6:13pm
“It’s that time again, when the art world braces itself for a spurt of bold ideas for what is surely the premier public art spot in Britain.”
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London
On 19 August 2010, new proposals and maquettes by those shortlisted for the Fourth Plinth will be unveiled at the Crypt of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, which will undoubtedly spark debate over the value of public art, yet again. The shortlisted artists are Elmgreen & Dragset, Katharina Fritsch, Brian Griffiths, Hew Locke and Mariele Neudecker.
From 1841 to 1999 there was nothing on the Fourth Plinth...
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1:13pm
Marlborough Fine Art is currently hosting Paula Rego: Oratorio, the artist’s first solo exhibition in London since 2006. The centrepiece is the exhibition’s namesake, a mixed-media triptych (see above) that Rego created for her exhibition with Tracey Emin and Matt Collishaw at the Foundling Museum, London, earlier this year. Larger in scale and with more physical detail than her controversial Abortion series of 1999 – which lead to Portugal’s referendum on the legality of abortion – the works aggressively confront issues of female genital mutilation, or ‘circumcision’. Accompanied by several preparatory drawings, large conté works on paper and 19 etchings...
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2:32pm
Sargent and the Sea presents Sargent the marine painter throughout chronologically ordered rooms of the Sackler wing in the Royal Academy of Arts, London. Beginning with works influenced by his family holidays to the Brittany and Normandy coasts, the exhibition takes us through a biographical tour of Sargent’s relationship with the Sea, including his adult trips to Capri, return to Venice and his late-life studies of various wharfs.
For the main part, the exhibition demonstrates Sargent as a master of white and light, focusing on the sea and sky, with the occasional formal or collective portrait, but always using...
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12:19pm
Harrier and Jaguar are two recently decommissioned fighter planes that sit in the Duveen Galleries of Tate Britain, supported by Sotheby’s and devised by previous Turner Prize nominee Fiona Banner. One jet lies belly-up and the other suspended nose-down, demonstrating both their vulnerability and killer instincts, reminding us simultaneously of the birds of prey (and captivity) they imitate. However, the monumental size of the planes – this is Banner’s largest work to date – and the fact that they sit in one of the most prestigious museums of the UK, means you feel more like you’re inspecting their prehistoric ancestors,...
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A recent exhibition in Nottingham showcases contemporary artists' exploration of the Communist-era space race.
As part of a metal salvage drive for munitions in World War II, many of the UK’s parks and squares lost their iron railings. With the National Gallery now victim to a constant stream of commercial events in its environs, isn’t it time we got them back?
