. (See here for something similar.)

I walked as far as the town hall, and turned left in Little Chelsea. At the end of this road I could head forward to the sea, or left to tourist information, and the latter seemed wisest. Tourist Information lacked any visible information on the Towner (and you can't ask), nor do the local town centre map show anything. A book on Eastbourne did reveal it was part of the theatre complex.

This took me back to Terminus Road, and I headed, via a chippy, to the sea front, where I sat watching the pier and fought off gulls. It looks as if, like Whitstable, there are seaforts off the coast, and it felt odd not to see a windfarm. I slowly toasted and watched the geriatric Brands Hatch of motability scooters.

Time then to head for the theatres - Devonshire Park Theatre and Compass Theatre, the latter recognisable from a postcard I'd seen at Tyneside market. At this point I cracked and asked in th box office for directions - and it turns out that the Towner Gallery was the other side of the box office - and still no chuffing signs.

I wonder if they had the De La Warr Pavilion in mind - it does look like it's carved out of royal icing, with a marriage of curves and corners see (here). But it doesn't have the sheer ocean-going-liner romance of the 1930s building, and the sixties Compass Theatre limits its facade to three sides. There's a pleasant second floor cafe, with good views over the town, the tennis and the downs (the ups?), and rather odd acoustics on the balcony. The interior has gone for the bolted concrete slab look, which is an industrial honesty miles away from the mock assembly rooms Victoriana of most galleries. The design was by Rick Mather Architects, who have also worked on the South Bank, Dulwich Picture Gallery and the National Maritime Museum.

The Towner Collection is the heart of the gallery - with initially the first two floors being given over to a contemporary selection including Tacita Dean and one of those flowers under glass sculptures, and a popular choice. Acquisition and selection means there's a pile of Eastbourne and Beachy Head scenes - remarkably few of which would be damned by the term "inoffensive", and some good more abstract stuff. Nothing blew me away, but I've seen an awful lot of bad municipal purchases - where the frame takes up as much room as the picture itself. There's a lot of Eric Ravilious, a local boy of whom I've not eard; there's clearly an interest in engraved-style art; design as much as pictorial. Subject to the special exhibition - in this case bone chandeliers by Jodie Carey in a darkened room full of fruit boxes - I think it'd be worth an annual visit.

After browsing and purchasing in the shop - two or three Christmas presents accounted for - I naviagted a more direct route back to Terminus Road and the remaining charity shops. I didn't get time to do the Arndale Centre - no great loss I suspect - nor did I do the Old Town, but I got back in time for the 17.08 to Ashford.

So, a useful day of browsing, and weird swinging between first liking the town, then sliding off it and finally gaining respect. But, still. One of the most significant public art collections in the South East? They need signposts.

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