The Tate Modern has opened its much anticipated retrospective exhibition of Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973) and the pivotal year of his career in Picasso 1932: Love Fame Tragedy. I go back in time and trace my original interest with the cubist, surrealist and expressionist artist and share my thoughts on this revolutionary exhibition, in my humble opinion. 

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What’s the best way for opera to gain new audiences? The most obvious answer is to encourage new audiences to see an opera and hope that they will enjoy the story, music and singing all at once. Then we have to ask ourselves another question: what are the best operas to show someone who is completely new to the art form? I can see the serious dramas such as La Traviata, Madame Butterfly and Carmen, or even the silly comedies like The Barber of Seville and The Pirates of Penzance being on the top of the list. The narratives are easy enough to follow, depending on the direction and staging, and the music is regularly recycled on commercial adverts (often on radio and TV) which, probably, anyone can recognise.

The Victoria and Albert Museum has taken on the responsibility of introducing opera to newer audiences using an entirely different technique. A brand new exhibition with the collaboration of Covent Garden’s Royal Opera House (and Societe Genrale) has opened at the Sainsbury Gallery. It is the first time the Sainsbury Gallery has exhibited work and artifacts to this scale – the largest in Europe of its kind.

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Nowadays it’s hard to find anyone who will say that they don’t like the internet. Just think about how much has been achieved because of it. Electronic Superhighway is a new exhibition currently showing at the Whitechapel gallery that amalgamates internet art in a clever retrospective, though visually there is nothing structured about it, and that’s mainly because it’s an explosion of multiple mediums. It delves deep into how artists have adopted and critiqued technology for the last six decades and provides a narrative of technology in human history. There are various bits and pieces: monitors, paintings, intimate objects, manipulated images, noises, selfies, and strange digital paraphernalia that demonstrate the impact of digital art.

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What are the first few words that come to mind when you think of the French artist, Claude Monet? Japanese bridges or water lilies perhaps? You wouldn’t be far off as his exquisite impressionist pieces capture the tranquil colours and dreaminess of the garden world, simply looking at his work – the ‘Grandes Décorations’ (1914-26) – teleports you to his immersive garden in Giverny, Normandy.

This Saturday sees the opening of Painting the The Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse at the Royal Academy, and for horticultural lovers, garden hobbyists or a fan of the great artists of the late 18th century and early 19th century, they’re in for a treat. It’s curators, Ann Dumas and Dr. William H. Robinson, have programmed something rather original, that doesn’t entirely focus on the pinnacle works of Monet, even though he is the touchstone of the exhibition. 

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2000 years of shoes…

“The exhibition explores the pinnacle role shoes play in several societies, not just the fashion world. Yet Pleasure and Pain is by no means perfect and spectators may feel disappointed.” Click here to read full review.

19th century poet Christina Rossetti once wrote, “Can anything be sadder than work left unfinished? Yes, work never begun”. In a similar vein, the Courtauld Gallery has curated a special exhibition dedicated to art from its permanent collection that was considered unfinished, from Renaissance to early 20th century. Unfinished…Works … Click here to read more on LDNCARD blogs.

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My written review for US review site: Culture Vulture can be found here I highly recommend you look at the photographs before or whilst reading the review to get a better picture of the exhibition, Savage Beauty: Alexander McQueen. 

(Victoria and Albert Museum)

London (Photos by @MaryGNguyen)

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A.D.O (Attention, Deficit and Order) is Reeps One aka Harry Yeff debut art exhibition that brings his musical talent – beat boxing – into the visual art world. Winner of the numerous beatbox championships and described by NME as a “vocal percussion on another level”, Yeff managed to impress spectators last night through his cleverly fresh exhibition that was categorized into four aspects: ‘visual art, sonic musical performance, the union of the audio and visual and the theoretical, neurological and anatomical insight.’ The exhibition may sound like a mouth full, but turned back cap Yeff spoke to everyone and anyone about his art, bringing clarity and order to what appeared disorderly.

 

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George Clooney, the director and lead actor of recently released film ‘Monuments Men’, has shed light on a crucial debate previously discussed only by academics that has now flooded the public forum. This debate questions the process of returning Nazi-era provenance art back to their rightful owners, which includes Jews, art dealers, churches and anyone other than Aryan descent according to Nazi ideology. Clooney’s interpretation of a true story set in 1945 is of a task force of artists and historians from Europe and America who sought to protect and return stolen art. This was estimated at a fifth of the world’s art (250,000 pieces), to the value of $2.5 billion at the end of the war. Today, the value is astounding. Some looted artworks were found undamaged and stored under salt mines or hidden away in homes of dealers and thieves. Unfortunately, other masterpieces were recovered tarnished under heaps of debris and rubble from the war.

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