The Easel

6th September 2022

Wolfgang Tillmans’ ways of seeing

Arthur Lubow | W Magazine | 31st August 2022

Tillmans seems to acquire accolades with ease, a Turner Prize in 2000 being just the first of many. They are indicators of the distinctiveness of his photography, which is about being alert to the present. His work isn’t diaristic, he says. Rather, he strives to “spotlight something that everyone pretends not to see”. That something might be specific (youthful eroticism, AIDS) or just a “sense of the here and now”. Either way, his work is “a flash news report from and for a new generation”.

Barbara Kruger’s ‘Rabbit Hole’ at MoMA

Aaron Betsky | Architect | 28th July 2022

Kruger is resolutely unorthodox – she exhibits infrequently, does not copyright her works (leading to widespread copying), avoids self-promotion. Her text-focused images don’t bother with subtlety – “more wallop than resonance” as one writer puts it. Yet she is one of very few artists to have significantly influenced our visual world. Confined to just the atrium of New York’s MoMA, her current show is scaled up so that it “overwhelms” the space. Its architecture “screams her messages”.

Why the Barnes Foundation matters

Eric Gibson | The New Criterion | 1st September 2022

Philadelphia’s Barnes Foundation has a dazzling collection of Cézanne, Matisse and Seurat paintings. Reflecting current social discourse, much art criticism now emphasises artist identity and social context. This appreciation of that collection seems almost quaint by comparison, with its focus on the technical qualities of the paintings and personal aesthetic judgement. The inclusion of this piece is not taking sides in an important debate, but simply a reminder of just how much art criticism has shifted.

Japanese design: Rinpa

Staff | Asian Art | 26th August 2022

The Tokugawa shogunate brought prosperity to 17th century Japan. Kyoto’s artists responded by more freely using colour, pattern and form – the Rinpa school was born. It did not limit artistic expression, meaning that its leading figures were designers as much as painters. Their “spectacular” household screens, ceramics and lacquerware mixed realism and stylization in a way that “harmonises with our modern aesthetic ideals” and still influences contemporary design.

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