Category: art
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The strange death of the male necktie
I’ve been looking through my ties lately, as part of a more general, quasi-Buddhist ‘do I really need these any longer?’ investigation. It’s a heterogeneous collection of the long and the short, the dark and the light, the sober and the ‘look at me’, the narrow and the absurdly wide. Reviewing them set me thinking…
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Edgar Degas and the art of ironing
Ironing clothes is one of the small but rewarding pleasures of life. I tend to do it in the kitchen on a Sunday morning, when the sun falls on the ironing board and good music comes from the radio. Smoothing creases in cotton always has a calming effect on the mind. Occasionally the regular passage…
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Peter Lord: iconographer / iconoclast
On 23 May in the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea Peter Lord gave an illustrated talk as part of the launch of his new book Relationships with pictures: an oblique autobiography (Parthian, 2013). It was a remarkable performance. As ever with Peter you couldn’t fail to be aware of the depth of feeling underlying his…
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Swansea Met fine art degree show 2013
When they get towards the end of their courses most undergraduates prove themselves in the private silence of the exam hall. Art students are different. Their end-of-year work is brutally laid bare, on gallery display for all to see – examiners, peers and public. If you belong to the latter group, how should you approach…
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Ron Lawrence
In Oriel y Bont, Pontypridd there’s a remarkable retrospective of the paintings, sculptures and photographs (and guitars!) of the Pontypridd artist Ron Lawrence. Ron has lived in the town all his life and this year celebrates 60 years of continuous work. The paintings vary enormously in style, from 1950s landscapes and portraits not far in…