Diary of a London Art Critic: late July

Dinosaurs, diversity and Croydon in a fortnight of art

In this post, I summarise every exhibition I’ve seen over the last few weeks, not just those I write about in other publications, and you get my honest thoughts on them.

Saturday 13 July

Bev Duckworth’s work at the Goldsmiths MFA exhibition

I remained firmly south of the river this weekend and started my day at Hannah Barry Gallery, which has been transformed into ‘Sin Centre’ (until 14 September, free). The concept is impressive complete with an upstairs reading area, downstairs bar and even the toilet has been adorned with marbling textures. However, the artwork within the space didn’t do much for me, which is a shame. It was part of a tour organised by Young Professionals in the Arts, where I’m a member and I recommend joining as they put on some great events.

Hannah Barry herself has been the driving force behind Bold Tendencies, a programme of events and art on the roof of a disused car park close to the gallery. Our tour then led us to view the public artworks they have on roof (until 14 September, free) and it has great permanent works including the Insta-friendly pink staircase by Simon Whybray and the garden in one corner based on the garden outside Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage in Dungeness - which is still on my list to visit.

For this year’s new crop of open-air art my favourites were the nature-human hybrid sculptures by Saelia Aparicio - they’re playful and also based on non-native plants, it’s not just humans that migrate after all.

The tour ended their and I made my way over to Goldsmiths College for their MFA exhibition (now closed). For some reason they call it an MFA like US-based schools do, rather than the MA convention most art schools in the UK use - I’m not sure why and I’ve never felt bothered enough to find out.

The quality of the work was high including a good mix of conceptual and painting - plus it’s always worth a visit as two of the spaces are in a church and an emptied swimming pool, I can’t think of another art school that has such great places to show art. One of my favourites was Bev Duckworth (pictured above) who has grown edible plants from discarded clothing.

It’s a sprawling site and I was feeling fatigued by the end. Top marks to the school for having hot pink arrows to guide you around the site and lots of soft drinks stations where visitors could hydrate during this marathon art session.

Below the paywall are my thoughts on:

• The new Natural History Museum gardens

• Diversifying the Museum of the Home

• Hobbyists uniting in Croydon

• Great shows, terrible exhibitions and much more ..