2025 - Issue 140
Showcasing artists and works that caught my attention last week. Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter to find out what didn’t make the cut.
“Traditional art” (yes, those are air quotes) is often boring and far too serious. Which might be why I love these interventions by Morwenna Morrison (@morwennamorrison) that overlay childhood play onto classical still life and landscape backdrops. Looking at these paintings transports me back to childhood Saturday mornings using Matchbox cars to make racetrack indentations in my grandmother’s posh, plush sitting room carpet.
‘play-time’ at Arusha (@arushagallery) until 08 March
An adult friend of a friend is deathly afraid of dogs. It’s something I never quite understood until I saw three ten-foot tall, dark as night hellhounds staring me down as I entered the end gallery at Thaddaeus Ropac. The works of Ron Mueck never cease to amaze. His radical alterations to scale fundamentally shift perspectives about how we see humans and experience humanity, and I was surprised that his canine approach is just as effective. Shadowy details accentuate the taut shapes and powerful poses of an animal at bay. How close will you dare to go?
‘En Garde’ at Thaddaeus Ropac (@ThaddaeusRopac) until 02 April
I’m not that familiar with the works of Egon Schiele (1890-1918) because there aren’t that many to go round, which might be why actors like Willem Dafoe and Julia Stiles keep trying to steal them in movies and TV shows. So I jumped at the chance to see 14 works on paper that are now on display, giving Londoners a rare opportunity to question whether Hollywood’s persistent use of Schiele is shorthand for talent, scarcity or both. (FYI - Inside is a fascinating watch, but Riviera isn’t even worthy of a rainy day binge.)
‘Portraits on Paper’ at Omer Tiroche Gallery (@omer_tiroche_gallery) until 02 May
If you’re familiar with the monumental canvasses that Anselm Kiefer (b.1945, Germany) is known for, with their violently ripped apart land, mud and muck and detritus of war, then you’ll find it fascinating, and sometimes sad, to see the roots of his practice take hold in his early works. Portraits are rough, haunting and abrupt. A series made as a 24-year old student confronts Nazi symbolism in ways that are still uncomfortable to view today. Even tender inscriptions for his wife and child appear to deny traditional landscapes of their peace and serenity.
Had you been following Kiefer since the beginning you might never have guessed his art would end up where it did despite how obvious it now is to connect the evolution of his practice when looking backwards. “Kiefer was among the first generation of Germans to confront the country’s troubled past and national identity in the wake of the second world war and the horrors of the Holocaust” and it is incredibly powerful to be transported back in time to see how his artistic reconciliation with German trauma has evolved.
‘Early Works’ at Ashmolean Museum (@ashmoleanmuseum) until 15 June
Tickets: £16.20 adult / discounts available / children under 12 free
PLUS…
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