Your Reviews...
Shows you like - or don't

Sophie Calle

Whitechapel, London

The gallery was full of women lascivious in devouring the responses of other women to an egotistical man breaking up with his lover in a self indulgent manner and spitting back at him with a kind of morbid glee. I found it really depressing. In fact i wrote a nasty poem afterwards, from this man's perspective; he had broken off with a lover in a cras, self centred (and pretty banal) way but he had attempted to honestly end an affair which had involved two people, though the artist was only represented by her choice of method to 'out' this man. She was not represented apart from a note on a wall that said 'this is my way of taking care of myself'. She had got all of these different women to respond to his letter, and 98% of them had ridiculed, lambasted, jeered, spat at, and almost rejoiced in a tragic yet superior victim kind of a role: thank god one or two actually said, 'well this whole thing isn't exactly unique, and he was trying his best even if he is a pretty deluded self aggrandising selfish to a degree self centred man, and hang on, isn't this approach a bit weird, all these women damning him'. One wrote, 'on reflection, this is a choir of death'. Sadly this is the picture of woman the exhibition left me with, and I found myself wishing the content could have done justice to the marvellous and evocative medium.

Myth, Meaning and Beauty in Architecture

John Soane Museum London

Myth, Meaning and Beauty in Architecture, is a joyful collection of drawings of the tops of pillars with all the fancy names. Acting as a wonderful translation of some of the artifacts littering the John Soane Museum. Entrance fee: free

Turner Prize

Tate Britian, London

Enrico David, Roger Hiorns, Lucy Skaer and Richard Wright. In the grand scheme of things and aside from Roger Hiorns, the work is standard, and notably commercial (objectish) work. It is good, but there must be more out there than this.

Pop Life

Tate Modern, London

Once I got over having to pay 12£ to get into the exhibition I rather enjoyed myself. POP LIFE, is a interesting overview of pop since the sixties. Lots of porn and people. Wonderful naturally.

Miroslaw Balka

Tate Modern, London

Please please don't do what I did, walk into the back wall. Brave as anything straight into the back wall, argh my nose! A monumental box at the back of tate modern, not bad, but a bit "installation" for my tastes

Sophie Calle

Whitechapel, London

The artist uses a set of guides/tasks to complete the works...she has documented the lost monuments in berlin, used clairvoyants to send her on journeys, lent her bed to someone in mourning...my favourite was a found address book, where wrote to the contacts to build the character of its previous owner. I would say this was the most accessible conceptual art exhibition I have seen in a long time.

David Hockney:1960 – 1968: A Marriage of Styles

Nottingham Contemporary, UK

First large collection of Hockneys work to be presented togather in a very long time. Forget what you think you know about his work, this show presents a range of non typical sketches alongside the formidable bigger splash. I couldnt have though of a better way to launch the gallery.

ROOT AND BRANCH

Lewisham Arthouse

I just happened on this wonderful little exhibition exploring nature in our society. Loved it all.

CRISPIN HUGHES & SUSI ARNOTT

Photofusion

Photography wants to go it alone, modernist in it's approach, we are lulled in to a sense of passivity as serene shards of light pierce our eyes. Nice enough.

Nick Laessing

Arcade

Ants, I itched after i saw this exhibition! Something made my brain work, but i'll be damned if i can put my finger on it.

KEITH TYSON

KEITH TYSON

Cloud Choreography and Other Emergent Systems, is stylistically busy exhibition, the atom bomb explosions are perversely beautiful.

CAROLINE ROTHWELL : DISPERSED

THE ECONOMIST PLAZA

The work looks ok, but is as engaging as a nicely dressed shop window. So one wants to buy with hard cold cash and not buy, er conceptually.

LAURENCE OWEN : GOLD BOOK SERIES

20hoxtonsquareprojects, London

I hoped that the the suffix 'projects' had died a death in the early 90's. 20 hoxton square projects, thankfully has a better programme than it's name with Laurence Owen's faces lingering in the brain long after seeing them in the flesh.

NICOLAS DEMETRIO : OBSCURUM PER OBSCURIUS

22 Gallery

Don't be completely put off by the pretentious title, some of the works have something to them, on the whole rather bland, but occasionally some sculptural treats.

