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The Guardian
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘I'm scared and my work reflects that': the artist painting heavy questions onto the lightness of silk
It might seem shocking, at first, for an artist to use her own children as models in a work based on Medea, a mother from Greek myth who kills her sons. 'They noticed the likeness in my work,' says Emma Talbot. 'And I had to say, 'Yes, it's you.'' Talbot, whose first large-scale UK show has just opened at Compton Verney in Warwickshire, adds: 'But when I think of 'sons', they're the sons that come to mind. It was inevitable the images would be of them.' There's another reason. The installation in which they appear – The Tragedies – is a tent-like, silk structure painted with intricate, swirling images interspersed with short texts: 'Why should there be war?'; 'Why fill the future with grief and regret?'; 'What does war resolve?' These are the questions Talbot believes we should all be asking ourselves, at a time when the UK has been mooting the possibility of conscription. 'It is a tragedy,' she says. 'When they said that, I immediately thought of my sons, both in their mid 20s. It feels personal. These are my sons they'd be sending off to war.' This is the point Talbot wants to make with her Medea piece. 'Her crime was totally unthinkable – and yet is what Medea did worse than us sending our children off to die in war? I can't see that any kind of war resolves anything.' Talbot, a descendant of Jews who fled 1930s Germany, adds: 'People say, 'What would you have done in the time of Hitler, or over Ukraine?' And I say, 'If we had a system that didn't legitimate aggression, everything would be different.' We can't even imagine how that world would be.' War isn't the only issue this show of fairly recent work tackles: Talbot uses paintings, sculpture and animation to examine other concerns, from our relationship with nature, to how grief affects our lives. Her paintings, all on silk, are colourful, closely packed with flowing imagery. They include a series called Magical Thinking, which explores the ways humans use imagination to make sense of the world. Sculptures include Gathering, which uses fabric, beads and wood to look at the symbolic properties of various animals. Her animation All That Is Buried shows a drawn figure navigating a soulless urban landscape in search of truth. At the root of her work are questions about power. Who has it? What do they do with it? How might they use it differently? The Tragedies has long arms reaching out: they're warning figures, says Talbot, like the chorus of a Greek tragedy. 'They're calling on us to notice what's happening – because humans have the capacity to explore complex ideas. That gives me hope: there is scope to find another way.' All the same, she finds the news now unsettling. 'I'm scared and my work reflects that.' Talbot was born in the Midlands in 1969: her mum was a nurse, her father, seriously injured in a car accident, was her patient. The marriage didn't last long: Talbot's dad moved to Japan, where he still lives, to raise another family. Her mum remarried, but it didn't make for a happy childhood. 'She came from this intellectual German family and my stepfather worked in factories in the East End. It was complicated.' Talbot and her elder brother, three and five when their parents divorced, found their escape in drawing and acting. 'The world was much more parent-centric then. Children had to carve out their own space.' She did an arts course in Canterbury, then studied fine art at Birmingham Institute of Art and Design and did an MA in painting at the Royal College of Art. In the mid-1990s, while teaching art at Northumbria University, she met the sculptor Paul Mason, who she married. Their two sons, Zachary and Daniel, were seven and six when he died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2006. It was an unthinkable turn – but for Talbot, it brought a new direction. 'Paul was the person I shared my stories with,' she says. 'Then he wasn't there any more. And that's what life's about, isn't it? Sharing our stories. Suddenly there was this big void and I started to fill it with drawings – to get out the things I would have said to him.' But still, she had overwhelming doubts. 'I'd pay the babysitter and go to the studio and think, 'I can't do this any more. Maybe I'm not an artist after all.' But slowly, I realised I had this incredible freedom again – just as I did when I was a kid.' Her art – previously paintings created using found photographs – changed. 'I started to paint on silk. I like the contrast between the lightness of the silk and the weight of the stories. I like that silk is so light, so fluid.' Sign up to Art Weekly Your weekly art world round-up, sketching out all the biggest stories, scandals and exhibitions after newsletter promotion Another work at Compton Verney is The Human Experience, two 11-metre long swathes of silk, wrapped around the gallery, taking the visitor on a journey through life, from conception to death. 