Cathy's Art Diary

Feisty discussion   at Charleston Farmhouse as part of the Charleston Festival pairing contemporary artists Maggi Hambling and Sarah Lucas. At first this seemed an unlikely pairing but it turns out they are great friends, living close to each other in Suffolk. The discussion flowed freely ably chaired by art critic, Louisa Buck. They compared their studio practice and an exhibition in Hastings which had just been announced where they are to choose work by each other they admire. Hambling revealed that she has recently lost the little finger on her right hand so is increasingly working with her left hand in her daily practice of drawing. As ever her eye rolling said so much. Review Times Guardian    

Retrospective exhibition at Tate Britain of work by Sarah Lucas. The show was beautifully arranged with each room feeling like an installation. I loved that some pieces were displayed without barriers. A lot of the commentary in the booklet is written by Lucas which gives it an immediacy. I am afraid through that I just don’t relate to Lucas’s work. I understand it and welcome the points it makes but I don’t find it that attractive. It was like the Philip Guston show I saw a few days earlier in that it benefits from being shown as a buddy of work but I wouldn’t want a piece. I won’t be rushing out to stuff a pair of tights. The title references Nitrous Oxide and it was a coincidence that I visited on the day its sale was banned in the UK. Closes 14 January 2024 Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard

Interesting retrospective at the Whitechapel Gallery of work by Sarah Lucas. I went along to this exhibition because I felt I had to go to add to my knowledge of contemporary art but I loved it. The works had something really interesting to say but they said it with such a light sense of humor that you didn’t feel too bludgeoned by them. The first room was a wonderful jumble sale of Lucas’s most iconic works so there were lots of toilets, figures made of tights, mobiles, images of herself, dirty mattresses and fruit and much more. The objects seemed to have a greater resonance because there were so many. When I have seen Lucas’s work before it tends to be one piece with a lot of space round it and a reverential hush. This was a great way to show the work. Upstairs there was a room of pictures of nude men sitting on chairs with their genitals partly obscured by food or beer cans! The commentary described it as “Masculinity is presented on a totemic scale but is also re...