art i've seen, art that's stayed
wonder. resonance. sharing some artwork I can't stop thinking about.
Hello, hello all! This Friday, I was at the Tate Britain for their Late event, which is a free after hours event held on the first Friday of every month with workshops, performances, drink, and talks. The model of “Lates,” where museums are open into the night for free public fun—is something that I’ve especially appreciated about the London museum scene. It makes the ‘museum as institution’ feel less staid, and moves towards what I think museums can and should be: an active cultural hub and space for gathering. And, in anticipation of Frieze London, there’s been a bevy of exciting gallery openings too.
With that in mind I wanted to share some artworks for this week’s dispatch that have given me wonder, pause, joy, and resonance—the works I cannot stop thinking about right now :)
‘Claudette Johnson: Presence’ at the Courtauld Gallery
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‘Claudette Johnson: Presence’ opened up last week at the Courtauld Gallery. Curated by Dorothy Price, the exhibition is a long due presentation of British artist Claudette Johnson’s most prominent works. Johnson (b. 1959) has long depicted Black women—drawing from her imagination, sitters she knows, and from memory. In this way, Johnson’s artworks create space for ‘Black aliveness,’ the humanity, and beauty of her subjects. Many of the works are drawings layered with oil pastel, watercolor, and charcoal, which showcase Johnson’s interest in the foundational, life-giving practice of drawing. How in drawing black sits right next to white. She rarely does preparatory sketches and often starts with a line that bisects the paper and works from there.
Johnson’s works convey a sense of movement, and contortion even, often breaking the frame. Blues Dance (2023) makes me think of syncopation, rhythm, and flow. The abstracted circles in the background evoke Wassily Kandinsky (who was acutely interested in a philosophy of music, art, and color), and the figure is wholly uninterested in the gaze of the viewer—she is content in her own world.
Bunmi Agusto at Stephen Friedman Gallery
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Appartitions Fly Past Umbanda (2023) was included in ‘Free The Wind, The Spirit, and The Sun’—a group exhibition curated by Yinka Shonibare CBE RA. The work feels wonderfully surreal to me—and I can’t tell where or when I’m located as a viewer. A small figure is perched within a coil of hair and looks up at a chartreuse sky, where spirits, ghosts, or stories (?) glide on. It’s strange and wonderful, and makes me feel the preciousness of interiority and building a world of your own. The flat background and partitioning of the paper also reminds me of Mughal and Ottoman prints in an interesting way. You can learn more about Agusto here.
Fredrick Cayley Robinson: Pastoral (1923-4)
I gasped when I saw Fredrick Cayley Robinson’s painting Pastoral (1923-1924) at the Tate Britain. One of the first ways I got excited about art was through book illustrations actually—I’m thinking about the illustrations of Chris Riddell and Brett Helquist in particular, and what I love about this painting is how illustrative it feels through elegant lines, the stylized trees. And the light! Oh the resplendent light! How I appreciate the light, against the violet, which gleams incandescent.
I’d love to spend a couple hours inside Robinson’s pastoral utopia.
Marina Abramović in Conversation at the Southbank Centre
There were many notes I was trying to write down after leaving the conversation between Marina Abramović and author Katya Tylevich celebrating the publication of the book Marina Abramović: A Visual Biography last weekend. But here are some highlights:
It is so difficult to be truly present, which is why a performer needs to be primed and mentally prepared for a long durational performance. However, the audience needs to be prepared as well to get the most out of it. Re: How are you breathing, and thinking during the performance?
Having no regrets whatsoever. The only thing that matters is the present and the future
Young people don’t want to just look anymore, they want to be a part of something
Getting yourself (as a performer) to that final limit of your physical body. And after sitting in one spot for so long and experiencing so much pain also realizing that there is so much space and movement happening inside your body and between your organs!
The process is always the most important thing, over the result or product
Gluck: Flora’s Cloak (c. 1923)
I am obsessed with the painting Flora’s Cloak (c. 1923) which is awesome, in the truest sense of the word. It reminds me of William Blake’s The Dance of Albion (c. 1796), which I’ve put below. Both are decidedly prophetic, and a little weird in the best way! The British artist Gluck (b. 1895) rejected any forenames, surnames, or honorifics. Noted for their floral paintings, Gluck’s painting Medallion is viewed as an iconic lesbian statement today (Tate).
And that is all from me! Thank you for being here with me. Stay tuned for next week’s newsletter, where I'll be sharing an artist interview (YAY)!
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