Tag: serpentine galleries london

Categories
Art People

David Hockney + A Year in Normandie + Some Other Thoughts About Painting Serpentine Galleries London

A World Apart

“I have always believed that art should be a deep pleasure. There is always, everywhere, an enormous amount of suffering, but I believe that my duty as an artist is to overcome and alleviate the sterility of despair … New ways of seeing mean new ways of feeling. I do believe that painting can change the world.” And if any artist’s paintings can change the world, they are David Hockney’s.

A monumental digital printed mural wraps its way round the internal perimeter of Serpentine North. It’s like sitting in his garden in the north of France taking in the panorama through the seasons. A Year in Normandie, 2020 to 2021, is formed of more than 100 iPad paintings. The 88 year old isn’t afraid of embracing recent technology while still painting traditionally. This exhibition features the best of both worlds. Sterility of despair begone!

Five new still lifes and five portraits of his family and carers hang in the central space of the gallery. These paintings are united by their geometric frontal compositions and the recurring motif of a gingham tablecloth. Two more worlds collide: figurative and abstract art. David considers that as long as it is on a flat surface all figurative art is inherently abstract.

Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director of Serpentine Galleries, says, “We are excited to present a new exhibition by one of the world’s most important artists … In his new portraits he captures not only his sitters but also the very act of seeing, while the frieze offers a deeply personal meditation on the passage of time.” David Hockney offers us a slower, more colourful world where nature is nearer and a love for life is apparent. Outside, a swan swims up The Serpentine into the morning sun.

Categories
Architecture Art People

Peter Doig + House of Music + Serpentine Galleries London

Ducks on Distant Oaks 

The colours of autumn have reached full seasonal radiance in Kensington Gardens. Serpentine Galleries to the north and south of The Long Water on the edge of the Gardens are enveloped by embraces of verdant vibrancy. To the vernissage of Peter Doig’s show House of Music at Serpentine South. Unlike its northern relative, the original building has no extensions. James Grey West’s 1934 neo Georgian red brick and stucco tea pavilion retains its original symmetrical elevations and plan.

Drawing colour indoors, Peter Doig is a meticulous colourist who uses disquieting combinations in his paintings. His use of colour is integral to the illusory quality of his work which blurs the line between figurative and abstract art. In place of photorealism portrayal is a hazy fractured vision. At times strong hues pull the viewer into the painting – a pink path here (Lion in the Road, 2015), an orange horizon there (Painting for a Poet, 2025).

Vernissage catering by Social Pantry in the Entrance Hall, café tables and chairs in the white walled West Gallery, and armchairs in the black walled East Gallery hark back to the building’s original use as a tea pavilion. The South Gallery opening off the Entrance Hall and the central clerestory lit North Gallery are hung but unfurnished. And everywhere, the sound of his record collection: 300 vinyls from Aretha Franklin to Winston Bailey play continuously on gigantic 1950s speakers.

The large Painting for Wall Painters (2010 to 2012) in the South Gallery faces the Entrance Hall. A montage of national flags includes a lion emblem representing Ethiopia. The Lion of Judah appears in the three equally large paintings in the North Gallery: Lions Ghost (2024), Rain the Port of Spain (2025) and Untitled (2025). Peter’s interest in painting lions was first stimulated by a childhood visit to the Port of Spain Zoo. Some of the lions, while majestic, are shown in a state of confinement: a metaphor for slavery and displacement in Trinidad. Born in Edinburgh, the artist lives between Trinidad and London.

One painting brings together music and art in oil on canvas. Giant speakers are piled high in front of palm trees in Maracas (2002 to 2008) in the West Gallery. In all his paintings, figurative details dissolve in heady washes and flows of painterly texture. Hazy strokes at the base of Maracas add a ghostliness to the otherwise hard lines. A small man stands on top of the middle speaker. What does it all mean? That’s the power of Peter Doig’s art: it’s as decipherable as a half forgotten technicoloured dream.

Categories
Architects Architecture Art Design People

Serpentine Galleries London + The Delusion + Danielle Braithwaite-Shirley

Human Engineering

Kensington Gardens is home to two exquisite pieces of sculptural architecture: one carved in stone; one moulded in coated glass fibre. The William Kent designed Queen Charlotte’s Temple is a 1730s symmetrical eyecatcher best viewed from the Serpentine Bridge. The Zaha Hadid designed restaurant added to the Serpentine North Gallery in 2013 takes an asymmetrical organic form which is echoed in the fluidity of the surrounding garden planned by Arabella Lennox-Boyd. Now Kensington Gardens is temporary home to an extraordinary piece of …

Enter Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director of the Serpentine, to talk about the latest exhibition in the North Gallery which pushes all the boundaries when it comes to definitions. He says, “We are thrilled to provide Danielle Braithwaite-Shirley with a platform for her groundbreaking live experiment. The Delusion embodies everything Serpentine stands for: a place of exciting experimentation where new connections between artists and audiences come to life.” Bettina Korek, CEO of the Serpentine, adds, “Braithwaite-Shirley’s visionary use of gaming and participatory performance to explore polarisation, censorship and hope reflects the urgent conversations shaping the world today.”

The gallery is divided into a series of dimly lit spaces like twisted takes on Victorian mediums’ parlours. Handwritten questioning messages written on doylies are pinned to cushions; framed cartoons of monsters hang on the walls. London born Berlin based Danielle provides instructions: “You can experience the exhibition through three different emotional states called Delusion Loops. Each loop presents scenarios inspired by the emotional states of hope, fear and hate. Which loop comes next depends on how visitors interact with the games in the exhibition space. Each loop is accompanied by its own soundscape, different versions of the games and changing elements in the gallery environment. You will find one multiplayer game in each room. Collaborate with other players. Three games. Three loops. Infinite ways to participate.”

Ever since Carsten Höller’s 2006 installation at Tate Modern – when visitors slid down self exploratory slides – interactive art has been a progressive component of London’s art scene. In place of the sheer physicality of Carsten’s work, The Delusion invites visitors to mentally engage in hot topics through gaming machines. While it’s not guaranteed to solve geopolitics, this crossover between video games and the visual arts sure is fun.