The Easel

19th September 2017

Object lessons: Rachel Whiteread and the legacy of the Young British Artists

Michael Prodger | The New Statesman | 14th September 2017

London’s “YBA’s” – of which Whiteread was a peripheral member – brought a blast of new ideas. Has her early promise been fulfilled? Whiteread’s reputation has benefitted because, atypically, her work is quiet – it carries “the imprint of anonymous lives.  She is a somewhat limited artist … But in refining her technique, she also refines the expressive possibilities of her work … a still-life artist whose work commemorates Everyman”

12th September 2017

The Outside-In Art of Grayson Perry

Jenny Uglow | The New York Review of Books | 6th September 2017

“Popularity,” says Perry “is a serious business.” Via his art and associated media activity, he has become a popular – and astute – social commentator on contemporary Britain. So why does he irk some critics? Is it art world anxiety that popularity denotes a lack of seriousness? Or is it that Perry, a potter, wants to show that “craft is also “art,” and that it belongs to us all.”  More images are here.

Giovanni da Rimini: A 14th-Century Masterpiece Unveiled

Staff | Art Theoria

We take perspective for granted but it only appeared in painting around 1400. Before that Byzantine iconography was the dominant style – no sense of depth, figures without a sense of volume or genuine emotion. Around 1300 Giotto broke with this tradition by painting from real life and Giovanni followed suit. But, progressive and talented though Florence was, it took another century before realism was fully mastered.

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