H&M… McDonald’s… Starbucks… Zara… Julian Opie? I recently snuck away for a quick city break in Palma de Mallorca but I didn’t expect that the works of the British artist would be contributing to the rampant globalisation you now encounter in nearly every city in the world that has an airport. Then again, art has always been a global export (though not always willingly) and there were plenty of other outdoor sculptures and street art that was new and exciting to see. As I was on holiday I skipped the commercial galleries and spent most of my time wandering Old Town, enjoying the architecture and indulging in tapas and gelato. If you’re looking for some contemporary art advice I can highly recommend Casal Solleric (it’s free!) and the Es Baluard Museu, which is located inside a 16th century defensive bastion. Be sure to go up on the roof!
My trip left me with limited time to hop around London but I still managed to see 20 shows after I got back. Scroll down to find out which six I’m recommending…
Issue 113
Multi-layered works and elongated, accentuated figures are the prominent themes this week. Featuring: Ermias Ekube at Ed Cross; Guillermo Martin Bermejo, James Mortimer, Stuart Sanford, Matt Smith at James Freeman; Alexandra Metcalf at Ginny on Frederick; Sofia Mitsola at Pilar Corrias; Boscoe Holder & Geoffrey Holder at Victoria Miro; Wendy Red Star at Gathering.
Read the full issue online for mini-reviews of each show, with over three dozen photos!
More Reviews:
It’s Degree Show season and I’ve been working my way through as many as I can. If you want to see what’s still open and yet to come, check out the comprehensive list in Hector Campbell’s The Shock of the Now Issue #130. As for me, last week I saw what I consider to be not just the best Degree Show I’ve seen, but one of the best London art shows of 2024. Here’s my full review:
RA Schools Show 2024 @ Royal Academy of Art
A standing ovation should be given to these eleven students.
What else, and what didn’t make the cut?
Speaking of Degree Shows, last week I also saw what I consider to be the worst, and god help me if that assessment turns out to be wrong! I’m not going to name the venue just yet, but I am planning on writing a carefully worded review. It’s far too easy to be casually dismissive, and when student shows are this bad I feel I have a duty to try to provide some constructive criticism that explains why I was so underwhelmed.
Speaking of underwhelming, the shows at Castor, Modern Art, No. 9 Cork Street and Ordovas all made me shrug my shoulders. Whereas three other Cork Street shows impressed me with their incredibly high production quality but I felt the selection in each was unbalanced.
I loved the atmospheric jungle scenes by Tai Shan at Flowers but found his other more traditional compositions to be far less interesting. Neil Gall’s mind blowingly photorealistic paintings at Holtermann Fine Art depicting ripped up paper pieces layered over each other made me do a triple take, but regular readers know I don’t get the point of Trompe-l'œil in 2024. And Kenturah Davis’ drawings at Stephen Friedman are drop dead gorgeous, but the effect of making them on top of long, boring embossed texts felt kinda pointless. And yes, I tried to read them but almost fell asleep standing up!
There are two shows at Pipeline. Both were quite well hung and I enjoyed the overall feel of each, although none of the individual artworks made me look twice. And I really, really, really wanted to love the show at New Art Projects but the finesse of the wood and metal work just wasn’t exact enough. The artist was attempting to create the kinds of things that need to have amazingly precise details, because even the tiniest misalignments really jolt you out of it, which is what happened to me.
I also caught a few shows just before they closed including the two at Berntson Bhattacharjee (both I could have skipped) and Alice Black’s emerging artist selection that has some well priced works and apparently has just been extended.
Anonymous Art Anecdotes
Hey there gallerists… Have you ever seen someone walk into your space and immediately scrunch up their nose? It’s probably not the art. Because you’ve been sitting inside all day long acclimating to the odours you probably don’t realise that yes, your gallery smells. Or maybe you do? In either case may I recommend you steal a trick from one Notting Hill outpost and splurge on some luxury Moroccan mint tea candles — a scent so lovely and decadent I asked my partner to get me one for Christmas. I would have bought one myself, but dear god look at those prices! Maybe that explains why that gallery closed one of their venues?
Lunchtime visits are obviously the worst, when a hot takeaway or re-heated home cooking wafts out of a poorly ventilated kitchenette. A similar thing happens when shows contain such heavily layered impasto oils that it’s impossible to leave without feeling lightheaded. I encountered both of these last week, and indeed far too frequently, but at least they’re easily explained.
More confusing was the overwhelming stench of wet dog that I recently encountered in one major venue, except there was no four legged friend in sight. Luckily that stench was limited to the lobby, unlike the silent but deadly, sulphuric eggy smell that permeated the entire front room of another venue I attended. It’s a mild summer, so you’d think the gassy invigilator could at least have opened a window!
Looking ahead…
Here’s some notable openings taking place this week:
The annual Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts opens to the public today (18 Jun) and runs until 18 Aug. It’s always an overwhelming spectacle and a highly contentious show, and The Guardian’s art critic referred to this year’s selection as “a gasping death-rattle of conservative mediocrity”. If that doesn’t entice you to go see it, I don’t know what will!
With a title like ‘Humour Me’ I have high hopes for the latest group show at Haricot Gallery, and they’ve rarely let me down before. 21 June - 20 July
And from 22 June you can see archival photos from the 1894 opening of Tower Bridge that haven’t been seen for over a century! Located on and along the pavements of Tower Bridge, until 01 October.
Next week = No Roundup
I’m actually away again, and can’t help but gloat that this Newsletter was written in the shadow of a palm tree next to a sky blue pool. 🌴 That means there won’t be a Roundup next week. How will you all survive?
Here’s a suggestion: have a look at my What’s On Listings Page and see how many of the 35 shows you’ve seen (count current as of 18 June) and tick off as many as you can before I resume adding to the list again.
I'm going to take a guess and say the graduate show you're talking about is Chelsea.
Agree, the RA Schools show is so great! Excited to see what they all do next