ARTS – APRIL v2.qxp_Layout 1 25/03/2022 10:40 Page 1
EXHIBITIONS
STATE OF THE ART RWA reopens on 2 May A landmark exhibition bringing historical context to today’s ‘selfie culture’ with an illuminating overview of 300 years of self-portraiture will launch the reopening of the RWA’s magnificent galleries following a £4.1m transformation. The exhibition features over 80 works by major artists such as Sir Joshua Reynolds, Angelica Kauffman, Élizabeth Louise Vigéé Le Brun, Madame Yevonde and Lucian Freud, presented alongside modern and contemporary works by artists including Grayson Perry, Sonia Boyce, Tracey Emin, Tony Bevan, Antony Gormley, Harold Offeh, Zineb Sedira and Gillian Wearing. • rwa.org.uk Image: A computer-generated image of the exterior of the RWA’s refurbishment
Exhibitions at Arnolfini, throughout April
The ephemeral sounds of melodious Zen bells chiming on trees, enchanting pond lily ceramics and the mesmerising sight of the potter’s wheel are all features of this year’s festival. New sculptors include Simon Probyn, Sonya Wilkins and Geoff Hannis. Visitors will be able to view and buy sculpture, enjoy demonstrations of willow weaving, pottery and woodworking and take a tour of the garden which will be full of spring flowers. Admission: Adults £10. Free to Friends of the Garden, school age children, university staff and students.
Arnolfini welcomes you to venture into the extraordinary imagination of Dame Paula Rego RA, one of the leading figurative artists of our generation. Rego makes a welcome return to Bristol (almost 40 years after her first exhibition here in 1982-83), creating an opportunity for a new generation of visitors to explore the artist’s rich and imaginative world. Elsewhere at the gallery, Arnolfini is currently showing CUEVA DE COPAL, a new and immersive site-specific installation by Donna Huanca, a celebrated, rising star of the international art world. Drawing on painting, sculpture, performance, choreography, video, and sensory interventions, Huanca’s interdisciplinary practice focuses upon the human body, exploring our physical relationship to the world around us. Huanca builds her experiential installations around the architecture of each new site, with CUEVA DE COPAL plunging audiences into a cocoon-like space. Award-winning documentary photographer, Polly Braden, in her latest exhibition, Holding the Baby, creates a portrait of the strength and resilience of single parent families facing austerity.
• botanic-garden.bristol.ac.uk
• arnolfini.org.uk
Image: Sunflower On Stem by Kilburn Renee
Image from Polly Braden’s exhibition, Holding the Baby. Image courtesy of Polly Braden
Easter Scu[pture Festival, University of Bristol Botanical Gardens, 15 – 18 April
30 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE
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APRIL 2022
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No 209
