June Art Gallery Highlights
The Female Gaze and What Could Have Been of Photo London 2017
Last week’s Photo London left a slight bittersweet taste for me. The fair brings together a great selection of galleries and it is a must-see for anyone interested in photography. However, there was an overwhelming presence of fashion photography and female portraiture. At worse banal and celebrity-driven, at best a lush sensuous rich experience.
After the Kate Moss overdose, Helmut Newton’s ubiquitous iconic images of determined women, Horst P. Horst’s timeless classics, Irving Penn’s soft touch, Norman Parkinson’s old-world glamour, Miles Aldridge’s dolls… the penny dropped heavy. With the exception of very few works dotted around by Lillian Bassman, Sarah Moon and Ellen von Unwerth, a wander around the fair felt like I had been transported to another time, ignoring the contemporary appetite for female voices. The male gaze was starting to give away a rancid whiff.
Victor Benady’s Art Collection: “I don’t worry about investment. What concerns me is meeting the artist, immersing myself in the studio practice, getting under the skin of things and building relationships”
May Art Gallery Highlights: Photography
Photo London opens next week on Thursday 18th until Sunday 21st at Somerset House in central London. In its third edition, the fair has gained momentum and photography is settling into London’s annual art calendar. To accompany the fair, three exhibitions by Mat Collishaw, Isaac Julien and Taryn Simon will also open at Somerset House. Since the coming week will all be about photography, May’s gallery highlights are commercial exhibitions on the medium. Expect pleasure-seeking from a young Maisie Cousins, a look back at Renate Bertlmann’s feminist wit and timeless elegance on the nature of desire and the gaze by Isaac Julien.
In the Studio with Rana Begum
“The modular nature of the works mean that they may be perceived as a section of something that could be much larger. This idea of the infinite, fluidly extending vertically or horizontally into space is an important quality of my works.”
Artist in Focus: Andrea Galvani. What to see at Frieze New York
