Aidan Moesby has just finished a tour of festivals in the north of England, using his new weather-based installations to test responses, locations and situations for visual arts in festival contexts. Trish Wheatley talks to the artist about this work and how it sits with his practice.
Sculptor Laura Ford’s new commission for Brighton’s House Biennial draws on the history of town’s Royal Pavilion and in particular that of its early 19th century commissioner King George IV, who lived there as Prince Regent prior to taking the throne. Dany Louise talks to the artist about her work and finds out why Donald Trump has a starring role in her installation, A King’s Appetite.
Hull-based artist Clare Holdstock is this week’s featured a-n blogger on the a-n Instagram feed. She talks to Richard Taylor about her practice and where she places it.
Working with fifth generation tightrope walker Rasul Abakarov within the vast landscape of Dagestan, artist Taus Makhacheva’s film Tightrope has been lauded by critics following its exhibition at the Venice Biennale. Pippa Koszerek talks to the artist about the processes and risks involved in her work.
For the Folkestone Triennial, London-based artist Richard Woods has created a series of six cartoon bungalows around the Kent coastal town, each painted in different vibrant colours and placed in improbable settings. He explains why to Fisun Güner.
Nicola Naismith is the recipient of the Clore Visual Artist Fellowship, which for the second year is supported by a-n. She explains how she feels about being the 2017-18 fellow, its relevance to her art practice, and what she hopes to get out of the year.
Known for her detailed sculptural works that combine everyday objects and materials with meticulously applied precious stones, metals or fine embroidery, Susan Collis is interested in making us consider the real value of what we might at first think is mundane and ordinary. Anneka French talks to the artist about her major new solo show at Touchstones Gallery, Rochdale.
Michael Armitage’s vivid and dreamlike paintings are currently on show in his solo exhibition ‘Peace Coma’ at Turner Contemporary in Margate. The Kenyan-born but London-based artist talked to Fisun Güner about how his East African heritage has influenced his work, along with his interest in Western art history and the works of post-Impressionist painter Paul Gauguin in particular.
Made with the artist Jonathan Baldock, the collaborative touring exhibition, ‘Love Life’, takes Punch and Judy as a reference point for exploring the tensions and frustrations of modern domestic life. Emma Hart, winner of the 2015-17 Max Mara Art Prize for Women, talks about the themes of the show prior to her solo Max Mara exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery.
London-based artist Kimathi Donkor is among 12 artists featured in the Diaspora Pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale, presented by the International Curators Forum and University of the Arts London. He talks about the importance of the British black arts movement in the 1980s, history painting, and the idea of diaspora.
For her Venice Biennale film, Spite Your Face, Scottish artist Rachel Maclean has created a re-working of the Pinnocchio story that explores power, political lies and the rise of populism. Moira Jeffrey talks to her about the themes and form of the work.
London and Scotland-based artistic duo Thomson & Craighead have created a new generative moving image work for the Look Again festival in Aberdeen. They talk to Jack Hutchinson about the impact of the internet on our lives and how splitting their time between rural and urban areas has benefitted their practice.
Keith Piper’s exhibition at New Art Exchange, ‘Unearthing the Banker’s Bones’, explores the idea of what our society’s relics might look like from a future perspective. The founder member of the BLK Art Group talks to Wayne Burrows about the themes contained within the work and the continued importance of political and social questions to his practice.
Artists Alex Hartley and Tom James have created a geodesic dome constructed from reclaimed materials and situated it in the Capability Brown-designed gardens of Compton Verney, a Georgian mansion and gallery in rural Warwickshire. Anneka French finds out about their plans for the future.
Vancouver-based artist and musician Rodney Graham is best known for his large-scale photographic lightbox works, in which he features in a variety of guises. A new show at Baltic, Rodney Graham: That’s Not Me, presents work from 1994 to 2017 and includes a whole gallery dedicated to his varied and experimental film pieces. Fisun Güner asks the questions.
As a member of Artangel’s production team, Laura Purseglove is used to site-specific working and navigating the complexities of staging art projects in historic buildings. All of which will be useful experience for her role at ACE Trust, where over the next two years she will be developing a programme of exhibitions and commissions for churches and cathedrals throughout the UK. Pippa Koszerek finds out more.
With a solo show at ICA and as part of a group exhibition at Eastside Projects, Sonia Boyce is exploring ideas around play, improvisation and sculpture – including a collaborative project with ukuele-playing skateboarders. Anneka French talks to the artist during the first of two lively, nerve-wracking performances in Birmingham, as skaters fly by and instruments are played.
Having graduated from the Royal College of Art last year, London-based artist Holly Hendry has won numerous awards and just opened her first solo show in a UK public gallery at Baltic, Gateshead. Anneka French talks to her about her whirlwind career so far.
For her current show at The Showroom, London-based artist Laura Oldfield Ford has constructed a disorientating visual, textual and sonic journey that draws on her experiences of navigating the gallery’s surrounding area, weaving together multiple voices and alternative histories and futures. Lydia Ashman finds out more.
For her Art on the Underground commission, you don’t know what nights are like?, Mitra Tabrizian has produced two large-scale billboard photographs outside Southwark station that explore the isolation and marginality of London’s night workers. Chris Sharratt finds out more.
With solo exhibitions at Spike Island and Modern Art Oxford, and archival work in a new group show at Nottingham Contemporary focusing on Black British art from the 1980s, Lubaina Himid’s paintings and installations are attracting both critical and popular acclaim. Fisun Güner talks to her about politics, migration, and taking on the art establishment.
Working in a wide-range of media from film to sculpture to performance, London-based artist Larry Achiampong draws on colonial history, his own Ghanian heritage, and the experience of growing up in Britain to create works that explore ideas around class, race and cultural identity. Wayne Burrows talks to him.
Jenni Lomax announced late last year that she is stepping down from her role at Camden Arts Centre, a position she has held for 26 years. Fisun Güner talks to the much admired director about working with artists, the importance of education in the gallery’s programme, and what she will do next.
Best known for Seizure, his 2008 Artangel commission for which he covered the interior of a South London flat with copper sulphate, Roger Hiorns’ current show at Ikon Gallery sees him back in his home city, where he also hopes to soon bury a decommissioned Boeing 737. Fisun Güner talks to the artist.
The Shropshire-born artist grew up on a farm, with his childhood experiences influencing everything from the content to the materials of his paintings. Here he discusses the continuing importance of painting and his latest body of work, currently on show at the Saatchi Gallery’s ‘Painters’ Painters’ exhibition.
