UK Exhibitions to see this July
Featuring works by Ruth Asawa, Ingrid Pollard, Mary Fedden and Alexandra Lethbridge, we take a look at the best exhibitions running this month outside of London...
By
Adam Wells
July 8, 2022
Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning at Turner Contemporary, Margate
Created in partnership with Milton Keynes’s MK Gallery, this Turner Prize-nominated exhibition from Guyanese-born British artist and photographer Ingrid Pollard arrives at Margate’s Turner Contemporary this month. Carbon Slowly Turning takes up the entirety of the gallery’s first floor, offering a major survey of Pollard’s vast contribution to British art, from the 1980s to the present day. Rather than being displayed in typical chronological fashion, this exhibition takes a holistic, thematic approach to Pollard’s work, as is befitting her work on history, landscapes, and the contributions of both to British imagery and identity. In doing so, Pollard’s work interrogates national perceptions of race, gender and sexuality, with Turner Contemporary also displaying an exclusive series of black & white photography entitled ‘Bursting Stone’, along with prints of gay and lesbian marches commissioned for Glasgow Women’s Library. Also featured in the exhibition are the sculptures created in collaboration with kinetic artist Oliver Smart in 2021 entitled Bow Down and Very Low -123. Incorporating three ‘characters’, these sculptures portray familiar differential poses of bowing and curtseying which - along with the use of archival film and contemporary media - explore British interpretations of power relations. As a major retrospective on the career of a uniquely British artist, Carbon Slowly Turning is a must-see for art-lovers around the country.
Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning is showing at Turner Contemporary until 25th September
Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe at Modern Art Oxford
While it has been running since May, this month marks the perfect time to visit this exhibition at Modern Art Oxford before it closes in August. Citizen of the Universe presents the work of the late Asian-American artist educator and activist Ruth Asawa, with a particular focus on her frequent intersections between art, education and community engagement. Taking as an inspiration Asawa’s declaration that “Art will make people better, more highly skilled in thinking and improving whatever business one goes into, or whatever occupation”, her methods and interpretations on the role of art are presented through the display of prints, letters, drawings and photographs. Perhaps most iconic, however, are Asawa’s signature hanging sculptures made out of looped and tied wire, representative of her perception of art as an essential tool of expression to be woven into the fabric of society, emphasising its ability to “[make] a person broader”. The title itself is even inspired by Asawa’s self-identification as a ‘Citizen of the Universe’, with her sense of higher purpose to employ art as a force for social good itself inspired by her time as a teenager spent in a Japanese-American internment camp. In a message still poignant to this day, the display of Ruth Asawa’s work is a timely reminder of art’s ability to transcend racial, international and class divisions.
Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe is showing at Modern Art Oxford until 21st August
Mary Fedden: Simple Pleasures at Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
Drawing from collections across the UK including the Royal Academy, Tate, Government Art Collection, Royal West of England Academy and Bath University - along with numerous private collections - Simple Pleasures features over 110 paintings and works on paper by Mary Fedden, spanning her entire seven decades-long career from 1936 to 2006. As the first female painting tutor at the Royal College of Art, Fedden’s role in British art history cannot be overstated, and this exhibition at Bath’s Victoria Art Gallery explores her life and career, from her childhood in Bristol to the decades spent at Chiswick’s Durham Wharf with her husband and fellow artist Julian Trevelyan. The development of Fedden’s sensibility for bright colours across her career is explored alongside the still life objects that inspired her painting such as food and flowers, along with her easel and palette, all coming together to give an insight into her artistic process. Fedden wrote that her art exists as a counter to “ready-made entertainment, ugly mass-produced objects made with little love or care, canned music and huge hideous advertisements”, so if you’re looking for a break from the overstimulation of the modern world, we definitely recommend the soothing, colourful world of Simple Pleasures.
Mary Fedden: Simple Pleasures is showing at Victoria Art Gallery until 16th October
An Object of Vision at Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast
Taking as its inspiration the Guerilla Girls’ 1984 statement that “You're seeing less than half the picture without the vision of women artists and women of colour”, this new exhibition from Alexandra Lethbridge investigates the historic exclusion of women from historical and artistic narratives. The situation hasn’t improved in the almost forty years since; of the 2,300 artworks held by the National Gallery, for instance, only 21 are by women. An Object of Vision seeks to respond to this erasure reconstructing history accordingly and creating alternative images and interpretation. When they aren’t hidden, suppressed or shrouded, women are often portrayed in art simply as a spectacle to be viewed, as noted by John Berger in 1972’s Ways of Seeing. In this exhibition, Lethbridge takes the often fragmented artistic depictions of women and reconstructs them through collage, prints and sculpture, exposing the frequent disparity between individual and form and paving the way for a new artistic depiction of gender.
An Object of Vision is showing at Golden Thread Gallery until 30th July
Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning at Turner Contemporary, Margate
Created in partnership with Milton Keynes’s MK Gallery, this Turner Prize-nominated exhibition from Guyanese-born British artist and photographer Ingrid Pollard arrives at Margate’s Turner Contemporary this month. Carbon Slowly Turning takes up the entirety of the gallery’s first floor, offering a major survey of Pollard’s vast contribution to British art, from the 1980s to the present day. Rather than being displayed in typical chronological fashion, this exhibition takes a holistic, thematic approach to Pollard’s work, as is befitting her work on history, landscapes, and the contributions of both to British imagery and identity. In doing so, Pollard’s work interrogates national perceptions of race, gender and sexuality, with Turner Contemporary also displaying an exclusive series of black & white photography entitled ‘Bursting Stone’, along with prints of gay and lesbian marches commissioned for Glasgow Women’s Library. Also featured in the exhibition are the sculptures created in collaboration with kinetic artist Oliver Smart in 2021 entitled Bow Down and Very Low -123. Incorporating three ‘characters’, these sculptures portray familiar differential poses of bowing and curtseying which - along with the use of archival film and contemporary media - explore British interpretations of power relations. As a major retrospective on the career of a uniquely British artist, Carbon Slowly Turning is a must-see for art-lovers around the country.
Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning is showing at Turner Contemporary until 25th September
Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe at Modern Art Oxford
While it has been running since May, this month marks the perfect time to visit this exhibition at Modern Art Oxford before it closes in August. Citizen of the Universe presents the work of the late Asian-American artist educator and activist Ruth Asawa, with a particular focus on her frequent intersections between art, education and community engagement. Taking as an inspiration Asawa’s declaration that “Art will make people better, more highly skilled in thinking and improving whatever business one goes into, or whatever occupation”, her methods and interpretations on the role of art are presented through the display of prints, letters, drawings and photographs. Perhaps most iconic, however, are Asawa’s signature hanging sculptures made out of looped and tied wire, representative of her perception of art as an essential tool of expression to be woven into the fabric of society, emphasising its ability to “[make] a person broader”. The title itself is even inspired by Asawa’s self-identification as a ‘Citizen of the Universe’, with her sense of higher purpose to employ art as a force for social good itself inspired by her time as a teenager spent in a Japanese-American internment camp. In a message still poignant to this day, the display of Ruth Asawa’s work is a timely reminder of art’s ability to transcend racial, international and class divisions.
Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe is showing at Modern Art Oxford until 21st August
Mary Fedden: Simple Pleasures at Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
Drawing from collections across the UK including the Royal Academy, Tate, Government Art Collection, Royal West of England Academy and Bath University - along with numerous private collections - Simple Pleasures features over 110 paintings and works on paper by Mary Fedden, spanning her entire seven decades-long career from 1936 to 2006. As the first female painting tutor at the Royal College of Art, Fedden’s role in British art history cannot be overstated, and this exhibition at Bath’s Victoria Art Gallery explores her life and career, from her childhood in Bristol to the decades spent at Chiswick’s Durham Wharf with her husband and fellow artist Julian Trevelyan. The development of Fedden’s sensibility for bright colours across her career is explored alongside the still life objects that inspired her painting such as food and flowers, along with her easel and palette, all coming together to give an insight into her artistic process. Fedden wrote that her art exists as a counter to “ready-made entertainment, ugly mass-produced objects made with little love or care, canned music and huge hideous advertisements”, so if you’re looking for a break from the overstimulation of the modern world, we definitely recommend the soothing, colourful world of Simple Pleasures.
Mary Fedden: Simple Pleasures is showing at Victoria Art Gallery until 16th October
An Object of Vision at Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast
Taking as its inspiration the Guerilla Girls’ 1984 statement that “You're seeing less than half the picture without the vision of women artists and women of colour”, this new exhibition from Alexandra Lethbridge investigates the historic exclusion of women from historical and artistic narratives. The situation hasn’t improved in the almost forty years since; of the 2,300 artworks held by the National Gallery, for instance, only 21 are by women. An Object of Vision seeks to respond to this erasure reconstructing history accordingly and creating alternative images and interpretation. When they aren’t hidden, suppressed or shrouded, women are often portrayed in art simply as a spectacle to be viewed, as noted by John Berger in 1972’s Ways of Seeing. In this exhibition, Lethbridge takes the often fragmented artistic depictions of women and reconstructs them through collage, prints and sculpture, exposing the frequent disparity between individual and form and paving the way for a new artistic depiction of gender.
An Object of Vision is showing at Golden Thread Gallery until 30th July
Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning at Turner Contemporary, Margate
Created in partnership with Milton Keynes’s MK Gallery, this Turner Prize-nominated exhibition from Guyanese-born British artist and photographer Ingrid Pollard arrives at Margate’s Turner Contemporary this month. Carbon Slowly Turning takes up the entirety of the gallery’s first floor, offering a major survey of Pollard’s vast contribution to British art, from the 1980s to the present day. Rather than being displayed in typical chronological fashion, this exhibition takes a holistic, thematic approach to Pollard’s work, as is befitting her work on history, landscapes, and the contributions of both to British imagery and identity. In doing so, Pollard’s work interrogates national perceptions of race, gender and sexuality, with Turner Contemporary also displaying an exclusive series of black & white photography entitled ‘Bursting Stone’, along with prints of gay and lesbian marches commissioned for Glasgow Women’s Library. Also featured in the exhibition are the sculptures created in collaboration with kinetic artist Oliver Smart in 2021 entitled Bow Down and Very Low -123. Incorporating three ‘characters’, these sculptures portray familiar differential poses of bowing and curtseying which - along with the use of archival film and contemporary media - explore British interpretations of power relations. As a major retrospective on the career of a uniquely British artist, Carbon Slowly Turning is a must-see for art-lovers around the country.
Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning is showing at Turner Contemporary until 25th September
Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe at Modern Art Oxford
While it has been running since May, this month marks the perfect time to visit this exhibition at Modern Art Oxford before it closes in August. Citizen of the Universe presents the work of the late Asian-American artist educator and activist Ruth Asawa, with a particular focus on her frequent intersections between art, education and community engagement. Taking as an inspiration Asawa’s declaration that “Art will make people better, more highly skilled in thinking and improving whatever business one goes into, or whatever occupation”, her methods and interpretations on the role of art are presented through the display of prints, letters, drawings and photographs. Perhaps most iconic, however, are Asawa’s signature hanging sculptures made out of looped and tied wire, representative of her perception of art as an essential tool of expression to be woven into the fabric of society, emphasising its ability to “[make] a person broader”. The title itself is even inspired by Asawa’s self-identification as a ‘Citizen of the Universe’, with her sense of higher purpose to employ art as a force for social good itself inspired by her time as a teenager spent in a Japanese-American internment camp. In a message still poignant to this day, the display of Ruth Asawa’s work is a timely reminder of art’s ability to transcend racial, international and class divisions.
Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe is showing at Modern Art Oxford until 21st August
Mary Fedden: Simple Pleasures at Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
Drawing from collections across the UK including the Royal Academy, Tate, Government Art Collection, Royal West of England Academy and Bath University - along with numerous private collections - Simple Pleasures features over 110 paintings and works on paper by Mary Fedden, spanning her entire seven decades-long career from 1936 to 2006. As the first female painting tutor at the Royal College of Art, Fedden’s role in British art history cannot be overstated, and this exhibition at Bath’s Victoria Art Gallery explores her life and career, from her childhood in Bristol to the decades spent at Chiswick’s Durham Wharf with her husband and fellow artist Julian Trevelyan. The development of Fedden’s sensibility for bright colours across her career is explored alongside the still life objects that inspired her painting such as food and flowers, along with her easel and palette, all coming together to give an insight into her artistic process. Fedden wrote that her art exists as a counter to “ready-made entertainment, ugly mass-produced objects made with little love or care, canned music and huge hideous advertisements”, so if you’re looking for a break from the overstimulation of the modern world, we definitely recommend the soothing, colourful world of Simple Pleasures.
