£8 to see invisible art... I think not!

Tomorrow sees the opening of a "ground breaking" exhibition at teh Hauward Gallery called: Invisible: Art about the Unseen 1952-2012. The blurb from the Gallery site describes the exhibition thus:

Invisible Art brings together works from the past half century that explore ideas related to the invisible and the hidden. The exhibition includes work by some of the most important artists of our time as well as younger artists who have expanded on their legacy.

From the amusing to the philosophical, there are works you can observe and others you can take part in, such as Jeppe Hein's Invisible Labyrinth. From Yves Klein's utopian plans for an 'architecture of air' to Robert Barry's Energy Field (AM 130 KHz) from 1968 - which encourages a heightened awareness of the physical context of the gallery- this exhibition span diverse aesthetic practices and concerns. 

Many of the works in Invisible seek to direct our attention towards the unwritten rules and conventions that shape our understanding of art. Other works invoke invisibility to underscore the limits of our perceptual capacities or to emphasize the role of our imagination in responding to works of art.  Some use invisibility as a metaphor that relates to the suppression of information or the political disappearance and marginalization of social groups. 

Sorry but this sounds like the Emperor's New clothes to me. I think I will save my money and go to see the Munch exhibition at the Tate  which opens in just over two week's time

But is it art? Austrian blows up giant willy

 The Austrian Independent reports that a three and a half tonne model penis work of art was blown up in Bad Blumau, Austria earlier this week.

The giant penis artwork "Gaia" measuring over 4 metres was designed by Emmerich Weissenberge, but it has now been blown up during a controlled explosion - in the name of art.

The sculptor decided to do so as: "I wanted to express the message that you should not destroy art if you do not understand it, there should be an active dialogue about it."

The giant penis was originally designed for the Vienna 'Green Expo' in 2011 where it caused outrage amongst locals unhappy about out the large statue in the Austrian capital. It was then moved to Bad Blumau to the Blumau thermal spa resort as part of the 'Hundertwasser Reloaded' exhibition. The remains  will be buried in the gardens in Bad Blumau

Destroying art to show that it shouldn't be destroyed.... Ah well......

Art is Everywhere - Words to live by

If you take the time to look around you will find art everywhere. Many may disagree but it is a maxim that works for me.

Pecker is a delightfully funny film made by Baltimore director John Waters. Starring Edward Norton as Pecker, a young man with a passion for photography, whose life (and that of his family) is turned upside down after  gaining the attention of New York art afficionados. The payback is hilarious. While it does feature particularly aggressive lesbian strippers iIt is a million miles away from Water's earlier work such as Pink Flamingos.

But I am digressing. There is a scene in the film where Pecker finally gets his Obsessive compulsive laundrette manager girlfriend Shelly to understand that art is everywhere. The scene takes place in a voting booth


Pecker: Art's everywhere.
Shelly: Yeah, here in my endless bags of dirty laundry.
Pecker: It is if you think about it.
Shelly: What? In the brilliant green of a grass stain?
Pecker: Yes. That's art.
Shelly: The subtle yellow of a urine-soaked sheet?
Pecker: Yeah, yeah. Keep going. It's what you see every day.
Shelly: The aqua blue of cold water as it dilutes a violent red bloodstain?
Pecker: Oh, you got it! Be spontaneous for once in your life.
Shelly: Pecker, I'm scared. You mean the almond brown of stubborn mildew stains can be beautiful?
Pecker: Yes, yes! Let your mind go and you'll be free forever.
Shelly: Oh, Pecker, I think I finally see it.
Pecker: Oh, art, Shelly! Art!
Shelly: Pecker, use a condom.

Prudishness alive and well in North Norfolk?

Artist John Vesty spent three months producing 22 paintings (wow that was fast!) and had arranged to display them for four weeks at the North Norfolk District Council offices in Cromer.

All but one of his oil paintings in the exhibition called 'Figures in Light' were nudes. According to the Telegraph he was left "baffled, irritated and disappointed" when his paintings were taken down by council officials after complaints that they were "offensive".

Mr Vesty said the council had raised no objection when the exhibition was booked in the first floor gallery at the council offices. He said he even emailed the council three sample photographs of his pictures so officials could see what was going to be displayed.

