The Easel

21st May 2024

Why textiles are all the rage in the art world right now

Sebastian Smee | Texarkana Gazette | 5th May 2024

Textiles have long been discounted as craft rather than art. Two “fabulous” US shows of textiles indicate this may be changing. One reason is a greater appreciation of textiles’ role in the development of modernism. In addition, current textile artists – like the American Sheila Hicks – are wildly inventive. This writer declares that weaving is “one of the most extraordinary, sophisticated things humans have ever managed to do. It’s connected not just to survival … but also to the human capacity for abstract thought.”

Jenny Holzer’s Facile Guggenheim Museum Show Fails to Meet Our Moment

Alex Greenberger | ARTnews | 16th May 2024

Holzer made her name in the 1980’s with text propositions such as “PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT” and “MONEY CREATES TASTE”. Now re-presented in a major New York show, the numerous reviews seem lacking in enthusiasm. Perhaps that’s because, in the 1980’s, her calculated texts revealed “the slipperiness of language”. Now, in the world of the internet, the mechanics of language and power are all too familiar, making her work “dated”.

Indigenous Histories

Veronica Simpson | Studio International | 8th May 2024

This piece starts as a straight forward review of an “extraordinary” show surveying Indigenous art from around the globe. But it get more complicated. These works declare cosmological beliefs and connection to nature and place, sharply contrasting with the ideas that “colonising cultures” disseminated about “the colonised.” Another issue is who gets included in today’s global art conversation. One observer notes wryly, “We don’t appreciate things in our culture until other people show an interest”.

How Keith Haring’s art transcended critics, bigotry and a merciless virus

Jessica Ferri | LA Times | 15th March 2024

A new biography of Keith Haring extensively details the background to his meteoric art career. Arriving in New York when graffiti was everywhere, his thousands of chalk drawings helped him find his artistic voice and also brought him to attention. One critic likened the work to “boogieing on a Saturday night”, perhaps reflecting the view that work of such popularity could not be great. He quickly became wealthy, actively supported public causes and declared his real interest in art was “as a means of living a life.”

The controversial photographs that skewer British peculiarities

Deborah Nicholls-Lee | bbc.com | 13th May 2024

For all of the acclaim that Parr receives, the criticisms of him persist. Some call him a snob and think his images are a form of sneering about the British. One critic accuses him of “smash and grab photography”, for not working closely with communities where he is photographing. Most critics are more lenient, thinking that Parr celebrates British quirkiness and pragmatism. Parr’s own defence – “one can learn much more about the country where you live from a comedian than from a conference of sociologists,”

Yinka Shonibare CBE: Suspended States And Decolonialised Structures – Serpentine

Sue Hubbard | Artlyst | 21st April 2024

Perhaps, in art, there can be too much of a good thing. Shonibare has made a career out of using African patterns to decorate the symbols of British imperialism – especially statues of its acclaimed figures. It’s a deft way to call out colonial attitudes while also highlighting that our world has long been interconnected. Several critics point out, Shonibare has been producing the same work for decades. Observes one, “there’s nothing new here, but if you had an idea this good you’d probably overdo it too.”

One painting at a time: ‘King Charles III’ by Jonathan Yeo

Emily Lawford | Prospect | 16th May 2024

Irresistible! A portrait of King Charles has been unveiled, capturing attention for a few moments. A review by the national broadcaster is straight-faced, but other reactions are more colourful. One viewer called the work “a blood bath”. A London critic called it “curiously unthrusting” (not a typo) while a US critic said it was “confused, obsequious, oversized and unaccountably frightening”. Queen Camilla is said to approve (which is important), as does the reviewer. A short survey of royal portraits is here.

14th May 2024

The indestructible art of Frank Stella

Peter Schjeldahl | The New Yorker | 4th May 2024

Stella was devoted to abstraction but not abstract expressionism. He felt the latter presumed its own spiritual greatness. So, he started making austere black striped paintings – among the first minimalist works – and found instant acclaim. That style, along with many others, was discarded in a career full of reinvention. Despite being seen as an art world “god”, Stella’s advice about his own work was to avoid interpretation, “what you see is what you see.” An obituary is here and a light hearted interview with Stella is here.

The Last Caravaggio: how a once-forgotten masterpiece became the National Gallery’s latest coup

Nancy Durrant | The Standard | 8th April 2024

In London, just two works by Caravaggio is sufficient for a show. The painting of St Ursula, shows an “extraordinary” range of emotions. Having spurned the advances of a princely Hun, said prince shoots Ursula with an arrow. Here is Caravaggio at his cinematic best – dramatic lighting that emphasises faces and hands, an ashen Ursula, a furious yet anguished prince and, in the background, observing the violent act, Caravaggio himself. The artist died weeks later, possibly of malaria. “What a way to go out”.

Joan Jonas

Johanna Fateman | 4Columns | 10th May 2024

Jonas trained as a sculptor but, in the 1960’s wandered into dance, seeing little difference between “a poem, a sculpture, a film or a dance”. Those explorations helped establish video and performance as recognised art forms. Her view was that these were just extensions of traditional storytelling, for which she developed modes of “technologized sorcery” including an alter ego, the “seductress Organic Honey”. Her first major retrospective offers “an experience of unexpected sculptural and scenographic power”.

Brancusi, Pompidou Centre, Paris review – a sculptor’s spiritual quest for form and essence

Mark Kidel | the arts desk | 8th May 2024

After a brief period working in Rodin’s studio, Brancusi struck out on his own. He steadily discarded Rodin’s drama and detailed surfaces, instead seeking a refined simplicity that expressed “the essence of things”. His animals, for example, capture not just images of idealised nature but also the dynamism of movement. The results included not just objects of utter beauty but foundational ideas about modernist art. In a Paris packed with Olympic visitors, this show will surely be box office gold. Images are here.

Orlando Whitfield sets the story straight on Inigo Philbrick

Jacob Wilson | Plaster | 1st May 2024

Tales of art world theft and deception are usually just “cops and robbers” stories. Inigo Philbrick is an exception whose misdeeds speak loudly about the art market . The mania for contemporary art has facilitated “deliberate, wilful obscurity as a modus operandi.“ Further, it has given rise to the depressing adage that a dealer is “someone who can sell a painting he doesn’t like to a buyer who doesn’t want it.” It’s a reminder of the two most important words in art – caveat emptor. A book excerpt is here.

Why I was wrong about Georg Baselitz and his upside-down paintings

Waldemar Januszczak | Waldemar.tv | 4th May 2024

You know Baselitz – he’s the German artist who hangs his paintings upside down. His long career has focused on the past, notably Germany’s turbulent history, but his recent work has turned more personal. It has a sense of “finality” says one writer, “a great artist performing his own last rites”. That doesn’t mean it is sombre; some works have “glorious paintwork … creamy and glistening”. Says another critic “one of the most moving exhibitions staged in London for some time.”

The brighter side of German Expressionism

William Cook | The Critic | 11th May 2024

Gloomy is the right description for German expressionists like Beckmann and Grosz. Not so the Blue Rider group. That small collective, active between 1911 and 1914, explored the ability of colour to evoke emotion. With just two shows and a single magazine, their bold compositions prepared the way for abstraction. Among this talented group Kandinsky and Marc were acknowledged standouts. But WW1 arrived, the group scattered and some died fighting. After 1918, those gloomy expressionists took over.

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