Magnificent Obsessions: The Artist as Collector – art review February 20, 2015 Barbican | ★★★★☆ What art do artists like? From Damian Hirst’s extensive collection of stuffed animals and skulls to Peter Blake’s near-bottomless stock-pile of vintage road signs, many of today’s leading artists are as enthusiastic about accumulating stuff as they about making it. Over two levels of the Barbican, Magnificent Obsessions presents 8,000 objects belonging [...]
Film review: Duke of Burgundy February 20, 2015 Cert 18 | ★★★★☆ That The Duke of Burgundy’s release falls within a week of a certain other sadomasochistic soap opera is probably no coincidence (get them while they’re still hot), but the association does Peter Strickland’s filthy-but-tender love story a disservice. We are first introduced to Evelyn, a maid whose sadistic mistress Cynthia [...]
Theatre review: Mark Strong stars in A View From the Bridge February 20, 2015 Wyndham’s Theatre | ★★★★☆ The set in Ivo van Hove’s lauded adaptation of Arthur Miller’s classic A View From the Bridge (first shown at the Young Vic in 2014) evokes both a boxing ring and a pagan temple. It’s an ideal space for a play in which desire wrestles with reason on the way to [...]
Film review: Cake – the one where Jennifer Aniston feels sorry for herself February 19, 2015 Cert 15 | ★☆☆☆☆ Since Friends, Jennifer Aniston has gone on to build a successful, if not groundbreaking, career as a commercially bankable but critically patronised American sweetheart. But she wants more. She wants respect. She wants awards. She wants – whisper it – to do a McConaughey. Cake isn’t Aniston politely asking to [...]
Something for the weekend February 19, 2015 DRINK! LONDON BEER WEEK Round off the week with round of delicious ales at London Beer Week. A £10 LBW wristband entitles you to discounted pints at a number of watering holes around London. Brewery tours and brewing masterclasses are also on offer. Visit londonbeerweek.com PARTY! CHINESE NEW YEAR Chinese New Year fell yesterday but [...]
The Beal deal February 19, 2015 Figures hang suspended and exposed in vague landscapes of coloured panels and platforms. Bartholomew Beal’s paintings are dark and light, disturbing and beautiful, rich with meaning yet unnervingly ambiguous. There’s the horror of Francis Bacon, and the colourful exuberance of Peter Doig. Anyone who visited last year’s solo show at the Fine Art Society will [...]
Brick by brick February 19, 2015 A new coffee-table book celebrates the enduring appeal of the ultimate building material Age has not withered the humble brick, but nor has it afforded it much prestige. More than any other material, bricks have enshrined civilisation, protected it, provided space for it to grow, yet they’re seen as the humdrum standard, little more than [...]
Art of brass February 19, 2015 Make storage stylish with these handcrafted stacking vessels Storage is a vital, but throughly mundane, fact of life. Fortunately, the brother and sister team behind Utopia & Utility have come up with a solution that’s both functional and fashionable. These stacking vessels are actually three different containers made by three European craftsmen to form one [...]
Easel does it February 19, 2015 Samsung’s 85 inch S9 TV will turn your living room into a cinema If watching television is less a pastime and more a second job, then perhaps you should consider investing in one of these. Samsung’s 85 inch behemoth isn’t just something to watch the new season of House of Cards on – it’s a [...]
Beautiful things: Brass vessels, Samsung’s easel TV and Tom Dixon furniture February 19, 2015 Make storage stylish with these handcrafted stacking vessels Storage is a vital, but throughly mundane, fact of life. Fortunately, the brother and sister team behind Utopia & Utility have come up with a solution that’s both functional and fashionable. These stacking vessels are actually three different containers made by three European craftsmen to form one [...]