Karl Read, the council's leisure and cultural services manager, said the artwork had been displayed in an area used by many members of staff and the public. He said: "In this case we received a number of complaints from members of staff and union representatives who found the paintings offensive....This is not a case of political correctness. Rather, it is a balanced reaction to some members of staff finding the artwork offensive.

North Norfolk Artspace has put up a replacement exhibition by local artist Andrew Church, featuring scenes including Cromer beach and geese over Salthouse.

An example of his work was shown with the article and was not in any way offensive, well certainly not to my eyes. Sometimes it surprise me what offends people.. Hiho

The Lunar Art Gallery

While there are some beady-eyed, tinfoil hatted idiots who will say categorically that this story is impossible (no Moon landings –the films were faked in a quarry in North Wales) this is something that I hope is absolutely true.

According to an AOL news story one of the engineers who built the lunar module for the Apollo 12, the second moon landing, snuck aboard a tiny ceramic chip containing original artwork by six of the American art world's biggest names, including Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg and Robert Rauschenberg, creating a permanent miniature art museum on the moon.

The tiny tile holding all six pieces is only three-quarters of an inch by half an inch. It was affixed to one of the legs on the lunar module. Its existence has been a secret known only by a select few people, including renowned New York artist Forrest "Frosty" Myers, who created the "Moon Museum" and contributed a drawing, and a deceased engineer who worked on the project and is only known by the cryptic name "John F."

But now, the whole picture of how the mini museum made it to the moon is coming to light thanks to the PBS series "History Detectives,”. The show features four history experts who track down the history of obscure artefacts sent in by readers.

In this case, series host and historian Gwendolyn Wright found out about this piece of history from Jade Dellinger, a Florida-based art curator who bought a reproduction of the tile via an online auction. Wright admits she was sceptical about the tile's provenance, but after all the research now admits it's one of the "strangest, most exciting" experiences of her life.

"I will never think of the moon in the same way again," Wright said. "This case truly surprised me. What I thought seemed impossible, at first, became an amazing story of art winning its place alongside science, and some playful innovation that is sure to intrigue history buffs, space lovers and art aficionados alike."

As artworks go, none of the pieces here are going to stand next to these artists' greatest works. For instance, the Warhol piece is basically his initials made to look like a rocket or a phallic symbol depending on your mindset, and Rauschenburg's contribution is a single minimalist line. Meanwhile, David Novros and John Chamberlain contributed drawings that look like circuitry.

The artists did normal-sized pieces and then Bell Laboratories scientist Fred Waldhauer reduced the artists' sketches and imprinted them onto the ceramic wafer using state-of-the-art technology of the time. Waldhauer made a number of tiles -- one for the lunar module, and copies as souvenirs for the artists and other participants.

Myers actually tried to get the art aboard Apollo 12 by going through normal channels, but while NASA officials never said no, they never said yes, either, leaving the project in limbo. That is, until a contact hooked him up with the mysterious "John F.," an aerospace engineer who worked on the rocket.

This "unknown solderer," as some people call him, promised to send Myers a telegram when the mini museum was stuck onto the craft. Shortly before the rocket launch was set to begin, he got one, reading, "You're on. A-OK. All systems are go," and signed "John F."

While the real identity of John F. remains a mystery, Richard Kupczyk, the Grumman launch pad foreman for the Apollo 12 mission, suggests it may be a pseudonym to protect the engineer's real identity; he imagines the name was chosen as a nod to John F. Kennedy, the president who championed the space program.

I’m not sure if History Detectives is shown here but I would love to see this episode. I really hope it is true. Even if the art is not great the idea of a gallery on the Moon appeals. In addition it will be the only picture that looks like a penis on our satellite for the foreseeable future!

Art and Stuff - Suzy Ripley

Suzy is a dear friend - she was the first person I befriended via the internet almost eight years ago back when our sole internet access was via an NTL tv set-top box. It is a friendship that was not dimmed by her actually meeting me in the flesh!

Venus on Vacation

Suzy was a muralist, undertaking a large number of community projects, including Venus on Vacation for the Methodist Housing Association on Birkenhead. It is still there in all its glory over a decade later, long after most community art projects would have been graffitied back to the Stone Age! Sadly her gallery, Spice in Birkenhead, did not last so long.

Shankly, Paisley and Fagin

Her most lucrative contract though was to create a series of murals for Liverpool FC back in 1992 but my favourite work was a portrait she did for me of the not-wife. It is based on Waterhouse's Ophelia and has pride of place in our living room (Did I get some brownie points off the not-wife for that prezzie!).

