Stories By Isla Phillips
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20th century
Demystifying Cycladic Figurines
October 9, 2019Cycladic figurines have a mythical aura. Their gleaming abstract forms speak of timeless beauty. But what actually are they? Why do they look like a Brancusi sculpture (or why do Brancusi sculptures look like them)? Once...
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20th century
Joseph Beuys at BASTIAN Gallery
October 1, 2019Joseph Beuys (1921 – 1986), currently on display at BASTIAN gallery, was a controversial German artist, whose work regularly caused public debate. Ritual and unorthodox materials, in particular animal fat and felt, characterize his wide-ranging artistic...
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21st century
Damien Hirst’s Butterflies- from Tea-trays to Mandalas
September 24, 2019Damien Hirst – a prominent Young British Artist (YBAs) and now a billionaire – creates sculptures, paintings and drawings. In all of these forms his work challenges the boundaries between art, science and religion. Mandalas is...
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Ancient Greece
Venus Vincit Omnia. Venus in Art
September 9, 2019Venus (also known by her Greek name Aphrodite) is the Goddess of Love. We’ve explored some famous Venus’ here. Next, Velázquez’s portrait put her onto the list of contenders for “Best Bums in Art.” Then there’s...
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Artists' Stories
The Poetry in Painting — Turner’s Ovid in Exile
August 26, 2019This petite (9.46 x 12.50 cm) oil on canvas by J.M.W. Turner contains big things: big landscapes, big stories and big skies. It is an imagined scene from 1st century Rome: the departure of Ovid into...
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21st century
An Introduction to Lee Ufan
August 21, 2019Lee Ufan is a Korean born international artist, whose work is key to the Mono-ha movement. If you have ever been lucky enough to encounter a Lee Ufan in real life you will appreciate its power...
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21st century
Nalini Malani – an Introduction
August 8, 2019Nalini Malani (b. 1946) is a brilliant contemporary Indian artist. She is both prolific and internationally acclaimed. “Over an extended career, Malani has been an unremitting voice for the silenced and the dispossessed, most particularly women...
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Art History 101
Logomania – Words in Art
August 1, 2019What do Jean-Michel Basquiat, The François Vase, Tracey Emin and Xu Bing have in common? Words! So, in the spirit of light summer reading, let’s have a romp through a collection of four unrelated artworks from...
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21st century
Thawan Duchanee: “Paintings Are a Way of Expressing Feelings Without Any Explanation”
July 30, 2019Thawan Duchanee (1939-2014) was a painter, sculptor and architect from Chiang Rai, northern Thailand. He is Thailand’s most celebrated artist. Duchanee gained popularity not just through his provocative (and beautiful) depictions of Buddhism, but also because...
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21st century
Tracey Emin – My Bed
July 29, 2019My Bed is an iconic and seminal artwork by British artist Tracey Emin. It was conceived over 20 years ago. Despite its age it is still one of contemporary art’s most striking depictions of vulnerability. It...
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Guggenheim: The Thannhauser Collection from van Gogh to Picasso at Palazzo Reale
Female Artists