BRUCE MCLEAN : NEW WORKS

Bernard Jacobson, London

New Live Talking Sculpture seems to be completely at odds with the guys paintings: flaccid and pretty in a meek way, the bumbling awkward performance injects some much needed life.

HENRIK OLESEN : MR. KNIFE AND MRS. FORK

STUDIO VOLTAIRE, LONDON

I found the artwork of Olesen confusing and funny. It obviously is very influenced by the conceptual artists. It took me a while to digest it.

The Shandy Collection

THE ARTS GALLERY

A very unique collection of artworks, the excellently named 'Shandy Collection' adds some warmth and humour to the current string of amateur collections be presented.

JOHN HOYLAND : STAR THROWER

beaux arts london

Although there isn't really any surprises here, (it is after all abstract expressionism) the works are enjoyable in their simplicity.

URGE OURSELVES UNDER : GROUP SHOW

FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS

Works from Toren Schvantzt, Warren Carvery, Thomas Meissner and Adrian Lee mixed up in a woefully pretentious soup. Boring, boring, BORING!

TIMOTHY HYMAN : THE MAN INSCRIBED WITH LONDON

Austin/Desmond London

Some lovely works on show here full of the bustling life of a city! Swirls of colour dance across the surfaces. A MUST SEE!!!

Pop-Up

Paradise Row, London

As if you couldn't find something nice in all these people! A great show excellently curated. Johanna Billing, David Birkin, Justin Coombes, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Shezad Dawood, Todd DeLuca, Edward Fornieles, Margarita Gluzberg, Stephane Graff, Nicholas Hatfull, Jeppe Hein, Carsten Holler, Evan Holloway, Sol LeWitt, Ross McNicol, Gosha Ostretsov, Guillaume Paris, Fedor Pavlov-Andreevich, Barry Reigate, Gary Webb, Ulrik Weck, Douglas White, Conrad Shawcross, Tim White-Sobieski, Richard Wentworth and Aaron Young.

Zineb Sedira: Seafaring

John Hansard Gallery

Sedira's artworks are strong because they can lead you down many paths. Beautiful and poetic they reach to the heart of the human experience.

Dave Hullfish Bailey & Nils Norman: Surrounded by Squares

Raven Row, London

The work is standard gallery fair really, looks like many early 90's installations, and you know it is well made and it functions fine, but I want more, I want something newer.

Eduardo Paolozzi: The Jet Age Compendium

Raven Row, London

One of the finest exhibitions of Eduardo Paolozzi, that I have seen for ages. The Jet Age Compendium, recreates all that energy that pop had to begin with. Brilliant.

ROSALIND NASHASHIBI

ICA (INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ARTS), London

A thoughtful exhibition, Jack Straw's Castle (2009) being a highlight. Eyeballing (2005) is still good too.

Paul Carter: Hotel

Matt's Gallery

Enjoyable if a little rambling, this scrappy workshop-cum-installation has some neat tricks up it's sleeve. Much in line with Mike Nelson's school of thought.

on line

Charles saatchi's Art (here)

Kathy Shackell's art is well worth a look,it is in the artists studio section,she is also a poet,her work has a the edge,she is not following the path but taking a path of her own. it is only after some time she has agreed to show these and other works,but is now deturmined to follow her heart, please see you will enjoy,in some cases reminisent of jackson pollarks early works.but in a style of her own

Fall Forward

Sara Tecchia Roma, New York

Miss out the Steinar Jakobsen works focus on the Sebastian Denz works and you have a great experience. Nice little exhibition.

brickshelf

brickshelf . com

Probably the finest art I have ever seen! Cities made perfectly into Lego!

Humanism in China: A Contemporary Record of Photography

China Institute in America

You can't help be wowed by the figures; 600 photos by 248 photographers, selected from 100,000 photographs by 1000 photographers. No small feat, and seems to reflect china's ambitions globally. Is the work good? how could you possibly come to any conclusions with this amount of work. In short, yes, and no.

KWON KISOO

Flowers East, London

Someone breaks the barrier, and then a flood of people follow the same path; Kwon Kisoo, can only be seen as a poor relative to Takahashi Murakami. The flowers in Kwon Kisoo's 'Time White A Good Time' 2009, even seem to replicate Murkami's Louis Vuitton's flowers.

