EXHIBITIONS | RECOMENDED
BATH, BRISTOL, LONDON
London may be stealing the spotlight with some incredible exhibitions this year, but we're not forgetting about the fantastic art scene beyond the capital. This month, we're shining a light on shows we've loved or are excited to see from Bath and Bristol, alongside our usual London picks. Keep these recommended art exhibitions on your radar.
24 JANUARY - 5 MAY
ICONIC: PORTRAITURE FROM FRANCIS BACON TO ANDY WARHOL - THE HOLBURNE MUSEUM, BATH
This exhibition at the Holburne Museum really needs no more introduction than the title itself. Exploring the period of the mid-20th century with a focus on the 1960s, this show investigates the development of portraiture as artists began to respond to photography as a source for paintings and reflects on the intervention of the media and construction of celebrity. Including many giants of the 20th century from the eponymous to Pauline Boty and Peter Blake, this show brings many rarely-seen works together in a conversation around the second-hand nature of the artists lived experience, the replacement of real life by the photographed image. It considers how celebrity is constructed by widely disseminated photographic imagery, how that shapes the narrative in the public consciousness, and how artists of the major boom in the 60s and since have contemplated and responded to that notion of fame through their practice.
On throughout the first quarter of the year, this small but mighty museum will definitely be worth a visit for its thought-provoking giants exhibition.
25 JANUARY - 27 APRIL
PAPER WORKS - RWA, BRISTOL
The RA paper works exhibition does exactly what it suggests and brings together artists who celebrate the use of paper as a surface, a sculptural material and as an inspiration. On show are some lovely drawings from visceral charcoal to detailed fine line; a beautiful range of printmaking techniques and some interesting sculptural works. This exhibition celebrates the delicate, sensitive works and the bold and innovative, all for the love of paper in all its forms. There is a beautiful cohesiveness to it - clearly from the paper - but also in tonality, sense of ephemerality or intricacy. The works range from beautifully delicate, transient and barely there to loud and concretely robust quite seamlessly.
The exhibition is laid out perfectly in the brighter lighter part of the RWA's space, adding to the works weightless nature, highlighting subtleties graciously. On a personal note, I always wish galleries would put a few more images on their website, be that installation views or some individual works, just to give that better sense of what you might expect to see (Bristol galleries seem to take this imageless, somewhat mysterious approach, quite seriously) but then I am not personally a fan of surprises. Though in this instance, this exhibition thankfully makes for quite a lovely exploration of the unknown and very much lives up to its name.
Also as a lovely bonus, a ticket at the RWA is a ticket for the whole place, meaning you can also catch the enticing Paule Vézelay exhibition - wonderfully enlightening if she's not an artist you're aware of - and Flora, a small but beautiful exploration into botanicals and nature inspired works from the RWA collection and its academicians. Both are definitely worth checking out while you're there fawning and falling in love with paper.
30 JANUARY - 8 MARCH
AT HOME: ALICE NEEL IN THE QUEER WORLD - VICTORIA MIRO, LONDON
As a huge fan of the (subjectively) somewhat terrifying inaccessible highbrow art-worldy feeling gallery that is Victoria Miro; I will insist that once you can get over ringing the doorbell and feeling like a bumpkin who doesn't belong, you will be left feeling like Dorothy, staring at the perfect example of a white walled high-ceilinged classic space filled with treasures, never wishing to click those little heels, or perhaps wishing that when you did you end up here. At Home.
Alice Neel in the Queer World presents an exploration into a different aspect of Neel's work and its continuing relevance. With her brutal and bold pursuit of honesty and truth of her subjects, Neel was dedicated to her practice of depicting the human condition, and through it left us with stunning works of life, of real people, of communities.
This latest showing from Victoria Miro looks at members of the queer community who were a part of Neel's circle, forming a collective portrait of her understanding of the queer world and her witnessing of difference.
This quote from the curator Hilton Als leaves the perfect lingering impression of what this exhibitions hopes to capture: ‘When she died in 1984, Neel had a great number of masterpieces to her credit, a galaxy of masterpieces, I would say, that bear witness to the terror we usually turn away from, having no language for it, namely alienation, disconnect, love.’
I've yet to not find myself in awe at the presence of greatness in this beautiful gallery, and I don't think that is about to change.
12 FEBRUARY - 5 MAY
FLOWERS : FLORA IN CONTEMPORARY ART & CULTURE - SAATCHI GALLERY, LONDON
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