Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei is set to transform Manchester's Aviva Studios with his latest installation, "Button Up!" The exhibition, running from 2 July to 6 September, uses buttons as a medium to explore themes of world history, colonialism, and global interconnectedness. Known for his large-scale political works, Ai Weiwei’s new piece promises to be a monumental commentary on power and exploitation.
Other Notable Exhibitions This Week
Lindsey Mendick, a ceramicist known for her wild and humorous works, delves into personal trauma in her exhibition at the Carl Freedman Gallery in Margate, from 28 June to 30 August. Her ability to transform clay into provocative narratives is on full display.
Anne Hardy presents eerie figurative sculptures in an installation combining bronze, ceramics, and raw found materials at the Talbot Rice Gallery in Edinburgh, from 27 June to 27 September. The work explores themes of presence and absence.
"The Artist's Frame," a group show at Bobinska Brownlee New River in London, runs until 25 July. Featuring artists such as Matilda Bevan, Carolyn Blake, and Filippo Caramazza, the exhibition addresses the concept of framing in art with a summer-appropriate lightness.
Xanthe Somers and Yacout Hamdouch collaborate on a vibrant exhibition at the October Gallery in London, from 2 July to 15 August. Somers’s eye-fooling stoneware ceramics complement Hamdouch’s abstract paintings, creating a dialogue between material and color.
Image of the Week: Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo's "Self-Portrait (With Velvet Dress)" from 1926 is highlighted as a masterpiece of self-portraiture. The painting, part of a new exhibition at Tate Modern, reveals Kahlo's ability to merge interior revelation with psychological and physical pain. According to the review, Kahlo took self-portraiture to new levels, inspired by surrealists and Catholic traditions. The exhibition runs at Tate Modern.
What We Learned This Week
- The Tate’s Frida exhibition may have overlooked some of her more problematic tendencies.
- An eccentric collector has chronicled his travels via the humble airline sickbag.
- Only two mourners attended the funeral of David Hockney.
- Frank Bowling once dressed as a Christmas pudding for a Chelsea Arts Club ball.
- Kawada Kikuji and Iwane Ai offer potent images of a legacy of shattering violence.
- The National Portrait Gallery pulled a Helen Cammock work amid a row over Churchill.
- Traditional architecture in Kerala shows surprising reverence for women’s needs.
- A London street got filled with art – and brought the neighbors together.
- There is magic and mysticism hiding in medieval paintings of marble.
Masterpiece of the Week
"The Virgin and Child in a Landscape" by Jan Provoost, early 16th century, is featured as a masterpiece. The painting depicts the Virgin Mary on a garden bench covered in greenery, reflecting realistic Flemish garden seats of the Renaissance. According to the description, Flemish art of this period roots the miraculous in the ordinary. The work is on display at the National Gallery, London.
