Dates for the diary: art events in London May 2018 from learning how to make digital paintings to an art trail in the City of London
The Evening Standard's journalism is supported by our readers. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
SHOW ME THE MONET
Alongside the National Gallery’s acclaimed Monet & Architecture show, you can explore your own creative talent. As part of the gallery’s outdoor workshop, artist Joseph Connor will help you produce a series of digital paintings at different times of day. Bring your iPad or other smart device and learn how to create a video animation of views that feature in Monet’s works.
Monet & Architecture, until July 29, visit nationalgallery.org.uk for ticket prices and to book. Digital painting workshop, Saturday May 26, 11am–4pm; £46, £42 concs, £40 for members and patrons.
THE ART OF SMARTPHONES
US-born Jeffrey Kroll was one of the first artists to recognise the importance of the camera function in mobile phones. In 2005 he had the idea of marrying this new digi-tech with painterly tradition, in a new hybrid art form.
Kroll uses his mobile camera to record images of his paintings, reproduces them on two-metre canvases in his Cotswolds studio, then fleshes out their composition in oil paint. His latest work is on show at Partners & Mucciaccia gallery in Mayfair. Kroll reminds us that Dürer, Rembrandt and Toulouse-Lautrec all used mechanical reproduction techniques in their work.
Jeffrey Kroll at Partners & Mucciaccia, Dover Street, W1, from May 16-June 8 (partnersandmucciaccia.com).
Jeffrey Kroll and gallerist Sid Motion will be in conversation in a special event for Homes & Property readers; please email london@partnersandmucciaccia.com for further details. May 24th 7pm. Partners and Mucciaccia Gallery, 45 Dover Street
GUIDING LIGHTS
Ceramicist Camilla Bliss hand-carves exquisite sculptures that also work as lights and lamps. Many in the Guardians of Bliss range are decorated with faces looking outwards — a symbol of protection for Bliss. She was inspired to create this series to celebrate the memory of loved ones. Check out the Guardian tassel key ring, as well as the series of lamps. All are collectors’ items in the making.
Visit thenewcraftsmen.com/handmade-craft-makers/camilla-bliss. Prices from £100.
ART IN THE SQUARE MILE
Sculptor Nick Hornby and painter Sinta Tantra met at the Slade in the early 2000s. Both are best known for their site-specific work and installations in the public realm: Hornby for his sculpture commission at Glyndebourne last year, and Tantra, a British artist of Balinese descent, for her 2017 Folkestone Triennial painted building and a 330-yard painting at Canary Wharf.
Occasionally they collaborate. You can now follow a trail of their joint work across the City, from Finsbury Avenue Square through to 201 Bishopsgate, The Broadgate Tower and Exchange House. Tantra’s colours are inspired by a sort of 18th-century Farrow & Ball, while Hornby’s work references Picasso and Matisse.
Until May 25. Viewings Monday to Friday 10am-4pm. Visit broadgate.co.uk
TO LOWRY WITH LOVE
Emigré Hungarian dealer Andras Kalman effectively put artist “matchstick man” LS Lowry on the map. Lowry felt so sorry for the struggling dealer — who pawned his typewriter weekly to pay rent — that he went out of his way to buy paintings from Kalman.
Almost 70 years on, the London gallery Crane Kalman flourishes opposite Harrods, and is remembering a 1963 exhibition with a display of English artwork, The Englishness of English Painting Part III. Kalman’s son Andrew runs the gallery now with his sister Sally and director Robin Light. Andrew says: “We wanted to revisit some of the artists we’ve exhibited from the very beginning.” The exhibition includes work by Winifred Nicholson, Mary Newcomb, Alan Lowndes — and Lowry.
Crane Kalman, Brompton Rd, SW3; until Friday (cranekalman.com).