The not-wife

After a break of a few years Suzy is back working. Her most recent work is a set of Christmas murals for a library in Bebbington.



Suzy has now created a website to showcase her work. If you are looking to commission work, be it a portrait or reasonably priced but very distinctive cushion covers and wall hangings I would strongly recommend you contact her. Suzy also provides reasonably priced IT advice. If you are in the Liverpool area I would once again highly recommend her services.

Minoo Emami's war gallery

The second link on my side bar is to the website of the Iranian artist Minoo Emami. Minoo lives and works in Tehran. She is a highly regarded artist who has exhibited extensively both in Iran and abroad.


It is her war art that particularly impresses me. The paintings and collages are deeply personal images, inspired by her husband's experiences during the Iran-Iraq war, an eight year long conflict started by Saddam Hussein which cost over one million lives. Her husband was an officer in the Iranian Armyand lost a leg during the conflict. Like Simin Behbahani's poem the necklace the images of false limbs and combat fatigues are in their own way as damning an indictment of war as the poetry of Wilfred Owen.



Minoo reminds us of that we should not just dwell on what is produced by American or European artists. There is an enormous wealth of talent elsewhere in the world. Although I have not met Minoo I was delighted to be able to meet fellow Iranian artist Elahe Heidari in Paris in May. I was also fortunate to meet other extremely talented Iranian artists Shiva Sanjari, Negareh Ayatollahi and Nasila Moghadan in Paris too.

When is a Goya not a Goya?

Francisco de Goya's image El Coloso a brooding giant rising above a stampede of terrified people and animals, has held pride of place for decades in Madrid's Prado museum. But it now seems that it was not painted by the great artist at all: the Prado has announced that it was probably painted by a pupil in his studio.

The museum's chief Goya specialist said the painting, made during Napoleon's occupation of Spain after 1808 and long seen as one of the artist's most dramatic portrayals of the horrors of war, was "a pastiche"."Stylistically, it is completely alien to Goya," said Manuela Mena, the Prado's senior Goya specialist who has studied El Coloso and doubts over its attribution for nearly 20 years. She also revealed doubts over at least three other Goyas held by the Prado.

Ms Mena, presenting the conclusions of a meeting of international specialists in Madrid, described El Coloso as photogenic, attractive and influenced by Goya. But she said it could not have been his work."The person who painted the bulls in El Coloso knew nothing about the anatomy of a bull – which Goya knew everything about," Ms Mena said. "The donkey looks like a furry toy, nothing like Goya's perfectly executed donkeys of the same period. None of the details correspond to the Goya we know."

The British art historian Nigel Glendinning has long argued that Goya painted El Coloso, because of the strength of the composition, its audacious centrifugal dynamism. "I have no objection to authenticity being challenged, but we need arguments backed up by facts," Professor Glendinning said. "I look forward to studying the findings in detail."

It does seem strange that it’s taken this long to conclude that one of Goya’s most famous images painting was in fact probably by a student. Then again, when something is a given for a long time it can be a very brave person to say otherwise...

Elahe Heidari's new website

Readers of this blog know that I love Elahe Heidari's work. I was introduced to her
in 2004 by a dear mutual friend Redwine and I am now the proud owner of several of her works. I was delighted finally to meet her and several other charming, hospitable and extremely talented Iranian artists in Paris last month



I'm delighted to see that Elahe now has her own website . Please visit and enjoy the work of a gifted artist.

The Sense of Sight

By Annie Swynnerton. On dispalay at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. No particular reason for posting this painting except that I love it.

Scroll down for Photo Hunt

Carve their name with pride.... in lard

All of Scotland will be proud to hear of a group of catering students from Adam Smith College in Kirkcaldy swept the boards in a contest to carve statues out of fat. 11 students took away prizes in the competition at Hotelympia, a trade fair for the hospitality industry, in London. The gold trophy winner carved an 18in model of Mickey Mouse. While the silver medallist created a statue of two horses with a rider on one of the animals. Another creation was a sculpture of Ozzy Osborne (above).

Winning student Leanne Sword said: "I wasn't expecting it. I was expecting to get something but I never thought for a minute that I'd get the gold." Her fat Mickey Mouse took three months to create. "I'd say the belt was the most difficult [part] and possibly the ears, just to get them right and the same size."