GORDON CHEUNG : THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Walsall Art Gallery, UK

Dazzling and hallucinogenic these works real you in and then spray you in the face with cold water, when has painting been this exciting? !!

Glenn Brown

6-24 Britannia Street London

After a massive retrospective at Tate Liverpool, it is refreshing to see these works have taken a tangent from familiar Brown tactics. leaving that typical 90's Brown behind the work heads to more interesting waters.

ED RUSCHA: On the Road:

Gagosian; 17-19 Davies Street London W1K 3DE

Ruscha's illustrative images accompany Jack Kerouac's On the Road. The images are yummy, classic Ruscha. But there was something about the marriage of Rusha+Kerouac that irritated me, like they are too close for comfort. Yes, in Rusha, we do see a very American/Kerouac dream, but the magic is not really in the explaination/illustration, but in the work itself.

Anselm Kiefer: Karfunkelfee

White Cube Mason’s Yard

I find the work difficult because they assume an authority because of the colours and size. They use; Beuysian colours, muted greys and browns, bumpy dirty blacks. These are to signify its seriousness and its depth, as opposed to POP colours and surfaces. And with such a weight (or supposed weight) how can we come to the work afresh?

Anselm Kiefer: The Fertile Crescent

White Cube Hoxton Square

The second part at Hoxton Square seems to be more lively and original, than its Mason’s Yard counterpart. This time the colours are are perhaps more Monet, and the feeling is that we can have a more open direction with the work, it is less presumptuous and prescriptive about how we read it.

STUART BRISLEY

England & Co, London

It might just be the generation but I always think of Bruce Nauman when I see Brisley's work. I don't think it is as interesting, because it doesn't seem to have the same reach as Nauman. Still worth a visit.

MARTIN WESTWOOD

Bloomberg SPACE, London.

The exhibition left me with a dry taste in my mouth, a sort of generically 'arty' look to an installation. Cold, hard and boring.

Stuart Cumberland

Bloomberg SPACE, London.

By contrast to the work of Martin Westwood, the works by Stuart Cumberland, were bouncy and alive, very POP inspired but held their own absolutely. FAB!

BOO RITSON : BACK-ROADS JOURNEYS

ALAN CRISTEA GALLERY

The world is full of images, Ritson takes our assumptions of painting and photography and combines them into dynamic, joyful work.

Matthew Brannon

The Approach,London

Lots to keep the mind active in this confident and complex exhibition.

MICHAEL GUMHOLD : SPARTACUS

AUSTRIAN CULTURAL FORUM

Blending art and music togther Gumhold has made works that ring with their aesthetics and chime with meaning! A wicked show. 10/10

Monet's Water Lilies

MOMA, NY

To see them for real, is really quite amazing. It reminds you that Monet really was experimental guy in his time!

Compass in hand

Moma, NY

featuring a top work by Peter Doig, this was a lovely exhibition rich in famous artists. I loved it.

Backlit

Backlit Nottingham

I felt that that the exhibitions could do with more light and that the concept expressed more fluidly.

Surface Gallery 10 year party

Surface gallery, Nottingham

I though the work was poor and the space brilliant. I think they need to step up their programming to compete in any realistic sense with anything in London.

FIFTHYEAR - SARTORIAL

SARTORIAL CONTEMPORARY ART, London

A good chance to catch up on what you missed, but not really an interesting show in itself.

Kippenberger

PHILLIPS DE PURY & COMPANY

All German hero. Kippenberger is great because he keeps you guessing, keeps stringing you along, 'was that intentional'?, and (dryly tongue in cheek) 'is that art?' are some of the injoke questions you can't help but ask yourself. A master craftsman.(!)

Zoo 2009

zooartenterprises

I thought the new location is so much better, out with the poncy highlife of the back door of the Royal Academy, enter a more grimy, interesting location. Good move Zoo!

FRAGILE BODIES

A.M Qattan foundation

It is interesting to note that the artists left Palestine to study in different countries, and one assumes that they remain away. I would love to ask them how they now see conflict in their home country, and what it means to make work about war that they now indirectly experience.

Poetry Marathon

Serpentine Gallery, London

It is great to see such a good collection of genuinely challenging performers. Thought the ticket price was a bit steep.

