The Tower of London Poppies really captured the public’s imagination. It’s hard to think of a previous public art installation that created so much excitement and mass interest. Perhaps the sentiment behind the artwork had a lot to do with this, but for certain the scale, location and resulting visual impact were major factors too. In the aftermath of their glory, …
The Poppies today in October sun, Tower of London. Photographs by Shan Pope
There are people that have extremely difficult and painful lives, yet somehow, some of them are able to still go on to bring delight to other people’s. That is quite something. Yayoi Kusama is one such person and her latest exhibition at the Victoria Miro gallery has filled the uplifting artworks void in London recently left by Matisse’s …
Plant Curator was slightly disappointed that the traditional flower bouquet given to winners at medal ceremonies was absent from this year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow: Wouldn’t a bunch that celebrated some of Scotland’s amazing native flora, such as a selection of thistle species, have been a nice touch? Still, we can’t complain as it was …
Frank, a.k.a Franktele1’s profile picture on Flickr is of a man in a cowboy hat. Something suggests that it’s probably not him. But it is hard to know for sure because he’s kept personal information to an absolute minimum: all we know is he’s male, ‘super ugly’ and joined Flickr in 2009. What he does …
American artist Jeff Koons is having another good year. A retrospective is underway at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and since the $58.4 million sale last November for Balloon Dog (orange), he currently holds the title for the most expensive living artist. He rather entertainingly divides opinion: A kitsch misogynistic fraud …
Ai Weiwei seems to be everywhere these days, which is ironic considering he remains country-bound, prohibited from travelling outside of his native China for dissident activities. Hasn’t seemed to have stopped him, with the help of social media and an exponential growth of western fans, it will be fascinating to watch how far he can …
Today we look at two artists who took inspiration from still life past masters to create their own floral artwork, each with its own message and purpose. Dan Tobin Smith’s Still Life with Flowers Currently exhibiting at The Storeroom at L’Entrepôt in Dalston until June 8th as part of this year’s Chelsea Fringe, Dan Tobin Smith’s Still …
In any good neighbourhood you will find a range of personality types – the hoity-toity one, the space-cadet, the sensitive one, the intellectual, the dreamer, the complete nutter – you know, the usual crowd. Between Broughton and Jervis on Pendrell Street in the West End of Vancouver, you can find all of the above, just …
When Plant Curator visited the Snowdrop Festival at Mapperton Gardens earlier this year, we came across the Snowdrop sculptures of Colleen Du Pon. Du Pon is an Ironwork artist and artisan working in Dorset and her own magnified representations of these small flowers were set among the garden landscape. Standing tall at nearly shoulder height, …