The constant travelling clearly took its toll as I was down with a cold this week so I was largely resting at home. Though it did let me catch up on a lot of writing, and yes, that’s about as close to resting as I get.
This week I have:
A preview of top exhibitions to see in June,
An invitation to join me for a south London gallery roam on Saturday,
I’ve commented on the new King Charles portrait for Business Insider - and I’d love to hear your thoughts,
There’s a roundup of writing from members of the Critics’ Circle.
Thanks as always for keeping tabs on me, and have a great week ahead.
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Tab’s World
My latest articles and events for your reading pleasure.
Looking ahead to June I’ve picked a whole load of exhibitions to visit in London and beyond for Londonist.
The first two episodes of my podcast are live and the second one is all about being an art critic as Anna interviews me on what do art critics do. Make sure you subscribe to The Good, The Bad and The Arty to get all future episodes. Find it on Spotify and Apple as well.
Painting, photography, ropes and intimacy: my top 5 in London this week is a varied one and all are closing soon - including LR Vandy’s show (pictured).
In a look back to my time in Milan I’ve written about 5 great museums and exhibitions to see if you visit the city. Two top 5s from me this week.
I’ve commented on the new King Charles portrait for Business Insider, safe to say I’m not a fan. What do you think of it - let me know in the poll below?
As a member of the Critics’ Circle I roundup its articles every month and here they are for April, including my own articles.
Plus, catch up on editions of my new bonus newsletter for paid subscribers, including:
Impressive Expressionism - my highlights from the Tate Modern exhibition (pictured above).
Cheer Up Luv: The platform where art meets activism
Ranjit Singh: The Lion of the Punjab - Weapons, art and gold at the Wallace Collection
The Power of Public Art in Canary Wharf - an interview with curator Lowri Harries
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!
My Saturday plans aren't fixed yet, but if you’re interested in joining me do let me know - I’ll likely start at the Studio Voltaire exhibition (pictured above) in Clapham. All are welcome to join me, just drop me a line (or DM me on Substack) and I'll share the full itinerary with you so you can drop in at any point throughout the day. Saturday 25 May, 11am-5pm.
With London Gallery weekend coming up I will be spending the Friday in Central London including going to the UP projects performance (2pm, free and ticketed), before then going on to other galleries. Do get in touch if you’d like to join me. Friday 31 May, 2pm onwards.
Londonist is turning 20 and to celebrate we’re having a party and you’re all invited. It’s ticketed and that includes two drinks, plus a chance to meet the wonderful team behind Londonist - that includes me. Wednesday 12th June, £15.
The Wider Arts
Here are my top picks of culture that may be enjoyed from the comfort of your home. Paid subscribers have access to my full back catalogue of recommendations.
SATIRICAL FILM: American Fiction is a great take on how Black trauma is peddled to white readers and Jeffrey Wright is superb in the lead as an author who hates it, hates himself and also can’t help himself from taking part in it. On Prime Video.
COMEDY SERIES: Only Murders in the Building is back for a third season covering yet another murder in New York and the lead trio of Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez are as watchable as ever. On Disney+
SCIENCE DOCUMENTARY: The Divided Brain is an interesting look at how the modern world may have rewired our brains. I'm not 100% sold on its science, but it does encourage us to think differently about the world around us and that’s definitely a plus. On Prime Video.
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. Paid subscribers have access to my full back catalogue of recommendations.
INTERNET: The Verge takes us inside the fascinating seafaring industry that keeps the internet alive and Noema suggests we need to re-wild the Internet drawing parallels between ecology and technology (28 minute read). In ‘Yugoslavia’s digital twin’ The Dial looks at what happens to domains of countries that no longer exist (7 minutes) and Wired reports on how the internet archive just backed up an entire Caribbean island (4 minutes). Bloomberg investigates the disturbing online extortion scheme targeting teen boys (15 minutes) and on the other side NPR reports on the man who scams the scammers (7 minutes). If you want an answer to any question you used to be able to go on Quora and Slate shows how it died (11 minutes) and The Atlantic also bemoans its downfall (7 minutes), plus Lifehacker shows us how to get good answers from Google again (2 minutes). Finally, we’re all lost without Wi-Fi but it doesn’t mean what we think it means - according to Gizmodo (2 minutes).
PHOTOGRAPHY: How Close Is That Photo to the Truth? It’s getting harder to know in an age of AI as CNET reveals in a 24 minute read. No need for AI here as The Atlantic tells us you can learn to be photogenic (7 minutes). The New York Times looks into what could be the world’s highest-grossing photograph (8 minutes) and Quartz has some lovely wildlife photos for us to gawp at (7 minutes).
CREEPY THINGS: What explains the architecture of creepiness, and its enduring appeal? Aeon explains all in a 19 minute read and Scientific American looks at why we’re drawn to haunted houses (18 minutes). Why are black cats associated with bad luck? History has the answer (4 minutes), Mental Floss gives us 11 Terrifying Urban Legends That Turned Out to Be True (8 minutes) and in a Halloween flashback The Irish Times looks back on the story of the Jack-o’-lantern (4 minutes).
PERIODICAL CICADAS: With two broods of periodical cicadas emerging in the US, I wanted to share some fascinating pieces about these strange insects. The New Yorker looks at its peculiar delights (9 minutes), Wired shows us the Earth is about to feast on dead cicadas (5 minutes), AP tells us cicadas are nature’s weirdos (3 minutes) and Mashable explains why they like to land on humans (2 minutes).