Jeff Wall

Marian Goodman Gallery, NY

The inspiration to all photography artschool grads - blow it up make it cinematic, looks great, job done. Thousand imitators makes Jeff Wall one of the most influential artists of his generation.

Chris Ofili

David Zwirner, New York

I want the old Ofili back! The new works are all minimal, no shit, no Mary :(. But actually the is something really refined in the drawings...go see!

Janine Antoni

Luhring Augustine, NY

Stuck in a time warp the artworks here play heavy homage to feminist art of the 70's, funny in places, but mostly irritating.

FRIEZE ART FAIR

FRIEZE ART FAIR, London

The downturn gives the fair a different feel, not all that different, in that people are spending money on art, don't get me wrong, but the air is different, more subdued than previous years. The cut price stall that sells versions of other artists work misses the point and makes it, quite obviously about money, a bit of an empty gimmick me thinks.

DAVID HOSIE

Jill George gallery

Paintings of Hosie have a bubbly mumsy sort of feel to them, works like Floating couple, add in a splash of Magritte style surrealism for good measure.

BASIL BEATTIE : DRAWN IN DRAWN OUT

Emma Hill, London

The Janus series, take you a little by surprise, for their simplicity they are incredibly rewarding, partly because they require very little, and expect even less.

CHARLES LE DRAY : MEN'S SUITS

Artangel

Here is the game, I say Joseph Beuys, you say Charles Le Dray, I say Christian Boltanski, and I win. Clothes as metaphors for life and identity? Give me a break.

GAY ICONS

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, London

Enjoyable frothy exhibition, some great photographs here and there.

2009 Kazuyo Sejima & Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion

less visually demanding than Olafur Eliasson and Kjetil Thorsen's, Pavilion, The Kazuyo Sejima & Ryue Nishizawa Pavilion looks a little like a very posh bike shed, although after the bmbastic themes of previous entries and the current climate of financial doom and gloom, a bike shed seems somehow apt.

Anish Kapoor

Royal Academy

Re-reading of Anish Kapoor Having visited the show on the opening Saturday and it having had time to digest, the show seems to be about sex, pure and simply. First room: floor/wall sculptures-phallic symbols, (one wall sculpture is entitled-pregnant), cannon firing wax at the wall-masturbation, Slug-in his own words a bright red vagina: wax sliding in and out of threee rooms-use your imagination, the key words being sliding in and out. The boat like sculpture is also a vagina. Freud would be spinning in his grave.

New Sensations 2009

A Foundation, London

I thought it was a strong selection of works, Oliver Beer had the best name and the best art.

Whitney McVeigh

A Foundation, London

Talking of names...Whitney McVeigh, sounds like two last names! I thought the show was so so, perhaps the work looks a little like Rorschach test, and just like that test, you can read what you want into it.

SOUNDTRAP IV : JOHN WYNNE

beaconsfield, London

The cross overs between art and sound art sometimes interesting sometimes not. In this case my attention slipped quickly, both the physical and sound seemed somehow expected.

Kari Reis

Cynthia Corbett Gallery

From a distance the work looks like one of Takahashi Murakami's sickly sweet flower works. Petri dishes instead of flowers the work still has that sixties hallucinogenic feel to it. Nice to look at but perhaps a little overworked.

Kate Owens

DICKSMITH GALLERY, London

Kate Owens's work Slippery Peter, 2009, is created by running a mains extension cable around the room in full view, I guess it is made in response to the bain of any galleries life theses days, how to hide the wires? Cutting through the space, it makes a show of itself, sculptural, silly. I loved it.

Missing

Blyth gallery london

Some good work here clouded somewhat by theatrical press release, which is really more about personal taste. I guess I wanted to find meaningin the work not have preconcieved ideas before, but that is my own experience.

Lisa Milroy

Alan Cristea Gallery

Not too interested in the work I found it a bit old hat, painting about painting is dead!

Martin Greenland

Artspace Gallery

Twee , but rewarding, the paintings your mum would like, easy on the eye and the brain...that's not always a bad thing!

Lluis Artus

Demar / Noble photography

The thing about the photos is this strange difference between the real people and the unreal photos... What an interesting set of conversations must have gone on!

