Patrick Caulfield - Tate Britain

Patrick Caulfield is at Tate Britain until 1 September 2013.

Patrck Caulfield, Café Interior: Afternoon, 1973

I had forgotten what a beguiling and elegant artist Patrick Caulfield was. His precisely composed, precisely drawn, brilliantly coloured paintings mix deceptively, simple outline drawings with flat colour and occasional trompe l'oeil passages of detailed realism. They are mysterious, quiet and beautiful.
Read reviews by Laura Cumming and Richard Dorment, and a memoir of Caulfield by David Hare.

Patrick Caulfield, Portrait of Juan Gris, 1963

Patrick Caulfield, After Lunch, 1975

Patrick Caulfield, Pottery, 1969

Patrick Caulfield, Braque Curtain, 2005

Patrick Caulfield, Foyer, 1973

Patrick Caulfield, Bishops, 2004

Patrick Caulfield, Selected Grapes, 1981

Caulfield died in 2005 (read his obituary by William Feaver) and now rests in Highgate Cemetery in a self-designed tomb which declares in charactersistic, laconic style that he is DEAD!

Art & Photography Playlist #5 The Jam: Art School

Songs about Art and Photography: a playlist.  #5 The Jam: Art School (click to play live version).

Anything that you wanna do, anyplace that you wanna go
Don't need permission for everything that you want
Any taste that you feel is right
Wear any clothes just as long as they're bright
Say what you want, 'cos this is a new art school
Do what you want if it takes your mind
Better do it now, 'cos you won't have time
And never worry if people laugh at you
The fools only laugh 'cos they envy you
Time is motion and the hands are fast
Young words are mumbled, they don't always last
It's up to us to be sure they understand
Who makes the rules that make people select
Who is to judge that your ways are correct
The media as watchdog is absolute shit
The TV telling you what to think
Anything that you wanna do, anyplace that you wanna go
Don't need permission for everything that you want
Any taste that you feel is right
Wear any clothes just as long as they're bright
Say what you want, 'cos this is a new art school
Do what you want, 'cos this is the new art school

"Art School", by Paul Weller, from In The City, 1977 
Click on 'Art and Photography Playlist', below to see all playlist entries.

Lisa Lavery, Nicky Fordyce, Lucy Gresley and Denise Cain - The Gardens Gallery, Cheltenham

Lucy Gresley, Self Portrait III, 2012

Fourthoughts, an exhibition of work by four Gloucestershire based artists - Lisa Lavery, Nicky Fordyce, Lucy Gresley and Denise Cain - is at The Gardens Gallery, Cheltenham from 22-28 May 2013.

Lisa Lavery,  Lunaria

Lisa Lavery is a photographer who makes camera-less images, using methods that reach back to the invention of the medium. The work on show includes photograms – images made by placing objects directly onto light sensitive material – made from leaves and seeds, objects related to Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and a bicycle!

Nicky Fordyce, Untitled

Nicky Fordyce is a photographer who uses long exposures and creative lighting to make ‘bodyscapes’ – images of the body and face which explore personal and family relationships.

Lucy Gresley, Fall, 2012

Lucy Gresley’s art practice is rooted in drawing, but she experiments with a range of media and techniques to explore the psychology and philosophy of human relations and feelings.

Denise Cain,  Untitled

Denise Cain,  from Water and Air series

Denise Cain works in photography, printmaking and sculpture, exploring materials and textures to make works which evoke and preserve memories, and express tranquillity and beauty.

Art & Photography Playlist #4 Luke Haines: Death of Sarah Lucas

Songs about Art and Photography: a playlist.  #4 Luke Haines: Death of Sarah Lucas (click to play live version)

Sarah Lucas, Fighting Fire with Fire, 1996

This is the death of Sarah Lucas
As painted by the mouth of Verona
Sarah Lucas and the Turin Shroud
Jesus Christ on a tea-towel
Take the cigarette Sarah
Put it in your mouth, smoke the fucker
Light it, suck it, don't blow it
Don't make a big deal about it

I shot Sarah Lucas
I shot Sarah Lucas
I shot Sarah Lucas
I shot Sarah Lucas

She's playing with morality
She's using ambiguity
She's using humour to question our preconceptions
Wish I could be like her but
I am not a girl
"The Car's The Star" to glue the cigarettes on

I shot Sarah Lucas
I shot Sarah Lucas
I shot Sarah Lucas
I shot Sarah Lucas

There are things that I don't understand
Maybe I'm an average man
But Sarah, I'm sorry
But I have to kill you
I traced her to a member's bar
She's holding court, she's talking art
Doesn't fruit look funny in a gallery?
It could be death by cigarette
Or one true blow to the head
Just plug Aunt Sally in the belly

I shot Sarah Lucas
I shot Sarah Lucas
I shot Sarah Lucas
I shot Sarah Lucas
I shot Sarah Lucas
I shot Sarah Lucas
I shot Sarah Lucas
I shot Sarah Lucas 

"Death of Sarah Lucas", by Luke Haines

John M. Armleder - Dairy Art Centre

John M. Armleder, Convallaria Majalis (triptych), 2003

John M. Armleder: Quicksand is at Dairy Art Centre through Spring and Summer 2013.
The Dairy Art Centre is a brand new exhibition space showcasing the art collections of Frank Cohen and Nicolai Frahm; the gallery is a former dairy in Bloomsbury. 
For the first exhibition John Armleder has been given a free hand to occupy the spaces with an installation of paintings, sculptures, mirror balls and projections.
Armleder, a Swiss artist whose career reaches back to an association with Fluxus in the 1960s, is relatively little known in the UK. John Cage is  a particular influence on his diverse and playful work - for his 2009 exhibition at Galerie Andrea Caratsch in Zurich Armleder simply kept the previously exhibiting artist, Olivier Mosset's exhibition, as his own show!

John M. Armleder, installation view of Quicksand at Dairy Art Centre

John M. Armleder, installation view of Quicksand at Dairy Art Centre

John M. Armleder, Untitled, Light Pile III (Furniture Sculpture),1995

John M. Armleder, installation view of Quicksand at Dairy Art Centre

John M. Armleder, installation view of Quicksand at Dairy Art Centre