Catering lecturer Tom Pratt travelled to the event with his students and has been overjoyed by their success. "These fat sculptures would be placed on a buffet table in high class hotels. They would be put onto shop windows to grab people's attention, in butchers shop's windows, places like that. It shows the skill of the chefs who create these things."

To be honest it’s not a medium I would ever have thought of. Then again if Chris Ofili can use elephant dung then fair play to them!

Cranach advert banned on the underground

A nude figure of Venus dressed in nothing but a necklace and a little gauze was intended as the main poster for the Royal Academy's show on the German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder. The 16^th Century artist was noted for his sensuous nudes despite and was a close friend of Martin Luther. However, the design has been thrown out as the poster, which was planned for display in scores of tube stations across London, was about to go to the printers.

"Millions of people travel on the London Underground each day and they have no choice but to view whatever adverts are posted there. We have to take account of the full range of travellers and endeavour not to cause offence in the advertising we display," a spokesman said. London Underground advertising is vetted by a firm called CBS Outdoor, and Venus seems to have fallen foul of the guideline that advertising should not "depict men, women or children in a sexual manner, or display nude or semi-nude figures in an overtly sexual context".

Six years ago the National Portrait Gallery had to create a special, more modest poster for the underground of a 17th century painting by Lely of the Countess of Oxford with one breast bared (above). However, the academy doesn't have a Venus under wraps. "We don't have a version B where she's got her clothes on," a spokeswoman said. "We're just hoping they change their minds and accept her."

Although Venus is nude it does not strike me as being particularly provocative. It certainly is not offensive to me. People will get to see plenty of adverts with far more overt sexual top, middle and bass notes than this painting

Hirst Emin good, Vettriano bad

Like most people I can be a little conservative when it comes to art, like most the people. I like what I like and for me a pickled shark should be displayed in specialist food store not an art gallery. As for Tracy Emin and her bed, I say skid marks are the sign of poor wiping skills and not artistic talent. Elahe Heidari’s work does far more for me than anything created by Emin or Damian Hirst.

There is an awful lot of “Emperor’s New Clothes” about the art world. There is also a lot of snottiness towards the “conventional” This means that Emin and Hirst are praised to the high heavens while artist, Jack Vettriano, is derided for being “populist” and “unchallenging” artist. I fail to see what his work has to do with supporting the rights and power of the people or even representing the popular view but I will let that pass. There is nothing wrong, per se, with his work but it leaves me stone cold. His painting “the Singing Butler” is Britain’s most reproduced artwork but I wouldn’t give a print of it wall space.

Seven of Vetriano’s paintings that have hung for a decade in Sir Terence Conran's Bluebird restaurant in London are to be auctioned in Scotland next month and are expected to reach over £1m. One painting, Bluebird at Bonneville, is alone expected to sell for up to £600,000. The image captures the scene of the ninth and final land-speed record broken by Sir Malcolm Campbell on the Utah salt flats in 1935.

I say like what you like even if all of your taste is in your mouth (I thank Jen for introducing this expression to me what seems an age ago now). If you want to spend £600k on a Vettriano, then as far as I am concerned your tongue can sense sweet, sour , salty, bitter, umami AND art... I would say the same about that money spend on a Hirst.

Hold on Vettriano is populist and Hirst isn’t? Threewords spring to mind. Fat, Les and Vindaloo. For was it not the case that a certain Mr Hirst was involved in the football song with the name of a hot curry. Oh yes, he was being ironic or is it post modern?. Judge for yourself:

Elahe Heidari - new drawing (a wordy Wordless Wednesday)

I was delighted to receive just recently a gift of this drawing from from Elahe Heidari, an artist and dear friend who lives in Tehran.

Ever since I first saw her work a few years ago I have been taken by its sheer power of her work, particularly her portrayal of women. It is heartening that most who see examples of her work are deeply impressed and more than a few feel as strongly about it as I do.

More examples of her work can be found at Kargah, a major Iranian art website (click on her name above and at Gallery Etemad.

This is a painting she gave me two years ago. It takes pride of place on my wall. I know this is rather a wordy entry for what should is a wordless meme but what the hey - call it a wordless Wednesday with commentary!

The Westoe Netty

Some national treasures are grand in scale, some national treasures are small but perfectly formed. The Westoe Netty on the other hand was a urinal that once resided near a railway embankment on Tyneside. It was immortalised in a 1972 painting by artist Bob Olley (click the link to see the picture itself - Well it has amused me!).

