Impressionists in London at Tate Britain doesn’t have enough impressionists in it November 7, 2017 The year is 1871 and French artists are pouring out of Paris like so much spilled milk, the pail they once called home having been kicked over by the recalcitrant mule that, in this metaphor, is the Franco-Prussian War. Among the thousands who sought refuge in Britain were conscription-dodging Claude Monet and his associated network [...]
Tinder’s ‘menducation’ doctrine dispels the notion that women are best served by other women October 17, 2017 A few weeks ago, Tinder announced a new chat feature. “Designed by the women of Tinder”, says the announcement, “the feature gives women extra tools to express themselves”. It concludes: “sometimes men need a little bit of guidance when it comes to communicating….” So many things are wrong with this pitch. Tinder’s new chat feature [...]
Saint George and the Dragon at the National Theatre: A fairytale for adults that’s not half as clever as it thinks it is October 13, 2017 What a time to stage a proper state-of-the-nation play. With record inequality, rising nationalism and the prospect of limping from the EU without so much as a trade deal, this is the perfect time to mull over exactly what it means to be British. And for a while, Rory Mullarkey’s new play looks like it [...]
Loving Vincent film review: An astonishing artistic achievement that’s so overwhelming it borders on psychedelic October 13, 2017 Van Gogh’s paintings have long served as inspiration for animators. I’ve wandered through virtual reality versions of his Paris bars, the lights glowing with distinctive halos, and various filmmakers have attempted to realise the movement implied by the painter’s brush strokes. But Loving Vincent does it on a whole other level. It’s a labour of [...]
John Akomfrah: Purple at the Barbican review: An astonishingly ambitious attempt to chart the anthropocene October 6, 2017 The Barbican’s Curve gallery is essentially given over to a single, epic, six-screen video that attempts to chart the history of humanity from the turn of the last century, and show how we’ve impacted upon the world around us. This wildly ambitious project is undertaken by documentary-maker and artist John Akomfrah, whose resulting video montage [...]
Why cinema is doomed: The picture house may think it has weathered the storms of piracy and streaming, but the real cliff edge is still to come October 5, 2017 In April of last year, AMC, on the verge of buying out Odeon and becoming the largest cinema chain in the world, announced it was considering allowing people to use their phones during screenings. Its CEO, Adam Aron, justified this by saying, “When you tell a 22- year-old to turn off their phone, they hear [...]
After the Rehearsal / Persona review: An emotionally wrought, powerhouse of an Ingmar Bergman double-bill September 28, 2017 The biggest cheer at the end of this exceptional double bill wasn't for the three actors who had endured an unusually intense evening, but for the tall, handsome, grey-haired form of Ivo van Hove, the Dutchman who might just be the best theatre director working today. He certainly earned the plaudits for this super-stylish, emotionally [...]
Iconoclasts at the Saatchi Gallery review: This repeatedly fascinating collection of pieces is in search of a unifying theme September 28, 2017 Iconoclasm is an apt subject for an exhibition in 2017, when nary a venerated institution remains unscathed. But if you’re hoping for a coherent argument about its place in the modern artistic canon, you will leave the Saatchi Gallery disappointed. If, however, you’re happy to simply enjoy the works of 13 vastly different artists without [...]
Basquiat: Boom for Real at the Barbican charts the astonishing ascendancy of New York’s hippest 80s scenester September 21, 2017 His works fetch more at auction than those of any other American painter – one sold this year for £85m – but Jean-Michel Basquiat remains an outsider in the world of contemporary art, written off by many as little more than a precocious street artist with connections. And, in this country at least, you could [...]
Rachel Whiteread at Tate Britain review: A wonderful collection of objects that find beauty in the everyday September 14, 2017 If we could all find someone to look at us the way Rachel Whiteread looks at an empty loo roll, the world would be a happier place. Few artists find quiet beauty in everyday things like she does. While her contemporaries like Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin were creating sculptures filled with live flies or [...]