Great Women Painters (Phaidon: 2022)
Great Women Painters reveals a richer and more varied telling of the story of painting. Featuring more than 300 artists from around the world, it includes both well-known women painters from history and today's most exciting rising stars.
African Artists: From 1882 to Now (Phaidon: 2021)
This groundbreaking new book featuring more than 300 artists, including El Anatsui, Marlene Dumas, Lubaina Himid, William Kentridge, and Wangechi Mutu as well as lesser known artists, offers a substantial reappraisal of contemporary artists born or based in Africa.
Great Women Artists (Phaidon: 2019)
In museums, galleries, and the art market, previously overlooked female artists are finally gaining recognition and value. I contributed multiple texts to this book which reflects the changing times and features some 400 artists from 50 countries and spans 500 years of creativity.
Flying Too Close to the Sun (Phaidon: 2018)
Visual artists have endlessly grappled with classical Greek and Roman myths, fascinated by stories of heroes’ struggles with gods, monsters and fate. I contributed texts to this book which unites myth-inspired artworks by ancient, modern, and contemporary artists, from Botticelli and Caravaggio to Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst.
Everything At Once: Catalogue (The Vinyl Factory: 2017)
I contributed the The Vinyl Factory text for the catalogue marking this joint show by The Lisson Gallery and The Vinyl Factory.
The Art of the Erotic (Phaidon: 2017)
I contributed multiple texts to this book which examines the depiction of human sexuality through the ages by many of the world’s most important artists, from Titian to Tillmans, Caravaggio to Kapoor, encompassing the delicately sensual and the graphically explicit.
Body of Art (Phaidon: 2015)
I wrote many short essays for this book featuring over 400 artists from the 25,000 BCE Venus of Willendorf to sculptures of eight-armed Hindu gods, Goya, Muybridge, Francesca Woodman and Marina Abramovic. Structured around themes such as Beauty, Power, Abject Body and Sex & Gender, it is described by the publisher as “the most expansive examination of the human body in art”.
Kuwait: Art and Architecture
I contributed two essays to this book surveying the art and architecture in this small Gulf state.
Other projects
In conversation with Hew Locke at Hales Gallery, London, Oct 2019
A discussion with Hew Locke on themes of migration, globalisation, monarchy and post-colonial power structures on the occasion of his show Beyond the Sea Wall.
Artists’ Talk at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, Nov 2018
I led a conversation with artists Miriam Hansen, Stefanie Heinze, Annika Kleist and Orr Menirom for the opening of their show Breeeeze on the theme of the ambivalence of domestic space.
The Times and Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival: Oct 6-15, 2017
As part of Cheltenham Literature Festival's over-arching theme of ‘Who Do We Think We Are?’, interrogating and celebrating British identity, I participated in a panel discussion on Tracey Emin and the YBAs with Guardian Art Critic Jonathan Jones, chaired by BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz.
Panel discussion on Tracey Emin and the YBAs
Selection Committee, The Other Art Fair, London, Oct 2017
The Other Art Fair, presented by Saatchi Art, offers the possibility to buy art direct from 130 emerging, and undiscovered artists. I was on the 2017 selection committee with artist Jonathan Yeo, Serpentine Gallery curator Rebecca Lewin, designer Lulu Guinness and writer and broadcaster Kate Bryan.
In conversation with the artist Richard Billingham, Frieze London, Oct 2016
For the ARTnews Reading Room at Frieze, Richard Billingham and I discussed his 1994-95 photo series “Ray’s a Laugh” that shot him to fame and his feature film “Ray & Liz”, focused on three pivotal moments in his dysfunctional childhood.
In conversation with Richard Billingham at Frieze, 2016
Contributor to Bloomberg’s Brilliant Ideas series, the episode on the artist Marc Quinn, aired in July 2016
Drawing on my research from my book Artrage! I discussed Marc Quinn’s Blood Head and his experiments with science and technology in his work.
Talks on Artrage! at Shoreditch House, East London and Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, both May 2016
I delivered talks on the rise and fall of the Young British Artist phenomenon, the impact made by the group and its legacy.
Conversation and Q&A with Ossian Ward for Frieze Academy, May 2016
I was invited to Ossian Ward’s Frieze Academy course on art writing for professionals to discuss the way Artrage! navigates between art history, recent history and anecdote.
Banner images: Top: Ryan Gander, C++, 2013 ©Ryan Gander. Courtesy the artist and Lisson Gallery. Image Ken Allard. Bottom: Hew Locke, For Those in Peril on the Sea, Installation view, Pérez Art Museum Miami, 2013, Photo ©Indra Khanna.