Diary of a London Art Critic: early June

A fortnight of art seen through my eyes

Given I visit hundreds of exhibitions a year and I only write about a small proportion of them I’ve decided to expand these newsletters for paid subscribers to quickly cover almost everything I see, providing my honest thoughts on everything - not just those shows that I cover in online publications and not just the ones I like. You can see the exhibitions I’ve visited through my eyes and decide for yourself whether each one is worth a visit.

I’m trialling this new approach and would value your feedback on how useful it is to you.

Saturday 1 June

With Amy Beager and her work

This was a South London day for me starting with Dominion at Newport Street Gallery (on until 1 September, free to visit) and you can read all about that show in my previous newsletter. I then wandered over to Oxo Gallery to catch the last few days of a show of paintings by Bella Hoare (now closed) and I particularly liked the leafy figurative paintings of female prisoners who have participated in a social enterprise that provides them with horticultural training.

I popped in to see Copperfield for an exhibition celebrating 10 years of the gallery (until 27 July, free). They have some great artists but nothing grabbed me in this group show and I didn’t envy the fact it would all be taken down for a late-night party to celebrate the decade before the works go back up the next day.

I made my first visit to Soup Gallery in Bermondsey as I’ve been meaning to visit since they opened and caught the end of a good painting show by Anna Clegg (now closed) and love the orange frontage of the place. I also learned the gallery name is a pun as the director is Hector Campbell (a reference to Warhol and his Campbell’s Soup cans).

I liked Amy Beager’s colourful paintings at Kristin Hjellegjerde gallery (until 6 July, free) that’s dedicated to her recently deceased cat - RIP Ashitaka, and then ended my gallery day with another cat at Now Gallery for the final weekend of Charlotte Mei’s show (now ended) - which was fun but didn’t speak to me beyond that. Maybe that was too much cat for me as I then met up with some friends at the Dog & Fox in Wimbledon Village near home.

Monday 3 June

Just the one exhibition on Monday as I got a sneak peek at Degas and Miss La La at The National Gallery (until 1 September, free). It’s a great concept to expand upon: exploring the story and life of the woman that Edgar Degas sketched and painted, with a focus on her and her amazing athletic skills (including when she managed to hold a cannon aloft with her teeth even while it was fired).

It does mean the show becomes less about the art and more about the person. It’s not what I was expecting but I do like the novel approach and there’s some lovely artworks to go with it.

Wednesday 5 June

Checking out Flora Yukhnovich’s work at The Wallace Collection

Flora Yukhnovich’s paintings have been setting all types of auction records and she’s heavily inspired by Rococo-style paintings, which The Wallace Collection has in spades so they’ve put two of her large works at the top of the stairs in replica gold frames and they look great (until 3 November, free). In a switch, the works that inspired her pieces, by Francois Boucher, are now out of their frames and hanging downstairs. While it’s a nice touch it’s a shame that due to space constraints we can’t see them next to each other to see the relationship between the two.