Happy birthday NHS
Written by Martin Gollan
in
Visual Arts
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
Statues also die
Written by Dennis Broe
in
Visual Arts
Dennis Broe reflects on the recent attacks on European colonialism and support shown to Black Lives Matter, through the defacement and removal of statues The first week of European and particularly French and Francophone protests in the wake of the US Black Lives Matter movement concerned parallel police actions against…
Portraits from the pandemic: Artists highlight the role of NHS workers
in
Visual Arts
Written by
Nicholas Baldion
Nicholas Baldion discusses art, portraiture and the Covid-19 crisis, illustrated by some of his portraits of NHS workers. The painting above is of Karl, who works for the NHS in Oxford, and it's by Tim Benson In the ancient Roman Republic, there were laws preventing anyone but the patrician class…
The three wise monkeys: rich, powerful and extremely alert......
in
Visual Arts
Written by
Martin Gollan
The arts, trade unions, and working-class identity
in
Visual Arts
Written by
Anthony D. Padgett
Anthony D. Padgett reflects on the arts, trade unions, and working-class identity “Hold tight” I call as we ride on my vintage motorcycle through the steep terraced streets of Lancashire towns. My last day of freedom as I lose all my work to the Coronavirus crisis. We pass the tall…
The unflinching radicalism of Kim James
in
Visual Arts
Written by
Nick Wright
Nick Wright remembers Kim James' materialist approach to art What strikes me most about Kim James' place in the discourses around art, creativity and consciousness is his unrelenting philosophical materialism. Of course this is not simply a question of seeing mind and consciousness as part of the material and social…
The precarious lives of working people: Hokusai's Return
Written by Chris Nash
in
Visual Arts
Hokusai’s Return by Chris Nash Rowers bent over in labourand reaching for a nowherewhere you can / you cannotdrive further, drive throughoshiokuri bune frail prows,oars in rhyme with the rampagesof the terror’s watery surge you must / you must notdrown under this shunga wave,Prussian-blue hair in cascadeswhere silver fingers of…
The deep and realistic humanism of Raphael
Written by Jenny Farrell
in
Visual Arts
Jenny Farrell presents the life and some of the work of Raphael, who died 500 years ago The great Italian painter and architect, Raphael, died on April 6, 1520. He lived at the time of the Italian High Renaissance, one of the most progressive periods of history. As Engels put…
Reframing the Keeler Affair: Women, Class and Dear Christine
Written by Tara Hanks
in
Visual Arts
Tara Hanks interviews Fionn Wilson, an artist and curator of a new exhibition of art inspired by Christine Keeler. Main image: Christine Keeler: Anger, Blame, Shame, Ruin, Grief, by Caroline Coon, 2019, oil on canvas, 122 x 92 cm Artist Fionn Wilson is the curator of Dear Christine: A Tribute…
Norman Cornish and the Silver Swan
Written by Michael Jarvie
in
Visual Arts
Michael Jarvie reviews the Norman Cornish exhibition currently on at the Bowes Museum, Durham, and takes in the Silver Swan as well The Norman Cornish exhibition at the Bowes Museum is a retrospective, marking the 100th anniversary of his birth, and is spread out over three adjacent rooms. There’s a…
