Visual Art

Visual Arts

"What do you think an artist is? He’s a political being, constantly alive to heartrending, fiery, or happy events, to which he responds in every way. No, painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war, for attack and defense against the enemy."

Pablo Picasso

Saturday, 23 February 2019 21:20

Building for a society of equals: 100 years of Bauhaus

Written by Jenny Farrell

in Visual Arts

Jenny Farrell celebrates 100 years of Bauhaus, the German art school started in 1919 Inspired by Germany’s November 1918 Revolution, which was ultimately crushed by the Social Democratic Party leadership and the military, artists and intellectuals, anti-militarists and pacifists hoped for a new society for the common good. Many however…

Walter Gropius william morris Marianne Brandt

Friday, 01 February 2019 16:10

The Giant's Mirror

Written by Jowonder

in Visual Arts

Gaia She stayed silentas they cut her fringe.They took her liver too. They then cut her ovaries out,the bleeding didn't stop. They built bridges and damsas they planned to cut herwhite hands. Image and poem by Jowonder.

Tyne Pride at the end of the street, Wallsend

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Saturday, 12 January 2019 23:37

The Last Ships

in Visual Arts

Written by Mike Quille

Mike Quille reviews an exhibition of photographs of the shipbuilding industry on Tyneside. In honour of the shipyard workers of Tyneside, Chris Killip recently gave a set of over 30 stunning, monochrome images to the Laing Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne. The Last Ships exhibition of photographs, taken by Killip…

Deindustrialisation Tyneside Chris Killip

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 06 December 2018 16:29

America at Work: the photography of Lewis Hine

in Visual Arts

Written by John Green

John Green reviews a new book about the life and work of Lewis W. Hine, one of the founders of of U.S. social photography. Lewis Hine's iconic images captured the harsh realities of a country undergoing deep transformation during the early part of the 20th century. Hine was born in…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Wednesday, 05 December 2018 18:05

Hockney's Portrait of an Artist: A perfect expression of gross inequality

in Visual Arts

Written by Martin Gollan

Martin Gollan argues that what we see when we look at this Hockney painting is a perfect expression of the gross inequalities created by neoliberal capitalism. What do we see when looking at a painting which some has paid $90,312,500? This was the price paid a few weeks ago, for…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Saturday, 01 December 2018 13:59

Universal Credit: Apocalypse

in Visual Arts

Written by Martin Gollan

Unite Day of Action 1 December

Tuesday, 27 November 2018 22:37

Universal Credit: It's not true!

Written by Martin Gollan

in Visual Arts

For Unite's Day of Action against Universal Credit, 1 December.

Wednesday, 24 October 2018 09:24

Invisible Britain: Portraits of Hope and Resilience

Written by Mike Quille

in Visual Arts

Mike Quille reviews Invisible Britain: Portraits of Hope and Resilience, and interviews the editor, Paul Sng. Paul Sng’s films – Sleaford Mods, and Dispossession: The Great Housing Swindle – have explored the lives of working-class people who have been ignored, marginalised or demonised by mainstream media, and who are protesting…

Paul Sng Sleaford Mods Cultural democracy

Wednesday, 17 October 2018 13:42

'The future of art hangs on the future of civilisation': The Artists' International and the Spanish Civil War

Written by Christine Lindey

in Visual Arts

Christine Lindey looks at the role of the Artists International Association in supporting the cause of the Spanish Republic. The early 20th century’s momentous upheavals politicised many people and artists were no exception. The mechanised carnage of the First World War, the 1920s Hunger Marches, the increased immiseration caused by…

International Brigade Clive Branson Betty Rea James Boswell Henry Moore

Thursday, 13 September 2018 21:29

Public Art and Public Image in the World of the Spectacle

Written by Mike Templeton

in Visual Arts

Mike Templeton looks at the urban murals in Cincinnati, and argues that as the community of labour and co-operation has been destroyed by capitalism, so has the possibility for a meaningful and vital public art. Public art projects in the form of murals have become ubiquitous around the world. Follow…

Cincinnati Guy Debord