Mary Fedden: Simple Pleasures is showing at Victoria Art Gallery until 16th October
An Object of Vision at Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast
Taking as its inspiration the Guerilla Girls’ 1984 statement that “You're seeing less than half the picture without the vision of women artists and women of colour”, this new exhibition from Alexandra Lethbridge investigates the historic exclusion of women from historical and artistic narratives. The situation hasn’t improved in the almost forty years since; of the 2,300 artworks held by the National Gallery, for instance, only 21 are by women. An Object of Vision seeks to respond to this erasure reconstructing history accordingly and creating alternative images and interpretation. When they aren’t hidden, suppressed or shrouded, women are often portrayed in art simply as a spectacle to be viewed, as noted by John Berger in 1972’s Ways of Seeing. In this exhibition, Lethbridge takes the often fragmented artistic depictions of women and reconstructs them through collage, prints and sculpture, exposing the frequent disparity between individual and form and paving the way for a new artistic depiction of gender.
An Object of Vision is showing at Golden Thread Gallery until 30th July
Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning at Turner Contemporary, Margate
Created in partnership with Milton Keynes’s MK Gallery, this Turner Prize-nominated exhibition from Guyanese-born British artist and photographer Ingrid Pollard arrives at Margate’s Turner Contemporary this month. Carbon Slowly Turning takes up the entirety of the gallery’s first floor, offering a major survey of Pollard’s vast contribution to British art, from the 1980s to the present day. Rather than being displayed in typical chronological fashion, this exhibition takes a holistic, thematic approach to Pollard’s work, as is befitting her work on history, landscapes, and the contributions of both to British imagery and identity. In doing so, Pollard’s work interrogates national perceptions of race, gender and sexuality, with Turner Contemporary also displaying an exclusive series of black & white photography entitled ‘Bursting Stone’, along with prints of gay and lesbian marches commissioned for Glasgow Women’s Library. Also featured in the exhibition are the sculptures created in collaboration with kinetic artist Oliver Smart in 2021 entitled Bow Down and Very Low -123. Incorporating three ‘characters’, these sculptures portray familiar differential poses of bowing and curtseying which - along with the use of archival film and contemporary media - explore British interpretations of power relations. As a major retrospective on the career of a uniquely British artist, Carbon Slowly Turning is a must-see for art-lovers around the country.
Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning is showing at Turner Contemporary until 25th September
Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe at Modern Art Oxford
While it has been running since May, this month marks the perfect time to visit this exhibition at Modern Art Oxford before it closes in August. Citizen of the Universe presents the work of the late Asian-American artist educator and activist Ruth Asawa, with a particular focus on her frequent intersections between art, education and community engagement. Taking as an inspiration Asawa’s declaration that “Art will make people better, more highly skilled in thinking and improving whatever business one goes into, or whatever occupation”, her methods and interpretations on the role of art are presented through the display of prints, letters, drawings and photographs. Perhaps most iconic, however, are Asawa’s signature hanging sculptures made out of looped and tied wire, representative of her perception of art as an essential tool of expression to be woven into the fabric of society, emphasising its ability to “[make] a person broader”. The title itself is even inspired by Asawa’s self-identification as a ‘Citizen of the Universe’, with her sense of higher purpose to employ art as a force for social good itself inspired by her time as a teenager spent in a Japanese-American internment camp. In a message still poignant to this day, the display of Ruth Asawa’s work is a timely reminder of art’s ability to transcend racial, international and class divisions.
Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe is showing at Modern Art Oxford until 21st August
Mary Fedden: Simple Pleasures at Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
Drawing from collections across the UK including the Royal Academy, Tate, Government Art Collection, Royal West of England Academy and Bath University - along with numerous private collections - Simple Pleasures features over 110 paintings and works on paper by Mary Fedden, spanning her entire seven decades-long career from 1936 to 2006. As the first female painting tutor at the Royal College of Art, Fedden’s role in British art history cannot be overstated, and this exhibition at Bath’s Victoria Art Gallery explores her life and career, from her childhood in Bristol to the decades spent at Chiswick’s Durham Wharf with her husband and fellow artist Julian Trevelyan. The development of Fedden’s sensibility for bright colours across her career is explored alongside the still life objects that inspired her painting such as food and flowers, along with her easel and palette, all coming together to give an insight into her artistic process. Fedden wrote that her art exists as a counter to “ready-made entertainment, ugly mass-produced objects made with little love or care, canned music and huge hideous advertisements”, so if you’re looking for a break from the overstimulation of the modern world, we definitely recommend the soothing, colourful world of Simple Pleasures.
Mary Fedden: Simple Pleasures is showing at Victoria Art Gallery until 16th October
An Object of Vision at Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast
Taking as its inspiration the Guerilla Girls’ 1984 statement that “You're seeing less than half the picture without the vision of women artists and women of colour”, this new exhibition from Alexandra Lethbridge investigates the historic exclusion of women from historical and artistic narratives. The situation hasn’t improved in the almost forty years since; of the 2,300 artworks held by the National Gallery, for instance, only 21 are by women. An Object of Vision seeks to respond to this erasure reconstructing history accordingly and creating alternative images and interpretation. When they aren’t hidden, suppressed or shrouded, women are often portrayed in art simply as a spectacle to be viewed, as noted by John Berger in 1972’s Ways of Seeing. In this exhibition, Lethbridge takes the often fragmented artistic depictions of women and reconstructs them through collage, prints and sculpture, exposing the frequent disparity between individual and form and paving the way for a new artistic depiction of gender.
