With Richard Ingleby
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.`Material Culture' is at the Hayward Gallery, South Bank Centre, London SE1 (0171-928 3144) 3 April to 18 May
Material Culture, which opens at the Hayward Gallery on Thursday, is the latest outing for some of the currently fashionable young British artists who seem to be so much in the news. Furthermore, and this is where it may turn out to be interesting, it is also a chance to see their work in the context of some of their immediate predecessors.
The theme of the show, according to the organisers, is "the presence of the object in British art of the 1980s and 1990s". Sculpture, in other words, or at least things in three dimensions. Some of these objects have been created by the artists, others were simply found and packaged as art, but all are presented in a way that they hope will "encourage fresh connections between works".
I'm not sure about this. Sculpture has been a particular strength of the British art scene for some years, but the links from one artist to the next are few and far between. Material Culture aims to trace a path from Ian Hamilton Finlay through some of "The New British Sculptors" such as Tony Cragg and Bill Woodrow, through Anish Kapoor, Anthony Gormley and Rachel Whiteread, to the likes of Gavin Turk, Angela Bulloch and Abigail Lane. These last are the much-hyped young stars of the present scene.
It's an ambitious idea and a good excuse to assemble an interesting mix of recent British sculpture, but the lack of a shared aesthetic seems more obvious than any coherent connections. Some of the artists might disagree - you can ask them for yourselves between 12 noon and 3pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays when they will tour the exhibition as question- answering "live guides".
EYE ON THE NEW Paintings by Patrick Caulfield, a senior figure of the British art world, were unveiled this week at the Waddington Galleries in Cork Street. They are bigger and a little sweeter than some of his work of recent years. 11 Cork Street, London W1 (0171-437 8611) to 26 April
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments