What’s the point of art?

One of the great paradoxes of human endeavour is why so much time and effort is spent on creating things and indulging in behaviour with no obvious survival value – behaviour otherwise known as art. Attempting to shed light on this issue is problematic because first we must define precisely what art is. We can… Continue reading What’s the point of art?

Hard Graft: a groundbreaking exhibition exploring labour, health and hidden histories

Ernest C Withers, I Am a Man: Sanitation Workers Strike, Memphis, Tennessee, March 28th 1968, 1968. Silver gelatin print © Dr. Ernest C. Withers, Sr. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division / Withers Family Trust

Launching in September 2024, the major free exhibition, Hard Graft: Work, Health and Rights, curated by Cindy Sissokho – recently acclaimed for her work on this year’s French pavilion at the Venice Biennale – will shed light on the often overlooked and undervalued experiences of labour, by highlighting the people whose health and rights are… Continue reading Hard Graft: a groundbreaking exhibition exploring labour, health and hidden histories

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley: THE SOUL STATION

Presented by the LAS Art Foundation, THE SOUL STATION is Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley’s first solo presentation in Germany, shown by LAS at Halle am Berghain, Berlin, from 12 July to 13 October 2024. THE SOUL STATION features a survey of video games made by Brathwaite-Shirley over the past five years. Through game-based installations and fictional universes,… Continue reading Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley: THE SOUL STATION

Megan Rooney: Echoes and Hours at Kettle’s Yard

Exhibition dates: 22 June – 6 October 2024Kettle’s Yard, Castle St, Cambridge CB3 0AQ “I imagine myself in flight when I am painting, hovering above the surface and searching for places to land, touching down and lifting off. I do this again and again until the surface starts to collect information… The painting becomes a… Continue reading Megan Rooney: Echoes and Hours at Kettle’s Yard

Patricia Leite: Paisagem de Lenda – A Celebration of Brazilian Myths and Landscapes

Patricia Leite in her studio in São Paulo,

Exhibition dates: 7 June–3 August 2024Thomas Dane Gallery, 3 Duke Street, St James’s, London SW1Y (Landscape of Legend) – the second exhibition at Thomas Dane Gallery in London by the renowned Brazilian artist Patricia Leite. Born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in 1955, Patricia Leite’s artistic journey has been deeply influenced by the myths and legends… Continue reading Patricia Leite: Paisagem de Lenda – A Celebration of Brazilian Myths and Landscapes

Lost Klimt portrait sells for €30m in Vienna auction

A late portrait by Gustav Klimt, previously believed lost, has recently been sold at auction in Vienna for a staggering €30 million. Titled “Portrait of Fräulein Lieser” and painted in 1917, this artwork, surrounded by mysteries, fetched a hammer price of €30 million (€35 million with fees) at Im Kinsky, setting a new auction record… Continue reading Lost Klimt portrait sells for €30m in Vienna auction

Landscape painter – Simon Garden

Where does Simon Garden live? The prosaic answer is Bristol, but the more accurate response might be that, most of the time, he lives in his creative imagination You don’t get many vast fan shaped trees or conical wooded hills around that city. But you do get them on the canvases in Simon Garden’s new… Continue reading Landscape painter – Simon Garden

A look at the ‘X-ray’ illusion on historic Palazzo Farnese in Rome

French street artist captivates passers by optically with his trompe l’oeil masterpiece adorning the façade of the Palazzo Farnese, home to the French embassy in central Rome. Named Punto di Fuga (Vanishing Point), the installation offers passers-by a glimpse into the palace’s interior as it undergoes renovations, revealing elements such as the classic colonnade and… Continue reading A look at the ‘X-ray’ illusion on historic Palazzo Farnese in Rome

Brazil’s national museum receives major fossil donation, including rare dinosaurs, in rebuilding efforts”

{Diogo Vasconcellos}

The museum has been slowly rebuilding since an electrical fire devastated its building and collection in 2018. According to its director, Alexander W.A. Kellner, the museum has received approximately 8,500 objects since the tragedy. Around 2,000 of these will be exhibited, while the rest will be used for research. More donations are expected ahead of… Continue reading Brazil’s national museum receives major fossil donation, including rare dinosaurs, in rebuilding efforts”

What makes Donatello’s sculptures so compelling?

{Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence}

Born in Florence in 1386, Donatello was, and remains to be, celebrated as one of the most skilled sculptors of the Renaissance. Studying under the likes of Ghiberti and Brunelleschi, he developed a style influenced heavily by the Classical language of architecture but not restricted to this. He used materials ranging from wood to bronze… Continue reading What makes Donatello’s sculptures so compelling?