Friday 24th August: ANTHEA HAMILTON "THE SQUASH"

Anthea Hamilton's "THE SQUASH" sculpture and performance piece at Tate Britain until October 8th.

See archive posts on Anthea here and here.

Wednesday 1st Nov: SUPERFLEX'S ONE TWO THREE SWING!

Danish artist's collective Superflex have filled the Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern with swings made of seats for 3 people.  Kitty, Fatima and I went down to have a go and of course see the spectrum flooring which covers the great expanse of the the old power station.  It's not evident that the carpet has any seams so it appears all one piece.  Incredible!  Turns out that it perfectly matches our current hair colours with pink and violet............... serendipity...........

See "One Two Three Swing!"  until 2nd April

Saturday 21st October: Tate Modern, "Soul Of A Nation"

It's the final weekend of the Tate Modern's show "Soul Of A Nation:  Art In The Age Of Black Power" which celebrates the work of Black artists working in America from 1963 throughout the following two decades.  In the height of the Civil Rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King spoke of a dream that his children would live in a "nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character".  In conjunction with this, contemporary artists featured in the show were not only creating work to question this notion of judgement but also actively provoke positive change.  Artists joined forces in collectives to strengthen their message and provide a platform for group shows at a time when there weren't other opportunities to share their work.  In addition to their fine art, here you can see walls in Harlem that were painted with bright murals to give the neighbourhood an uplifting backdrop as antidote to the climate of unrest.  This group known as the "Smokehouse Associates" were four artists who chose to use abstract art rather than narrative images to empower change.  One of these was William T. Williams who likened his abstract artistic approach to improvisational jazz and his painting "Trane" featured is named after John Coltrane for his stream of consciousness in sound.

In my highlights here I've also chosen “We Came From There To Get Here” by Joe Overstreet from 1970.  He was an artist from the Black Arts Movement and previously painted backdrops for Sun Ra.  The sentiment of the title seems very poignant today with the canvas pegged out like a tent as a nod to feeling his own nomadic status "with all the insensitivity in America".  And secondly “Homage to Malcolm” by Jack Whitten in 1970, a triangular painting paying homage to Malcolm X who had visited the pyramids, painted with an Afro-comb to manipulate layers of black paint.

All practises, motivations, methods and aesthetics are covered and explained to represent the wide field of work happening united by similar beliefs.  Despite conflicting actions, the movement and uprising has been coherently plotted out in galleries dedicated to artists across the nation.  By looking at the different kinds of art you can get insight into the interpretations of political visions being explored from "Black Power' and an integrated America to the contrasting ideals of an independent autonomous "Black Nation". 

When reviews give an exhibition the title or tag of #MustSee , in this case it is completely justified so if you haven't yet had a chance, today is the day!    

Friday 7th April: David Hockney at Tate Britain

David Hockney at Tate Britain is brilliant.  Of course.  

I've been looking forward to this for a very long time.  It's such an amazing opportunity to see all of his classics in one place at one time.  All the portraits are huge and heavenly, the colours from California are cosmic and the patterns in the swimming pool ripples sit perfectly on the gallery's walls painted pastel pink for the show ............ 
Each defining moment of his career is pin-pointed by so many works brought together for this retrospective.  The Polaroid photo-collages are epic and latterly followed up by massive film montages of the Yorkshire landscape across the four seasons.  
It's fascinating to follow his progression from a pencil self portrait when he was a teenager, right up until the present day and his iPad mark making.  It's a block-buster and one to attend on repeat.

Sunday 19th February: LFW AW17 - Matty Bovan at Fashion East

 Matty Bovan's section of the Fashion East show held at the Tate with set design by William Farr & makeup by Miranda Joyce.  The collection of hand-crafted knits and crochet is his backlash to mass production of the corporate fashion market.  Matty purposefully pieced and felted panels of end-of-run-yarns to fabricate garments of value and virtue.  These were styled with perspex visors and Bladerunner-esque makeup to create a mash of worlds from the Medieval roots of his home-town York with sci-fi film's dystopian future.  I loved this move into tribal textiles in earth tones from last season's hi-vis palette and pattern.  It's still unmistakably his vision with Fimo & crystal accessories but this time tied up with drift-wood to take it into AW17.

See SS17 here.

Sunday 19th June: New Tate Modern

This weekend the Tate have opened the doors to their new structure which has been growing towards the sky, behind the power-station on the Thames.  It looms in different angular directions, with an exoskeleton of ventilated brick-work so that you can see thru to the gallery inside.  It's awesome.  The interior curves of cement makes it feel as monumental as the Guggenheim which is really exciting for London.  Just scaling each of the 10 floors is an adventure on its own, so the art was just a bonus on this first visit.  As you can see, there is a room of beds for when you might need a break!  

The new free exhibitions include work by Louise Bourgeois, Rebecca Horn, Lygia Clark, Yayoi Kusama ............ a great representation of female artists amongst the collection of international modern and contemporary art.  I need to go again to reach the summit viewing point and get round all of the shows............  

Look out for Michael Craig-Martin's pink and green TFL roundel's at Southwark as a commission from "Art On The Underground" to celebrate the new gallery opening.......... 

Saturday 31st October: TATE Modern at the MO

Current show :  The World Goes Pop & Abraham Cruzvillegas: Empty Lot in the Turbine Hall