Cathy's Art Diary

Fascinating discussion at the National Portrait Gallery with some of the judges of this years Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award. The panel included the actor Russell Tovey who described himself as an art geek, Tom Shakespeare disability researcher and sociologist and the founder of the award Tanya Bentley. Bentley guided the discussion as the chair. They talked about the process of choosing the shortlist picking works from digital submissions and viewing a selected 250 in person in a warehouse to be judged anonymously. They discussed how they had to pick quickly and trust their gut instincts. They talked with enthusiasm about a selection of work which they had picked including the prize winners. I learnt a lot about the show, which I had loved, such as the fact that the work had to be on canvas or panel not paper and that this work wasn’t just from the previous year but from 2020 as was the first year the show had returned to the gallery following its refurbishment.

Thin exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery exploring the results of a partnership project with five universities from across England and Wales exploring contemporary portrait photography over the last academic year. The project had invited students to respond to themes in the 2023 Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize following tours and talks at the gallery. There were some interesting pieces but mostly shown on a rolling screen and no explanation of what the themes had been. I thought the work deserved a better presentation with more explanation. Close 8 September 2024  

Interesting exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery responding to the archives of Ilford Limited and Elstree Studios. This is one in a series of exhibitions looking at people working in leading British industries and working with local young people to research, capture oral histories, and create new portraits through filmmaking and photography. Artist Marysa Dowling and students from Elstree Screen Arts Academy had worked in the Elstree Studio project and the display including five new portraits using a 5×4 monorail camera. Similarly photographer    Eddie Otchere worked with young people from the London Borough of Redbridge and Redbridge Museum & Heritage Centre to use original Ilford film and cameras to photographer former employees. I will look out for other shows in the series. Closed 31 July 2024    

Moving exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery of 18 large portraits by Colin Davidson. The portraits were of people whose lives had been affected by the Troubles in Northern Ireland. They were painted in 2014-15 and were originally shown at the Ulster Museum in Belfast and more recently exhibited at Stormont’s Parliament Buildings. The works had an installation like effect shown around three walks of a small room. Each work was impactful and worked well even in such a large scale. It was worth slowing down and reading the individual, often very moving, stories.   How soon we have forgotten what an awful time that was.   Closes 23 February 2025

Fun installation at the Garden Museum by Ian Berry. Berry has created a garden made of denim complete with wisteria, exotic plants and a pond with fish in it. From a distance I was convinced the plants were green and real and was intrigued when I found they were all made from discarded denim. It was fun to walk through but also raised questions about sustainability. Closed 8 September 2024

Interesting lecture at the Garden Museum on the Bloomsbury socialite Ottoline Morrell. The talk was given by Miranda Seymour, whose biography of Morrell has just been republished. She led us though Morrell’s life with an emphasis on her house and garden at Garsington as she had been invited to compliment the current exhibition on female Bloomsbury gardeners. Given the topic it wasn’t a surprise that I bumped into someone I knew.  

Striking large scale public sculpture at the Serpentine Gallery by Gerhard Richter. The work was inspired by his strip paintings but used large ceramic tiles to create the effects. It consisted of perpendicular sections forming a star shape with different colour combinations in each section. It looked dramatic in Hyde Park with Kensington Palace behind in the distance and I loved the smooth texture of the tiles.    Closed 20 October 2024  

Colourful and thoughtful exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery of new work by Yinka Shonibare. I always enjoy Shonibare’s work which combines a beautiful object with a serious debate. I loved the room of works called “Decolonised Structures”, scaled down public sculptures decorated in his signature Dutch wax patterns representing colonial figures. I must admit I had to look a couple of them up but part of the point it to stimulate debate. The central room had a wonderful set of small, black models of houses, churches and public buildings in a dark room, lined with the Dutch wax material and lit from the inside. All the buildings have been considered places of refuge for persecuted and vulnerable groups. It would have been nice to have more information on the buildings in the show but I’ve just found it in the excellent booklet. Finally there was a reworking of a previous piece recreating a library of books covered in the signature material this time with three names of conflicts

Fragmented pavilion at the Serpentine Gallery by Minsuk Cho. I found this year’s pavilion disappointing. I’d liked the press photographs of it from the air forming a star shape but from the ground it felt disjointed with few angles from where you could see it as a whole. I liked the pink stained glass entrance from the gallery but the library space felt like an add on and as an x-librarian I don’t like things which try to reinvent a form which is under threat, just support the libraries you do have! I’m afraid I am a grumpy old what not and found the climbing frame element annoying. In previous years the pavilion has been a haven of peace and quiet but this encouraged noise. There was also little comfortable space to sit. Closed 27 October 2024 Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard  

Interesting exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery on the career of feminist artist Judy Chicago. I’ve come across Chicago’s work a lot in lectures both as an artist and as an art historian rediscovering lives of other female artists. It was good to see an overview of her work although as much of it was conceptual that was hard to show in a gallery exhibition. I was disappointed to find that her famous “The Dinner Party” hadn’t been able to come but there was a good room on it including a test plate. I guess I need a trip to Washington DC if I want to see it.    Closed 1 September 2024 Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard

Interesting exhibition at the National Theatre which examines the process of resetting a theatre between shows via photographs. The theatre had commissioned three photographers to each follow a play in one of their three theatres to record the activities which take place. It was a nice touch to include labels written by the various technicians explaining what they do and what the theatre means to them. It was a shame a number of the photographs were quite small and they didn’t seem to add anything to the story although they were interesting. No end date given but it was still there when I went at the end of October. Review Guardian  

Vibrant exhibition at Somerset House looking at the development of the fashion label Loverboy. Loverboy started as a queer Dalston club night run by Charles Jeffrey while funding his studies at St Martin’s College.   He then became a Somerset House Studios artist where he developed the brand. The show was laid out in three sections initiation, ritual and manifestation with a good mix of clothes and archive material shown within an imaginative display. I liked the way the show explained the business side of the brand and its influences. I particularly liked the section on historic influences with a modern take on a Tudor doublet! I must admit I’d not come across this label but I don’t think I’m its main demographic however I would love a piece of its own tartan registered in 2018.   Closed 1 September 2024    

Brilliant four week online course from the National Gallery focusing on the female subjects and models in Degas’s work. The course complimented the excellent exhibition on the gallery looking at Degas’s “Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando” and was delivered via a variety of speakers, a style I like as it gives different viewpoints in a longer course. In week one Aliki Braine gave us an overview of the artists life and main subjects. This was followed the next week by talks from Daphne Barbour from the National Gallery in Washington and Johanna Conybeare talking about his process from drawings to making small sculptures to work from. Week three saw the return of Braine as a replacement speaker who picked up the talk on Degas and women looking at the women in his life and the subjects he chose to depict. She discussed why we often view him as a misogynist now and whether that was justified. Denise Murrell from the Met then looked at his trip to New Orleans early in his career and t