Visual Research

There is an increasing tendency to set up body artists and performance artists - the two categories are often interchangeable - as the real heroes and heroines of the contemporary avant-garde. In fact, we need to look much further back for its beginnings. The first body art performer, as well as the first professional bodybuilder, was the showman, Eugene Sandow (1867-1925). Though Sandow’s heyday occurred before the birth of the Modern Movement, there are compelling reasons for giving the primacy to him.

Edward Lucie-Smith examines Hans Holbein's famous series of prints, The Dance of Death, together with associated works, such as various artistic variations on the theme of Death and the Maiden. In addition, Lucie-Smith looks at some famous images made on the theme of war, notably the prints of Jacques Callot and the bitter social studies of Goya y Lucientes.

This is a recorded conversation with Manchester-born artist Hughie O'Donoghue, first published in Cv Journal of the Arts v2/3 September 1989. He discusses his ideas about painting and evaluates key works such as Sleeper and recent landscape The Irish Sea.

Interview with John Murdoch, director of the Courtauld Gallery, Somerset House, London, recorded in 1993, describes the formation of key Impressionist works by Sam Courtauld in the early twentieth century.

Anyone who Googles the phrase curatorial theory will immediately come upon quite a long list of suggested websites. Sometimes it is a little difficult to be sure if the texts offered are intended to be taken entirely seriously. However, if I hack my way through the dense thickets of language, I find myself in agreement with what they seem to be trying to say, which is that curating an exhibition - or for that matter, a website - is not an end in itself.

Reviews events in the London Festival of the Cultural Olympiad. Writer Alexandra James visits a variety of exhibitions, music, and performances, staged through July 2012, witnessing a range of creative voices drawn from the international arena.

Cv/VAR series 146 reviews the work of Damien Hirst (b.Bristol 1965), presented in a retrospective exhibition spanning 20 years, held at Tate Modern, April to September 2012. It explores the development of his art - from the controversial animal vitrines and beautiful butterfly composites, to an extensive series of spot paintings, where the artist engaged in a complex invigilation of coded systems that govern daily existence.

Cv/VAR 47 documents an interview with the the celebrated sculptor Arman (1928-2005), exploring his early connections with Yves Klein, Rosicrucianism, and the development of auto-formed sculptures of collected objects.

This is a personal view of Picasso and Paper, a major exhibition held at the Royal Academy, and explores over 300 works covering drawing, collages, and prints.

The exhibition attempts a revaluation of the pre-Raphaelite movement of the mid 19th century, as Dr Marsh indicates it is not about gender competition. Rather, it's about rebalancing the contribution of partners, models, and studio managers. It is also about creative discourse and the other significant roles undertaken by women associated with individual artists.

Frieze Masters, London, October 6, 2019. Into the broad arena of the covered awnings of this enormous tented gathering of leading art dealers and the first gallery space is Aquavella, with a variety of exhibits; and come face-to-face with an absolutely spiteful acid green and fluorescent pink abstract by Keith Haring (1958-1990). It’s on canvas dated 1982 and signed lower left. The green is painted in a random ventilated grid over the hyper-intense pink with a bold line of a green stripe on the top edge of the work, which is encased in a glass vitrine.

Review of the exhibition of visionary artist William Blake at Tate Britain, September 2019: The exhibition is arranged in eight rooms of the downstairs gallery spaces of Tate Britain, low-lit, maroon-painted walls, a very comprehensive collection of a highly original and complex visionary creator.

Seven days in Funchal on the Island of Madeira. Journal notes of the settings, locations, and personal stories in diary entries.

A recorded visit to an exhibition by Anish Kapoor at the Lisson Gallery, London continued to 22nd June, 2019. Includes descriptions of works and bio-dara of the artist.

This study explores the work of celebrated artist Tracey Emin, exhibited at Turner Contemporary in Margate Kent. It reviews the figurative studies and neon calligraphic scultpures.

Interview recorded with Rachel Howard at the artist's studio in July 2011. Explores her childhood and upbringing, awareness of "God", and experience of a Quaker schooling. Attendance at Goldsmiths and work for Damien Hirst on pharmacy cabinets and the Spot Paintings. Recent exhibition in Italy, the "Via Dolorosa"; discussion of her paintings and drawings; the desired effect of her work.

Interview with painter Anthea Holmes, recorded in April 1988 at her Whitechapel Studio. She describes her training at Kingston University and at The Pratt Institute New York; with the development of an intricate play between figure, ground and light in an intimate process of accumulation and elision of elements.

Interview conducted with Christiane Baumgartner in 2010, by emailed questions and replies, in which she describes the process of her graphic and video work; incorporating ideas of stop-motion time frames applied to subjects of landscape, travelling, traffic, highways, and military installations.

Painter Claudia Carr describes her surreal landscapes, composed from reflections of found objects that suggest imaginative scenarios of play and dreams.

Artist Louise Sheridan interviewed at her exhibition at The Cafe Gallery Southwark in 1993. She describes her travels in Nepal and Thailand, and the works produced from a fellowship in Barcelona, Spain. She focuses on "The Envelope Series", votive objects made with wax and encaustic, and works made with Nepalese bark paper.