It’s that time of year again – spot the art stars of the future out of the talent on show at Coventry University’s end-of-year art degree show.
The opening night on Friday was the usual hot and crowded tour around many floors, bumping into friends old and new, while making sure to grab a plastic cup of wine on the way.
Reviews
Exhibition in stables gallery launches artist in residence at Ragley Hall
Dawn Harris (left) and Kitty Kovacevic arts tour guide at Ragley in the gallery
It has to be the most impressive Private View I’ve ever sipped a glass of wine at. But then I’ve never been to an art exhibition opening at a stately home before.
I drove through the large Capability Brown-designed parklands to park right in front of the very impressive portico of Ragley Hall. Inside, along with the other guests I enjoyed lovely nibbles, a glass of wine and a wander around some of the rooms of the Hall, which dates from 1680. The massive Great Hall, with baroque plasterwork by James Gibbs dating from 1750, has several other State Rooms leading off it, including one set for dinner for 24, a bedroom used by visiting royalty in the past and sitting rooms with old masters on the walls. From some of the windows the vistas stretch for miles across parkland, woods and a lake.
Metropolis explores varieties of city life on a global scale
A new exhibition of contemporary artwork in Birmingham offers visions of modern cities and urban life from 25 artists from all over the world.
Metropolis: Reflections on the Modern City has been jointly collected by Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, the New Art Gallery, Walsall, and developed in partnership with Ikon Gallery as part of the Art Fund international initiative.
There are more than 60 works on show in many types of media.
Coventry University graduates land starring role in West Midlands shows
Above, Man Versus Motherland by Dean O’Brien, at the Barber Institute
Four Coventry University graduates are showing work in top Birmingham art galleries as part of the New Art West Midlands initiative.
They are among 22 recent graduates chosen from West Midlands university art schools for the exhibition.
Legacy of Coventry’s post-war modernist architecture is inspiration for fascinating exhibition
An exhibition by two artists has found new ways to focus on the legacy of post-war modernist architecture in Coventry, and both are fascinating in their separate ways.
Jo Gane and Caroline James, who met on the London College of Communication’s photography MA course, are exhibiting in Nostalgia for the Future (Past) at the Roots Gallery in Coventry city centre.
Jane and Louise Wilson’s beautiful and intriguing Kubrick-inspired work goes on show in Coventry
A film researched and then abandoned by legendary film director Stanley Kubrick is the basis for a new exhibition in Coventry.
Former Turner Prize nominated artists Jane and Louise Wilson’s film installation Unfolding the Aryan Papers is showing at the Herbert, as an addition to the Caught in the Crossfire exhibition about how artists deal with conflict and reconciliation.
Serious start to new year with Coventry and Warwickshire exhibitions
Begging near Covent Garden car park in Leamington by Josh King
For those prone to a bout of post-Christmas depression, the subject matter of several new exhibitions in Coventry and Warwickshire may not seem like the best antidote. However don’t be put off – the standard of work on show might actually cheer you up.
Spectacular dramatic end to exhibition – kicked down by artist Aeneas Wilder
Picture of a kick-down at another gallery – but very similar to today’s event
WOW – stunning – spectacular. It was hard to think in more than single words as I watched the deafening end of Aeneas Wilder’s exhibition at the Mead gallery at Warwick Arts Centre.
Untitled #162 was a huge installation built entirely from small, identical lengths of wood in the gallery. It took the form of two rooms and a narrow corridor connecting them, several feet above head height. Wilder created this and his previous works with no fixings.
At the end of every exhibition he has a kick down – and attending it was the hottest ticket in town today, and an unforgettable sight.
Adie’s weird world of the imagination is transported to The Herbert
Strange creatures and cabinets of curiosities dominate the first solo exhibition by Coventry-based artist Adie Blundell.
The exhibition, entitled His Dark Materials, at The Herbert fills a room and is a strange mix of things, feeling like a look into the mind and obsessions of its creator.
Hearts Gang’s Handsome Gentlemen exhibition is a Coventry must-see
Sometimes you find fantastic gems in the most unlikely of places.
On an old industrial estate back from a row of pizza takeaways is the debut exhibition, Handsome Gentlemen, from a bunch of “Coventry creatives”, the Hearts Gang.
Officially the address is Unit 7 of Fargo Creative Village, off Far Gosford Street in Coventry. The exhibition is on from 2-8pm, and if you go after dark watch out for the trip hazards and careering vehicles on your way to find the Unit across a dark car park. But it’s worth it!
Private View II 