Beyond the Canvas Blog

Mar 23
2 min

Laura Aguilar's courageous rebellion

“My photography has always provided me with an opportunity to open myself up and see the world around me. And most of all, photography makes me look within.” - Laura Aguilar In her series of self-portraits set in the rocky desert landscape of the American Southwest, Laura Aguilar used her body like a sculpture, she is a human monolith. Her large body is draped on a big boulder whose shape echoes hers. It's hard to say whether she felt at one with nature or whether she was try

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Beyond the Canvas

Mar 18
2 min

Women as icons and targets

Revered by the public, reviled by the art establishment and eventually sold at auction for almost £1m, the Mona Lisa of kitsch was painted by a rather obscure Russian-born artist who had emigrated to South Africa. The sitter of this portrait is Monika Sing-Lee, 17 at the time, who was working at Tretchikoff's uncle’s launderette. This highly idealised icon of oriental beauty is said to be the most reproduced fine art prints in the world. Her bizarrely luminescent complexion a

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Drawing the unbreakable cycle of violence

Beyond the Canvas

Mar 11
2 min

Drawing the unbreakable cycle of violence

Domestic abuse is a gendered crime. According to data from 2019, 92% of the defendants in domestic abuse-related prosecutions in the UK were men, 75% of the victims were female. The pandemic has made things worse, providing a breeding ground for a sharp increase in these crimes. In Russia, data provided by NGOs indicate that the number of victims and cases of domestic violence may have doubled. The same figures are up 30% in France, 25% in China. The pandemic within the pande

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The Monuments Project: when technology fosters social change

Beyond the Canvas

Feb 13
2 min

The Monuments Project: when technology fosters social change

"All of our heroes are slave owners that would own people like myself if they were still around." - Glen Cantave, founder and CEO Movers & Shakers NYC Imagine being able to combine innovative AR technology with the ambition to rewrite the long-standing narratives of the marginalised and socially oppressed to empower future generations. It's so much more than being tech savvy, it's what I call having a vision. Yeah, I also grew up being proud of my fellow Italian Christopher C

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Beyond the Canvas

Feb 4
2 min

Kerry James Marshall IS the canon

“Who needs to NOT think of you as a Black artist to consider you a real artist?” - Kerry James Marshall There are a handful of artists whose work I revere to the point that I don't dare write about them. Kerry James Marshall is one of them, and today I'm taking the plunge. I came across this video where he cites Langston Hughes' writings on how Black artists should not aspire to paint or write like white people, but rather should "express their individual dark-skinned selves

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Rewriting the art canon: Kehinde Wiley's triptych for Penn Station, NYC

Beyond the Canvas

Jan 28
2 min

Rewriting the art canon: Kehinde Wiley's triptych for Penn Station, NYC

"I like Venetian painting a lot: looking at Giovanni Battista Tiepolo is one of my favourite things to do. When I went to my first Venice Biennale, I was blown away when I saw the works of these artists on the ceilings. The technical proficiency impressed me." - Kehinde Wiley Although these days our lives are mostly confined within the domestic walls, the time will come again when we get to enjoy the thrill of being in a public space that has been elevated by art. You know, t

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Beyond the Canvas

Jan 15
2 min

A legal killing spree

"When you see a gruesome picture over and over again, it really doesn’t have any effect." — Andy Warhol Warhol was an avid collector of newspapers, magazines and tabloids. He appropriated and manipulated the sometimes downright lurid news imagery to create his art, and this was the basis of his Death and Disasters series, which he started in 1962 (and which happens to be my favourite part of his oeuvre). Car crashes, people jumping to their deaths, race riots, as well as the

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Experience and participation in Olafur Eliasson's The Weather Project

Beyond the Canvas

Jan 12
2 min

Experience and participation in Olafur Eliasson's The Weather Project

“Having an experience is taking part in the world. Taking part in the world is really about sharing responsibility.” – Olafur Eliasson I saw this dazzling installation in the Turbine Hall of Tate Modern, and I'd be lying if I said I remember what I experienced at the time - I'm drawing a blank. But for some 80 anti-war protesters, this humbling light-clad space became a stage on which they could voice their anger. It's 2003, American and British troops have invaded Iraq and P

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Beyond the Canvas

Jan 8
2 min

May Steven's Dark Flag

"Political activity does not interfere with my work, it feeds it. And if I'm interested in racism and fighting racism, then that should show up—will show up—in my work.” - May Stevens A committed civil-rights activist and feminist, between 1967 and 1976 Stevens produced a series of paintings called Big Daddy, where she addressed and channelled her anger towards her own father's racist views. Painted at the end of that period, Dark Flag marks the 200th anniversary of the Decla

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Beyond the Canvas

Jan 2
2 min

Honours? No, thank you.

"I would never have any intention of accepting anything like that. I seriously don't know what it's for. " David Bowie, 2003 It's that time of year when the UK Cabinet Office Honours and Appointments Secretariat publishes the list of the recipients of the honours, of which some 2,000 are dished out every year. The honours system is designed to reward exceptional achievement or service, an entirely common and laudable practice. It's when we look at the titles that we realise t

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Beyond the Canvas

Dec 6, 2020
2 min

Layer upon layer of nostalgia.