An Object of Vision is showing at Golden Thread Gallery until 30th July
Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning at Turner Contemporary, Margate
Created in partnership with Milton Keynes’s MK Gallery, this Turner Prize-nominated exhibition from Guyanese-born British artist and photographer Ingrid Pollard arrives at Margate’s Turner Contemporary this month. Carbon Slowly Turning takes up the entirety of the gallery’s first floor, offering a major survey of Pollard’s vast contribution to British art, from the 1980s to the present day. Rather than being displayed in typical chronological fashion, this exhibition takes a holistic, thematic approach to Pollard’s work, as is befitting her work on history, landscapes, and the contributions of both to British imagery and identity. In doing so, Pollard’s work interrogates national perceptions of race, gender and sexuality, with Turner Contemporary also displaying an exclusive series of black & white photography entitled ‘Bursting Stone’, along with prints of gay and lesbian marches commissioned for Glasgow Women’s Library. Also featured in the exhibition are the sculptures created in collaboration with kinetic artist Oliver Smart in 2021 entitled Bow Down and Very Low -123. Incorporating three ‘characters’, these sculptures portray familiar differential poses of bowing and curtseying which - along with the use of archival film and contemporary media - explore British interpretations of power relations. As a major retrospective on the career of a uniquely British artist, Carbon Slowly Turning is a must-see for art-lovers around the country.
Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning is showing at Turner Contemporary until 25th September
Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe at Modern Art Oxford
While it has been running since May, this month marks the perfect time to visit this exhibition at Modern Art Oxford before it closes in August. Citizen of the Universe presents the work of the late Asian-American artist educator and activist Ruth Asawa, with a particular focus on her frequent intersections between art, education and community engagement. Taking as an inspiration Asawa’s declaration that “Art will make people better, more highly skilled in thinking and improving whatever business one goes into, or whatever occupation”, her methods and interpretations on the role of art are presented through the display of prints, letters, drawings and photographs. Perhaps most iconic, however, are Asawa’s signature hanging sculptures made out of looped and tied wire, representative of her perception of art as an essential tool of expression to be woven into the fabric of society, emphasising its ability to “[make] a person broader”. The title itself is even inspired by Asawa’s self-identification as a ‘Citizen of the Universe’, with her sense of higher purpose to employ art as a force for social good itself inspired by her time as a teenager spent in a Japanese-American internment camp. In a message still poignant to this day, the display of Ruth Asawa’s work is a timely reminder of art’s ability to transcend racial, international and class divisions.
Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe is showing at Modern Art Oxford until 21st August
Mary Fedden: Simple Pleasures at Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
Drawing from collections across the UK including the Royal Academy, Tate, Government Art Collection, Royal West of England Academy and Bath University - along with numerous private collections - Simple Pleasures features over 110 paintings and works on paper by Mary Fedden, spanning her entire seven decades-long career from 1936 to 2006. As the first female painting tutor at the Royal College of Art, Fedden’s role in British art history cannot be overstated, and this exhibition at Bath’s Victoria Art Gallery explores her life and career, from her childhood in Bristol to the decades spent at Chiswick’s Durham Wharf with her husband and fellow artist Julian Trevelyan. The development of Fedden’s sensibility for bright colours across her career is explored alongside the still life objects that inspired her painting such as food and flowers, along with her easel and palette, all coming together to give an insight into her artistic process. Fedden wrote that her art exists as a counter to “ready-made entertainment, ugly mass-produced objects made with little love or care, canned music and huge hideous advertisements”, so if you’re looking for a break from the overstimulation of the modern world, we definitely recommend the soothing, colourful world of Simple Pleasures.
Mary Fedden: Simple Pleasures is showing at Victoria Art Gallery until 16th October
An Object of Vision at Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast
Taking as its inspiration the Guerilla Girls’ 1984 statement that “You're seeing less than half the picture without the vision of women artists and women of colour”, this new exhibition from Alexandra Lethbridge investigates the historic exclusion of women from historical and artistic narratives. The situation hasn’t improved in the almost forty years since; of the 2,300 artworks held by the National Gallery, for instance, only 21 are by women. An Object of Vision seeks to respond to this erasure reconstructing history accordingly and creating alternative images and interpretation. When they aren’t hidden, suppressed or shrouded, women are often portrayed in art simply as a spectacle to be viewed, as noted by John Berger in 1972’s Ways of Seeing. In this exhibition, Lethbridge takes the often fragmented artistic depictions of women and reconstructs them through collage, prints and sculpture, exposing the frequent disparity between individual and form and paving the way for a new artistic depiction of gender.
An Object of Vision is showing at Golden Thread Gallery until 30th July
Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning at Turner Contemporary, Margate
Created in partnership with Milton Keynes’s MK Gallery, this Turner Prize-nominated exhibition from Guyanese-born British artist and photographer Ingrid Pollard arrives at Margate’s Turner Contemporary this month. Carbon Slowly Turning takes up the entirety of the gallery’s first floor, offering a major survey of Pollard’s vast contribution to British art, from the 1980s to the present day. Rather than being displayed in typical chronological fashion, this exhibition takes a holistic, thematic approach to Pollard’s work, as is befitting her work on history, landscapes, and the contributions of both to British imagery and identity. In doing so, Pollard’s work interrogates national perceptions of race, gender and sexuality, with Turner Contemporary also displaying an exclusive series of black & white photography entitled ‘Bursting Stone’, along with prints of gay and lesbian marches commissioned for Glasgow Women’s Library. Also featured in the exhibition are the sculptures created in collaboration with kinetic artist Oliver Smart in 2021 entitled Bow Down and Very Low -123. Incorporating three ‘characters’, these sculptures portray familiar differential poses of bowing and curtseying which - along with the use of archival film and contemporary media - explore British interpretations of power relations. As a major retrospective on the career of a uniquely British artist, Carbon Slowly Turning is a must-see for art-lovers around the country.
Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning is showing at Turner Contemporary until 25th September
Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe at Modern Art Oxford
While it has been running since May, this month marks the perfect time to visit this exhibition at Modern Art Oxford before it closes in August. Citizen of the Universe presents the work of the late Asian-American artist educator and activist Ruth Asawa, with a particular focus on her frequent intersections between art, education and community engagement. Taking as an inspiration Asawa’s declaration that “Art will make people better, more highly skilled in thinking and improving whatever business one goes into, or whatever occupation”, her methods and interpretations on the role of art are presented through the display of prints, letters, drawings and photographs. Perhaps most iconic, however, are Asawa’s signature hanging sculptures made out of looped and tied wire, representative of her perception of art as an essential tool of expression to be woven into the fabric of society, emphasising its ability to “[make] a person broader”. The title itself is even inspired by Asawa’s self-identification as a ‘Citizen of the Universe’, with her sense of higher purpose to employ art as a force for social good itself inspired by her time as a teenager spent in a Japanese-American internment camp. In a message still poignant to this day, the display of Ruth Asawa’s work is a timely reminder of art’s ability to transcend racial, international and class divisions.
Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe is showing at Modern Art Oxford until 21st August
Mary Fedden: Simple Pleasures at Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
Drawing from collections across the UK including the Royal Academy, Tate, Government Art Collection, Royal West of England Academy and Bath University - along with numerous private collections - Simple Pleasures features over 110 paintings and works on paper by Mary Fedden, spanning her entire seven decades-long career from 1936 to 2006. As the first female painting tutor at the Royal College of Art, Fedden’s role in British art history cannot be overstated, and this exhibition at Bath’s Victoria Art Gallery explores her life and career, from her childhood in Bristol to the decades spent at Chiswick’s Durham Wharf with her husband and fellow artist Julian Trevelyan. The development of Fedden’s sensibility for bright colours across her career is explored alongside the still life objects that inspired her painting such as food and flowers, along with her easel and palette, all coming together to give an insight into her artistic process. Fedden wrote that her art exists as a counter to “ready-made entertainment, ugly mass-produced objects made with little love or care, canned music and huge hideous advertisements”, so if you’re looking for a break from the overstimulation of the modern world, we definitely recommend the soothing, colourful world of Simple Pleasures.
Mary Fedden: Simple Pleasures is showing at Victoria Art Gallery until 16th October
An Object of Vision at Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast
Taking as its inspiration the Guerilla Girls’ 1984 statement that “You're seeing less than half the picture without the vision of women artists and women of colour”, this new exhibition from Alexandra Lethbridge investigates the historic exclusion of women from historical and artistic narratives. The situation hasn’t improved in the almost forty years since; of the 2,300 artworks held by the National Gallery, for instance, only 21 are by women. An Object of Vision seeks to respond to this erasure reconstructing history accordingly and creating alternative images and interpretation. When they aren’t hidden, suppressed or shrouded, women are often portrayed in art simply as a spectacle to be viewed, as noted by John Berger in 1972’s Ways of Seeing. In this exhibition, Lethbridge takes the often fragmented artistic depictions of women and reconstructs them through collage, prints and sculpture, exposing the frequent disparity between individual and form and paving the way for a new artistic depiction of gender.
An Object of Vision is showing at Golden Thread Gallery until 30th July
Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning at Turner Contemporary, Margate
Created in partnership with Milton Keynes’s MK Gallery, this Turner Prize-nominated exhibition from Guyanese-born British artist and photographer Ingrid Pollard arrives at Margate’s Turner Contemporary this month. Carbon Slowly Turning takes up the entirety of the gallery’s first floor, offering a major survey of Pollard’s vast contribution to British art, from the 1980s to the present day. Rather than being displayed in typical chronological fashion, this exhibition takes a holistic, thematic approach to Pollard’s work, as is befitting her work on history, landscapes, and the contributions of both to British imagery and identity. In doing so, Pollard’s work interrogates national perceptions of race, gender and sexuality, with Turner Contemporary also displaying an exclusive series of black & white photography entitled ‘Bursting Stone’, along with prints of gay and lesbian marches commissioned for Glasgow Women’s Library. Also featured in the exhibition are the sculptures created in collaboration with kinetic artist Oliver Smart in 2021 entitled Bow Down and Very Low -123. Incorporating three ‘characters’, these sculptures portray familiar differential poses of bowing and curtseying which - along with the use of archival film and contemporary media - explore British interpretations of power relations. As a major retrospective on the career of a uniquely British artist, Carbon Slowly Turning is a must-see for art-lovers around the country.
Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning is showing at Turner Contemporary until 25th September
Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe at Modern Art Oxford
While it has been running since May, this month marks the perfect time to visit this exhibition at Modern Art Oxford before it closes in August. Citizen of the Universe presents the work of the late Asian-American artist educator and activist Ruth Asawa, with a particular focus on her frequent intersections between art, education and community engagement. Taking as an inspiration Asawa’s declaration that “Art will make people better, more highly skilled in thinking and improving whatever business one goes into, or whatever occupation”, her methods and interpretations on the role of art are presented through the display of prints, letters, drawings and photographs. Perhaps most iconic, however, are Asawa’s signature hanging sculptures made out of looped and tied wire, representative of her perception of art as an essential tool of expression to be woven into the fabric of society, emphasising its ability to “[make] a person broader”. The title itself is even inspired by Asawa’s self-identification as a ‘Citizen of the Universe’, with her sense of higher purpose to employ art as a force for social good itself inspired by her time as a teenager spent in a Japanese-American internment camp. In a message still poignant to this day, the display of Ruth Asawa’s work is a timely reminder of art’s ability to transcend racial, international and class divisions.
Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe is showing at Modern Art Oxford until 21st August
Mary Fedden: Simple Pleasures at Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
Drawing from collections across the UK including the Royal Academy, Tate, Government Art Collection, Royal West of England Academy and Bath University - along with numerous private collections - Simple Pleasures features over 110 paintings and works on paper by Mary Fedden, spanning her entire seven decades-long career from 1936 to 2006. As the first female painting tutor at the Royal College of Art, Fedden’s role in British art history cannot be overstated, and this exhibition at Bath’s Victoria Art Gallery explores her life and career, from her childhood in Bristol to the decades spent at Chiswick’s Durham Wharf with her husband and fellow artist Julian Trevelyan. The development of Fedden’s sensibility for bright colours across her career is explored alongside the still life objects that inspired her painting such as food and flowers, along with her easel and palette, all coming together to give an insight into her artistic process. Fedden wrote that her art exists as a counter to “ready-made entertainment, ugly mass-produced objects made with little love or care, canned music and huge hideous advertisements”, so if you’re looking for a break from the overstimulation of the modern world, we definitely recommend the soothing, colourful world of Simple Pleasures.
