Finally it feels like we are on the brink of summer. David Hockney captures last year’s beautiful 2020 lockdown spring from his retreat in Normandy. Charting the emergence of new growth from the blank emptiness of winter to the brilliantly overblown blossom and blooms of spring and early summer, this exhibition at the Royal Academy gladdens the heart.
Eileen Agar: Angel of Anarchy – the subject of a glorious new show at the Whitechapel Gallery charting her long artistic career and the innovative way she introduced collage and the power of ‘found objects’ into her art.
Papershades goes all bookish with the addition of a Literary Collection
Tracey Emin/Edvard Munch – The Loneliness of the Soul. A new show of works by Emin inspired by Munch at the Royal Academy, London. An intriguing exhibition showing the influence of Munch, Emin’s ‘friend in art’, on her artistic development and in her practice. Here we see the parallels in their work as they explore emotion in art.
Lynette Yiadom-Boakye is a fascinating contemporary artist. She’s also very prolific, which is apparent at the new show of her work at Tate Britain. Painted from her imagination, this collection of figurative works gives a satisfying insight into her creative process.
Turner’s Modern World at Tate Britain – a welcome chance to see the artist’s thought processes, passions, fierce desire for social justice and representations of contemporary conflict. Yes, we’ve seen many of these pictures before but it’s a treat to view rarely-seen paintings, sketches and engravings which provide a richer insight into Turner’s life, views and work.
Arctic: culture and climate. A new exhibition at the British Museum shines a fascinating spotlight on the many indigenous Peoples who live, and have lived, in the arctic circle which girdles the northernmost area of the planet. Arctic Peoples have faced so many challenges over the centuries and demonstrate remarkable survival skills and ingenious use of the region’s natural resources .
SIN – just what is it? We think of the Seven Deadly Sins with troublesome things like gluttony, pride and lust but artists have made more subtle interpretations. A small but perfectly formed show at the National Gallery, London, brings together some of its most famous ‘sin-centred’ paintings along with loans from other galleries. Humans will transgress but what really is a sin? How should it be defined? Intriguing stuff.
Paper Places 