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Showing posts with label exhibitions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exhibitions. Show all posts

Thursday, 5 November 2026

Artlyst: The Art Diary November 2026

Here's my November Art Diary for Artlyst:

'In ‘Women, Art, God’, art historian and priest Ayla Lepine invites us to explore the relationship between faith and imagination. Across centuries, cultures, materials and subjects, women’s stories and works of art provide wisdom about the power of images. In this book, which I am currently reviewing, Lepine, through vibrant conversations about art, life and faith, enables us to glimpse God in the visions of artists including Frida Kahlo, Artemisia Gentileschi and Sonia Boyce. Women’s art and spirituality guide readers across centuries and continents, encouraging us to take religion’s importance in visual culture and creativity seriously. Women, Art, God provides a bold and fresh approach to feminist theology and art history.

For the November diary, I begin by staying with the question that Lepine explores in her book: How can art by women transform our experiences of spirituality and religion? Highlighted exhibitions include works by Edmonia Lewis, Ethelwynne M. Quail, Emma Kunz, Gabrielle Goliath, Cecilia Vicuña, and Yu Hong. This is followed by commissions and exhibitions involving Graeme Mortimer Evelyn, Maurice Denis, Stanley Spencer, Gary Bunt, Charlie Mackesy, and Mark Dunford. We then move through the centuries with exhibitions moving from Constantinople to the Renaissance and the Dutch Golden Age. I end with a series of relational group shows for European Cultural Centre Italy, Focal Point Gallery, NIKA Projects, The Minories, and Foundling Museum.'

My other pieces for Artlyst are:

Interviews -
Monthly diary articles -
Articles/Reviews -

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Michael Kiwanuka - Summer Clothes.
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Tuesday, 27 October 2026

Artlyst: Sean Scully And Hughie O’Donoghue - The Big Interview

My latest interview for Artlyst is with Sean Scully and Hughie O'Donoghue:

'Sean Scully, who was recently named an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, one of France’s highest cultural honours, was born in Dublin, moved to London in 1949 and settled in America in the mid-1970s. He is best known as a painter of monumental works in oil, although he is also a printmaker, producing woodcuts and etchings. Hughie O’Donoghue was born in Manchester, England, in 1953 and now lives and works in London and Erris, Co Mayo, Ireland. He uses figuration and abstraction to explore themes of human identity, memory, and experience, and draws on history, mythology, and personal records to create works that resonate with emotional intensity.

Initially admirers of each other’s work, the two artists have subsequently become good friends. In this joint interview, they reflect on the nature of friendship while discussing aspects of their Irish identity, their experiences working during a hostile period for painting, the subsequent triumph of painting, and their experiences creating works for sacred spaces.'

See also my other pieces on Sean Scully, here, here and here.

My other pieces for Artlyst are:

Interviews -
Monthly diary articles -
Articles/Reviews -
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Posted by Jonathan Evens at 17:07 0 comments
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Friday, 16 October 2026

St John's Waterloo - ‘Anthony Lawrence: A Practical Guide To Aesthetics‘



















Last night I had an advance view of ‘Anthony Lawrence: A Practical Guide To Aesthetics‘, an exhibition of the work of post-modern artist Anthony Lawrence at St John’s, Waterloo. See my Artlyst Art Diary for October for more on the exhibition and my review of last year's retrospective for more on Anthony Lawrence.   

Coinciding with Frieze week, the exhibition shows some of Lawrence’s major works from his series of grand themes, such as Dante, Tannhäuser, and the Damned Demoiselles, as well as portraits and several of his religious and spiritual paintings. Lawrence worked intensively over five decades, creating a vast collection of work that is now being made public.

‘A Practical Guide to Aesthetics’ follows a critically acclaimed 2025 retrospective at Nick and Caroline de Rothschild’s Palais des Vaches Gallery in the New Forest, which was the first to show the full spectrum of Lawrence’s career. Forbes described the work as blending “classical technique, pop-cultural wit, and poetic imagination. Playful portraits, surreal landscapes and painterly still lifes bring overdue recognition to a hidden genius of British art”. Many of the works in that show had not been seen before then; this exhibition at St John’s will bring to light several more of Lawrence’s paintings, including some from the newly restored ‘A Practical Guide to Aesthetics’ series from the early 1990s.