Mary Fedden: Simple Pleasures is showing at Victoria Art Gallery until 16th October
An Object of Vision at Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast
Taking as its inspiration the Guerilla Girls’ 1984 statement that “You're seeing less than half the picture without the vision of women artists and women of colour”, this new exhibition from Alexandra Lethbridge investigates the historic exclusion of women from historical and artistic narratives. The situation hasn’t improved in the almost forty years since; of the 2,300 artworks held by the National Gallery, for instance, only 21 are by women. An Object of Vision seeks to respond to this erasure reconstructing history accordingly and creating alternative images and interpretation. When they aren’t hidden, suppressed or shrouded, women are often portrayed in art simply as a spectacle to be viewed, as noted by John Berger in 1972’s Ways of Seeing. In this exhibition, Lethbridge takes the often fragmented artistic depictions of women and reconstructs them through collage, prints and sculpture, exposing the frequent disparity between individual and form and paving the way for a new artistic depiction of gender.
An Object of Vision is showing at Golden Thread Gallery until 30th July
Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning at Turner Contemporary, Margate
Created in partnership with Milton Keynes’s MK Gallery, this Turner Prize-nominated exhibition from Guyanese-born British artist and photographer Ingrid Pollard arrives at Margate’s Turner Contemporary this month. Carbon Slowly Turning takes up the entirety of the gallery’s first floor, offering a major survey of Pollard’s vast contribution to British art, from the 1980s to the present day. Rather than being displayed in typical chronological fashion, this exhibition takes a holistic, thematic approach to Pollard’s work, as is befitting her work on history, landscapes, and the contributions of both to British imagery and identity. In doing so, Pollard’s work interrogates national perceptions of race, gender and sexuality, with Turner Contemporary also displaying an exclusive series of black & white photography entitled ‘Bursting Stone’, along with prints of gay and lesbian marches commissioned for Glasgow Women’s Library. Also featured in the exhibition are the sculptures created in collaboration with kinetic artist Oliver Smart in 2021 entitled Bow Down and Very Low -123. Incorporating three ‘characters’, these sculptures portray familiar differential poses of bowing and curtseying which - along with the use of archival film and contemporary media - explore British interpretations of power relations. As a major retrospective on the career of a uniquely British artist, Carbon Slowly Turning is a must-see for art-lovers around the country.
Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning is showing at Turner Contemporary until 25th September
Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe at Modern Art Oxford
While it has been running since May, this month marks the perfect time to visit this exhibition at Modern Art Oxford before it closes in August. Citizen of the Universe presents the work of the late Asian-American artist educator and activist Ruth Asawa, with a particular focus on her frequent intersections between art, education and community engagement. Taking as an inspiration Asawa’s declaration that “Art will make people better, more highly skilled in thinking and improving whatever business one goes into, or whatever occupation”, her methods and interpretations on the role of art are presented through the display of prints, letters, drawings and photographs. Perhaps most iconic, however, are Asawa’s signature hanging sculptures made out of looped and tied wire, representative of her perception of art as an essential tool of expression to be woven into the fabric of society, emphasising its ability to “[make] a person broader”. The title itself is even inspired by Asawa’s self-identification as a ‘Citizen of the Universe’, with her sense of higher purpose to employ art as a force for social good itself inspired by her time as a teenager spent in a Japanese-American internment camp. In a message still poignant to this day, the display of Ruth Asawa’s work is a timely reminder of art’s ability to transcend racial, international and class divisions.
Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe is showing at Modern Art Oxford until 21st August
Mary Fedden: Simple Pleasures at Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
Drawing from collections across the UK including the Royal Academy, Tate, Government Art Collection, Royal West of England Academy and Bath University - along with numerous private collections - Simple Pleasures features over 110 paintings and works on paper by Mary Fedden, spanning her entire seven decades-long career from 1936 to 2006. As the first female painting tutor at the Royal College of Art, Fedden’s role in British art history cannot be overstated, and this exhibition at Bath’s Victoria Art Gallery explores her life and career, from her childhood in Bristol to the decades spent at Chiswick’s Durham Wharf with her husband and fellow artist Julian Trevelyan. The development of Fedden’s sensibility for bright colours across her career is explored alongside the still life objects that inspired her painting such as food and flowers, along with her easel and palette, all coming together to give an insight into her artistic process. Fedden wrote that her art exists as a counter to “ready-made entertainment, ugly mass-produced objects made with little love or care, canned music and huge hideous advertisements”, so if you’re looking for a break from the overstimulation of the modern world, we definitely recommend the soothing, colourful world of Simple Pleasures.
Mary Fedden: Simple Pleasures is showing at Victoria Art Gallery until 16th October
An Object of Vision at Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast
Taking as its inspiration the Guerilla Girls’ 1984 statement that “You're seeing less than half the picture without the vision of women artists and women of colour”, this new exhibition from Alexandra Lethbridge investigates the historic exclusion of women from historical and artistic narratives. The situation hasn’t improved in the almost forty years since; of the 2,300 artworks held by the National Gallery, for instance, only 21 are by women. An Object of Vision seeks to respond to this erasure reconstructing history accordingly and creating alternative images and interpretation. When they aren’t hidden, suppressed or shrouded, women are often portrayed in art simply as a spectacle to be viewed, as noted by John Berger in 1972’s Ways of Seeing. In this exhibition, Lethbridge takes the often fragmented artistic depictions of women and reconstructs them through collage, prints and sculpture, exposing the frequent disparity between individual and form and paving the way for a new artistic depiction of gender.
An Object of Vision is showing at Golden Thread Gallery until 30th July
Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning at Turner Contemporary, Margate
Created in partnership with Milton Keynes’s MK Gallery, this Turner Prize-nominated exhibition from Guyanese-born British artist and photographer Ingrid Pollard arrives at Margate’s Turner Contemporary this month. Carbon Slowly Turning takes up the entirety of the gallery’s first floor, offering a major survey of Pollard’s vast contribution to British art, from the 1980s to the present day. Rather than being displayed in typical chronological fashion, this exhibition takes a holistic, thematic approach to Pollard’s work, as is befitting her work on history, landscapes, and the contributions of both to British imagery and identity. In doing so, Pollard’s work interrogates national perceptions of race, gender and sexuality, with Turner Contemporary also displaying an exclusive series of black & white photography entitled ‘Bursting Stone’, along with prints of gay and lesbian marches commissioned for Glasgow Women’s Library. Also featured in the exhibition are the sculptures created in collaboration with kinetic artist Oliver Smart in 2021 entitled Bow Down and Very Low -123. Incorporating three ‘characters’, these sculptures portray familiar differential poses of bowing and curtseying which - along with the use of archival film and contemporary media - explore British interpretations of power relations. As a major retrospective on the career of a uniquely British artist, Carbon Slowly Turning is a must-see for art-lovers around the country.
Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning is showing at Turner Contemporary until 25th September
Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe at Modern Art Oxford
While it has been running since May, this month marks the perfect time to visit this exhibition at Modern Art Oxford before it closes in August. Citizen of the Universe presents the work of the late Asian-American artist educator and activist Ruth Asawa, with a particular focus on her frequent intersections between art, education and community engagement. Taking as an inspiration Asawa’s declaration that “Art will make people better, more highly skilled in thinking and improving whatever business one goes into, or whatever occupation”, her methods and interpretations on the role of art are presented through the display of prints, letters, drawings and photographs. Perhaps most iconic, however, are Asawa’s signature hanging sculptures made out of looped and tied wire, representative of her perception of art as an essential tool of expression to be woven into the fabric of society, emphasising its ability to “[make] a person broader”. The title itself is even inspired by Asawa’s self-identification as a ‘Citizen of the Universe’, with her sense of higher purpose to employ art as a force for social good itself inspired by her time as a teenager spent in a Japanese-American internment camp. In a message still poignant to this day, the display of Ruth Asawa’s work is a timely reminder of art’s ability to transcend racial, international and class divisions.
Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe is showing at Modern Art Oxford until 21st August
Mary Fedden: Simple Pleasures at Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
Drawing from collections across the UK including the Royal Academy, Tate, Government Art Collection, Royal West of England Academy and Bath University - along with numerous private collections - Simple Pleasures features over 110 paintings and works on paper by Mary Fedden, spanning her entire seven decades-long career from 1936 to 2006. As the first female painting tutor at the Royal College of Art, Fedden’s role in British art history cannot be overstated, and this exhibition at Bath’s Victoria Art Gallery explores her life and career, from her childhood in Bristol to the decades spent at Chiswick’s Durham Wharf with her husband and fellow artist Julian Trevelyan. The development of Fedden’s sensibility for bright colours across her career is explored alongside the still life objects that inspired her painting such as food and flowers, along with her easel and palette, all coming together to give an insight into her artistic process. Fedden wrote that her art exists as a counter to “ready-made entertainment, ugly mass-produced objects made with little love or care, canned music and huge hideous advertisements”, so if you’re looking for a break from the overstimulation of the modern world, we definitely recommend the soothing, colourful world of Simple Pleasures.
Mary Fedden: Simple Pleasures is showing at Victoria Art Gallery until 16th October
An Object of Vision at Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast
Taking as its inspiration the Guerilla Girls’ 1984 statement that “You're seeing less than half the picture without the vision of women artists and women of colour”, this new exhibition from Alexandra Lethbridge investigates the historic exclusion of women from historical and artistic narratives. The situation hasn’t improved in the almost forty years since; of the 2,300 artworks held by the National Gallery, for instance, only 21 are by women. An Object of Vision seeks to respond to this erasure reconstructing history accordingly and creating alternative images and interpretation. When they aren’t hidden, suppressed or shrouded, women are often portrayed in art simply as a spectacle to be viewed, as noted by John Berger in 1972’s Ways of Seeing. In this exhibition, Lethbridge takes the often fragmented artistic depictions of women and reconstructs them through collage, prints and sculpture, exposing the frequent disparity between individual and form and paving the way for a new artistic depiction of gender.
An Object of Vision is showing at Golden Thread Gallery until 30th July
Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning at Turner Contemporary, Margate
Created in partnership with Milton Keynes’s MK Gallery, this Turner Prize-nominated exhibition from Guyanese-born British artist and photographer Ingrid Pollard arrives at Margate’s Turner Contemporary this month. Carbon Slowly Turning takes up the entirety of the gallery’s first floor, offering a major survey of Pollard’s vast contribution to British art, from the 1980s to the present day. Rather than being displayed in typical chronological fashion, this exhibition takes a holistic, thematic approach to Pollard’s work, as is befitting her work on history, landscapes, and the contributions of both to British imagery and identity. In doing so, Pollard’s work interrogates national perceptions of race, gender and sexuality, with Turner Contemporary also displaying an exclusive series of black & white photography entitled ‘Bursting Stone’, along with prints of gay and lesbian marches commissioned for Glasgow Women’s Library. Also featured in the exhibition are the sculptures created in collaboration with kinetic artist Oliver Smart in 2021 entitled Bow Down and Very Low -123. Incorporating three ‘characters’, these sculptures portray familiar differential poses of bowing and curtseying which - along with the use of archival film and contemporary media - explore British interpretations of power relations. As a major retrospective on the career of a uniquely British artist, Carbon Slowly Turning is a must-see for art-lovers around the country.
Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning is showing at Turner Contemporary until 25th September
Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe at Modern Art Oxford
While it has been running since May, this month marks the perfect time to visit this exhibition at Modern Art Oxford before it closes in August. Citizen of the Universe presents the work of the late Asian-American artist educator and activist Ruth Asawa, with a particular focus on her frequent intersections between art, education and community engagement. Taking as an inspiration Asawa’s declaration that “Art will make people better, more highly skilled in thinking and improving whatever business one goes into, or whatever occupation”, her methods and interpretations on the role of art are presented through the display of prints, letters, drawings and photographs. Perhaps most iconic, however, are Asawa’s signature hanging sculptures made out of looped and tied wire, representative of her perception of art as an essential tool of expression to be woven into the fabric of society, emphasising its ability to “[make] a person broader”. The title itself is even inspired by Asawa’s self-identification as a ‘Citizen of the Universe’, with her sense of higher purpose to employ art as a force for social good itself inspired by her time as a teenager spent in a Japanese-American internment camp. In a message still poignant to this day, the display of Ruth Asawa’s work is a timely reminder of art’s ability to transcend racial, international and class divisions.
Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe is showing at Modern Art Oxford until 21st August
Mary Fedden: Simple Pleasures at Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
Drawing from collections across the UK including the Royal Academy, Tate, Government Art Collection, Royal West of England Academy and Bath University - along with numerous private collections - Simple Pleasures features over 110 paintings and works on paper by Mary Fedden, spanning her entire seven decades-long career from 1936 to 2006. As the first female painting tutor at the Royal College of Art, Fedden’s role in British art history cannot be overstated, and this exhibition at Bath’s Victoria Art Gallery explores her life and career, from her childhood in Bristol to the decades spent at Chiswick’s Durham Wharf with her husband and fellow artist Julian Trevelyan. The development of Fedden’s sensibility for bright colours across her career is explored alongside the still life objects that inspired her painting such as food and flowers, along with her easel and palette, all coming together to give an insight into her artistic process. Fedden wrote that her art exists as a counter to “ready-made entertainment, ugly mass-produced objects made with little love or care, canned music and huge hideous advertisements”, so if you’re looking for a break from the overstimulation of the modern world, we definitely recommend the soothing, colourful world of Simple Pleasures.
Mary Fedden: Simple Pleasures is showing at Victoria Art Gallery until 16th October
An Object of Vision at Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast
Taking as its inspiration the Guerilla Girls’ 1984 statement that “You're seeing less than half the picture without the vision of women artists and women of colour”, this new exhibition from Alexandra Lethbridge investigates the historic exclusion of women from historical and artistic narratives. The situation hasn’t improved in the almost forty years since; of the 2,300 artworks held by the National Gallery, for instance, only 21 are by women. An Object of Vision seeks to respond to this erasure reconstructing history accordingly and creating alternative images and interpretation. When they aren’t hidden, suppressed or shrouded, women are often portrayed in art simply as a spectacle to be viewed, as noted by John Berger in 1972’s Ways of Seeing. In this exhibition, Lethbridge takes the often fragmented artistic depictions of women and reconstructs them through collage, prints and sculpture, exposing the frequent disparity between individual and form and paving the way for a new artistic depiction of gender.
An Object of Vision is showing at Golden Thread Gallery until 30th July
Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning at Turner Contemporary, Margate
Created in partnership with Milton Keynes’s MK Gallery, this Turner Prize-nominated exhibition from Guyanese-born British artist and photographer Ingrid Pollard arrives at Margate’s Turner Contemporary this month. Carbon Slowly Turning takes up the entirety of the gallery’s first floor, offering a major survey of Pollard’s vast contribution to British art, from the 1980s to the present day. Rather than being displayed in typical chronological fashion, this exhibition takes a holistic, thematic approach to Pollard’s work, as is befitting her work on history, landscapes, and the contributions of both to British imagery and identity. In doing so, Pollard’s work interrogates national perceptions of race, gender and sexuality, with Turner Contemporary also displaying an exclusive series of black & white photography entitled ‘Bursting Stone’, along with prints of gay and lesbian marches commissioned for Glasgow Women’s Library. Also featured in the exhibition are the sculptures created in collaboration with kinetic artist Oliver Smart in 2021 entitled Bow Down and Very Low -123. Incorporating three ‘characters’, these sculptures portray familiar differential poses of bowing and curtseying which - along with the use of archival film and contemporary media - explore British interpretations of power relations. As a major retrospective on the career of a uniquely British artist, Carbon Slowly Turning is a must-see for art-lovers around the country.
Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning is showing at Turner Contemporary until 25th September
Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe at Modern Art Oxford
While it has been running since May, this month marks the perfect time to visit this exhibition at Modern Art Oxford before it closes in August. Citizen of the Universe presents the work of the late Asian-American artist educator and activist Ruth Asawa, with a particular focus on her frequent intersections between art, education and community engagement. Taking as an inspiration Asawa’s declaration that “Art will make people better, more highly skilled in thinking and improving whatever business one goes into, or whatever occupation”, her methods and interpretations on the role of art are presented through the display of prints, letters, drawings and photographs. Perhaps most iconic, however, are Asawa’s signature hanging sculptures made out of looped and tied wire, representative of her perception of art as an essential tool of expression to be woven into the fabric of society, emphasising its ability to “[make] a person broader”. The title itself is even inspired by Asawa’s self-identification as a ‘Citizen of the Universe’, with her sense of higher purpose to employ art as a force for social good itself inspired by her time as a teenager spent in a Japanese-American internment camp. In a message still poignant to this day, the display of Ruth Asawa’s work is a timely reminder of art’s ability to transcend racial, international and class divisions.
Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe is showing at Modern Art Oxford until 21st August
Mary Fedden: Simple Pleasures at Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
Drawing from collections across the UK including the Royal Academy, Tate, Government Art Collection, Royal West of England Academy and Bath University - along with numerous private collections - Simple Pleasures features over 110 paintings and works on paper by Mary Fedden, spanning her entire seven decades-long career from 1936 to 2006. As the first female painting tutor at the Royal College of Art, Fedden’s role in British art history cannot be overstated, and this exhibition at Bath’s Victoria Art Gallery explores her life and career, from her childhood in Bristol to the decades spent at Chiswick’s Durham Wharf with her husband and fellow artist Julian Trevelyan. The development of Fedden’s sensibility for bright colours across her career is explored alongside the still life objects that inspired her painting such as food and flowers, along with her easel and palette, all coming together to give an insight into her artistic process. Fedden wrote that her art exists as a counter to “ready-made entertainment, ugly mass-produced objects made with little love or care, canned music and huge hideous advertisements”, so if you’re looking for a break from the overstimulation of the modern world, we definitely recommend the soothing, colourful world of Simple Pleasures.
Mary Fedden: Simple Pleasures is showing at Victoria Art Gallery until 16th October
An Object of Vision at Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast
Taking as its inspiration the Guerilla Girls’ 1984 statement that “You're seeing less than half the picture without the vision of women artists and women of colour”, this new exhibition from Alexandra Lethbridge investigates the historic exclusion of women from historical and artistic narratives. The situation hasn’t improved in the almost forty years since; of the 2,300 artworks held by the National Gallery, for instance, only 21 are by women. An Object of Vision seeks to respond to this erasure reconstructing history accordingly and creating alternative images and interpretation. When they aren’t hidden, suppressed or shrouded, women are often portrayed in art simply as a spectacle to be viewed, as noted by John Berger in 1972’s Ways of Seeing. In this exhibition, Lethbridge takes the often fragmented artistic depictions of women and reconstructs them through collage, prints and sculpture, exposing the frequent disparity between individual and form and paving the way for a new artistic depiction of gender.
An Object of Vision is showing at Golden Thread Gallery until 30th July
