art review Archives - COOLCURATION

May 24, 2026 — No Comments

Christo Air Review: Gagosian’s Lost Cloud Lands in London

Last updated: 23 May 2026

By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

Cool Factor: 4/5

Some shows you walk through. This one you stand inside. Our Christo Air review covers the moment a lost 1968 idea finally turns real, suspended just above your head in a Mayfair gallery. Christo: Air opened at Gagosian on Grosvenor Hill on 21 May 2026, and it centres on a single, glowing cloud that the artist never lived to see built. Below, we unpack what genuinely works, what falls a little short, and whether this Christo Air review lands the show among the capital's must-see exhibitions this summer.

Published by Tristan in Arts & Culture, Exhibitions, Reviews

Tags: Air Package on a Ceiling, art review, Christo, Christo Air, Exhibition review, Gagosian, London exhibitions

May 23, 2026 — No Comments

Stubbs: Portrait of a Horse Review – National Gallery 2026

Last updated: 23 May 2026

By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

This Stubbs Portrait of a Horse review follows a slow afternoon spent in Room 1 of the National Gallery, where one of British painting's rarest masterpieces is on free display until 31 May 2026. Indeed, this is a small show with a huge centrepiece. Above all, it offers a once-in-a-generation chance to see Scrub, a bay horse belonging to the Marquess of Rockingham, a 1762 portrait that has only ever appeared in public once before. So if British painting, animal art, or sheer ambition on canvas interests you in any way, do not skip this one.

Cool Factor: 4/5

Published by Tristan in Arts & Culture, Exhibitions, Reviews

Tags: anatomy of the horse, art review, eighteenth century painting, equine art, Exhibition review, free exhibition, George Stubbs, London exhibition, National Gallery, Scrub, Stubbs, Whistlejacket

May 18, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Milly Thompson Aroma Venus Review: A Posthumous Triumph at Amanda Wilkinson Gallery

Last updated: 10 May 2026

By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice. This post contains a small number of affiliate links in the related-content section at the bottom, none of which influence the review itself.

Cool Factor: 5/5 Ice cold

The Milly Thompson Aroma Venus show at Amanda Wilkinson Gallery is, hands down, the warmest, wittiest, most quietly furious thing I have walked into in London this year. It is also posthumous, so going in I was a bit nervous. I needn't have been. Aroma Venus is exactly the kind of glamorous, slippery, unapologetic exhibition Milly would have hung herself, and it left me beaming and slightly teary on Farringdon Road. If you have a free afternoon before 23 May 2026, just go.

Published by Tristan in Art Lovers, Arts & Culture, Exhibitions, Reviews

Tags: Amanda Wilkinson Gallery, Aroma Venus, art review, BANK collective, contemporary British painting, Exhibition review, female gaze, London exhibitions, Milly Thompson, opinion

May 15, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

David Zwirner London Review: Five Minimalist Masters 2026

Last updated: 15 May 2026

By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

Five names, one Mayfair townhouse, and a quietly precise group hang. This David Zwirner London review covers Flavin, Judd, McCracken, Ryman, Sandback, on view at 24 Grafton Street until 22 May 2026. Although the artists are familiar, the way David Zwirner has threaded them together is genuinely fresh. So if you've ever wondered what colour itself can do as a material, this is the show to see.

Cool Factor: 4/5

Published by Tristan in Art Lovers, Artists, Arts & Culture, Exhibitions, Reviews

Tags: art review, Dan Flavin, David Zwirner, David Zwirner London, Donald Judd, Exhibition review, Fred Sandback, John McCracken, London exhibitions, Mayfair galleries, Minimalism, minimalist art, Robert Ryman

May 3, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Katharina Grosse at White Cube Bermondsey Review

Last updated: 3 May 2026

By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

Cool Factor

★★★★★

5 out of 5 – Ice cold

Katharina Grosse at White Cube Bermondsey is, hand on heart, the most spectacular free exhibition currently on in London. I Set Out, I Walked Fast opened on 22 April 2026 and runs until 31 May, and it delivers something genuinely rare: a show that is immersive, generous, and varied enough that you walk back out onto Bermondsey Street feeling slightly rearranged. We visited this week, and we have a lot to say about it.

