Who What Where When:

Who: José Parlá a Brooklyn based artist
What: This work entitled 'Broken Language' is a mixture of Gesso, Ink, Plaster and Oil on canvas. José Parlá uses his work to express the essence of his experience of an urban environment.
Where: Exhibited at the artist's first solo exhibition at The Haunch of Venison which opened yesterday and will run until 28th March. I can't wait to get down there.
When: 2013

For details on the exhibition Click Here
 And to look at some more of this atist's compelling work Click Here

Who What Where When : Cloud Gerhard Richter

Who: Gerhard Richter
What: One of his series of Cloud Paintings (Wolke) treating the subject in different climatic conditions.
Where: On sale at Sotheby's Contemporary Art Evening Auction on the 12th February 2013 for an estimated 7-9 million pounds.
When: The painting is dated 1976 on the back

Take a look at some of the breathtaking works on auction at this event.

Looking for something a little bit different for Valentines day this year?

Gallery shops are always a great source of lovely bits and bobs that you wouldn't find all over the high street. So for a day like Valentine's day when you might be looking for something a bit different and thoughtful they are a gold mine.

Phwor!!! Torso Tea Towel Courtauld Shop Sale Price £3.50

Bloomsbury Silk Scarf Courtuald Shop £35

Keep your loved one safe with an Armour bicycle helmet cover Wallace Collection Shop £25

 The V&A and the Tate have even designated sections of their online shop to Valentine's day pieces.

Honeycomb Bee Necklace by Bill Skinner Sale Price £65

Oh Jeff Cusion Tate £15

You Make Me Card by Christopher Wool Tate £2.50

Chinese Wallpaper Print, one of the many stunning print options available at the V&A

Or if any of these don't tickle your fancy why not have a print made up of your loved one's favorite painting at the National Gallery such as:

Detail of the Angel from the Virgin of the Rocks

or to go another direction.....

Detail from the Ambassadors

.....hey I don't know what you feel about Valentines day.


http://www.wallacecollection.org/shop
http://shop.tate.org.uk/gifts/valentines-gifts/icat/valentines/
http://www.vandashop.com/info/Valentines
http://www.npg.org.uk/shop.php
http://www.courtauldshop.com/
http://www.nationalgallery.co.uk/control/main

Wellcome Library: The Healing Presence of Art

If you feel like getting some knowledge under your belt this February then I recommend The Healing Presence of Art talk at the Wellcome Library by Richard Cork.

Here he is looking thoughtful

I went to a very similar lecture that he gave on this topic at the Courtauld Institute about a year ago. It opened my eyes to how art has been used over the centuries to adorn hospitals.

My favorite work that he mentioned was the Russian sculptor Naum Gabo's beautiful fountain in the lower garden of St Thomas's Hospital which I had never come across before. It is a truly stunning piece of work that looks different every time you see it. Very suitable as it is a work of art that some patients might see on a daily basis.

For more information on the lecture go the the Wellcome library page and get booking.

Lucian Freud leaves a beautiful painting by Corot to the nation

The late great artist Lucian Freud has donated this stunning painting 'The Italian Woman or The Woman with yellow sleeves' to the nation and more specifically to the National Gallery. The painting is now on display in Room 41.

With it's strong brush work, the solidity of the form and a certain depth and frankness of the subjects gaze it is perhaps unsurprising that this painting appealed to Lucian Freud when he bought it at auction in 2001.

The painting will join several landscapes by the artist that the gallery already owns. Such as this atmospheric painting 'A Flood'. An appropriate subject considering the weather from the last couple of weeks

The addition of a portrait to the galleries collection gives us a greater insight into the work of this French artist as well as some understanding of the collecting habits and taste of one of Britain's most celebrated artists.

Happy Tax Deadline Day!

Here are some depictions of taxes through the years. I guess things don't change that much.

Gillray's satirical print 'The Friend of the People' published in May 1806. Make sure to take a good look there is lots to see, the smart new tax cart in the background, the bulging pockets of the tax collector, the emaciated hissing cat at the window.

 Pieter Brueghel the younger's 'Paying the Tax' from 1620-40 I'm sure many of us can relate to the chaos.

Masaccio's fresco in the Brancacci Chapel in Florence painted circa 1427 showing Jesus and his disciples being asked to pay the tax to enter the city. The tax collector wears the short orange tunic and Peter can be seen on the left receiving the money for the tax from the mouth of a fish.

Wish that's were everyone's tax money could come from eh!

How to solve a problem like Kate Middleton?

A lot of fuss has been made over Paul Emsley's portrait and I  think it has been terribly unfair. Painting a royal is a notoriously difficult challenge for any artist. The public are looking for a grand, beautiful and recognisable depiction of the person in question. 

However, they are figures that we are rarely seen in any state less than perfectly presented. Kate Middleton is no exception to this, in fact she is the epitome of it. You rarely see a photograph of her that does not appear to have been shot in ideal lighting, that she is not completely made up and that she doesn't sport her frankly enviable locks and her lovely smile.

I mean you just have to Google image her to see that...

So for an artist whose photo-realist approach feeds off making the imperfections in a face beautiful by celebrating the honesty of them this portrait was always doomed to have the critical lash-back that it has received. 

The artist himself said as much stating:  "The fact she is a beautiful woman is, for an artist, difficult. When you have lines and wrinkles it is much easier as an artist to capture them as a  person. Obviously she has none of that.”

Looking at his other work demonstrates this point admirably. His BP Portrait award winning painting of Michael Simpson has to be one of my favorite contemporary portraits.

This approach is not only effective when it is applied in such an extreme way or only to men, as this portrait of Katerine shows. You can see the slight bags and lines underneath the sitters eyes and the slight line on one side of her mouth which when combined with the fly away hairs over her forehead gives a much more true depiction.

To see more work by this phenomenal artist then do go to his website it really is worth it!

To make you mind up about his Kate Middleton portrait for yourself head to Room 37 in the National Portrait Gallery. It is quite different in person and if it still isn't your cup of tea then go and check out some of the other royal portraits. 

I wonder if they would be considered so fantastic if we had been barraged with hundreds of photographs of those sitters.