No Fries with That: Why Conceptual Art Was Never Any Fun

Conceptual Art in Britain 1964-79 Catalogue image
Conceptual Art in Britain 1964-79 Catalogue image
Catalogue Image, Conceptual Art In Britian
This article was first published in the September 2016 issue of  The Jackdaw

 It hailed facts all day long so very hard, and life in general was opened to her as such a closely-ruled cyphering-book, that assuredly she would have run away…. Charles Dickens, Hard Times.

Perhaps you have noticed the prudish distaste that conceptual art has for any form of pleasurable aesthetic experience. It’s acceptable to be improved by a work of art or to be informed, but one should try not to enjoy the experience. Above all, one must not ask for that infamous quality that can mislead us all – beauty. Conceptual Art In Britain 1964-1979 at the Tate Britain until 29thAugust offers an opportunity to revisit this intensely puritanical movement.

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Clarice Beckett Exhibition Review

Clarice Beckett

Clarice Beckett: The Ordinary Instant
2 July to 11 September,

The Gallery, Bayside Arts and Cultural Centre, Brighton

 Clarice-Beckett-Sunset-Presskit

Beckett’s lyrical soft focus paintings are associated with the tonal school of Max Meldrum and his obsession with contrasting shapes and pattern. This exhibition of over fifty works by Beckett (1887–1935) is shown in the context of seven contemporary women painters responding to her work:  Lynne Boyd, Michelle Hamer, Kristin Headlam, Pia Murphy, Saffron Newey, Victoria Reichelt and Camilla Tadich.

Meldrum didn’t believe in drawing – his teleological view of art allowed him to believe he had discovered a new ‘science of appearances’ which superceded line drawing. Beckett adopted his views on

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