'It's about how you move through a world that's dangerous and uncertain. Because life experience comes from walking through volatility and uncertainty.' In the midst of her grief, and while coping with life as a single parent, she realised she had nothing to lose, and everything to gain, by burrowing deeply into herself and making work that had little need of outside validation. 'I realised I was finding a core version of myself. I could show myself honestly. I wasn't concerned with what anyone would think. I thought, 'This is about doing the work that matters.' For me, art and life are indivisible.' Following a residency in Italy, after she won the 2019 Max Mara prize, Talbot now divides her time between Reggio Emilia, in the country's north, and the UK. Recognition on the continent has come easier than acknowledgment in Britain: she's shown widely across Europe, with solo exhibitions ongoing in Copenhagen, Athens and Utrecht. Compton Verney ushers in a new chapter – but you get the sense it won't change how she works. 'Art is the glue between everything,' she says. 'It's there to help us make sense of the world. And making art is what I'll carry on doing.' Emma Talbot: How We Learn to Love is at Compton Verney, Warwickshire, until 5 October
The Guardian
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Five UK museums ‘alive with ideas and energy' shortlisted for Art Fund prize
Five UK museums, all 'alive with ideas and energy', in Belfast, Cardiff, Perth, Warwickshire and County Durham are to compete for the world's largest prize given to a museum. The Art Fund Museum of the Year prize offers the winner a gamechanging prize of £120,000, with £15,000 going to each of the other finalists. The 2025 shortlist, announced on Tuesday, has museums from all four nations of the UK represented. They are Beamish in County Durham, Chapter in Cardiff, Compton Verney in Warwickshire, the Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast and Perth Museum, home of the Stone of Destiny, in Scotland. Jenny Waldman, the Art Fund director, said all five were 'inspiring examples of museums at their best – deeply connected to their local communities, responsive to the world around them, and alive with energy and ideas'. Beamish, the 'Living Museum of the North', a hugely popular open-air museum, tells immersive social and industrial history stories from the 1820s, 1900s, 1940s and 1950s in north-east England. Visitors travel through the different settings in old trams and buses and experience stories of ordinary life, whether down the mines or at the shops, told by staff and volunteers in period costume. In the past year the museum has completed a project called Remaking Beamish which includes the recreation of a 1950s town complete with a cinema, toyshop, electrical and record shop and milk bar. Perth Museum opened in March 2024 after a £27m renovation of a building which had been closed since 2005. It tells '10,000 years of Scottish, UK and world history through a local lens'. Its star attraction is the Stone of Destiny, which has been returned to Perthshire for the first time in 700 years. The stone, an ancient symbol of Scottish monarchy, has been used in Westminster coronations since it was taken as war booty by the forces of the English king Edward I in 1296. It was under the throne again for Charles III's coronation. Since the new museum opened it has attracted more than 250,000 visitors, including 100,000 people in less than 100 days. Giving it a five-star review, the Guardian's Jonathan Jones wrote: 'This is a local museum that reinvents local museums.' The Golden Thread Gallery is Belfast's leading contemporary art gallery which reopened in a new space, the city's former Gas Corporation showroom, in August 2024 after a year's closure. The new venue includes two large gallery spaces, a projection room and a visual art research library and archive which is the first of its kind in Northern Ireland. Artists to have been exhibited include Charlotte Bosanquet, Rob Hilken, Graham Fagen, Susan Hiller and Claire Morgan. Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion Compton Verney is a grand Georgian country house art gallery, home to six world-class art collections and set within 120 acres of Capability Brown parkland. Last year it unveiled its new sculpture park which includes a Louise Bourgeois spider and works by Sarah Lucas, Perminder Kaur, Larry Achiampong and Helen Chadwick. Chapter in Cardiff is a multi-arts space that includes galleries, theatres, cinemas, artists' studios and a community garden. It says it is committed to equitable arts programming and recently introduced an artist residency programme offering free studio space. The winner will be announced at the Museum of Liverpool on 26 June. The judging panel is the artist Rana Begum, the comedian Phil Wang, the Tate director of research and interpretation, David Dibosa, and Jane Richardson, the chief executive of Museum Wales. Previous winners of the prize range from the enormous, such as the V&A, to the tiny, such as the William Morris gallery in Walthamstow, east London. Last year's winner was the Young V&A in Bethnal Green, east London.
