Cathy's Art Diary

Disappointing exhibition at the Barbican Music Library of photographs of the group Blondie from 1978. Blondie was a big part of my youth, so I was pleased that this show was still on when I went to the Barbican however it was shown in a cramped space and was badly lit with reflective glass on the exhibits. The narrative was poorly explained. It was billed as the photographs taken by Martyn Goddard but seemed to include work by other people and archive material. The images were fascinating and deserved a better presentation. I found it hard to engage with what they were and how they fitted together. Closed 21 February 2026

Second in a series of exhibitions at a new space in the Barbican showing work of contemporary artists alongside some by Alberto Giacometti. I missed the first show but was excited to see this as I like Giacometti's work but I found it quite confusing. All the explanation of the work was in a rather cumbersome leaflet which was too big to use while walking around with a lot to read. The sculpture on show was fighting a bright sun in just the wrong position when I went and a rather exciting view of the Barbican Centre. The contemporary artist featured this time was Mona Hatoum who, according to the blurb, investigates the impact of political instability on individuals and groups. I'm not sure I would have understood that from looking at the work. It did have a certain resonance with hindsight going on the day that Trump bombed Venezuela however the work itself didn't move me.   Closed 11 January 2026 Reviews Guardian Evening Standard  

Surprisingly good exhibition at the Barbican Art Gallery examining how contemporary fashion designers have been influenced by dirt and decay. I thought this would be a weird and wacky but went along on the principle I try to go to everything! I was pleasantly surprised to find a well explained narrative and some beautiful clothes. I liked the small booklet they gave you rather than having long labels but found it quite hard to use in the show partly because I was so busy taking photos. The show started on the upper level, setting out the main themes, from mud, through staining, clothes made to look like they had decayed and those that really had and ideas of combating waste in the industry. Downstairs was set up more like open installations of work by specific designers and had a catwalk feel. Some of the pieces looked more like contemporary art than fashion. Closed 25 January 2026 Reviews Guardian Evening Standard    

Interesting online lecture from ARTscapades introducing an exhibition looking at how contemporary art has responded to Turner’s art. The curator of the show at the Walker Art Gallery, Melissa Gustin, led us though the themes of the show and explained how they chose the pieces for the show and their dialogues they set up between Turner and later artists. She also explained how the title also refers to the fact that Turner himself was groundbreaking and trying new ideas. We always forget that the Old Masters were the contemporary artists of their time. It sounds like this show would have been fascinating but sadly couldn’t get to Liverpool in time. The talk introduced me to a number of contemporary artists I didn’t know.

Colourful exhibition at Charleston Farmhouse focusing on the work of Roger Fry. Fry was part of the Bloomsbury Group and frequently visited Charleston and the show included paintings of the house and barns and the people who congregated there. The show was themed by genre with sections on still life, landscape, spaces and community and finally portraits. The room of portraits was stunning and like walking into a group of friends. I loved the wall of self-portraits by Fry. He looked such an approachable person. The works were beautifully curated with a gentle narrative but leaving the works to speak for themselves. My favourite piece was this still life in muted colours with a strange perspective. Ended 12 March 2026

Interesting exhibition at Chichester Cathedral looking at Christianity in Sussex over 950 years. The show was mainly information boards but with excellent objects in display cases underneath. The show became a history of Christianity in Britain with references to Sussex where appropriate and was struggling in places to introduce themes they wanted to cover like multiculturalism. I’m all for addressing these but not shoehorning them into a historic narrative where the point is that these issues weren’t addressed at the time. I wonder if a section on the modern church might have addressed these better. Given the show was in a cathedral I thought the language could have been more active. Rather than saying ‘Christians believe’ how about saying ‘we believe’ Closed 19 November 2025 but I saw it on 23 December 2025