Cathy's Art Diary

Fantastic exhibition at Tate Britain looking at the career of photographer Don McCullan. McCullan is a documentary photographer who has specialised in conflicts and social issues. McCullan printed all the works for his show himself and he returns time and again to pictures to try to get the best copy of it to honour the subjects of the work however in doing this he is revisting painful memories. The show did not shy away from talking about the effect of doing this work on McCullan himself. The show was arranged by conflict beginning and ending with issues in Britain and featuring work at the end which he does to try to work through things he has seen and been part of during his career. I love the way McCullan catches a moment and freezes it in time. Some of the war pictures were very hard to look at but I found the hardest amongst dead bodies and starving children were actually some of prisoners in the Congo being tormented before they were shot. A hideous record of ma

Poignant installation at Tate Britain by Mike Nelson which turns the great central gallery into a junk yard. This show used old industrial machinery to make large sculptural pieces but the machinery kept it’s integrity and is probably recognisable to anyone who had used it. The entrances were blocked by old industrial and hospital doors so you had to break into the space. A few of the doors were topped with large intertwined G and E’s for King George and Queen Elizabeth. The overall effect was a mix of a junk yard and an industrial museum. I loved the fact that in certain areas you could smell the material, creosote in one place and a musty dampness in another. The works set up wonderful vistas trough the gallery. I would love the have known where all the pieces came from. I found it poignant and the pieces felt dignified but spoke of industries which are long gone. Although they are a sign of mechanism those industries have been mechanised even more and cut out the pe

Depressing exhibition at the British Museum looking at the work of Edvard Munch focusing on his prints from 1890-1918. I really wanted to like this and engage with it but all the images were so depressing. It definitely provided more angst than love. I felt quite fed up when I came out and needed coffee and cake. I liked the way it was arranged in a circle by the city he was living in with displays radiating out from a showings of contemporary film of that city. It also included work by other artists to emphasis the fact that Munch was reflecting contemporary themes but it took me a while to realise this and thought all the works were by him. Maybe emphasising this a bit more on the labels might have helped. The show was very good at describing the technical production of different types of print and Munch seemed to have worked in many print mediums but this made the show a bit stolid. I did like seeing various versions of a print alongside the plate which had made the

Interesting small exhibition at the British Museum looking at the political and economic importance of food in ancient times and drawing parallels to today. The story was told with just a few objects but it raised ideas I hadn’t thought about before. The division and ownership of land and hierarchical societies only really came about as people shifted from being hunter gatherers to farmers. Also that stable food supply has been at the root of all prosperous societies and the show used the example of Egypt for this and how the pharaoh’s were supported by agricultural production and therefore how it was represented in their burial rituals. Other exhibits looked at the advent of trade in different foods and focused on two bottles from different ages and places which both featured vines as a design. Finally there was a 1950s film about and Englishman who went out to the American mid-West to farm which shows farmers using barbed wire to enclose land which was shown with sculptu

Fascinating exhibition at King’s College Science Gallery looking at how the human body repairs and regenerates both at a physical and metaphysical level and how science can enhance this. I admit I found a lot of these pieces were interesting and beautiful but I must admit I didn’t understand a lot of the descriptions. The gallery itself was exhibit with wooden structures and textiles dividing the space and described as a “prosthesis to the gallery”. My favourite piece was the bee hive shown here where the heat generated by the bees is helping to grow human tissue in the pyramid on the top. A very helpful gallery assistant saw me looking at it and came over to describe it. I was fascinated to watch the bees coming in and out of the gallery via a tube in the wall and the assistant told me about how they speed up or slow down depending on the weather and time of day. Don’t worry the hive is fully encased and there were no bees flying round the show. Closes 12 May 2019