BBC News
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Art Fund Museum of the Year 2025: 'Inspiring' nominees all outside London
The nominees for the 2025 Art Fund Museum of the Year have been announced, with all five finalists being located outside of London for the first time in four The Living Museum of the North in County Durham is up for the £120,000 prize-winning pot alongside Cardiff's Chapter and Compton Verney in Golden Thread Gallery and the Perth Museum in Perth and Kinross round off the winner will be announced on Thursday 26 June at a ceremony at the Museum of Liverpool, marking the first time the event has ever been held outside of the UK capital. Art Fund director Jenny Waldman said that this year's finalists "are inspiring examples of museums at their best" and "deeply connected to their local communities, responsive to the world around them, and alive with energy and ideas.""Each one offers a distinctive experience, showing the endless creativity and care that goes into making museums inspiring and exciting spaces for everyone," she noted, speaking on behalf of the award take a closer look at the nominees for this year's prize, which are all now guaranteed to receive at least £15,000. Beamish, The Living Museum of the North in County Durham is an open-air museum which reflects life in north east England in the 19th and 20th brings Georgian, Edwardian and war-time history to life through immersive exhibits where visitors engage with costumed staff and praised Beamish for continuing its "long-standing commitment to preserving local heritage" and its "exceptional visitor experience".In the past year the museum has completed its Remaking Beamish project, which saw the recreation of a 1950s town developed with community input, as well as the opening of the aged miners' homes (AMH), which tells the story of welfare provision provided for retired year, as part of the National Railway 200 celebrations, it will also host the Festival of Transport (24 May-1 June). Chapter is an international centre for contemporary arts in Cardiff, which includes a gallery, artists' studios, theatres and cinema recent years, the centre has commissioned fourteen exhibitions by diverse international artists - including Adham Faramawy, Ntiense Eno-Amooquaye and Abi Palmer - which have explored themes from climate crisis to materiality. The Arts Fund noted how Chapter "continues to co-create exceptional programmes that enrich Cardiff's cultural landscape", from printmaking to offers "pay what you can" pricing and free community tickets, and also recently introduced an artist residency programme with free studio space, and launched Wales' largest festival of deaf-led creative activity, Deaf Gathering Cymru. Compton Verney in Warwickshire has six art collections, a sculpture park and café, set within a Grade I-listed 18th Century gallery was described as "a vibrant cultural destination committed to making art accessible to all by connecting people with art, nature, and creativity".Last year, it unveiled its Sculpture in the Park exhibition featuring works by artists such as Sarah Lucas, Permindar Kaur, Larry Achiampong, Helen Chadwick and Erika Verzutti. The venue invites artists and communities to reimagine its 18th Century facade, and its exhibitions have also explored the legacies of the likes of Capability Brown, Louise Bourgeois and Chila Kumari Singh than 6,000 schoolchildren have visited and participated in early creative projects, while recent initiatives have also included a monthly dementia café and an upcoming large-scale multimedia exhibition of work, reflecting on life and death, by Emma Talbot (5 July-5 October).The jury noted the museum's commitment to "breaking down barriers to cultural careers for young people with disabilities." Contemporary arts space Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast features two large galleries, a community participation and engagement hub, and Northern Ireland's first visual art library and closing in 2023, the gallery reopened last year at a new Queen Street address in the city centre, presenting exhibitions by artists including Charlotte Bosanquet, Rob Hilken, Graham Fagen, Susan Hiller and Claire reopening it has welcomed more than 23,000 visitors. The gallery partnered with Translink NI to help produce a public sculpture by Kevin Killen incorporating local narratives and community stories at the redeveloped