Tag: art

Future plans are a kind of ‘bridging project’ for  possible migrations. It reflects on visiting the exemplary exhibition at Tate Modern, London Bankside, on 9th July 2025.

July 15, 2025

Future plans are a kind of ‘bridging project’ for possible migrations. This blog is about naming the space we travel through in the art of Do Ho Suh. It reflects on visiting the exemplary exhibition at Tate Modern, London Bankside, on 9th July 2025. “But what exactly do you mean by space?” I remember the … More Future plans are a kind of ‘bridging project’ for  possible migrations. It reflects on visiting the exemplary exhibition at Tate Modern, London Bankside, on 9th July 2025.

Retrospecting on Edward Burra: This blog reflects on visiting the wonderful exhibition at Tate Britain, London Millbank, on 9th July 2025.

July 14, 2025

Retrospecting on Edward Burra: This blog reflects on visiting the wonderful exhibition at Tate Britain, London Millbank, on 9th July 2025. I am building a large Edward Burra library. Though some items are rather shabby reading copies such as the Andrew Causey Edward Burra: Complete Catalogue  and the Jane Stevenson biography of the artist, the content … More Retrospecting on Edward Burra: This blog reflects on visiting the wonderful exhibition at Tate Britain, London Millbank, on 9th July 2025.

Unexpected pleasures on my London trip: I find Louise at home in the Turbine Hall inviting me to see her ‘Maman’.

July 12, 2025

Unexpected pleasures on my London trip: I find Louise at home in the Turbine Hall  inviting me to see her Maman – being the second day of my London trip (July 2 2025) This is the first of three accounts of my second day of my two days away referenced in the blog at this … More Unexpected pleasures on my London trip: I find Louise at home in the Turbine Hall inviting me to see her ‘Maman’.

“It’s a poetic way of thinking about history, where materials themselves tell the story of power, fragility, and change”. Ali Cherri speaks of his art as ‘speaking through materiality’ in order to ‘reclaim the space of storytelling’. Losing ‘track of time’ is really a phrase we use when we track time not by the clock but by the qualitative meaure of its process in the way we tell stories, even hi-story.

July 7, 2025

“It’s a poetic way of thinking about history, where materials themselves tell the story of power, fragility, and change”. Ali Cherri speaks of his art as ‘speaking through materiality’ in order to ‘reclaim the space of storytelling’. [1] Losing ‘track of time’ is really a phrase we use when we track time not by the … More “It’s a poetic way of thinking about history, where materials themselves tell the story of power, fragility, and change”. Ali Cherri speaks of his art as ‘speaking through materiality’ in order to ‘reclaim the space of storytelling’. Losing ‘track of time’ is really a phrase we use when we track time not by the clock but by the qualitative meaure of its process in the way we tell stories, even hi-story.

The meaning of notable! What leaves a mark? Who makes that note?

June 9, 2025

When I visited the wonderful John Bellany self-portraiture exhibition at City Art Gallery in Edinburgh on Friday 4th June, there was also another exhibition (on Modern Scottish Art) containing one other Bellany painting, that painting known as Obsession. Photography was banned so I rely on internet photographs to mark or note memories not my own. … More The meaning of notable! What leaves a mark? Who makes that note?

Dis/Placed: meanings in the art metamorphose, and the variant contexts are at base space and time

June 3, 2025

Dis/Placed: meanings in the art of Anselm Keifer metamorphose in association with the variant contexts contingent on the ‘placement’ in space and time This blog post is a sequel to one on Part One of the Anselm Kiefer exhibition in Amsterdam at this link. Just a glance at the new work at the top of … More Dis/Placed: meanings in the art metamorphose, and the variant contexts are at base space and time

Anselm Kiefer sees Van Gogh in Amsterdam, and the confrontation is world-changing.

May 31, 2025

Anselm Kiefer said in a lecture in Tate Britain in 2019 (abridged for the new Van Gogh exhibition in Amsterdam in 2025 as an introduction to the catalogue): ‘Van Gogh’s composition is minimalist. There is no shimmering light dissolving the material world into pointillistic touches of colour. Van Gogh builds the landscape like a bricklayer, … More Anselm Kiefer sees Van Gogh in Amsterdam, and the confrontation is world-changing.

The Van Gogh Museum: Preface to seeing Van Gogh through the eyes of Anselm Kiefer

May 27, 2025

The Van Gogh Museum: Preface to seeing Van Gogh through the eyes of Anselm Kiefer The pictures above were by other tourists than us. This blog is an intrusion into the three-part set of blogs, in effect a fourth added to them but to preface the ones on the joint exhibition of Anselm Kiefer, both … More The Van Gogh Museum: Preface to seeing Van Gogh through the eyes of Anselm Kiefer

On the myth that visiting the Rijksmuseum is the primary way of knowing the culture of Holland and the Dutch spirit.

May 26, 2025

On the myth that visiting the Rijksmuseum is the primary way of knowing the culture of Holland and the Dutch spirit. In my introductory blog on our Amsterdam trip [at this link], I suggested there would be three more Amsterdam blogs to come.  There, in the first version (now updated to reflect the chosen final … More On the myth that visiting the Rijksmuseum is the primary way of knowing the culture of Holland and the Dutch spirit.

Putting Love and Death on the screen in the context of the greatest of the dead Masters. A tentative new beginning with WordPress blogs.

May 21, 2025

I am returning to WordPress blogging after a break, including a short break in Amsterdam, which I will no doubt make many blogs about in the near future. But I, like the wedding guest in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, felt that my taking leave of WordPress was not unlike … More Putting Love and Death on the screen in the context of the greatest of the dead Masters. A tentative new beginning with WordPress blogs.

The serious games queer art plays: this blog is a reflection on a brilliant article in this month’s ‘Gay & Lesbian Review’ by Joseph Shaikewitz.

May 2, 2025

The serious games queer art plays: this blog is a reflection on a brilliant article in this two-monthly offering of ‘Gay & Lesbian Review‘ by Joseph Shaikewitz. The article to which this blog owes everything: in Gay & Lesbian Review May – June 2025 Volume XXXII, Number 3, pages 32 – 35. The present two-monthly … More The serious games queer art plays: this blog is a reflection on a brilliant article in this month’s ‘Gay & Lesbian Review’ by Joseph Shaikewitz.

‘The Story of the Stone”: the artist and shaman come nearest to us in sharing an acknowledgement of the opaque density of our experience.  New short stories by James Kelman.

April 30, 2025

“The Story of the Stone: Tales, Entreaties & Incantations“: the artist and shaman come nearest to us in sharing an acknowledgement of the opaque density of our experience.  New short stories by James Kelman I have already referred to this set of stories in a past blog [see this link to read if you wish]. … More ‘The Story of the Stone”: the artist and shaman come nearest to us in sharing an acknowledgement of the opaque density of our experience.  New short stories by James Kelman.