Best of 2022

Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised at how much I have missed actively thinking about art and science as part of my day job this year. It’s one reason why I’m so pleased to have become a trustee of the Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garrett in recent months, as well as why I so enjoyed time and space to think with The Milk of Dreams themes at the Venice Biennale in October.

But I also realise it’s a theme that runs through my top 10 for the year. It’s been another busy 12 months – blogging more in 2023 is a renewed resolution, which I hope to keep better next year – so not many of the below have made it onto the blog previously (although you can follow these visits on Instagram). All have got me thinking this year in helpful and interesting ways. As ever, below follow my favourite 10, in the order in which I visited:

1.     Noguchi – Barbican (London)

Last December I was lucky to tack a visit to NYC onto a work trip to the US and was taken by a friend to the Noguchi Museum – a real treat and an artist I’m ashamed not to have known before. However, I found the museum frustrating in the minimal information offered, so was delighted to visit the Noguchi exhibition in London. Another beautiful use of the Barbican space to show off Noguchi’s versatile work, and an artist whose work intersected with science and technology in so many interesting ways.

2.     Mark Bradford: Ágora – Serralves (Porto)

In February, I caught some much needed sun in Portugal, and fell in love with the Serralves Museum, Gardens and Villa. Mark Bradford’s work also stopped me in my tracks. His large canvases evoke tapestries, cartography, and the texture of urban street walls, as he layers materials to comment on societal structures and visual languages

3.     Rhythm and Geometry: Constructivist Art in Britain since 1951 – Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts (Norwich)

A recommendation from my parents, this exhibition introduced me to so many new and thought-provoking artists. I thoroughly enjoyed connecting artists and aspects that I knew to whole unknown areas, and tracing Russian constructivist ideas through to early British computer art. A feast of works and ideas, strikingly curated.

4.     Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts – Wallace Collection (London)

This exhibition was an utter joy – small but perfectly formed. Not only did I learn new things about French decorative arts and see some much loved clips from Disney classics, but it made me think fundamentally about how I have been trained to think about the ‘look’ of a princess through precisely how these clips drew on those decorative arts.

5.     Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear – V&A (London)

A long-awaited show that more than met expectations. The three-part structure – Undressed, Overdressed, Redressed – beautifully unpacked how clothes have made the male body, while carefully subverting what we think ‘masculinities’ might mean. There were some sumptuous objects and the curating was superb.

6.     Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe – Modern Art Oxford (Oxford)

An artist I ‘discovered’ not many years ago and have become more and more interested in – she both plays fascinatingly with shadows and has an interesting history working with science spaces. I was therefore greatly looking forward to this MOA show, which aptly showed how a female artist, interested in craft and community practice, was left out of art history for so long.

7.     Sun and Sea – The Albany (Lewisham)

I was sad to miss this highlight of the 2019 Venice Biennale, so delighted to hear it would form part of Lewisham Borough of Culture 2022 (which brought together a raft of interesting art). On a hot day in July, it felt like being transported to another world, watching the drama unfold between the singers on the beach at the centre of the Albany. Visually stunning and a compelling commentary on climate change.

8.     Hockney’s Eye: The Art and Technology of Depiction – Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge)

I’m afraid I think there are too many Hockney exhibitions these days. I enjoy some of his work very much but feel rather overexposed to it. Where I do think he continues to be interesting and ground-breaking is in his adoption of and research into different technologies. This series of interventions into the Fitzwilliam’s permanent displays was a surprising delight, making me think about both the collections and Hockney anew.

9.     William Kentridge – Royal Academy (London)

This was another eagerly awaited exhibition, ever since I was entranced by Kentridge’s work at the Whitechapel in 2016. The show did not disappoint, with a rich array of works filling the galleries, including a captivating sense of immersion with drawings spilling onto the gallery walls. Note Towards a Model Opera was particularly compelling, and the automaton performance a rich reward.

10.  Museo Fortuny (Venice)

I was enchanted by this museum on first visiting in 2015 so seeing its refurbished glory was a highlight of the year. The collections have been redisplayed with real panache, bringing a sense of drama and narrative to the rooms, and a feel for the creative mind behind the Fortuny business. I also look forward to seeing how the new modern spaces in the basements develop.

Happy New Year to all Spoons on Trays readers, and here’s to a productive, prosperous and peaceful 2023.