There are always modicums of plant beauty to be found, even in the most urban of streets. It is likely though, that often we don’t take up those viewing opportunities because the specimens in question are either too small, too common, or in places where we just don’t think to look or need to stop. …

Paris is really something. All those huge sweeping vistas acting as a backdrop for pain au chocolat and cool french people. When in Paris, an art interested first-time tourist typically does the following – Louvre, Musee d’Orsay and Pompidou Centre – before heading, time permitting, to other places of interest; one such possibility being the …

If you look at any patch of overgrown grass, unless you get low-down and close-up, it can look rather homogenous; green vegetation, absent of flowers with colour, is often overlooked. Yet what from a distance may seem similar in form and colour, on closer inspection is usually a more extensive collection of uniquely growing plants, …

Aubergine, eggplant, brinjal, Solanum melongena – call it what you will – this fascinating plant is an explosion of form and colour. Originally a small fruiting, bitter tasting plant from the Indian sub-continent, thousands of years of cultivation worldwide has produced what we see today, an edible fruit, that we think of as a vegetable, …

The Poppies today in October sun, Tower of London. Photographs by Shan Pope

Robert McPartland uses the repeating forms of commonplace objects in his still life paintings and drawings. Of interest here are the inclusion of leaves, fruit and vegetables that frequently appear; set against spoons, crumpled foil and paper spirals, you are able to meditate on their contrasting shapes, textures and energies. McPartland seems to be avoiding …

For those of us with botanical leanings, there is something slightly less satisfying about looking at a famous painting of a plant without knowing the exact species rendered. It’s equivalent to looking at a photograph of a captivating face from some faraway land and never knowing the person’s name or if they even agreed to …

There are people that have particularly difficult and painful lives, yet somehow, some are able to go on and bring delight to other people’s.  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 cut-outs. This is an …

Los Angeles based artist and designer Jon Lau paints plants at their charming, whimsical, gentle best.

Gilbert and George are always a trip – good and bad – but that’s the whole point maybe. Scapegoating, an exhibition showcasing their latest work is currently running at the White Cube gallery in Bermondsey, south London until 28 September. While themselves (as usual) and nitrous oxide bottles dominate this time, these self-confessed urbanites have …