ARTS & 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

Easter Scu[pture Festival, University of Bristol Botanical Gardens, 15 –18 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.

• botanic-garden.bristol.ac.uk

Exhibitions at Arnolfini, throughout April

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.

• arnolfini.org.uk

Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience, Propyard, from 9 April

This April, Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience, a 360 degree digital art experience, will launch in Bristol following hugely successful runs across London, Europe, America and Asia. The exhibit invites visitors to step into more than 300 of Van Gogh’s sketches, drawings, and paintings by using floor-to-ceiling digital projections, made possible by state-of-the-art video mapping technology. As well as a 20,000 square foot light and sound spectacular featuring two-story projections of the artist’s most compelling works, the exhibition also includes a one-of-a-kind VR experience in a separate gallery. This multi-sensory experience guides the viewer through a ten-minute journey on “a day in the life of the artist”, providing a chance to discover the inspiration behind some of his most beloved works including Vincent’s Bedroom at Arles, and Starry Night Over The Rhone River.

• vangoghexpo.com

Homecoming: New Paintings by Sally Stafford, Clifton Contemporary Art, 14 April –13 May

The wetlands of the Somerset Levels have harboured wildlife and people for millennia. They resonate with myths, bird calls and the prevailing South West wind. It is this exposed yet sheltering place that Sally chooses to embrace and paint, after some years dividing her time between the UK and rural Spain. Returning to England to experience every season has been an inspiring creative homecoming, where the interaction of her paints on canvas mimic the flow and patterns of nature. Sally's latest work harnesses the energy of this quietly dramatic phenomenon, which is itself a daily homecoming – a return to safe haven before the sun rises again. This deeply personal, life affirming new collection encapsulates the true essence of the Avalon Marshes, where water and air interact like a form of alchemy to create something precious: a timeless sense of place.

• cliftoncontemporaryart.co.uk Image: Alchemy by Sally Stafford

International Photography Exhibition 164: call for entries, Royal Photographic Society, open for entries until 17 May

The Royal Photographic Society is delighted to announce the 2022 call for entries for the 164th edition of the International Photography Exhibition (IPE 164). The world’s longest running photography exhibition celebrates contemporary photography from across the globe. The open call welcomes submissions from new, emerging, and established photographers of all ages and working in any subject or genre. New approaches, alternative photographic processes and experimental work is encouraged. Selected photographers will be offered exclusive opportunities. A £4,000 prize fund will be awarded to standout entrants, including the IPE Award, Under 30s Award and a £1250 commission to create new work. 100 images, chosen by a guest selection panel, will form a group exhibition at the Royal Photographic Society, UK in January 2023. Selected photographers will also be featured in the award-winning _RPS Journal_ and across the RPS digital channels. Entry is free for one image, and up to four images can be submitted for £18 – £30, as a series or as individual images.

• rps.org

Image: Yevhen Samuchenko

Expert opinion

From Chris Yeo, Valuer at Clevedon Salerooms and regular expert on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow

Mid-Century Magic

The world of antiques never stands still, markets are always on the move. A great many people fall into the trap of thinking that their vintage treasures will be as valuable today (or, hopefully, more so) as the day they bought them, but the truth is antiques are as much at the mercy of fashion’s fickle finger as a hemline or hairstyle (for those of you lucky enough to still have hair). Like Isaac Newton’s apple, what goes up probably will at some point come down. One of the upsides of this evershifting situation, however, is things which previous generations wrote off as rubbish can suddenly become highly desirable. Step forward ‘MidCentury’. One of the biggest trends to emerge over the last decade, Mid-Century Modernism (to give it it’s full moniker) has emerged from nowhere to become the in-thing, with some pieces achieving a level of excitement previously reserved for Thomas Chippendale and his ilk, despite being a mere sixty or so years old.

As the name suggests, the Mid-Century style dates from the middle decades of the 20thcentury, roughly from the mid-1940s to the late 1960s. Rather like Art Deco, the name was coined long after the period in question. When it first appeared, our parents and grandparents knew it as Contemporary, and it influenced everything from the shape of a sofa to the pattern on your bedroom curtains. Heavily influenced by Scandinavia, this stylish, pared down look was taken up by manufacturers at the more affordable – as well as the top end - of the market. Good quality and well-designed, these pieces can be picked up at reasonable prices while still ticking all the boxes for style and quality. Ercol fits firmly into this category. Established by Italian émigré Lucian Ercolani, the family-run firm revolutionised the home furniture market in the 1950s. Today its spindly, Shakerinspired designs are back in vogue, leading to some very healthy prices at auction. At Clevedon Salerooms a good-looking Ercol room divider in light elm recently sold for a very respectable £700. ■ • clevedonsalerooms.com; @chrisyeo_antiques (Instagram) ➲