Simon Coates

2 weeks ago | observer.com | Simon Coates

Noah Davis, 1975 (8), 2013. Photo: Kerry McFate © The Estate of Noah Davis, Courtesy The Estate of Noah Davis and David ZwirnerIt wasn’t the California wildfires that closed down the Underground Museum in Los Angeles; it was grief. In a heartbreaking announcement posted on the museum’s website this past January, the artist Karon Davis, Noah Davis’ wife, explained why her family closed the art space the couple founded in 2012.

3 weeks ago | observer.com | Simon Coates

An installation view of “Linder: Danger Came Smiling” at the Hayward Gallery. Simon Coates for ObserverWhen U.K. punk band the Buzzcocks were looking for cover art for their 1977 Orgasm Addict single, twenty-three-year-old Linda Mulvey had just completed a graphic design degree at Manchester Polytechnic. The band settled on one of Mulvey’s untitled photomontages for their cover—a naked female torso with a steam iron instead of a head.

1 month ago | observer.com | Simon Coates

Tarsila do Amaral, Lake, 1928. Photo by Jaime Acioli, copyright Tarsila do AmaralBrazilian Modernism in art was born out of nationalistic pride. Isolated from contemporary international creative developments until the early 1910s, Brazilian art traditionally revolved around religious iconography, portraiture and landscapes. Brazilian art academies were fiercely protectionist, viewing any new international art movement as radical and, therefore, at odds with their country’s traditions.

2 months ago | observer.com | Simon Coates

An installation view of “Japanese Art History à la Takashi Murakami” at Gagosian in Grosvenor Hill, London. Courtesy the artist and GagosianThe star of Takashi Murakami’s new London show is Rakuchū-Rakugai-zu Byōbu: Iwasa Matabei RIP. At over thirteen meters long and three meters high, the artwork’s source material is a 17th-century mural depiction of daily life in Kyoto.

2 months ago | observer.com | Simon Coates

Sadler’s Wells Theatre’s new London site, Sadler’s Wells East, is committed to fostering new ideas in dance and performance. Photo: Johan PerssonAfter discovering natural springs on his land in the Islington area of North London in the eighteenth century, Richard Sadler opened his gardens to the public and allowed them to sample the mineral water from the wells he’d built.