Simon Coates

3 weeks 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.

1 month 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.

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.

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.

2 months 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.