Viewing articles from 2019/08

MK Gallery, 900 Midsummer Blvd, Milton Keynes MK9 3QA

Paula Rego: Obedience and Defiance

Untitled No. 5

Rego’s work is undeniably powerful, both technically and emotionally, but her exhibition at MK Gallery also successfully brings together an incisive selection of key pieces that show her incredible range, from her exuberantly abstract and overtly political early work, railing against the Portuguese dictator Salazar, to the eerier, stiller style that matured in the 1980s and came to define her. Review by Clare Robson

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Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High St, London E1 7QX

Myvillages: Setting the Table: Village Politics

Farmers & Ranchers, Deer Trail USA, 2013

Myvillages, the collective behind ‘Setting the Table: Village Politics’, was set up in 2003 by Kathrin Böhm, Wapke Feenstra, and Antje Schiffers. On their website the group give an indicative statement about the exhibition: it seeks, they write, to ‘equip the gallery as a space from where to access our and your own interest and knowledge about the rural’. Review by Harriet Smith Hughes

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Towner Art Gallery, Devonshire Park, College Rd, Eastbourne BN21 4JJ

Phoebe Unwin: Iris

Phoebe Unwin, Iris. Installation view at Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne. 2018. Image Rob Harris. Courtesy Towner Art Gallery.

The fifteen, light-infused works that make up London-based painter Phoebe Unwin’s exhibition at Towner Art Gallery give the impression of the snatched in-between moments of life that work together to create memories. The exhibition’s title, ‘Iris’, takes its name from the artist’s late grandmother but it also nods to the workings of the eye as light, atmosphere and objects take their effect on our senses. Review by Clare Robson

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French Pavilion, Giardini, Venice, Italy

Venice Biennale 2019: Laure Prouvost: Deep See Blue Surrounding You

Laure Prouvost, Deep See Blue Surrounding You / Vois Ce Bleu Profond Te Fondre, French Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, 2019. © Laure Prouvost; Courtesy Lisson Gallery, carlier | gebauer, and Galerie Nathalie Obadia. Photography by Cristian

A frenetic filmed odyssey from the utopian Tours Nuages tower blocks of Nanterre in the Parisian suburbs, via the vast expanse of the Marseillais coastline and ending in the grubby canals of Venice, ‘Deep See Blue Surrounding You’ comprises frantic scenes that last just seconds, cutting back to raspberries under rocks, horse hooves on orange peel, performers spewing lettuce, the plump frisson of eyeballs and bum cheeks, and the various jellies of assorted sea creatures. Review by Jessica Saxby

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Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Abandoibarra Etorb., 2, 48009 Bilbo, Bizkaia, Spain

Gerhard Richter: Seascapes

Seascape

As you enter the top floor gallery that houses the exhibition: ‘Gerhard Richter: Seascapes’ at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, you would be forgiven for feeling a sudden melancholic jolt. Review by William Davie

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