Published by Tristan in Arts & Culture, Exhibitions, Reviews

Tags: abstract painting, art review, Contemporary art, free London exhibitions, immersive art, Katharina Grosse, London exhibitions 2026, White Cube, White Cube Bermondsey

April 30, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Ruba Nadar at Pipeline: ‘I Saw Myself Playing on The National Team’ Review

Last updated: 30 April 2026

By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

Cool Factor

★★★★☆

4 out of 5 – Stone cold

The best reason to climb several flights of stairs on a weekday afternoon is the possibility of a genuine discovery. Ruba Nadar's first solo exhibition at Pipeline Contemporary is exactly that. Running until 23 May 2026, I Saw Myself Playing on The National Team is a debut that announces an artist with real conviction, curated by someone who, show by show, is becoming one of the more interesting voices on London's emerging art scene.

Published by Tristan in Arts & Culture, Exhibitions, London, Reviews

Tags: art review, collage, Contemporary art, emerging artists, Fitzrovia galleries, London exhibitions 2026, mixed media painting, Pipeline Contemporary, Ruba Nadar

April 10, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Chiharu Shiota & Yin Xiuzhen Hayward Gallery Review 2026 – Worth It?

Last updated: 10 April 2026

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

Our Chiharu Shiota Hayward review covers two concurrent exhibitions at the Hayward Gallery on London's Southbank: Threads of Life and Yin Xiuzhen's Heart to Heart. For £19 you get entry to both shows, and honestly, that felt like a steal. One of these exhibitions left us speechless. The other left us a little lukewarm. Together, they make for a genuinely memorable afternoon.

Cool Factor: Chiharu Shiota — 5/5 | Yin Xiuzhen — 3/5

Published by Tristan in Art Lovers, Artists, Arts & Culture, Reviews

Tags: art review, Chiharu Shiota, Contemporary art, Hayward Gallery, Heart to Heart, immersive art, London exhibitions, Southbank Centre, Threads of Life, Yin Xiuzhen

March 23, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Conceptual Art and Christine Kozlov at Raven Row Review

Last updated: 22 March 2026

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

Cool Factor: 3/5

The Christine Kozlov Raven Row exhibition is a sprawling deep dive into the work and world of one of conceptual art's most overlooked figures. Housed in the gorgeous 18th-century rooms of Raven Row gallery in Spitalfields, Conceptual Art and Christine Kozlov brings together an expansive collection of Kozlov's output alongside works by her peers, including On Kawara, Lawrence Weiner, Joseph Kosuth, and Art & Language. It's free, it's ambitious, and it's open until 26 April 2026. But does it hold together as a show? Our honest verdict below.

Published by Tristan in Art Lovers, Artists, Arts & Culture, Reviews

Tags: Art & Language, art review, Christine Kozlov, conceptual art, free London gallery, Lawrence Weiner, London exhibitions, On Kawara, Raven Row, Spitalfields

December 6, 2025 — Comments are off for this post.

Howard Hodgkin at Pitzhanger Manor Review: A Detailed Look at the London Exhibition

The Howard Hodgkin Pitzhanger review has already attracted significant interest from London art audiences, and it is clear why. This exhibition, set within the refined Georgian architecture of Pitzhanger Manor, offers a particularly clear reading of Hodgkin’s distinctive approach to colour, memory and emotional temperature. Rather than functioning simply as a showcase of major works, the show uses the character of the building itself to shape a more intimate encounter with Hodgkin’s practice.

Where large retrospectives often expand outward, this exhibition tightens the focus. Viewers move through a sequence of carefully paced rooms, each one revealing a different aspect of Hodgkin’s language of abstraction. The result is an exhibition that feels steady, well considered and quietly resonant.

Published by Stiv in Art Lovers, Artists, London, Reviews, Travel lover

Tags: abstraction, art review, contemporary painting, Howard Hodgkin, London art exhibitions, Pitzhanger Manor