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Viewing We Are Briefly Gorgeous by Joy Labinjo at Southwark Park Galleries

The Wick Culture - Courtesy of the Artist and Tiwani Contemporary
Photography by Deniz Guzel

Above Courtesy of the Artist and Tiwani Contemporary Photography by Deniz Guzel

Joy Labinjo, We Are Briefly Gorgeous

Southwark Park Galleries
6 July – 29 September 2024

British-Nigerian artist Joy Labinjo has carved a path as a leading contemporary painter with her distinctive portraiture; fusing stylistic notes of Cubism with the 1980s British Black Art movement, Labinjo creates something entirely her own and of the now. Often based on photographs — family, found or archival — Labinjo’s paintings blur collective and personal moments and memories to explore British Blackness, and address the way the portraiture genre has played a role in the politics of power and identity.

Labinjo — an The Wick has featured previously as part of our spotlight series — continues to impress with her latest project, We Are Briefly Gorgeous, her largest institutional undertaking to date, to mark the Southwark Park Galleries 40th anniversary programme. Observing scenes on visits to Southwark Park and around Bermondsey, Labinjo based her new paintings on what she saw and what it evoked in her. They are scenes celebrating the diversity and unity of a community, the easy feeling of being at leisure in the city in the summer.

Labinjo’s work has recently featured at Brixton Underground Station, the Fitzwilliam Museum, and Chapter Arts Centre, among others, and is included in a group exhibition at Tiwani Contemporary In the Blood, until September.

Viewing Christabel Blackburn: Another Day of Sun at Gillian Jason Gallery

The Wick Culture - Courtesy of Gillian Jason Gallery and the Artist

Above Courtesy of Gillian Jason Gallery and the Artist

Christabel Blackburn: Another Day of Sun

Gillian Jason Gallery
2 July – 2 August 2024

Just as the weather falters once again, Blackburn gives us Another Day of Sun — the title of a solo exhibition of new works on view at Gillian Jason Gallery until 2 August. The London-based artist has long been fascinated with California’s sunlight and architecture. To make her latest body of paintings, there was only one thing for it — go and experience it first hand.

Blackburn spent time sketching and photographing fleeting, real-life scenes of people and places in Los Angeles which were then translated onto canvases when the artist returned to her studio in London. The result is a series of sumptuously rendered, minimal and meditative figurative paintings that emanate a sense of vast open space and “the feeling of being bathed in light” as Blackburn puts it.

With a hint of Hockney, and touch of Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Blackburn perfectly captures the environment and energy of the fabled city, but leaves “plenty of space for the viewer to engage with their own narrative”, curator Kate Bryan, Chief Art Director of Soho House, proffers. The quintessence of Californian cool that will brighten the greyest of days.

Viewing Sixty-five years of Barbie’s life in plastic at the Design Museum

The Wick Culture - Barbie at the Design Museum, London.
Photo by Jo Underhill

Above Barbie at the Design Museum, London. Photo by Jo Underhill

The Wick Culture - Barbie at the Design Museum, London. Barbie at the Design Museum, London.
Photo by Jo Underhill

Above Barbie at the Design Museum, London. Barbie at the Design Museum, London. Photo by Jo Underhill

Above Barbie at the Design Museum, London Photo by Jo Underhill

Above Barbie at the Design Museum, London Barbie at the Design Museum, London. Photo by Jo Underhill

The Wick Culture - 1992 Totally Hair Barbie. © Mattel, Inc

Above 1992 Totally Hair Barbie. © Mattel, Inc

The Wick Culture - Courtesy of The Design Museum

Above Courtesy of The Design Museum

The Wick Culture - 1979 Dream House. © Mattel, Inc

Above 1979 Dream House. © Mattel, Inc

The Wick Culture - 1962 Barbie Dream House. © Mattel, Inc

Above 1962 Barbie Dream House. © Mattel, Inc

The Wick Culture - Barbie teams up with ESA & astronaut Samantha Cristoferetti for space week

Above Barbie teams up with ESA & astronaut Samantha Cristoferetti for space week

The Wick Culture - Previous photo from 2021 of ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti with her lookalike Barbie during parabolic training for the 2022 mission to the ISS

Above Previous photo from 2021 of ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti with her lookalike Barbie during parabolic training for the 2022 mission to the ISS

Above Barbie at the Design Museum, London. Photo by Jo Underhill

Above Barbie at the Design Museum, London. Barbie at the Design Museum, London. Photo by Jo Underhill

Above Barbie at the Design Museum, London Photo by Jo Underhill

Above Barbie at the Design Museum, London Barbie at the Design Museum, London. Photo by Jo Underhill

Above Courtesy of The Design Museum

Above Barbie teams up with ESA & astronaut Samantha Cristoferetti for space week

Above Previous photo from 2021 of ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti with her lookalike Barbie during parabolic training for the 2022 mission to the ISS

Barbie®: The Exhibition

The Design Museum
5 July 2024 – 23 February 2025

Last summer was all about the Barbie movie, and now the world’s famous doll is the protagonist of an exhibition: opening to the public tomorrow (just ahead of the school summer holidays) at the Design Museum, Barbie®: The Exhibition explores Barbie through the lens of design, from a rare edition of the very first doll released by Mattel in 1959 to today through 250 objects.

Marking the 65th anniversary of the Barbie brand, this show charts the evolution of Barbie and the diversification of dolls over the decades to better reflect the women in the world: the first Black, Hispanic and Asian Barbies are presented here, as well as differently-abled Barbies and different body shapes the brand has introduced. These dolls show how the brand has tried to shift beauty standards through design in meaningful ways.

Alongside Barbie, there’s a veritable universe on show here too — various other key characters including Midge (Barbie’s first friend), Christie, Teresa, and Barbie’s younger sister Skipper, and of course, there’s a whole lot of Ken — an entire section displays six decades of Barbie’s boyfriend, who was first introduced in 1961. Fans will also love the homes, furniture and vehicles that have all helped create the Barbie universe, and spark imaginative play all over the world. But what was the best-selling Barbie of all time? The 1992 Totally Hair Barbie — with more than 10 million dolls sold.