York Street summer it will host the video and photographic works of Sophie Calle with her exhibition Beyond the Gaze - Shared Perspectives (21 June-27 August). Perth Museum serves as the new home of the Stone of Destiny, one of Scotland's most cherished treasures, which has returned to Perthshire after more than 700 civic museum opened last year following a £27 million development at the former Perth City Hall, by Dutch architects Mecanoo, enabling it to tell the story of Scottish Stone of Destiny experience uses immersive modern technology to frame the contested object within the story of the medieval boy king of Scotland, Alexander III.A new exhibition exploring the history and legacy of Macbeth is now underway (25 April-31 August 2025).The museum has been building partnerships with 10 primary schools, helping students, teachers and communities to connect with their its opening, Perth Museum has attracted around 250,000 visitors, boosting the local economy. 'Remarkable places' The Art Fund is the national charity for museums and last time its main prize shortlist totally overlooked London - where many of the nation's biggest museums were historically located - was in 2021, when the award was ultimately won by Firstsite in Colchester, added she hoped this year's award would "inspire" people to visit some "remarkable places" in their local region and help them "discover the powerful role they can play in our lives."Whichever one of the five museums wins will succeed last year's winner, the Young V&A in London.
The Guardian
14-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Titanic talents, fabulous florals and a river of black stone – the week in art
Emii Alrai: River of Black Stone Sculptures and installations that respond to Compton Verney's collection of paintings of Vesuvius, the volcano that buried Pompeii. Compton Verney, Warwickshire, 15 February to 15 June Goya to ImpressionismFine paintings by titanic talents such as Cézanne and Manet but this show has no energy or purpose. Read the review here. Courtauld Gallery, London, until 26 May Flowers – Flora in Contemporary Art & CultureA huge bouquet of floral imagery in contemporary art, from Elizabeth Blackadder to Yayoi Kusama. Saatchi Gallery, London, until 5 May Artists' BookmarketWeekend festival of the artist's book, featuring Lydia Davies, David Faithfull and more. Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, 15-16 February Salt CosmologiesInstallation and exhibition by artist duo Hylozoic/Desires (Himali Singh Soin and David Soin Tappeser) about the political economy of salt. Somerset House, London, 20 February to 27 April In 1977, the punk band Buzzcocks released a single called Orgasm Addict, with a record sleeve as jolting as the song's title. Linder Sterling, Manchester's punk and dada genius, created the collage which depicted a lean and muscular, oiled-up naked woman with an iron for a head and smiling, lipsticked mouths for nipples. It was scary, sexy and shocking. Read more here. Surrealism's ignored female artists are having a late boom in recognition JMW Turner believed in the redemptive power of landscape art Henri Matisse's favourite model was his illegitimate daughter, Marguerite Thousands of artists have called for an AI art auction to be cancelled A beautiful retrospective of LA painter Noah Davis is a revelation Henri Michaux produced addictive wonders of abstract art Mervyn Street's show Stolen Wages chronicles the lives of artists like his father, who were paid in rocks Overlooked artist Linder thinks flowers are 'nature's pornography' Dr Forlenze by Jacques-Antoine Vallin, 1807 A Paris-based surgeon shows off his Neapolitan roots in this flamboyant portrait from the age of Napoleon. Dr Forlenze was a living embodiment of Napoleon's belief in the 'career open to the talents': his pioneering work in eye surgery, including on French soldiers with illnesses they got during Napoleon's Egypt campaign, won him recognition by the Emperor. Here he wears his recently awarded Légion d'honneur. But the aloof figure before us is even prouder of his origins in southern Italy, as he expresses by standing in the harbour of Naples with the terrific, smoking, sublime volcano Vesuvius behind him. National Gallery, London If you don't already receive our regular roundup of art and design news via email, please sign up here. If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@
