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1 week ago | 
observer.com | Simon Coates
José María Velasco, The Goatherd of San Angel, 1861. Francisco Kochen, Museo Nacional de Arte INBAL Mexico City Reproduccion autorizada por el Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y LiteraturaOutside of Mexico, José María Velasco’s artwork is sparsely represented. Prague’s National Gallery owns a couple of his pieces, and there’s a painting from his Valley of Mexico series in the Vatican Museum. And that’s about it.
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2 weeks ago | 
thewire.co.uk | Simon Coates
June 2025 Simon Coates compiles an annotated playlist to go with his report on Dhaka’s underground music scenes in The Wire 497 The experimental music and sound work coming out of Dhaka is driven forward by three key sensations: anger, frustration and resolve. Everything is politicised in Bangladesh. Every element of day-to-day life is somehow touched by social and economic policies.
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1 month ago | 
observer.com | Simon Coates
Kara Walker, Fons Americanus, 2019. Photo © Tate (Matt Greenwood)The first time Maman appeared at the Tate Modern gallery in London, she wasn’t supposed to be the central attraction. Louise Bourgeois’s enormous bronze spider was part of a larger installation entitled “I Do, I Undo and I Redo,” commissioned to mark the opening of what has become one of the world’s most visited fine art galleries.
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2 months ago | 
medium.com | Simon Coates
It started in the late 1950s. Taking their cue from jive-talking U.S. radio presenters, Jamaican sound system DJs expanded their duties from introducing the next tune to adding their own rhyming couplets on top of blue beat and early R&B instrumentals. Crowds loved the clever patter and the DJs (or MCs) began including cultural references and political comments in their rhymes.
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2 months 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.
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2 months 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.
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Mar 17, 2025 | 
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.
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Feb 6, 2025 | 
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.
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Jan 27, 2025 | 
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.
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Jan 27, 2025 | 
grammy.com | Simon Coates
Jordan AdetunjiThe rising UK star's breakout hit "KEHLANI" earned him a GRAMMY nomination for Best Melodic Rap Performance alongside the singer herself. Ahead of the 2025 GRAMMYs, Adetunji detailed why his global smash is only a taste of what he has in store. |GRAMMYs/Jan 27, 2025 - 04:03 pmThe 2025 GRAMMYs, officially known as the 67th GRAMMY Awards, will air live on CBS and Paramount+ on Sunday, Feb. 2. Watch highlights from the 2025 GRAMMYs on live.GRAMMY.com.