Strange installation at Somerset House by Hyphen Labs as part of Earth Day 2019. I must admit I didn’t really understand this work but I did find it quite fun. It seemed to be about a time in the future when people have merged with sea creatures due to climate change. Backwards evolution? It consisted of a series of boxes describing these different types of creature surrounded by bean bags. The descriptions were fun such as one of @quas_Celebritas who “when left in vast empty waters with no one to show them adoration they shrink and are overcome by dissatisfaction and apathy until the next audience tunes in.” Closes 5 May 2019

Disappointing exhibition at Somerset House of the shortlisted pictures from this year’s Sony World Photography Award. I say disappointing because I usually love this show but I thought it felt a bit thin this year. It’s always an eclectic mix of professional portfolios and an open completion. I prefer the open section as it’s about single good pictures whereas the portfolios are more about the stories they are telling as a set. I sometimes feel the story is more important than the images.   Also can I make a plea for commentaries that talk about the context of the picture not the meaning of life! Stand out images this year include a large work by Christie Lee Rogers called “Harmony” of girls in swirling dresses floating underwater. It had a feel of a Baroque ceiling painting. I loved a quirky picture by Christine Mittermeher of a Chinese woman with a live goose on her head also a still life of broken china by Gaurav Doshi. This year’s featured photographer was Nadav Ka

Intriguing installation on the roof of Somerset House by Serena Korda as part of Earth  Day 2019. This is the latest in a series of commissions for new flags to top the dome of Somerset House to highlight climate change issues.   Korda has chosen base her work on the maritime flag warning sign for “I am dragging my anchor”.   The commentary says she sees a flag as something that can make visible the invisible in that its flight shows the direction of the invisible wind and reflects the invisible damage we are doing to the world. This year’s work includes a sound piece in the Seamans’ Hall of recordings made from the roof of the building, an Aeolian harp, designed to be played randomly by the wind, and a human voice. It is meant to represent the voice of the Greek spirit of Khaos. The two pieces together were quite thought provoking. Closes 10 June 2019

Installation in the courtyard of Somerset House by Justin Brice Guariglia to mark Earth Day 2019. It consisted of a series of solar powered LED signs usually used for motorway signage flashing up climate related writings including poetry from affected island, wisdom from global elders and philosophy. You could add your own comments to the work in the Seamans’ Hall. The commentary called these “eco-aphorisms”, a new word to me. The installation was very effective in the space and it did make you stop and read the messages being flashed up. It was a nice touch to use a solar powered medium but one also connected to the idea of traffic and the damage it might do. Closes an 29 April 2019

Sun drenched exhibition at the National Gallery of work by the Spanish artist Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida. Although there were more somber works in this show the ones which are most striking and have stuck with me are those filled with sunshine and a sense of light. I particularly loved a room of paintings from the seaside where you could almost feel the heat. There was one of boys lying on the edge of the sea and I loved the way the light bounced off their skin and how their limbs were slightly submerged in the sand. I also got a sense of family from him. The first room included a self-portrait he painted to leave with his wife when he was away which I found very touching. I liked a picture of his daughter in a Fortuny dress and one of his wife based on the Rokeby Venus which he had seen in situ at Rokeby Hall as well as in the National Gallery. This wasn’t the only nod to Velázquez. There was a take on Las Meninas in a picture of a fellow artist sketching his wife and

Delightful exhibition at Clarendon Fine Art showing pictures from the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year TV series. I had loved the series which had set nine artists, both professional and amateur, to paint one of three celebrities. It then had a semi-final and final with them all looking at one sitter and in the final they also took on a commission. I loved the way you watched a picture build and how some were then made or spoiled by one stroke of paint.   Finding these pictures I knew so well in the flesh was therefore fascinating. None of them disappointed. My favourite artist from the final, Tom Mead, works looked just as good in real life if not better as you could see the detail. The show included his impressive self-portrait which he submitted to enter the competition, a wonderful fragmented picture of his reflection in a mirror giving a sense of movement. I loved that it included a large version of him and a miniature. His commission for the final of Jazzie B was