Cathy's Art Diary

Extraordinary exhibition at Thaddaeus Ropac of work from the last 25 years by sculptor Ron Mueck. I have always been fascinated by Mueck’s hyper realistic figures, playing with detail and scale, since I saw them in various Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions and at the National Gallery after he was artist in residence there. They feel so real, part of our space but standing alone. It is hard to pick out works from the show as I loved them all but I think I have to mention “Woman with Shopping” a wonderful smaller scale woman with a baby tucked into her coat and looking exhausted with two heavy bags of shopping. You can feel the weight of the shopping and responsibility. It feels intrusive to walk up to her and study the incredible detail. Upstairs in a small unlit room was “Dark Place” which you viewed through the doorway, a giant, ghostly, angst-ridden face, which was hard to view for too long. My favourite, shown here, was a giant older couple on the beach. A study in tendernes...

Interesting exhibition at Thaddaeus Ropac of works in aluminium by Robert Rauschenberg from 1991. The show consisted of two series of works “Night Shades” and “Phantoms” alongside photographs by the artists used as source images for the paintings. The works have images silkscreened onto brushed or polished metal with brush strokes of tarnish called Allum Black. “Phantoms” create images of street scenes which appear and disappear as you move around them and add your reflection into the mix. I love the way they reflect the other works around them setting up a dialogue. “Night Shades” are darker images giving the impressions of city night scenes. Closes 31 July 2021