Palm Springs is an odd place. It's a place of visual layers, a landscape that is both supremely monotonous and exceptionally soothing. Layers, I wouldn't know how else to describe them. The sizzling asphalt roads, the patches of perfectly-manicured lawns, the white walls of the low-rise houses, the skinny palm trees, the rocky backdrop of the San Jacinto mountains and, finally, the sky. I have seen it all turn pink at sunset and it was breathtaking. Those layers of clouds and

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Beyond the Canvas

Nov 14, 2020
2 min

Art is essential, now more than ever.

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” Pablo Picasso Dust. How many tonnes of dust are we currently covered in? Painful, heavy dust accumulated from the prolonged anxiety and uncertainty brought on by the pandemic. Infuriating, ugly dust thrown at us by corrupt and dangerously incompetent politicians day in, day out. Oh, and then there's the surreal, disquieting dust coming from across the pond (despite the good news that change is finally coming, of cour

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The delightful reunion of the Griffoni Polyptych - Palazzo Fava, Bologna

Beyond the Canvas

Nov 8, 2020
2 min

The delightful reunion of the Griffoni Polyptych - Palazzo Fava, Bologna

As Italy goes into lockdown for the second time, the doors of the museums close again. And so we enter another month (?) of art starvation. Sigh. Luckily, last week I managed to squeeze in a visit to the Palazzo Fava exhibition, which traces the history of the Griffoni Polyptych, a 15th century masterpiece with a rather troubled history. This magnificent polyptych is a collaboration between two greats of the Ferrarese school, Francesco del Cossa and his talented pupil Ercole

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Beyond the Canvas

Oct 31, 2020
2 min

Kim Abeles' Smog Collectors

"The Smog Collectors materialize the reality of the air we breathe. I place cut, stencilled images on transparent or opaque plates or fabric, then leave these on the roof of my studio and let the particulate matter in the heavy air fall upon them. After a period of time, from four days to a month, the stencil is removed and the image is revealed in smog." - Kim Abeles Since the beginning of the year, wildfires have burned over 4 million acres in California, with 5,000 firefig

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Empty plates in Southend (things are about to get very political)

Beyond the Canvas

Oct 25, 2020
2 min

Empty plates in Southend (things are about to get very political)

I was researching a post that involved smog and plates (fear not, it's coming), when I came across photos of different plates. These are empty plates left by the people of Southend, a town in southeast England, in front of the local Tory HQ and Conservative Club as a sign of protest after their MP voted against feeding children most at risk of going hungry. For those who do not live in the UK, earlier this week the Labour party's motion on providing 1.4m disadvantaged childre

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Fourteen days to the US Presidential election.

Beyond the Canvas

Oct 20, 2020
2 min

Fourteen days to the US Presidential election.

“We are at a precipice in this country, and we are either going to move forward or we are not.” - Carrie Mae Weems In 2016, nearly half of the eligible US voters opted to forgo one of their fundamental civil rights and did not vote. This means that over 100 million Americans were so irreconcilably disengaged from politics that they could not be bothered to have their say. Worryingly, a whopping 20% of this 100 million is planning to do the same this year. The reason? They are

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Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk -Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Beyond the Canvas

Oct 9, 2020
1 min

Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk -Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Iconic, but not frozen in time - a garment that continues to evolve and fascinate. That is the premise of this show that traces the history, transformation and global influence of the Japanese kimono from the 17th century to these days. Over 300 stunning sartorial masterpieces that show us how the kimono, literally 'the thing to wear', went from everyday outfit in Japan to object of aesthetic inspiration and cultural appropriation in the West. Some of the Western tributes by

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The liberation of Artemisia Gentileschi - National Gallery, London

Beyond the Canvas

Oct 4, 2020
2 min

The liberation of Artemisia Gentileschi - National Gallery, London

The overwhelming dominance of Artemisia Gentileschi's personal narrative over her worth as an artist has always bothered me. The rape, the trial, the struggles of being a female artist in the XVII century - of course it's all relevant, but I never thought it needed to define her work. I also took exception to the sensationalisation of her life story and the overly sexualised reading of part of her oeuvre at the expense of her artistic legacy. Until today. This dazzling show a

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Annie-Rose Fiddian-Green: Celebrating the lungs of our planet

Beyond the Canvas

Sep 27, 2020
1 min

Annie-Rose Fiddian-Green: Celebrating the lungs of our planet

"During lockdown I moved to north Norfolk where my attention was captivated by the ancient trees that hold the space there so powerfully. Fascinated by the biological communication that trees have with each other, I began research into the magic of forests." - Annie-Rose Fiddian-Green Trees, the immortals. The one irrational theory my otherwise staunchly rational self insists on hanging on to. Their magic, their power, their interconnectedness - I immediately saw it in these

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Beyond the Canvas

Sep 24, 2020
2 min

Tintoretto's scenic inventions

"I never was so utterly crushed to the earth before any human intellect as I was today before Tintoret." - wrote John Ruskin to his parents in 1845. This is a superb description of the effect Tintoretto has on you. Seeing his work doesn't just redefine your idea of painting, but also how you experience it. To stand in front of a Tintoretto even in the worst lit corner of a church is a hugely visceral and profoundly emotional affair. Your eyes dart across the canvas looking fo

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