Now displayed in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Frederic Leighton’s 1895 oil painting Flaming June orbits an unconscious female subject. Against the painting’s calculated — almost architectural — composure, this image of female repose becomes a charged site where sex and sexual desire are insistently inscribed. Leighton choreographs the woman’s body into a carefully… Continue reading The trouble with Sleeping Beauty — desire, desirability and the unconscious female body
After World War I, Yugoslav artists and intellectuals pursued a clear cultural objective — to assert their place within European modernity as equals, not as latecomers. Their response was neither imitation of the existing European art nor quiet assimilation. Instead, they entered the cultural arena with the conviction that they already belonged there. Through publishing,… Continue reading The Yugoslav avant-garde legacy in European contemporary art
Since I’m fairly new to Berlin, I start each month by browsing through the holy trinity — The Berliner, Visit Berlin Blog and Berlin.de (the official website of Berlin), looking for events, festivals and exhibitions that I may wish to attend. Given that the month of February is largely defined by Valentine’s Day, this month’s… Continue reading Gallery Looks — exhibition at the Gemäldegalerie
It’s February in Rio de Janeiro, and the sweltering summer is showing no signs of surrender. “Bafado, né?” affirms Mateus, who will show me around. A lush green canopy stretches overhead, its leaves casting a dappled glow over the cobbled driveway as they soak up the morning rays. I am at Sítio Roberto Burle Marx,… Continue reading Roberto Burle Marx and the Art of the Tropical Garden
There are times when I think of Monet, not the artist immortalised on posters and tote bags, but the man standing knee deep in mud beside the Seine, brush trembling in cold fingers, on an autumn morning much like this one. The sting of rejections whirling through his mind, and the quiet ache of believing… Continue reading Monet and the Cost of Creation
Tucked away behind the display of 1800s European artwork at Denver Art Museum is a new exhibition titled What We’ve Been Up To: Landscape – a collection of pictures from the museum’s photography department which have never before been displayed to the public. Entering the exhibition is like stepping into the museum’s archives themselves, an… Continue reading ‘What we’ve been up to’: Denver Art Museum Exhibition Reveals an America That Is and Was
There are nights when the rain sounds like it’s trying to speak to me. It taps on the window in hesitant rhythms, as if unsure whether I’m listening. I slip into my darkroom with a roll of film in my pocket, nothing remarkable, just small moments I wasn’t sure were worth remembering, and close the… Continue reading Hopper and the art of being alone
How Technology Is Changing Art And Why We Shouldn’t Be Scared By It Karla Ortiz, a California-based artist, found her art to be copied by AI. She is one of the many artists who have found their pieces being held in the hands of the AI, powerless in front of such power which could shape… Continue reading Modern Art vs Older Pieces: Is Technology Canceling Creativity?
25 September – 24 October 2025, Offer Waterman In her latest body of work, artist Tarka Kings turns her eye to the ritual of outdoor swimming, focusing on the Serpentine Lido in London’s Hyde Park — a place she swims most mornings. The result is Mornings at the Lido, a quietly absorbing exhibition of new… Continue reading Tarka Kings: Mornings at the Lido
The Haitian scholar Michel-Rolph Trouillot once observed, “Silences are inherent in history… something is always left out while something else is recorded.” The esea contemporary attempts to rewrite these silences and showcase the artwork and voices of the East and Southeast Asian community both in Manchester and globally. The esea contemporary (formerly known as… Continue reading Rewriting Erased Histories: esea contemporary’s Mission to Amplify East and Southeast Asian Voices