Lawrence worked throughout his life on portrait commissions; his works included sitters such as John Wayne, Yehudi Menuhin, Ian McKellen, and Rt Rev Hassan Dehqani-Tafti, among others. Included in this show are Lawrence’s paintings of Francis Bacon and Seamus Heaney, with whom he became friends.

Fascinated by religion, Lawrence spoke of the “constant fight between the sacred and the secular” and made many works relating to religion and spirituality. His own ‘The Stations of the Cross’ was inspired by the restoration of the display of religious imagery in the Byzantine Empire; these colourful and dramatic paintings show his commitment to technique, stressing the importance of post-modern framing. In my review of the 2025 retrospective for The Church Times, I said, “While constantly evolving through styles and series as a great ‘knowing’ Post-Modernist, Lawrence sought, through his blend of tradition and invention, history and innovation, to hint at how reconciliation might be found in the great contest of social humanity.”

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Posted by Jonathan Evens at 21:49 0 comments
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Saturday, 10 October 2026

Events at St Andrew's Wickford: Art exhibition, concerts, Unveiled

 










Our cultural programming at St Andrew's Wickford has already included an exhibition viewing evening, an excellent Open Mic Night, a conversation on art and theology with Revd Lauren Hart, and a day of arts and crafts workshops with live music. The forward programme for the Autumn has now been finalised and is as follows:

Unveiled is a regular Friday night arts and performance event at St Andrew’s Church, 7.00 – 9.00 pm, 11 London Road, Wickford, Essex SS12 0AN.

See below for our Autumn 2026 programme and http://wickfordandrunwellparish.org.uk/whats-on.html for more information

Exhibitions, open mic nights, performances, talks and more!

Unveiled – a wide range of artist and performers from Essex and wider, including Open Mic nights (come and have a go!). 

Unveiled – view our hidden painting by artist David Folley, plus a range of other exhibitions.

Autumn Programme 2026

23 October (7.00 pm) – Poetry Evening. Jonathan Evens and Tim Harrold will share a selection of poetry from their own collections. Their creative writings have been published by Amethyst Review, International Times, Red Balloon Publishers and Stride Magazine.

6 November (7.30 pm) – ‘The Great American Songbook’ with Michael Horner and Isobel Gathercole. Pianist, Michael performs regularly across a wide variety of styles. Isobel is a jazz singer who has been performing at many of London's top jazz venues since 2014.

4 December (7.00 pm) – ‘To the New World & beyond!’. Hear Ken Porter from Basildon Heritage speak about local links with the Pilgrim Fathers and others who travelled to America from the area.

18 December (7.00 pm) - ‘An introduction to …’ Jonathan Evens will introduce the work of artists with which he has worked or about whom he has written.

These events do not require tickets (just turn up on the night). There will be a retiring collection to cover artist and church costs. See http://wickfordandrunwellparish.org.uk/whats-on.html for fuller information.

In addition, we have great concerts planned from David and Friends (Saturday 17 October, 3.00 pm) and Twilight Boulevard (Saturday 14 November, 2.30 pm).

Our current art exhibition is Autumn & Winter: The Beauty of Letting Go - Runwell Art Club exhibition. Friday 11 September – Friday 18 December 2026, St Andrew’s Church, 11 London Road, Wickford, Essex SS12 0AN.

A group exhibition by members of Runwell Art Club. St Andrew’s is usually open: Sat 9am-12.30pm; Sun 9.30am-12 noon; Mon 2-3.45pm; Tue 1-4.30pm; Wed 10am-12 noon; Fri 10am-1pm.


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The Isobel Gathercole Trio - My Heart Stood Still.

Posted by Jonathan Evens at 18:07 0 comments
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