The Easel

1st February 2022

Allison Katz, Artery, review: a zany show that puts the mischief back into painting

Cal Revely-Calder | The Telegraph | 17th January 2022

When a new artist gets their first solo show, critics try to spot the artist’s ‘theme’. Katz, at her first major solo show in London, seems to have everyone stumped. Some of her paintings are full of “trickery” – word puns, visual illusions. Others feature cabbages, cockerels, or open mouths. “There is no grand theme or statement’ concludes the writer, just an artist considering the conventions of painting … and producing work that is “continuous fun”.

Retrospective for performance artist, arch provocateur and 80s club kid Leigh Bowery hits London

Joe Bromley | Evening Standard | 24th January 2022

If Yves Saint Laurent has a place in the art world, so too does Leigh Bowery. It’s just hard to name that place. Bowery was prominent – monstrous – in 1980’s London, in fashion, dance, club, music and art, famously inspiring portraits by Lucien Freud. His most obvious legacy is the wild creativity and street/club culture he brought into fashion. A rock star of that time called him “modern art on legs”. Of himself he said, “if you label me, you negate me”. Images are here and a bio piece here.

Made In The Dark Room: Roy DeCarava Captures Mid-Century New York

Amah-Rose Abrams | The Quietus | 29th January 2022

After trying to be an artist, DeCarava switched to photography. Success came very quickly and his images of 1950’s Harlem – the Harlem that he knew – are still remarkably fresh. Jazz clubs were a favourite haunt and their smoky low-light ambience suited his aesthetic perfectly. If necessary, he processed his images to darken them – “not quite black and white, more tones of grey … His images can seem teased out of the darkness”. More images are here.

25th January 2022

Street cred – how Helen Levitt turned a cool eye on life in New York

Zakia Uddin | Apollo | 21st December 2021

One critic calls Levitt a “quiet genius” of modern photography. Her photographs of street life – most famously children – in New York’s poor neighbourhoods helped define street photography. First in black and white and then in colour – but always with a certain tenderness – her images show an eye for the off-kilter and portray the street as “above all, a theater and a battleground”. More images are here.

Gainsborough’s Blue Boy: The private life of a masterpiece

Matthew Wilson | bbc.com | 21st January 2022

Gainsborough’s Blue Boy goes on show in London today. Quickly famous after its first showing in 1770, it remains so because its sumptuous beauty supports so many narratives. The image is performative – a young boy, a commoner, striking an aristocratic pose. Modern eyes detect gender fluidity leading to its use in anti-gay material and most recently as a marker of gay pride. It’s a two-century journey from “a pillar of traditional cultural values to gay icon”. Gainsborough would be astonished.

Older links
Newer links