Digby Warde-Aldam is a freelance writer based in Paris.
Thank god for September. The art year has kicked off like a mule with a grievance
Zzzzzzz. That, in brief, is the most accurate way to sum up London at the moment
London is now stuck in the August doldrums. I’d complain about it more if only I could muster the energy
Thrilling and thoughtful work by an Angolan collective puts shows by Marc Quinn and Joseph Cornell in the shade
The prize has come up for criticism this year, as it always does. But there’s still merit in it
Alexander McQueen’s exquisite tailoring; the Serpentine’s slightly shabby pavilion; Andy Warhol’s money-worship; and Kallos gallery’s exceptional ancient art
Tate’s ‘Fighting History’ is a failure: if you want proper history, see Ian Hamilton Finlay’s Revolutionary work at Victoria Miro
Michael Craig-Martin has brightened up the RA Summer Exhibition a bit, but Agnes Martin is truly unmissable at the Tate
Hockney’s psychedelic new creations at Annely Juda; Thomas Struth’s exceptional photographs at Marian Goodman; and Andre Kertesz at James Hyman
Supersymmetry dazzles in the Vinyl Factory; Lawrence Lek empties the Royal Academy; and a horrible vision in Hammersmith
Ravilious is bonkers and brilliant in Dulwich; Space sparkles at Daniel Blau; and is ‘Woman in Gold’ so bad it’s good?
Tracey Emin’s bed, Isa Genzken’s money, NS Harsha’s space cows, and Roger Ackling’s ‘Simple Gifts’
Traces of the World Trade Centre in London; counterculturalism and Robert Fraser; and Hauser & Wirth’s space in Somerset
Personal favourites from Maastricht, including an ancient Egyptian fragment and an unfinished old master painting
Mary Moore vs the YBAs; this month’s most covetable exhibition catalogue; and Alex Katz’s trousers
Digby Warde-Aldam explores what London has to offer, from contemporary abstract painting to Sargent’s most disquieting portraits
Fifty exhibitions in as many weeks; this revival of the ‘fig-1’ project from 15 years ago is a surprising success
The Crypt Gallery in St Pancras Church is overrun with cosmopolitan chickens. Is it art?
Music, dancing robots, 19th-century algorithms: Shawcross’s latest project was ambitious, but was it worth it?
Frieze week takes it out of you alright, but there has been some seriously good stuff on show
When you’ve been to more than 40 shows in three days you start to feel a little…displaced
PAD, the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, and another clutch of gallery shows: this week is taking its toll
‘But it’s so BIG!’ I heard an angry American journalist exclaim. And she spoke the truth – Frieze is big
You know you’re beaten when you come within inches of mistaking a Justin Adian painting for a coat hanger
December 2024
Emma Crichton-Miller
Apollo
Christina Makris
Christina Riggs
Rakewell
This episode explores an ancient funeral stele, Marie Antoinette’s breast bowl, and how digital technologies are helping to preserve Egyptian heritage sites
![Masterpiece [Re]discovery 2022. Photo: Ben Fisher Photography, courtesy of Masterpiece London](http://new-dev.apollo-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/MPL2022_4263.jpg)
Is it time to scrap the BP Portrait Award?
The prize has come up for criticism this year, as it always does. But there’s still merit in it