The Easel

17th November 2020

Theaster Gates Blends Art and Activism in a Powerful New Show at Gagosian

Lucy Rees | Galerie | 12th October 2020

Gates has been called “the poster boy for socially engaged art.” Many reviews of his solo show thus hesitate about where to look – his art works or his dazzling social activism. His paintings, made with humble building materials, seem craft-like. Comments Gates, “who divides the highbrow from the commonplace”? An exhibition that “celebrates the handmade, the tactile, and the community is a welcome breath of fresh air.” A video on Gates’ art is here.

Antony Gormley: why sculpture is far superior to painting

Martin Gayford | The Spectator | 7th November 2020

What came first, sculpture or language? Gormley, a sculptor, suggests sculpture, because “touch and recognition” are central to human nature. Gormley then mounts a bigger claim – sculpture, “a form of physical thinking … is the pre-eminent art. Sculpture asks the world to stand aside and give it a place, whereas painting … [is] weak; it needs a stretcher, a wall, a building — it needs shelter.” A video is here.

10th November 2020

Reality check: Sarah Sze brings AR to Fondation Cartier

Nick Compton | Wallpaper | 21st October 2020

Sze’s work is interesting and important, it’s just difficult to put into words. A Paris show comprises two big installations, each a whirl of found objects, bits of paper, projected images. What is the implied scale – are we looking at an explosion, an implosion or “drilling into the sub-atomic?” That uncertainty, it seems, is what Sze wants, a borderland between “interior and exterior worlds.” As she observes “When we dream, there is no real sense of scale”.

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