look book

wouldn't it be nice

Wouldn't it be nice...Wishful thinking in art and design is a major new exhibition at Somerset House, London. It's supposed to be a humorous antidote to the cynicism surrounding contemporary art so should be fun.

damien hirst is minted

I'm not sure I like Damien Hirst's stuff. Those pickled animals make me a bit queesy and seem to have been knocking about for years. Which is why he probably decided to off-load it all at one auction. Still can't quite believe he made £111m out of it though. Read about it here.

Image via BBC

olafur eliasson

Remember the giant, mesmerising sun that lit up the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern a few years ago?  Well architect/designer/philosopher/scientist Olafur Elliason's latest project is even bigger and more surreal.  He has created a series of huge, self-propelling waterfalls along the East River in New York. Read about it in Observer Magazine.

Images via Observer Magazine

venus von willendorf

Isn't she gorgeous? And she's about 25,000 year's old. Read more about her here.

Image via The Natural History Museum Vienna

sculpture

"Sculpture has never had a dark age. It has always been there, in every society, in every corner of the world. Because it's the most critical art. The one we can't do without."  So says the presenter of Channel 4's The Sculpture Diaries which begins this Sunday 31st August. I'm not sure whether it's my favourite art-form but above is my favourite sculpture - Epstein's gorgeous 'Jacob and the Angel'.

Image via The Tate

cy twombly

Cy Twombly is the subject of a major retrospective at Tate Modern. Puerile scribble or one of the greatest artists of our time? Andrew Graham-Dixon attempts to persuade a skeptical Mark Kermode of his brilliance on the BBC's Culture Show.

keep calm gallery

New prints at the Keep Calm Gallery.

jimena

I don't know who painted this. It's from an old leaflet advertising a fiesta in Jimena, the Spanish town where my mum used to have a house. Great colours.

vilhelm hammershøi

'Dust Motes Dancing in the Sunlight' has to be one of the loveliest titles for a painting. The Royal Academy of Arts is currently showing 60 paintings by introspective Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershøi whose favourite subject was the interior of his own Copenhagen apartment.

jonathan yeo

This painting by Jonathan Yeo is of his wife Sheba Ronay. I think it's beautiful. It's a bit battered because I've carried it around for so many years.