Moon Is the Oldest TV review - a fitting tribute to a visionary modern artist

★★★★★ MOON IS THE OLDEST TV A fitting tribute to a visionary modern artist

Authoritative documentary that defines the genius of Nam June Paik

Who created the term “electronic superhighway”? First described a system of linked communication that would become the internet? Envisioned a multichannel TV system where viewers chose for themselves what to tune into? Watch Amanda Kim’s excellent documentary Moon Is the Oldest TV and you find that the correct answer to all those questions is Nam June Paik.

Hilma af Klint & Piet Mondrian: Forms of Life, Tate Modern review - the hidden depths of abstract art revealed

★★★★★ HILMA AF KLIMT & PIET MONDRIAN: FORMS OF LIFE, TATE MODERN The hidden depths of abstract art revealed 

A world famous modernist and a little known painter, two Titans of abstract art juxtaposed

In this juxtaposition of Piet Mondrian, a world famous modernist, and Hilma af Klint, a little known Swedish painter, guess who knocks your socks off ! This fascinating show is a delight and a revelation, because it declares the spiritualist underpinnings of modernism which many, until now, have sought to hide.

Magdalena Abakanowicz, Tate Modern review - a forest of huge and imposing presences

★★★★ MAGDALENA ABAKANOWICZ, TATE MODERN A forest of huge, imposing presences

Smell the sisal and feel small in the company of giant hangings

First off, I must confess that fibre or textile art makes me queasy. I don’t know why, but all that threading, knotting, twisting, coiling and winding gives me the creeps. So it’s all the more extraordinary that I was blown away by Magdalena Abakanowicz’s huge woven sculptures.

Remote review - an irredeemably silly first feature

★ REMOTE This ill-conceived 'art' movie about overcoming loneliness is irredeemably silly

An ill-conceived 'art' movie about overcoming loneliness

Remote is Mika Rottenberg’s first feature film. The New York-based artist was commissioned by Artangel, an organisation renowned for its promotion of interesting projects. Support also comes from art institutions across the world – Beijing, Denmark, Korea, Louisiana, Montreal and Stockholm. And to cap it all, the film is being premiered at Tate Modern during the week of Frieze, London’s major international art fair.

Surrealism Beyond Borders, Tate Modern review - a disappointing mish mash

★★★ SURREALISM BEYOND BORDERS, TATE MODERN  A disappointing mish mash

Too many followers, too few originators

The night after visiting Tate Modern’s Surrealism Beyond Borders I dreamt that a swarm of wasps had taken refuge inside my skull and I feared it would hurt when they nibbled their way out again.

Lubaina Himid, Tate Modern review – more explication please

★★★ LUBAINA HAMID, TATE MODERN Carnival of characters looking forwards and backwards

A carnival of characters looking forwards as well as backwards

Lubaina Himid won the Turner Prize in 2017 for the retrospective she held jointly at Modern Art, Oxford and Spike Island, Bristol. My review of those shows ended with the question: “Which gallery will follow the examples of Oxford and Bristol and offer Lubaina Himid the London retrospective she so richly deserves?”

Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Tate Modern review - a creative talent that knew no bounds

Jack of all trades and master of every one

Sophie Taeuber-Arp gave her work titles like Movement of Lines, yet there’s nothing dull about her drawings and paintings. In her hands, the simplest compositions sizzle with tension and dance with implied motion. Animated Circles 1934 (main picture), consists of blue, grey and black circles on a white ground. The off-kilter design makes them appear to shuffle, nudge, float or bounce; you feel light-hearted and light-headed just looking at them.

The Making of Rodin, Tate Modern review - surrealist tendencies

★★★★ THE MAKING OF RODIN, TATE MODERN Sculptor recast as a proto-modernist

The sculptor is recast as a proto-modernist in a show focused on works in plaster

Undoubtedly the strangest thing in this exhibition dedicated to Rodin’s works in plaster is a rendition of Balzac’s dressing gown, visibly hollow, but filled out nevertheless by the ghostly contours of an ample male form.