#london

Beyond the Canvas

3 days ago
1 min

Making Modernism at the Royal Academy, London

"It is my duty to voice the suffering of men, the never-ending sufferings heaped mountain-high." — Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945) The bundling up of female artists in an art show will forever remain one of my most gigantic and infuriating pet peeves. Besides, it is my firm belief that this show could and should have been an exclusive and much overdue celebration of Käthe Kollwitz's art. In my questionably modest view, her work is vastly superior to the rest in terms of intensity

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Lynette Yiadom-Boakye at Tate Britain, London

Beyond the Canvas

Jan 21
1 min

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye at Tate Britain, London

In my mind, a portrait is the depiction of an actual person, someone who has lived. Their portrait was made so their story could be told and so we would know about them, learn about their life. But what happens if the painting, like in the case of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye's work, is of a fictional person, someone who only exists in the artist's imagination? Well, I guess perhaps that's the representation of humanity at large. It is none of us and all of us. What I realised whil

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Stacey Gillian Abe: Shrub-let of Old Ayivu - Unit, London

Beyond the Canvas

Dec 10, 2022
1 min

Stacey Gillian Abe: Shrub-let of Old Ayivu - Unit, London

"Indigo, in my work, is an intersection between the body and identity as a continuous exploration. Indigo played a significant role in positioning the black body in the past and in facilitating its exchange. I'm interested in how much of that history has dragged on to today." - Stacey Gillian Abe In African culture, indigo is seen as a symbol of protection. It's the colour that connects humans and the divine, and is often used to swaddle newborns. However, indigo, aka 'blue

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Sarah Ball (et al.) at Stephen Friedman Gallery, London

Beyond the Canvas

Jul 9, 2022
1 min

Sarah Ball (et al.) at Stephen Friedman Gallery, London

There is a milky evanescence to this mesmerising portrait by British artist Sarah Ball, and the longer I stood in front of it, the more it was drawing me in. There is nothing conventional or normal about Emma. Look at the size of the head, the length and thickness of the white eyelashes, the texture of the hair, the clownish quality of her makeup, the uber plump lips. Her shimmery face is odd and beautiful, her eyes aloof and alluring. She looks fake but feels real, her gaze

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A museum for change: the Museum of Homelessness, London

Beyond the Canvas

Oct 16, 2021
2 min

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 phallic specimens, from lawnmowers to chamber pots, there's a museum for it. It's how we showcase, celebrate, preserve, categorise, educate, shape narratives and tell stories. The Museum of Homelessness is a charity run by people who have themselves been homeless. I believe this may be one of the very rare instances when a community has taken cont

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Beyond the Canvas

Sep 14, 2021
2 min

Paula Rego at Tate Britain, London

Coming out of this extensive and excellent survey, you get a strong sense that Rego's work is an intoxicating blend of the political and the personal, an intricate map of her identity both as a woman and as a Portuguese citizen. Grown up during Salazar's fascist dictatorship, Rego started calling out the regime's domestic and colonial abuses when she was only 19, by which time she had moved to the UK. Since then, she has never ceased pointing her finger at political and socia

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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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A few thoughts on Among the Trees - Hayward Gallery, London

Beyond the Canvas

Aug 16, 2020
2 min

A few thoughts on Among the Trees - Hayward Gallery, London

Ever heard of that theory according to which trees are immortal? No? Then you clearly do not know me very well. Of course trees are not immortal, but I choose to believe that they are. The reason is quite simple: in a world where man keeps devising new and more effective ways to destroy nature, the fact that some trees have survived for thousands of years is a pretty good indicator that they are being rather successful in their quest for immortality. The first work I saw upon

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A heathen's pilgrimage to the National Gallery

Beyond the Canvas

Aug 1, 2020
2 min

A heathen's pilgrimage to the National Gallery

Today I'm celebrating my first trip into central London after 5 months of mostly staying at home. The Titian: Love, Desire, Death exhibition, now extended to January 2021, is unique and should not be missed in that in reunites for the first time all the six Titian paintings inspired by Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’. They are, of course, wonderful and everyone should go see them: book your slot, turn up 15' early and wear a mask - it all worked really seamlessly for me. But I now re

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