It’s officially the beginning of a new academic year! After a seemingly-endless summer away, university has brought the student body back to reality—and with it, a myriad of newfound hopes and ideas for what’s to come, in a year that will (fingers crossed) be better than its predecessor.
For the luckier ones of us, the upcoming weeks will consist of energy-filled catch up sessions with friends and getting used to the new Campus dynamic. However, many others are still living a quasi-quarantine lifestyle. You may be staying in a country where lockdown measures still prevail; you may be waiting for your isolation period to end; or you may be too germophobic to leave the house regardless (with good reason).
In any case, we all know by now that online entertainment has its limits, and one could really use some proper food for thought once the sugar rush of social media has worn off. Because of this, I’ve compiled an updated list of online art exhibitions to look into this month. If you’re missing museums, take this as an opportunity to turn your senses back on and tune back into cultural experiences—they will always have a lot to offer, even at a distance.
1. Home Slice, Chandran Gallery
Born as an online companion to the “Slices” exhibition at Chandran Gallery in New York, “Home Slice” is a journey of introspection through tranquil, domestic scenes. The titles to both shows were derived from the term “a slice of life”, and create beautiful storytelling through Jean Jullien’s painted depictions of daily routines, family moments, and ethereal landscapes.
“With painting, I enjoy trying to tell more, to visually translate moments. The time told is longer, the action less immediate, the point less important… Like the coming of Spring that I have enjoyed watching in the day to day blossoming of our neighbor’s’ fig tree.” –Jean Jullien, artist
You can view the exhibition at: https://www.homeslice.show/
2. Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud), Christie’s
Much has been said about the underrepresentation of POC in creative industries, especially in the wake of BLM mobilization throughout the past few months. This online selling exhibition by art auction giant Christie’s (on view July 31-August 18) comes as a breath of fresh air, celebrating 22 young and emerging artists from across Africa and its diaspora. The result is a beautiful collection of artworks depicting the essence of racial identity and POC experiences; its curator, Destinee Ross-Sutton, made it a point to focus the exhibition on portraiture, in order to promote self-affirmation and support a genuinely amplified voice and presence of Black people in fine art.
As an exhibition, Say It Loud was revolutionary in itself: with the sale taking place online, 100% of the sale price of each work went to its respective artist. This was a wide first step for Christie’s, in a long-due commitment to the use of its institutional power for a change in the art world status quo.
You can view a selection of highlights at: https://www.christies.com/features/Say-It-Loud-10824-7.aspx?sc_lang=en&lid=1
You can still enter the online viewing room at: https://exhibitatour.com/Christies/SayitLoud/index.htm#media=1
The truth is, Google Arts & Culture is no secret to any art lover that has been left alone with the Internet since lockdown first began. However, it’s undeniably the best online location to view exhibitions from leading museums and galleries of the world. With thousands of links to explore, Google A&C has enough quality content for years of isolation.
While you can definitely get lost in Google’s artistic encyclopedia, here is my selection of recently trending themes, which you can explore through in-depth articles, virtual exhibitions, and media.
The Fall of the Iron Curtain: https://artsandculture.google.com/project/fall-of-the-iron-curtain
We Wear Culture: https://artsandculture.google.com/project/we-wear-culture
Meet the Royal Academy: https://artsandculture.google.com/project/meet-the-royal-academy
What is Contemporary Art?: https://artsandculture.google.com/project/contemporary-art
50 Years of Pride: https://artsandculture.google.com/project/pride
4. Apertura 2020: Madrid Gallery Weekend, online
Due to this year’s unprecedented circumstances, Arte Madrid (the city’s largest association of art galleries), has adapted its Gallery Weekend agenda by offering 3D virtual exhibition viewings, in partnership with artland.com. This limited-time offer (only available until September 26) is a golden opportunity to explore the 48 exhibitions that have simultaneously opened up, marking the beginning of Madrid’s art season.
Although your living room might not resemble the lively streets of Madrid’s art districts, you can save yourself the exhaustion of an intense gallery hopping afternoon, as well as the queues to meet this year’s limited capacity restrictions… every cloud has a silver lining!
You can view the galleries at: https://www.artland.com/arte-madrid
5. Andy Warhol, Tate Modern London
In the first Warhol exhibition at Tate Modern in almost 20 years, the museum explores the pop-culture icon through the lens of his immigrant story, his LGBTQI identity and his personal and artistic concerns with death and religion. The exhibition offers an in-depth view of Warhol’s full artistic career, and his creation of a movement that responded directly to his immediate social context—New York in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s—of profound change.
Tate Modern’s website allows you to access the curators’ guide for this exhibition, offering an explanation to each room’s thematic composition, and accompanied by a visual tour on its YouTube channel.
You can access the guide and tour at: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/andy-warhol/exhibition-guide
6. HOFA’s Private Viewing Rooms
If you want to take your online art-viewing experience one step further, the HOFA (House of Fine Art) Gallery offers the possibility of accessing private viewing rooms; all you need to do is sign up to their mailing list, which includes a feed of exclusive features, virtual reality exhibitions, and immersive content.
The HOFA Gallery is based in London, Los Angeles, and Mykonos, and specializes in emerging contemporary artists. In, 2018 HOFA was the first art gallery in the world to make their entire collection available in cryptocurrency.
You can see HOFA’s selection of viewing rooms at: https://thehouseoffineart.com/viewing-room/
