Charlotte's Fitrovia and Soho Tour


Dear Contemporary Circle,

Looking forward to April already and a quick reminder about our West End Gallery tour on Saturday April 17th. We’ll be visiting galleries in Fitzrovia and Soho, beginning with coffees at Sketch on Conduit Street at 10.30am where curator Victoria Brooks will introduce us to her rotating film and sculpture programme at the restaurant.  Do RSVP to me as per usual.

BARBARA RAE RA
An exhibition of Rae’s work will be on display in the Hugh Casson Room at the Royal Academy until June 20th. Her prints have been central to her practice for decades and her monotypes and screenprints frequently inform her painting technique. Rae was elected a Royal Academician in 1996 and was awarded a CBE in 1999.


CONTEMPORABIA

Contemporary Circle member Penny Mather enjoyed a VIP to the Middle East and has kindly written up a short piece on her journey, please find attached. She was lucky enough to see a real spread of artists, works and events and encourages us all to consider to visit next year. Photographs will shortly appear on our soon to be launched blog.


EDMUND DE WAAL
Contemporary Circle members are attending a talk this Thursday at Alan Cristea Gallery on Cork Street by British ceramicist Edmund de Waal. He will be in conversation with Achim Borchadt Hume, Chief Curator of the Whitechapel Gallery. Jackie Wullschlager raved about de Waal’s work in last weekend’s Financial Times, read the full review here:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/7530129e-35d4-11df-aa43-00144feabdc0.html

FUNDING FOR THE ARTS
Debate continues to rage about how best to fund the arts in this country and what will happen to the Arts Council after the election. The Adam Smith Institute recently released a paper suggesting that the Arts Council ought to be scrapped in favor of giving the public £11 vouchers to spend on going to see what they like and the New Culture Forum is trying to radicalise the Conservative Party’s approach to Culture. Meanwhile the Guardian has interviewed Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw and Shadow Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt on what they believe is the future for government funding arts institutions in this country:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/video/2010/mar/24/arts-funding-general-election

GALLERINAS
Those beautiful but terrifyingly cool girls that sit at the front desks of Hoxton and Cork Street are called Gallerinas and they’re a powerful bunch. Keep abreast of the gossip through ArtReview’s own covert blogger Gallery Girl:

http://www.artreview.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=gallery+girl


EXHIBITION OF THE WEEK
Bharti Kher at Hauser and Wirth

Friday night saw Hauser and Wirth Piccadilly and Home House turned over to huge celebrations of Indian artist Kher’s first solo show in London. Already a firm favorite amongst collectors and featuring in Frank Cohen’s show in Manchester at the moment, Kher’s work takes relatively mundane objects from everyday life and mystifies them. Cohen owns a phenomenal sleeping elephant made entirely of bindis (the decorative jewelry worn on the forehead). This is one of the last shows at Hauser and Wirth’s Piccadilly space before move to Saville Row in October.

Hauser and Wirth
196 Piccadilly
London W1J 9DY


With Best Wishes,
Charlotte Appleyard