In this beautifully meditative essay, Emma Jones reflects on Ithell Colquhoun’s painting, Scylla, the artist’s links to British Surrealism and how seeing the body as landscape takes us beyond our narrow borders into new realms of personal and collective freedom.
Jade French, Suzanna Petot and Lottie Whalen of the interdisciplinary collective, Decorating Dissidence, discuss the recent Sophie Taeuber-Arp exhibition at Tate Modern, how dance informed Taeuber-Arp’s work and practise, and why she is relevant for us today.
Before the second lockdown Toni Roberts saw Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s show Fly in League with the Night at Tate Britain. Here, she recalls vibrant paintings alive with stories, brilliant studies of people, and human relationships that transcend the canvas’ edges.
Artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen’s epic Year 3 project brings together more than 3000 class portraits from over 1500 primary schools to commemorate a most formative time in a child’s educational life. The result, says our writer Shamini Sriskandarajah, is at once illuminating and moving.
Millais’ painting, Ophelia, continues to inspire viewers and critics alike, but what if the heroine came back from the watery grave she was condemned to? Here, Hannah Hutchings-Georgiou considers the return of Ophelia in the artwork of Jada Bruney and Rolake Osabia, and the music visuals of Christine and the Queens.
During lockdown, Julia Bagguley found solace and hope in her garden. Here, in the twenty-fifth postcard of the series, she reflects on another gardener, Gertrude Jekyll, as captured in William Nicholson’s portrait.
Kathryn Cutler-MacKenzie reflects on the seminal work, The Advantages of Being a Woman Artist, 1988, by Guerrilla Girls, and calls for women in the art world to be more politically engaged and active in their practise.
Toni Roberts discusses how Mona Hatoum’s radiant red sculpture, Hot Spot III, 2009, has become a relevant work of art during her time in lockdown and a metaphor for our cage-like existence.
In her third piece from a self-conceived series, Rochelle Roberts reflects on Eileen Agar’s Angel of Anarchy, 1936-40, a striking and evocative object that embodies current feelings of sadness, inaccessibility and loneliness.
Dismissed in his lifetime as mad, William Blake is now lauded as a visionary genius, one whose art and poetry have influenced many generations of creatives. Shamini Sriskandarajah visits Tate Britain’s recent retrospective to find out why.
A pioneer of video art and a foreseer of communication in the age of the internet, visionary artist Nam June Paik is celebrated in Tate Modern’s latest exhibition.
Tate Modern’s latest retrospective of the Russian avant-garde artist, Natalia Goncharova, is a triumph of colour, style and artistic brilliance, writes our arts contributor Gabriela Frost.
