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Viewing Layla Andrews: Good Company

If you haven’t yet heard of Layla Andrews, you soon will. Her large-scale abstract and expressionist portraits have caught the eye of Barack Obama and Stephen Fry and been included in a number of small exhibitions around the UK. Now she’s the subject of a solo show at Soho Revue in London.

Good Company brings together a collection of surreal group scenes, selected still lives and sculptures which celebrate the importance of joy, conviviality and human interaction after a time of hardship, uncertainty and solitude. Crabs, crocodiles and cowboys populate her scenes of revelry, painted with bold colours and expressive brushstrokes.

One work shows croco-musicians playing to an imaginary audience; another depicts crocodiles and a panther tucking into a feast of shrimps and wine. Also on display is Rachel, a monumental lobster sculpture that the artist made during her time as artist in residence in Brixton Village. Made from recycled rubbish and second-hand materials, Rachel is one in a series of crustaceans named after a key female family member.

There’s something playful and absorbing about these compositions — and a dose of light-hearted fun is always a good idea. Hop to it!

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Dates
14 April 2022 — 30 April 2022

Viewing Girls Girls Girls at Lismore Castle

Curated by the Irish fashion designer Simone Rocha, Lismore Castle’s summer show of works by female artists looks at the female gaze from multiple viewpoints, while also exploring femininity and its subversive characteristics across forms and media, including art, sculpture and photography. ‘I respond to work that documents but also transports the viewer to another place,’ says Rocha. ‘The female spirit and experience has been a strong focus of my work from the beginning.’

Works by Louise Bourgeois, Genieve Figgis and Cindy Sherman are shown alongside gorgeous pieces by Harley Weir, Francesca Woodman and Luo Yang. Not to be missed are the three whimsical paintings titled Wishful Self-Portrait by the brilliantly talented Sian Costello.

What strikes is the jaunty dialogue between the works on display. ‘I am interested in exploring how the works engage with each other,’ Rocha says, ‘as a thread of the natural world, uncanny self-portraiture or the sense of a haunting reality lingering just below the surface.’ We promise it merits the trip to County Waterford.

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Viewing ‘Bad Manners’ by Jake & Dinos Chapman

Conceived in collaboration with the artist Jake Chapman, this bijou exhibition explores the role of non-consensual collaborations between artists from the mid 19th century to the present day. From overpainting and over layering to modifying signatures and colours, it questions notions of originality and authorship to dazzling effect.

Central to the exhibition is Jake and Dinos Chapman’s Glitter Los Caprichos (2019), a large-scale installation comprising 80 etchings by Goya that have been reworked and ‘improved’ with glitter. Other notable highlights include a drawing by Edouard Manet from 1863 depicting his famous nude Olympia gazing directly at the viewer and a 2021 watercolour by Jake Chapman, executed on top of an etching Manet prepared using this Olympia drawing.

Elsewhere, you’ll encounter a table sculpture (1987) by Martin Kippenberger made using a Gerhard Richter Grey painting and a collage by Jean (Hans) Arp, which incorporates parts of Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s work. This is a clever and intriguing show that will put a smile on your face. Just as the artists intended!

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