The Easel

15th April 2025

David Hockney 25 review: an absolutely enormous splash

Caroline Roux | The Art Newspaper | 9th April 2025

Hockney is probably Britain’s most beloved, and widely covered, living artist. What can be learned from a huge Paris retrospective? Renowned for his optimism, Hockney’s recent work is more introspective, pushing back on accusations he is a hedonist. He remains prolific. And, seeing Hockney at scale reminds (again) that he is “a fabulous painter”. Another agrees “Like Monet and his Haystacks, there are things from our time that Hockney has shown us how to see.” A review of some key works is here.

8th April 2025

Mahtab Hussain: What Did You Want to See?

Veronica Simpson | Studio International | 7th April 2025

British Asians in Birmingham – predominantly Muslim – have long suffered racist stereotyping. Having been criticised for being either too Asian or too British, Hussain has had to think hard about identity. A solo show features portraits of individual British Asians together with images of Birmingham’s 160 mosques. Far from confirming the usual stereotypes, it’s a study in “mind-boggling diversity”, which is Hussain’s point. Perhaps like himself, “Birmingham [has] a very messy identity. It doesn’t know who it is.”

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