KUNSKOG

FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS, LONDON

And you thought drawing was dead, the show is diverse, wacky and confident, loved it

JAMES WHITE

Maverik Showroom, 68-72 Redchurch Street, London

"Imagine a world of hyper- modernity with final physical detachment. It’s nothing controversial – it’s taking place now. Immaterial culture is King. –James White" need I say more? Using twee strategies for art, James White makes tired ironical work that looks 10 years late.

TILO BAUMGARTEL

Wilkinson

The works were funny and drew you in, little narratives here and there make the work buzz with excitement.

Blair Thurman

Alexia Goethe Gallery

Unusually, these neons managed to hold their own. The cheese sandwich of the artworld is very rarely interesting, but just this once we have something special.

sdaadsd

Alison Jacques Gallery, London

Ryan McGinley's work is Victorian in many ways, often dealing with landscape, the lone figure and that of magic and spectacle. The works were varied and kept the ol' grey matter clunking away. Nice one Ryan!

TAKASHI MURAKAMI: Picture of Fate:

Gagosian, 555 West 24th Street New York, NY

The waffley long title reminiscent of Damien Hirst's titles, Murakami's "Picture of Fate: I Am But a Fisherman Who Angles In the Darkness of His Mind", probably wins for this years longest meaningless title. The painting reveals a more subtle layer to the Murakami oeuvre, perhaps a natural-calming down for the artist.

Sally Mann Proud Flesh

Gagosian

Sally Mann's Somnambulist, 2009, makes me giggle like a little school girl, a white bottom cuts through the central pane of the work, tee hee! Probably the best work on show here.

Cy Twombly

Gagosian, 980 Madison Avenue New York

The sleepy work of Cy Twombly, I just don't get it! Seems so tame, so reserved, so...boring! It has a 'pure' type of sculpture, that is a little bit old hat to say the least.

Anselm Reyle Monochrome Age

Gagosian, 555 West 24th Street New York, NY

Minimalism + koons = Anselm Reyle. The materials are surprising, one work, Eternity 2009 is made from Bronze, chrome optics, plinth with makassa wood veneer. It is drenched in kitsch, imagine Henry Moore dipped in chrome on a 70's wood cabinet, life doesn't get much better.

Magnus Plessen

Gladstone Gallery, 515 W 24st Street

Your mom won't like these works, they are too ugly and the don't represent anything, except from the odd coke can. But you will like the odd compositions, the muddy, but exciting colors. Go see, you need it!

Damián Ortega

Gladstone Gallery, 530 W 21st Street.

As far as I can see, Damián Ortega's work is based on a simple use of Micro/Macro styling, holes in bricks becomes windows of a broken tower block and visa-versa. A real exploration of how the minute affects the massive (and masses) .

Akihisa Hirata “Flame frame”

Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo

In the office of the Taka Ishii Gallery we have Akihisa Hirata “Flame frame”, and aesthetic presentation of aluminum twists. I applaud the use of all spaces in a gallery, even the office, but I am not sure of the artistic relevance of this project, could it be just bad interior design?

Lying, Standing, Leaning

The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

Kumagai Morikazu's Nude on Tatami 1962, is of exceptional pleasure to the eye and a highlight in the exhibition at The National Museum of Modern Art. The curation has given a conservative theme a brilliant platform, and made it into a successful presentation.

13 Painters: The Way We See It

Morley College

Cringe worthy statements like "All the painters share a passionate belief in the power of painting" doesn't a good start make. The work much like that statement seems to be in defense of painting, which to cynical eyes like mine makes it all a bit 1970's painting angst all over again.

RALPH BALL & MAXINE NAYLOR : CHAIR POETICS

England & Co, London

Surprisingly inventive, Ralph Ball and Maxine Naylor's chairs, are really rather good. Poetic maybe not, but fun and creative, certainly.

RAQS MEDIA COLLECTIVE: ESCAPEMENT

frithstreetgallery

Following there bombastic but ultimately disappointing show at Ikon in the summer, Escapement is a more considered but still the work is painfully obvious in places.