Originally built in 1890 the Local authority decided to demolish the the urinal 10 years ago, but Mr Olley and friends salvaged it. It was then stored in a council depot at South Shields. After a failed plan to re-erect the netty in the town centre, Beamish Industrial Museum in County Durham stepped in. There will be a strict ban on using it.

The Geordie expression netty (toilet) is said to derived from Roman slang on Hadrian's Wall (no idea whether this is true).

So long as I've got my chocolate Jesus....

An exhibition by artist Cosimo Cavallaro has been cancelled after a campaign was launched against it on the ground that it was disrespectful towards Christianity.

My Sweet Lord, a 6ft representation of Jesus, was to have been unveiled over holy week in a gallery in Manhattan but was withdrawn after complaints by the Catholic League. The group objected to the fact that the sculpture is made of more than 200lbs of chocolate and that the figure's genitalia are on display.

Sculptor Cosimo Cavallaro, 45, is known for his large-scale installations. In 1999 he covered a room of the Washington Jefferson hotel in New York with cheddar cheese. Two years later he sprayed 10,000lb of cheese over the entire interior of a house in Wyoming. Matt Semmler, director of the Lab, told the Guardian before the cancellation was announced that neither he nor the artist had any intention to offend. "For me this is done a place of reverence and meditation - that's why I chose the piece. This is not intended to be disrespectful." He added that over the centuries there had been thousands of depictions of Christ in many different styles.

Personally I'm not offended by a naked, chocolate Jesus but then I'm not religious. At least it should be a little more permanent that a house sprayed with over 4 tons of cheese or a bed with 312lbs of ham on it. I suppose these installations show just how fickle the art scene is - what is hailed as a masterpiece one day will stink the next...

Err you could call it “Still life with brick dust”

A sculpture by Anish Kapoor, entrusted to a specialist fine art storage firm, was probably mistaken for builders' rubble, dumped in a skip and destroyed by a waste crusher.

Hole and Vessel II in polystyrene, cement, earth, acrylic and pigment, was stored by the collector Ofir Scheps with Fine Art Logistics, in south-west London, where it promptly disappeared without trace.

Yesterday Mr Justice Teare decided that its most likely fate was linked to building work at the site which led to it passing into a skip, then to a waste transfer site where it must have been crushed. The judge decided compensation should be £351,375, made up of its £132,000 value at the time of loss and £219,375 for the amount it would have increased since that time.

Mr Justice Teare also admitted that the sculpture, which was created in 1984, had left him lost for words. "It is not possible for me to describe it," he said. "One expert described it as sensuous and sexy, the other as clumsy and somewhat absurd." There was, however, agreement that it was made during Kapoor's transitional phase when he was "moving away from an exploration of the male/female dichotomy towards an exploration of the void"

… Or the Emperor’s new clothes. I don’t believe in destroying art, like I don’t believe in burning books (even Mein Kampf ), but it was hideous. More fool Scheps for spending over £100k on it in the first place!

Amrita Shergill exhibition - well worth visiting

Amrita seated - taken by her father in the early 30s

If you are in London and you want to go to an art exhibtion the Amrita shergill (or Shergil or Sher-gil) exhibition at the Tate Modern is well worth visiting. I know it's up against a huge retrospective of Gilbert and George's work and there is a major Hogarth exhibition at the Tate Britain but I was glad I went. To the best of my knowledge there aren't any examples of her art on display in a British gallery so it is a wonderful opportunity to see a prodigous talent whose life was cut short so young.

Self portrait as Tahitian 1934

Fruit vendors 1937

Hill women 1935

Sleep 1932. The model is her sister Indira

Hungarian village market 1939

The above pictures all appear at the exhibition and are photos of postcards or of plates. Click here and here for my earlier posts on Amrita Shergill

The Line of Beauty: Salman Rushdie on Amrita Shergill

Yesterday’s Guardian carried a lengthy article by Salman Rushdie about Amrita Shergill. Below is an extract. Click here to read the full article.

In the mid-1990s, when I began to think about my novel The Moor's Last Sigh, I soon realised that it would contain an account of the character of an entirely imaginary 20th-century Indian woman painter. I thought about my friendships and acquaintanceships with a number of fine contemporary artists The work of all these painters helped me think about the pictures my fictional Aurora Zogoiby might create. But the figure that, so to speak, "gave me permission" to imagine her personality, to invent a woman painter at the very heart of modern art in India - to believe in the possibility of such a woman - was an artist I never met, who died tragically young. That artist was Amrita Sher-Gil.

