37 h. ago Talented teenage painter from Gordonstoun School to appear on Portrait Artist of the Year 2025

Ruby Mitcham, an 18-year-old Gordonstoun pupil, will feature in series 12 of Portrait Artist of the Year.

Culture

68 h. ago Women behind the lens: ‘I thought, who is this woman? I need to know her’

Indian artist Indu Antony was mesmerised when she first saw 78-year-old Cecilia and has put her at the heart of a project that interrogates women’s safety in public spaces and celebrates friendshipI first encountered Cecilia a decade ago, as she was cycling through the streets of Bengaluru in India wearing a cape. I thought, who is this woman? I need to know her. She is 78 years old, and has become a dear friend of mine. She has always defied conventions of age, gender and femininity. In fact, when I was attacked on the street and wanted to speak out about gender violence, Cecilia was the first person I turned to.She has always dressed in bold and unconventional ways – often poking fun at my more restrained dress sense. Her style, humour and sheer presence bring a vibrancy that cannot be fabricated. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Want to know the grotesque truth about the oil industry? Then look at their tacky paperweights

Tanoa Sasraku has been collecting – and creating her own – gaudy paperweights with a drop of crude oil encased within. All you need to know about global power games, the artist explains, is right thereIn her bright Glasgow studio, artist Tanoa Sasraku is showing me her collection of paperweights produced by oil companies. “I find them so alluring, almost like perfume bottles or snow globes, but so grotesque,” she explains as we handle the etched and sculpted objects, which each have a precious drop of crude oil at their centre. “They have these shiny, dazzling exteriors, but when you get close you see the death mulch inside. All presentations of power are fragile; they collapse once you get close enough.”Sasraku’s paperweights form the centrepiece of Morale Patch, her forthcoming solo exhibition at the ICA in London: a poetic interrogation of the role of oil in geopolitics and national identity. Drawn from oil-producing nations around the world, the tacky paperweights embody both th...

Politics

5 d. ago Michaelina Wautier: the female Flemish artist now seen as an old master

Opening in Vienna on Tuesday, a new exhibition gathers her works into one show for the first time The first time that Katljine von der Stighelen cast her eyes over The Triumph of Bacchus, it made her question her own judgement.In 1993, the Dutch art historian and Rubens expert was visiting Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches museum for a conference and had asked to see a van Dyck in the archives. On her way out, she caught a glimpse of a vast, 2.7 metre x 3.5 metre oil painting of a wild and drunken parade writhing with naked bodies young and old. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Photographer Joy Gregory on her new project, decades in the making: ‘A lot of people I worked with on it have died’

A new retrospective by the Black British artist plays with everything from the Victorians’ use of flowers to Eurocentric beauty standards – including one piece she started in 2003There weren’t many Black students at the Royal College of Art when Joy Gregory was a student in the 1980s, but she did study alongside artist and Blk Art Group founder Keith Piper, who was putting together a Black photography exhibition. “He asked me if I would submit some work,” says the 65-year-old artist.Piper had liked her work, which explored themes of colonialism, beauty, gender and race. However, her submission was rejected by the organisers on the basis that it simply wasn’t Black enough. “You have to recognise the political climate at that time around practice and making a mark and I was basically taking pictures of flowers,” says Gregory. “For me, you have the right to make whatever work you want. By shutting down what can and cannot be, you start to censor yourself. I was a bit pissed off, thinki...

Events

2 w. ago ‘Trump is a defecating fly on a camel’s back’: Palestinian artist Samia Halaby on being banned, exiled – and now celebrated

At 88, she has won a Munch award for artistic freedom – despite her pioneering work being cancelled by the US university she studied at. She talks protest, polarisation and propagandaIt’s a miracle I get out of my interview with Palestinian artist Samia Halaby alive. Not just because the creaky wooden stairs to her second-floor Tribeca, New York live-work space are alarmingly steep, but because certain people view the 88-year-old acclaimed abstract artist, a pioneer of digital art, as a dangerous security threat.In December 2023, Indiana University, Halaby’s alma mater, cancelled what was due to be the first American retrospective exhibition of Halaby’s work at the university’s Eskenazi Museum of Art. The exhibition had been three years in the making but Halaby was informed she was no longer welcome in a terse two-sentence letter from the museum’s director, citing vague security concerns. The real reason, she suspects, was the museum’s wish to distance itself from anything supportiv...

