The Easel

25th August 2026

Women hate this artist’s boob obsession — men aren’t so sure

Critics have long puzzled about Currin’s paintings, and a London show continues the trend. Painted with great finesse, these images of women are drawn from 1970’s clothing catalogues and display a “cornucopia of boobs”. One writer suggests these are “images of desire, discomfort, and spectacle”. This writer pushes back. Currin is not being rude toward women but instead representing memories of women in his mother’s social circle. “Yes, there’s mockery [but] there’s a tenderness to be felt as well”.

18th August 2026

Dissidence for dummies

At Ai Weiwei’s first big show in London 15 years ago, he was hailed as an intellectually stimulating conceptual artist. A current show shows how much that reputation has shrunk. The works on display are often huge – a 49m inflatable boat, a three-tonne black glass chandelier, enormous flags – and address a profusion of issues. Some carry emotional impact while others are “self-aggrandising” or just “glib”. “Ai …  pretends to illuminate a problem whilst, in fact, obscuring it”.