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Simon Coates

Simon Coates

Observer

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David Cleaton-Roberts On Editions, Authenticity and Printmaking’s Place

“I am always advocating for prints to be seen as important artworks in their own right,” he told Observer.

16.03.2026 3

Observer

Simon Coates

Meet the Collector: Marques Redd On Stewardship, Memory and Collecting Beyond Value

The Redd Family Collection is, he tells Observer, "a river of memory carrying Black artistic vision forward into the present.”

16.02.2026 90

Observer

Simon Coates

Joseph Wright of Derby’s Theater of Enlightenment at London’s National Gallery

The exhibition focuses on the period when the artist used concentrated sources of light to create atmosphere and build anticipation.

16.12.2025 8

Observer

Simon Coates

Cultural Memory and the Concept of Country in “Emily Kam Kngwarray” at Tate Modern

This is artwork that can lift the lowest of spirits.

14.11.2025 4

Observer

Simon Coates

At Tate Britain, Edward Burra and Ithell Colquhoun Are a Two-for-One Deal

Dual exhibitions trace how Britain’s 20th-century artists engaged with myth, sexuality and politics on their own terms.

28.08.2025 6

Observer

Simon Coates

‘Connecting Thin Black Lines 1985–2025’ at ICA London Is a Stark Reminder of What Has—and Hasn’t—Changed

The urgency of Lubaina Himid’s original curatorial mission remains painfully relevant.

05.08.2025 10

Observer

Simon Coates

Courtauld Gallery’s ‘Abstract Erotic’ Revisits Structural Sexuality in Sculpture

At times more coy than carnal, works by Louise Bourgeois, Eva Hesse and Alice Adams explore eroticism through ambiguity, restraint and form.

02.08.2025 10

Observer

Simon Coates

José María Velasco’s Mexico Glows at London’s National Gallery

The exhibition offers a rare opportunity for U.K. audiences to engage with one of Latin America’s most influential painters.

18.06.2025 5

Observer

Simon Coates

Looking Back at 25 Years of Tate Turbine Hall Commissions

From Doris Salcedo’s 'Shibboleth' to Kara Walker’s anti-imperial fountain, the commissions have frequently challenged viewers to reckon with...

17.05.2025 5

Observer

Simon Coates

Noah Davis’ Legacy Lives On in the Barbican’s Poignant Retrospective

An entire room of this moving survey is dedicated to the late artist's now-shuttered Underground Museum.

07.04.2025 9

Observer

Simon Coates

Linder in London: Charting a Course from Buzzcocks Provocateur to Brit Art Treasure

The artist's largest retrospective to date at the Hayward Gallery charts a fierce, decades-long practice that blends photomontage, punk feminism and...

02.04.2025 8

Observer

Simon Coates

The Royal Academy’s “Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism” Is a Mixed Bag

This decades-spanning survey offers insight into the development of Brazilian artistic identity but lacks verve.

17.03.2025 10

Observer

Simon Coates

Don’t Miss: ‘Japanese Art History à la Takashi Murakami’ at Gagosian

Being sniffy about this exhibition would be like telling a kitten off for being cute.

06.02.2025 9

Observer

Simon Coates

Inside London’s Vibrant New Dance Theater

As the U.K. arts scene suffers crisis after crisis, Sadler’s Wells is expanding its commitment to new ideas in dance and performance.

27.01.2025 8

Observer

Simon Coates

An Empire of Splendor: What to Expect at ‘The Great Mughals’ in London

This major exhibition at the V&A assembles a dizzying array of objects and artwork commissioned by the era's most famous emperors to tell the story of...

23.01.2025 6

Observer

Simon Coates

Lightmachines, Digital Realities and the Art of Technological Nostalgia at Tate Modern

“Electric Dreams,” a show of work by early innovators of optical, kinetic, programmed and digital art, is prescient at its best and...

10.01.2025 6

Observer

Simon Coates

Artist Hew Locke Confronts Colonialism at the British Museum

Hew Locke visits the British Museum in preparation for his exhibition. Richard Cannon “What have we here?” is the fruit of two years of Guyanese-...

23.12.2024 10

Observer

Simon Coates