Politics

2 w. ago ‘Everyone’s become more extreme’: Palestinian artist Samia Halaby on being banned, exiled – and now celebrated

At 88, she has won a Munch award for artistic freedom – despite her pioneering work being cancelled by the US university she studied at. She talks protest, polarisation and propagandaIt’s a miracle I get out of my interview with Palestinian artist Samia Halaby alive. Not just because the creaky wooden stairs to her second-floor Tribeca, New York live-work space are alarmingly steep, but because certain people view the 88-year-old acclaimed abstract artist, a pioneer of digital art, as a dangerous security threat.In December 2023, Indiana University, Halaby’s alma mater, cancelled what was due to be the first American retrospective exhibition of Halaby’s work at the university’s Eskenazi Museum of Art. The exhibition had been three years in the making but Halaby was informed she was no longer welcome in a terse two-sentence letter from the museum’s director, citing vague security concerns. The real reason, she suspects, was the museum’s wish to distance itself from anything supportiv...

Events

2 w. ago Solo review – joyful yet heartbreaking story of drag artist consumed by toxic relationships

Théodore Pellerin is outstanding as Simon, a performer navigating a bullying boyfriend and a distant mother in Sophie Dupuis’s sad and celebratory filmThéodore Pellerin is a star, and director Sophie Dupuis knows it. In their third film together, the rising Canadian actor is at once magnetic and utterly heartbreaking as Simon, a young gay artist honing a budding career as a drag queen. At night, he transforms into Glory Gore, a glittery vision dressed in exquisite costumes that have been lovingly designed by his sister Maude (Alice Moreault). Off stage, Simon is much less self-assured, despite his swagger. An unexpected visit from his absent mother Claire (Anne-Marie Cadieux), along with a toxic romance with fellow drag performer Olivier (Félix Maritaud), soon throw this sensitive soul into an emotional whirlpool.Dupuis’s astute writing keenly conveys the paradox of falling for a narcissistic manipulator. At first glance Olivier is a perfect creative and life partner, but soon whitt...

Events

3 w. ago The court artist whose Erin Patterson sketches went around the world: ‘I definitely need to get some therapy’

Anita Lester’s distinctive mushroom murder trial portraits show someone she perceived to be ‘consistently sad’The first time Anita Lester drew Erin Patterson, she made the mistake of trying to be too accurate. Lester, a courtroom artist, had just two minutes to sketch the triple murderer during her brief pre-trial hearing and spent it trying to perfectly illustrate “a little head behind a glass screen in Morwell”. What she later realised is that it’s more important to capture the mood of the accused than the exact lines of their face.“What makes a good courtroom artist is being able to bring the public into the courtroom to witness the emotion of the person on trial,” she says. “You’re actually trying to just capture a feeling or a gesture that might resonate. It’s not about being the best artist in the world.” Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago MTV VMAs 2025 WINNERS: Ariana Grande shocks as she earns top honor while Lady Gaga upsets Taylor Swift

The 39- year-old performer earned the major win as they upset megastar Taylor Swift in the coveted Artist of the Year category at the star-studded award show on Sunday night.

Events

3 w. ago MTV VMAs 2025 WINNERS: Lady Gaga UPSETS Taylor Swift as she earns coveted Artist of the Year as awards kick off

The 39- year-old performer earned the major win as they upset megastar Taylor Swift in the coveted Artist of the Year category at the star-studded award show on Sunday night.

Events

3 w. ago MTV VMAs 2025 winners: Lady Gaga nabs Artist of the Year as show begins — live

Lady Gaga leads with 12 nominations, followed closely by Bruno Mars with 11

Culture

4 w. ago Sabrina Carpenter secures biggest opening week of 2025 for an international artist with Man's Best Friend after she hit back at the 'older generation' for criticising her 'over

Man's Best Friend - which eclipses the year's previous best - even tops the Official Vinyl Albums Chart, the most popular record of the week on wax, shifting 85,500 units in its first seven days.

Events