top of page

I believe the way we look at visual arts has the potential to change our ideas about history and society, so this is my approach.
To quote the great Toni Morrison: "All good art is political. If it's not political, chances are that it's not that good."
Welcome to my blog (and thanks for reading).
Francesca
Beyond the Canvas
An art blog with opinions


Where Once the Waters, David Cass - Venice Biennale
My experience at the Venice Biennale is that it is often the fortuitous detour, aka me getting lost like I inevitably do, that is going...

Beyond the Canvas
May 29, 20222 min read


Kehinde Wiley’s Archeology of Silence, Fondazione Cini
“That is the archaeology I am unearthing: The spectre of police violence and state control over the bodies of young Black and Brown...

Beyond the Canvas
May 15, 20221 min read


Ukrainian artists: Nikolay Lukin
I had been following Nikolay Lukin on Instagram for some time, and this morning he followed me back. Дякую, Микола. His latest post is a...

Beyond the Canvas
May 7, 20222 min read


Ukrainian artists: Artem Humilevskiy
"During the quarantine period, I began to create staged self-portraits at home. In the photo, which was the beginning of the series, I...

Beyond the Canvas
Mar 7, 20221 min read


Ukrainian artists: Artem Volokitin
Artem Volokitin was born in 1981. He lives and works in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, home to 1.4 million people and less than...

Beyond the Canvas
Mar 2, 20221 min read


Ukrainian artists: Marina Skugareva
There are moments in life when our fear is such that we scramble for ways of taming it, in the hope that this crippling fear will somehow...

Beyond the Canvas
Feb 24, 20221 min read


Cops and lovers
Today Instagram is aflood with red hearts, declarations of eternal love, schmaltzy quotes and unmissable promotions. And while swathes of...

Beyond the Canvas
Feb 14, 20222 min read


Appropriating Jacopo Pontormo is a really bad idea
"Good artists copy; great artists steal." - Apocryphal quote The history of modern and contemporary art is littered with instances of...

Beyond the Canvas
Feb 2, 20222 min read


Throwback to Rudolf Stingel at Palazzo Grassi, Venice
Current rabbit hole update: scandals and crimes in the art world, of which I am delighted to inform you there is an abundance of. One...

Beyond the Canvas
Dec 30, 20212 min read


In Memoriam - Wayne Thiebaud: An Ode to Cake
"The whiteness of meringue becomes for me of great poetic preoccupation; it's like snow, like frost ... like ... purity.'' - Wayne...

Beyond the Canvas
Dec 28, 20211 min read


Drunk on art.
Whether it’s the first one or the latest of many, a visit to Florence’s Uffizi is bound to leave you breathless. Such are the quality and...

Beyond the Canvas
Dec 22, 20212 min read


Personal protection: America's love story with firearms
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be...

Beyond the Canvas
Dec 12, 20211 min read


On World AIDS Day
"If I have to change my lifestyle, I don't want to live." - Robert Mapplethorpe In this powerful self-portrait Robert Mapplethorpe looks...

Beyond the Canvas
Dec 1, 20211 min read


Safe and legal routes for refugees NOW
'My piece is not talking about old slave ships; it's about what happens today' says Romuald Hazoumé about his multimedia installation 'La...

Beyond the Canvas
Nov 24, 20212 min read


Domenico Gnoli at Fondazione Prada, Milan
“I always use simple elements, I don’t want to add or subtract anything. I never even wanted to deform either: I isolate and I represent....

Beyond the Canvas
Nov 13, 20211 min read


A museum for change: the Museum of Homelessness, London
From the Wunderkammers of Renaissance to this day, the Global West has a museum for everything. From sex to death, from vaginas to...

Beyond the Canvas
Oct 16, 20212 min read


Viva Vittoria: knitting against violence
Violence against women and girls is a human rights violation and a public health epidemic. It occurs daily across the world and is widely...

Beyond the Canvas
Oct 9, 20211 min read


Speaking truth to power: the legacy of Anna Politkovskaya
It's been 15 years to the day since Anna Politkovskaya was murdered for fearlessly and relentlessly telling the truth. Anna was gunned...

Beyond the Canvas
Oct 7, 20212 min read


Photo print fundraiser in support of women journalists in Afghanistan
Like many, I have been following the recent events unfolding in Afghanistan. I have mostly been feeling sad and powerless while thinking...

Beyond the Canvas
Sep 21, 20211 min read


Women who defend themselves
At long last, my reading drought has come to an end. I am currently re-reading the original version of The Life Before Us written in 1975...

Beyond the Canvas
Sep 4, 20212 min read
bottom of page