I did not know much about her in those days. I knew she was half-Hungarian, and I had seen some of her paintings of scenes of village life - storytellers, young girls. I resisted knowing more. I conjured up an imaginary Amrita for myself - a woman much influenced by Gandhian ideas and decided that my Aurora would be in many ways her antithesis, an unrepentant urbanite and sophisticate. It was only after the book was done that I permitted myself to know the real Amrita a little better, and I discovered at once that she and my Aurora had much more in common than I suspected. Indeed, in some ways - her sexual proclivities, for example - Amrita Sher-Gil was a more bohemian, less inhibited figure than the flamboyant woman I had made up.

This ferocity of mind and sharpness of tongue, combined with an unashamed openness about her own behaviour, and an insistence on her right to behave as she chooses, is also present in her thoughts about her own family and friends. When her father ("Duci") hesitates about her proposed return to India from Europe, and accuses her of lacking interest in India, she delivers herself of an extraordinary text that is at once an artistic testament and an assault on her father's narrower mores of social and sexual conduct: "I wish to return primarily in interest of my artistic development ...... Our long stay in Europe has aided me to discover as it were, India. Modern art has led me to the comprehension and appreciation of Indian painting and sculpture. It seems paradoxical, but I know for certain that, had we not come away to Europe, I should perhaps never have realised that a fresco from Ajanta or a small piece of sculpture in the Musée Guimet is worth more than the whole Renaissance! In short, now I wish to go back to appreciate India and its worth ...


Amrita Sher-Gil's is an art which moves naturally towards the melancholy and tragic, while keeping its eye fixed firmly on high ideals of beauty. She was denied old age, bleak or otherwise, but neither her exuberant, magnificent self, nor the work it made, contained anything for which she needed to apologise. Time has passed, and her art endures. As Moraes "Moor" Zogoiby wrote of his mother Aurora: "Even now, in the memory, she dazzles, must be circled about and about. We may perceive her indirectly, in her effects on others ... Ah, the dead, the unended, endlessly ending dead: how long, how rich is their story. We, the living, must find what space we can alongside them; the giant dead whom we cannot tie down, though we grasp at their hair, though we rope them while they sleep."

Amrita Sher-Gil (Sher-Gill or Shergill) is at Tate Modern, London SE1, from February 28 to April 22. Details: 020-7887 8888

Yet another date for my diary – Amrita Shergill

A major Hogarth opened exhibition opened with great fanfare at the Tate Britain on Wednesday this week while a retrospective of the work of Gilbert & George opens at the Tate Modern next week. Both have been well advertised and will attract many visitors*

Less well advertised is an exhibition of the work of Amrita Shergill that opens at the Tate Modern on 28 February. I was totally unfamiliar with her work until very recently and I am delighted to get the opportunity to see some of her work in the flesh so to speak.

Amrita Shergill - Self portrait

Amrita Sher-Gill is regarded in India as one of the nation’s most important modern artists. Her life and her art are a fusion of the Eastern and Western worlds. Born in Budapest in 1913 to an Indian nobleman and a Hungarian opera singer she spent her early life in Hungary and India before studying art in Florence and then at the Ecole Des Beaux Arts in Paris. In Paris she she came under the influence of Modigliani and Gauguin and her early works apparently reflect these influences strongly.



It was after her return to India in 1934 that her developed her true style as she began to interpret Indian life, particularly that of the rural poor. She was especially drawn to the private world Indian women as evidenced by vivid but melancholy works like ‘The bride’s toilet’ (above). Sadly she did not have a long and successful career. She died in 1941 at the age of 29.


More to follow once I have visited the exhibition.

Further Information on Amrita Shergill

A short biography at Collector’s Café.


An extensive site devoted to Sher-Gill’s life and work

An article on Sher-Gill’s life on a Sikh heritage site

Chennai Online



* I went to the last big Gilbert & George exhibition at the Hayward in 1987 and I found it rather overwhelming – a couple of Gilbert & Georges together are fine, a lot together is rather tiresome. As for their work in general I’ve always thought of Gilbert & George basically saying “poo, bum, fart and willy” through the medium of art!