The Easel

29th September 2026

The 2026 Turner Prize Show Is Grim—but the Strongest in Years

Eddy Frankel | Artnet | 24th September 2026

The Turner Prize is one of the art world’s most closely watched events. The themes of the four shortlisted artists are grim – climate apocalypse and political discord. As with so much contemporary art, opinions divide on how best to expresses the zeitgeist. For example, one work that references “global oil” is seen as either “amazingly sinister” or “belonging to an undergraduate sketchbook”. Although the writer has no idea who will win the prize, he observes that “sometimes the grimmest of times produces the best art”.

22nd September 2026

The Pattern of Life: Enid Marx and Modern British Design

Anna McNay | Studio International | 18th August 2026

Marx’s house was full of kitschy, “enjoyably silly” items, not what one might expect of such a widely influential designer. Training as a pattern designer, she was exposed to the abstract pattern making of various Indigenous cultures. With WW2 creating opportunities for women, Marx designed the seat fabric used on the London Underground, among many projects. More widely acclaimed at the time than now, she moved past the “waning Arts and Crafts ideas” to establish “a distinctively British Modernism’”.

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