In 2015, an abstract painting by Gerhard Richter broke the world record for contemporary art by selling at auction for £30.4m, and the octogenarian is often described as the most important living artist.
But I’ve always found the prices fetched by his work baffling and the claims made about him exaggerated, since his paintings leave me cold.
Read MoreThere is something appropriate about the piles of broken crockery that greet visitors to the autumn programme of exhibitions at the Whitechapel Gallery in east London. Yoko Ono’s Mend Piece, in which gallery visitors are invited to reconstruct teacups from pottery shards using glue, string and sticky tape, briefly captures a returning-from-lockdown determination to put things back together again (even while keeping a sanitiser bottle to hand).
Read MoreThe voices of persecuted poets narrate Shilpa Gupta’s first national solo show in more than a decade. From the eighth century to present day, viewers hear Arabic, Azeri, English, Spanish, Russian, and Hindi poems from writers who experienced imprisonment and execution for their words.
Read MoreWhat has been the underlying story of your recent museum installations and exhibitions?
That’s a complicated question. It’s always about a person who is trying to find the other reality or wishing to disappear into a fantasy. Someone who is scared of real world and doesn't know how to deal with everyday problems and situations. Yet, since they are a dreamer, an artist, they create a world of paintings, installations, drawings, sculptures. That’s ultimately what saves us and our viewers. It’s as if we really know how to meet an angel, how to heal with memories or paintings, how to fly and so forth. We create an artist’s world for viewers to step into and discover that they can live there.
Read MoreThere’s also a load of stuff going on inside Temperate House. A massive installation, ‘One Thousand Springs’, by artist Chiharu Shiota is made from 5,000 haikus hung in a web of red threads at the glasshouse’s centre. There will also be the Chalk Garden, created by an award-winning landscape designer and absolutely tons of Japan’s national flower, the chrysanthemum.
Read MoreNeuf-3 displays a total of 35 artworks, created by 13 artists from Africa and the diaspora. South African artists Mary Sibande, William Kentridge and Lebohang Kganye are among the artists featuring their work at neuf-3. The exhibition brings African contemporary art directly to the people of Saint-Denis; an opportunity for them to see themselves and their histories embodied through artistic expression in the streets of their hometown.
Read MoreGiven everything that Yoko Ono was, continues to be, and will always remain, it would be virtually impossible to separate the woman from her art and demonstrate favouritism for her composition without paying tribute to the person behind the melodies.
Read MoreThe first major London exhibition by Mumbai-based artist Shilpa Gupta highlights the fragility of one’s right to expression whilst raising urgent questions of censorship, confinement and resistance.
Read MoreNeshat has devoted much of her career to women’s rights and the fight for democracy, both as a photographer and filmmaker. She has spoken frequently about the plight of artists living in exile, longing for loved ones and her homeland while opposing the oppressive regime in Iran. And she points out that she also must confront Western misconceptions about Persian identity, gender, and religion.
Read MoreShilpa Gupta’s multi-channel immersive sound installation For, In Your Tongue, I Cannot Fit is the outcome of a years-long research project into persecuted poets across time and geographies.The physical installation spans over 3,000 square feet and includes 100 microphones suspended from the ceiling. They play an audio loop of snippets of poems whose authors have been subjected to imprisonment, detainment, and execution.
Read MoreA comprehensive exhibition showcasing 80 works of renowned contemporary German artist Gerhard Richter has opened in the Hungarian National Gallery (MNG). Entitled “Gerhard Richter. Truth in Semblance”, the show presents in Budapest a large selection of the 89-year-old artist. It features works from international and Hungarian public and private collections and represents every period of the artist’s carrier.
Read MoreThe trade routes between India and Bangladesh contributed to a shared history and culture before the partitions and international borders separated the legacy of the land that was united, and not divided. With the work 1:2138, Gupta brings to the forefront the history of textile and trade of the regions that was put to rest post the division. This work — an orb made out of cotton thread — encapsulates the art practice of Gupta to its best.
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