Our top picks of exhibitions together with cultural spaces and places, both online and in the real world.

All, Art, Auctions, Exhibitions, Travel & Hospitality, Initiatives

Viewing Be Yourself; Everyone Else Is Already Taken

The Wick Culture - Imagery from Daniel Lismore's book 'Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken.' Photo credit - Colin Douglas Gray, courtesy of SCAD

Above Imagery from Daniel Lismore’s book ‘Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken.’ Photo credit – Colin Douglas Gray, courtesy of SCAD

18 February — 26 June 2022
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry
https://www.theherbert.org/whats_on/1621/be_yourself_everyone_else_is_already_taken

Artist Daniel Lismore describes himself as a ‘living sculpture’. Raised in Coventry, he is perhaps best known for his elaborate and extravagant ensembles, made using everything from haute couture items and vintage fabrics to charity shop finds, accessories, trinkets and baubles. In 2016, Vogue named him ‘England’s most eccentric dresser’.

Landing at the Herbert Museum this month is the UK premiere of Be Yourself; Everyone Else Is Already Taken, featuring 50 life-size figurative sculptures bedecked with items from Lismore’s personal collection of nearly 7000 unique pieces. Each sculpture is modelled on the artist and features a cast of his face. ‘It’s an army of me,’ Lismore has said of the striking display, which takes inspiration from the ancient Chinese Terracotta Army. ‘For me, when you put on your clothes, it’s like you are going out to war in the world.’

Be Yourself; Everyone Else Is Already Taken — a phrase often attributed to Oscar Wilde — explores the links between dress, identity and authenticity, while unpicking the social, historical and cultural themes central to Lismore’s work. It also spotlights the importance of sustainable fashion, a cause close to the artist’s heart. The bonus? It’s free. Never has there been a better time to visit the UK’s City of Culture. Hop to it.

Viewing Eternalising Art History: From Da Vinci to Modigliani

The Wick Culture - Modigliani's Testa di Giovane Donna (Head of a Young Lady), Conceived in 1915, digitised in 2021
DAW® (Digital Artwork)

Above Modigliani’s Testa di Giovane Donna (Head of a Young Lady), Conceived in 1915, digitised in 2021 DAW® (Digital Artwork)

The Wick Culture - Il Bacio (The Kiss), Conceived in 1896, digitised in 2021
DAW® (Digital Artwork)

Above Il Bacio (The Kiss), Conceived in 1896, digitised in 2021 DAW® (Digital Artwork)

Above Modigliani’s Testa di Giovane Donna (Head of a Young Lady), Conceived in 1915, digitised in 2021 DAW® (Digital Artwork)

Above Il Bacio (The Kiss), Conceived in 1896, digitised in 2021 DAW® (Digital Artwork)

16 February — 19 March 2022
Unit London, London
https://unitlondon.com/whats-on/98-eternalising-art-history-from-da-vinci-to-modigliani/

Now’s your chance to see some of the greatest Italian artworks in digital form. Installed across Unit London’s expansive gallery, Eternalising Art History features high-resolution digital counterparts of six Italian masterpieces, including Leonardo da Vinci’s Head of a Woman (1492-1501), Caravaggio’s Bowl of Fruit (1597-1600) and Amedeo Modigliani’s Head of a Young Lady (1915).

Certified on the blockchain, the digital artworks are bordered by exact replicas of the original frames. The quality is so good that you’ll soon forget that you’re looking at a screen.

Each digital reproduction is made in a limited edition of nine and has been produced in partnership with four major Italian cultural institutions, including the Uffizi in Florence.

This ground-breaking collaboration brings these celebrated artworks, many of which can’t travel due to age and fragility, to a new global audience, while also increasing public access to them. Plus, 50% of the sale proceeds will be donated back to the four partner institutions to support the conservation of the original works.

In a time when international travel is still limited, this brilliant initiative pushes the art viewing experience in a bold and exciting new direction. Swing by as soon as you can.

Viewing Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre: Movie Theaters

The Wick Culture - Fox Theater, Inglewood, CA, 2008

Above Fox Theater, Inglewood, CA, 2008

The Wick Culture - Gotham Theatre, New York, NY, 2009

Above Gotham Theatre, New York, NY, 2009

The Wick Culture - Lobby, Loew’s Palace Theater, Bridgeport, CT, 2007

Above Lobby, Loew’s Palace Theater, Bridgeport, CT, 2007

Above Fox Theater, Inglewood, CA, 2008

Above Gotham Theatre, New York, NY, 2009

Above Lobby, Loew’s Palace Theater, Bridgeport, CT, 2007

10 February – 11 March 2022
Tristan Hoare, London
https://tristanhoaregallery.co.uk/exhibitions/48-movie-theaters-yves-marchand-romain-meffre/overview/

Movie Theaters is the culmination of a 15-year project between French photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre, capturing the once-grand “cathedrals of cinema” of the Golden Age of the American film industry. With many of these grand buildings dating from the 1910s-1920s Hollywood boom, their interiors are palatial, with opulent domed ceilings and cavernous seating structures made to sit hundreds. As the 1929 Great Depression and consequent years of wartime threatened their livelihood, these fantastic spaces became relics of a past era. With many hastily demolished to make way for growing retail centres and residential development, only a few slipped through the cracks to lie dormant or be converted into bizarre but beautiful amalgamations of their past and present selves.

These precious few feature in Marchand and Meffre’s exhibition, and the accompanying linen-bound hardcover book. Captured on large format 4×5 film using long exposures and existing light, the images present ghostly spaces frozen in time. With flashes of wry humour from those converted into ultra-modern basketball pitches and supermarkets, seemingly unaware of their lavish ceilings, this exhibition pinpoints a seemingly lost moment in American history.