Ricochets, an exhibition by Francis Alÿs at the Barbican Gallery, London

Alÿs is a Belgian artist who specialises in film and animation, with particular emphasis on the urban environment. In this very moving exhibition of video and still images he explores children’s games, their unchanging nature over the centuries, even millennia and their astonishing resilience in conflict zones. We are reminded of the forgotten games we played as children ourselves as we watch children in remote parts of the world participating in almost exactly the same activities and getting equal enjoyment from them. 5* 

John Constable in Bristol: Truth to Nature at the Art Gallery and Museum, Bristol

The gallery had loan of The Hay Wain and this was nicely exhibited alongside other works that showed how English and French nature painting developed at that time and the influence of other earlier artists, particularly of the Dutch School. 4*

Ceri Richards and contemporaries in Swansea 

The Glyn Vivian Art Gallery is Swansea City’s public gallery and has a selection of Welsh and international paintings, along with other exhibits. I particularly wanted to see work by Welsh artist Ceri Richards, a couple of whose minor works we own.  However, there were relatively few on display; the curator indicated that a number more are held in the archive.  Shown here is a section of work by him and other artists, including the interesting Will Evans. The café was no compensation. 3*

Vienna, Salzburg and Munich, a selection from Kunsthistorisches Museum, Secession Exhibition, Leopold Museum (Vienna 1905); Mozart’s House, Salzburg; Pinakothek der Moderne, Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Kind of overwhelming, the sheer number of famous works of art and architecture in these three stunning cities. 5* 

Kaleidoscope, an exhibition of woodcuts by Anne Desmet at the Guildhall, City of London

Desmet has specialised in detailed and meticulously produced woodcuts of buildings and cities.  Recently she has produced kaleidoscopic versions of these by cutting up the images and piecing together to make intriguing images. These are interesting but I do prefer the originals, particularly the ones of industrial urban scenes. 5*

Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain, 1520 - 1920 at Tate Britain, London

An exhibition that reveals the prejudice and imbalance in the art world’s portrayal of women painters over the centuries, when women’s art lay hidden and unrecognised by the establishment for reasons that bore no relation to the quality of the work.  This quality of execution and imagination of the subject matter are the most striking messages you take away from this exhibition. 5*

Dominion, an exhibition of Damien Hirst’s collection of art works at the Newport Street Gallery, London

An interesting and wide-ranging exhibition of work by multiple diverse contemporary and recent artists, including Banksy, Dan Colen, Tracey Emin, Jeff Koons, Graham Sutherland, Andy Warhol among many. 4*

Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art at the Barbican Gallery, London

The exhibition posed the question: how can textiles unpack, question, unspool, unravel and reimagine the world around us? Textiles have traditionally been used in crafts settings rather than being used to express ideas, particularly not political or subversive ideas. So the exhibition provided examples of the latter, with exhibits displaying socio-political narratives, with both abstract and figurative examples. These included themes of gender, race, oppression and resistance to regimes of power. 

In many cases, I was not drawn to the use of the particular medium to express the idea, although I could see the skill and dedication necessary to produce the work. Unfortunately, quite a lot of exhibits were missing as the artists had withdrawn them due to a dispute about the Barbican’s support for a particular political issue which I might ultimately remember and add to this paragraph. 2*

Nigel Hurlstone: The Wind from the Feet of the Dead at Ruthin Gallery, Ruthin

Extraordinarily textile work from local textile artist Hurlstone is an obsessively introverted series of 30 large portraits of himself disguised as various characters that can be recognised in our lives, e.g. bank managers, priests, etc.. It’s hard to see from a distance how these are created; they look like slightly hazy photographs but on close inspection are photographic reproductions on silk organza which lies behind intricately detailed machine embroidery with aluminium thread in very subtle colours that impart a kind of translucence to the rather mundane photographs. Amazing dedication must have been necessary to produce such a body of fine work. 5*

Helene Appel: Painted from Life at The Williamson Art Gallery and Museum, Birkenhead

Some of the extraordinary work of the well recognised German painter Helene Appel (b 1976). This fairly small exhibition shows some of both her extremely large canvases and extremely small one. Her work is characterised by very realistic representation on canvas of everyday objects or, in many cases, everyday materials or surfaces, e.g. tree bark, sand, foam, plastic, meat, paper. 

The technical skill is admirable and worth seeing live. I guess I’m happy to accept it as an art form without questioning its purpose. 4*

The  Cult of Beauty at Wellcome Collection, London

Wellcome exhibitions are always interesting and well curated, but often a lot to take in.  This one is about our understanding of the concept of beauty of the human form.  It shows how the ideals have changed over the centuries, from the point of view of cosmetics, imagery in pointing, photography and sculpture and how those ideals have been, and are still being, questioned. 3*

Capturing the Moment at Tate Modern, London

An interesting exhibition curated from their own collection, dealing in an accessible way with the relationship between painting and photography and they interact as art forms, with examples of hyper-realism in painting, the use of cinematic video as an art form and the emergence of digital art and artificial intelligence. 4* 

Philip Guston at Tate Modern, London

While many contemporary artists’ work is recognisable as a result of their style being developed at an early stage in their career and remaining the same, the American artist Philip Guston is notorious for having changed his style of painting many times. 

His early work that led to his recognition was done on a huge scale, primarily realistic or surrealist murals and public art in the 1930s. He moved gradually from that towards abstract expressionism, in which the shape of the brush strokes and the colours were more important than the image itself; in fact he painted a large number of works where he deliberately ‘scraped out’ the image so that it not longer was recognisable. 

During the 1960s he engaged in left-wing political movements and his work dramatically altered to reflect the opinions about injustice and violence in American society. A large number of very crudely painted works emerged, many including the image of hooded figures reminiscent of Ku Klux Klan or self-representation of himself (as a one-eyed monster) or his wife (as a portion of her head). This change in direction was not appreciated by the New York artistic cognoscenti at the time and Guston’s reputation suffered a decline that has only relatively recently recovered. 

Not an artist that I enjoy (too many works, too crudely produced), but the history is interesting. 2*

Long Life, Low Energy at RIBA North, Liverpool

An exhibition about how new architecture can contribute to the reduction in carbon emissions, with interesting examples of good and bad practice. 

Bad examples are Trinity Square, Gateshead, where an enormous 40-year old shopping centre structure was demolished in 2010 to make way for another enormous new shopping centre, with significant and unnecessary carbon emissions from both demolition and reconstruction. 

A good practice example was a domestic building in Brockley, London, built effectively inside the walls of a current house that had poor insulation, while retaining the exterior structure. Also commended was the reconstruction of buildings in Broadgate, London, where, all the steel that was used was recycled steel from a company that has a massive warehouse full of steel from demolished buildings. The re-smelting of used steel is no more expensive than paying for the transport and import of new material but, at present, the facility to do this on a large scale is inadequate. 4* 

John Moores Painting Prize 2023 at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.  

Still showing in 2024: a wide selection as always of contemporary art, with ‘painting’ fairly loosely defined as always. The prizewinner was Light Industry by Graham Crowley, a nominally representational depiction of a bicycle workshop but painted in a strange fluorescent green and black oil on canvas and, on closer examination, containing some very abnormal objects. Overall I felt the quality and interest of the work was an improvement on some previous years. 

Some others that I liked are included here. 4*