Dinu Li’s Family Village

Danielle Arnaud

‘Ancestral Nation’, ‘Family Village’ and ‘Nation Family’ are the starting points for Dinu Li’s Family Village, the second in the trilogy and explores cultural developments in contemporary China.A well thoughtout artwork that seems refreshing.

DAVID BLANDY : UNDERGROUND HEROES

Charing Cross and Embankment stations

The new works seemed to be altered by the needs of funding and don't carry the same lightness as his is earlier works. Shame really, not one to remember.

MICHAEL GUMHOLD : SPARTACUS

AUSTRIAN CULTURAL FORUM

"A collection of new works that attempt a bridge between music culture and the aesthetic of the visual arts", not a great start! Tired artist creating tired art.

Automatic

Auto-Italia South East

The exhibition has the weight of an old conceptual art show, but with the lightness of the 90's. The works are rewarding and the artists varied but share a similar sensibility. Karl Burke (IE), Alicia Frankovich (NZ), Candice Jacobs (GB), Gereon Krebber (DE), Ruth Proctor (GB), Linda Quinlan (IE), Berndnaut Smilde (NL) Curated by Chris Fite-Wassilak and Gavin Murphy

LIGHTCONE

Nettie Horn

entertainment and surreal forces combine to form, LIGHTCONE a inspired series of films curated at Nettie Horn. More info at http://www.nettiehorn.com/,

BEDWYR WILLIAMS

Ceri Hand gallery liverpool

A good show by Williams adding a little more diversity to his work. Still funny and playing on the provincial, but also something more mature this time.

Anish Kapoor

Royal Academy

I just went to the preview for Friends of the RA, I can't comment on their website but just want to share! I'll start with the negatives so I can end on a high... the "non-objects" are fantastic stand alone pieces of art, I don't think they work in a room with other similar works. The Svayambh (wax train) is stunning in conception but again I feel it would have achieved the same impact accross two or three rooms and left more space for other works. The machine created works to me are flawed in their conception, I understand the "mess" giving matter to the forms but the whole concept of the artist as creator is flawed when the creation is just matter (I accept I may not be getting it). On to the positives, "Slug" is a triumph in it contradictions. While the "shooting in the corner" is a great piece of theatre, "yellow" was surprisingly the piece that I enjoyed the most. All encompassing, much larger than I imagined and with a presence that reminded me of the first time I saw Rothko's seagram murals in the Tate modern room (currently on tour), this made me smile and is by far the most accessible of the works. The highlights are some of the best I have seen for years (though I am a fan of Kapoor's so a bit biased), the lowlights, at worst, made me consider the work further. See it.

David Byrne - Playing the Building

Roundhouse London

David Byrne - 'Playing the Building' , is yet another output of the unstoppable Mr Byrne, willing to transcend media, Byrne creates inventive musical performances and installations.

MAXMARA ART PRIZE FOR WOMEN: HANNAH RICKARDS

White Chapel, London

Although a deserving winner, why in this day and age do we need a prize for women? I found it patronising and takes us back twenty years. Boo hiss!

JIM WHITTY

Adam Gallery, London

His work reminds me of screen savers, dots lights and waves, although there is something appealing about that, a sort of ridiculousness, taking it to the Nth degree. Hmmm, ponder.

SUE HILEY HARRIS : ANCESTOR BAGS

MOMA WALES

The exhibition is a joke really, incredibly conservative kind of work, MOMA should be what it says on the tin. Poor.

POLKA FEVER : ROBERT STONE

PUMP HOUSE GALLERY

At times, light and fluffy and at others deeply dark. A great exhibition for this young artist.

SIMON FAITHFULL : GRAVITY SUCKS

BFI SOUTHBANK GALLERY

Exhibition of Faithfull's 'Escape Vehicles', 7 experiments to escape gravity. - Is a blinder of a show. Witty and wonderful, featuring chairs strapped to weather balloon. How could it be bad?

BEYOND THESE WALLS

South London Gallery

The trip to the SLG always seems to take ages, but the shows never dissapoint. Beyond these walls is a cohesive exploration of space, the work is accessible and physically draws you in. Ayse Erkmen (Turkey), Tue Greenfort (Denmark), Knut Henrik Henriksen (Norway), public works (UK), Esther Stocker (Italy/Austria), Pieter Vermeersch (Belgium), Leon Vranken (Belgium)