It’s a Fitzrovia fest this week as I’ve written a long post about how Fitzrovia is the place to be for galleries and my top 5 exhibitions stretches across Fitzrovia and Mayfair.
Thanks as always for keeping tabs on me, and have a great week ahead.
Tab’s World
My latest articles and events for your reading pleasure.
I’ve written about why Fitzrovia is the place to be for galleries for Artsy. It’s a piece I’ve been working on for over a month and it’s great to see it go live - enjoy, and let me know what you think and if you have any favourite galleries in the area.
Neatly aligning with my piece above, my weekly top 5 is across Fitzrovia and Mayfair with everything from Paradise to photorealism - all within walking distance of one another.
In a light hearted video I critiqued the artworks of the staff at the F1 Arcade that’s opened in the City of London. It was a fun experience and they were all good sports about it.
Plus, catch up on editions of my new bonus newsletter for paid subscribers, including:
A round-up of some great long-read articles about artists
A great list of exhibitions to see for International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month
I interviewed the artist behind Art of the Brick, the new LEGO-based exhibition in Shoreditch - the two of us pictured together above.
Most recently, I picked my highlights from a new exhibition of contemporary Black artists - which includes Thomas J Price’s work (pictured above).
Click below to see all the subscription options, and a big thank you to everybody who’s supporting the newsletter already - couldn’t do it without you!
Tab’s Weeks Ahead
Highlighting my top events for the weeks ahead. Let me know if you'd like to join me!
Easter Weekend means most galleries will be closed on my usual gallery day of Saturday, but I am planning on going to the meet the artist event for Georgie Mason’s exhibition in Kingston. Monday 1 April, 11am-3pm.
The Wider Arts
Here are my top picks of culture that may be enjoyed from the comfort of your home.
POST-APOCALYPTIC NOVEL: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler is a brilliant, and harrowing post-apocalyptic novel set around a community witnessing the collapse of civilisation in the wake of climate change and hypercapitalism. It was written 30 years ago but feels very contemporary. Her other book Kindred is very different, but also excellent and a read I highly recommend. The links go through to my online bookshop and you can follow me on Goodreads here.
SATIRICAL FILM: Saltburn finds a young Oxford student worming his way into the life of his privileged fellow student’s family. Barry Keoghan is brilliant in the quiet and scheming lead - on Prime Video. GQ has also profiled and interviewed Keoghan in a 24 minute read. If you want other films that provide biting satires on wealth and privilege I’d also recommend Parasite (on Netflix) and Triangle of Sadness (on Prime).
PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS: For a brief period when multiplayer gaming had taken off but high speed Internet hadn’t, LAN parties were how people came together to play video games and this book of photographs and essays captures this short-lived cultural phenomenon. It’s a major dose of nostalgia for me. I love great photographs of abandoned spaces and Project UrbEx contains lots from around the world - from abandoned theme parks to power plants, seen from the viewpoint of video game creator Ikumi Nakamura. The link goes through to my online bookshop and you can follow me on Goodreads here.
Articles I’m Reading
Interesting stories that I recommend, largely from beyond the art world. If you fancy reading offline at another time, I recommend the app Pocket.
This is a selection of articles I found thought-provoking in one way or another; opinions expressed in the articles don’t necessarily reflect my own views or those of Londonist.
MENTAL HEALTH: The New Yorker looks at the fascinating story of the woman who spent 500 days in a cave and how that impacted her (33 minute read) and the Washington Post tells us a story of woman whose mental health issues were linked to something that was missed by most doctors until one made a startling discovery (9 minutes). One man talks about how he found power in his panic attacks (8 minutes via Time), Vox shows us how to stop catastrophizing and assuming the worst (7 minutes) and Time makes the case for mediocrity and how it can make us happier (12 minutes).
LOOKING AT ART: Want to feel something when looking at art? NPR has 6 tips in a 7 minute read. JStor looks at how fruit and veg were sexual metaphors in the Renaissance (4 minutes) and Stir World asks is orange protest’s super colour? It’s Nice That asks if we’ve reached peak immersive art (10 minutes), and I’ve written a few pieces for FAD on that topic where I turn a critical eye on art experiences but also defend them from blanket criticism.
CORPORATIONS: The Nation dishes the dirt in confessions of a McKinsey whistle blower (19 minutes) and Vox looks at how Boeing put profits over planes (10 minutes), if those haven’t disturbed you enough then brace yourself for how executives rewards themselves with 11th hour pay bumps (6 minutes). To end on a happier corporate story Prospect takes us inside Nintendo to show how they operate and create such great games (6 minutes).
The Jess Allen piece shown in the post is fantastic. Reminds me of Hopper. Great post.