It is not unheard of for museums, through their programming schedules, to inadvertently reprise entire chapters of art history. As I write, on one side of the Channel, in Paris, at Pompidou Center, is the fabulous Cy Twombly retrospective, showing until 24 April. (...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM-M22rhuLA Have you ever noticed how all the creative activities are these days described as artistic? Can hairdressers be artists? Are fashion designers artists? The question becomes even more pressing, and omnipresent, when...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vInG1XY5GjE Philippe Parreno (born 1963) the French artist who lives in Paris (for an artist to remain in Paris after becoming known is a rarity) has filled the entire Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern. The length of the...
Let’s be frank. Among the art lovers of this world – that vast group of individuals that loves flaunting its coffee table books and haunts Moma, the Centre Pompidou and the Tate Modern – how many can tell you why Carl Andre is an important artist? Why exactly should...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxv2qthiSYg As a young boy Subodh Gupta lived in Bihar, one of the poorest states in India. Everyone in the small city of Khagaul where he grew up worked for the Indian railways. The young Indian boy with the very common...
Gold is the only thing that piques his interest. Firstly, he tasted professional success by investing in the precious metal (1). Subsequently, gold allowed him to immerse himself in what’s commonly known as the Golden Age. The New York businessman Thomas Kaplan (born...
There is not one surrealism, but in fact many surrealisms. Proof if required is to be found at the Centre Pompidou where that most Belgian of surrealists, the painter René Magritte, is in the spotlight until 23rd January. Also at the Pompidou until 17th January is...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjt94eyY0ag To my knowledge, there are only two words of certifiably Venetian origin bequeathed to the world by La Serenissima: one is ghetto, and the other is biennale. -Ghetto, which initially makes its appearance in the Middle...
“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” Ernest Hemingway. A moveable feast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrIJjB_dyP0 When Paul Gauguin went...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2slfSt8OJYw For the past few years, it’s been a thing for museums to show artists in pairs. This often involves some stylistic affinity that shines a light on their respective works. For the new major exhibition at the Picasso...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaHUv_Ytr2g If there's one artist you have a hard time equating with sequins, bikinis, fake boobs and Miami beach parties it’s Mark Dion. This American artist (born 1961) is known all over the world for his cabinet of...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRDCmQEFk6Y Nobody can emerge unscathed from this exhibition. Mounted with exceptional skill by the Pompidou Centre curator Jonas Storsve with the collaboration of Nicola del Roscio who worked with the artist during 48 years ( he...