Arts news

Doll for love: an artist’s stitched tribute to his heroes – in pictures

08-07-2023 18:00

Artist and musician John Lee Bird started making dolls when chronic spinal problems prevented him from painting. He felt “like an alien far removed from my own existence due to the pain I was in”. When he found some sheets of felt in his desk drawer, Bird decided to make a Low-era David Bowie doll, appropriate to his mood. “When I started stitching, the little movements were soothing, and having to focus helped me ignore my suffering.” Three years and more than 1,000 doll

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‘It was one of the most beautiful sunrises I’ve ever seen’: Dominika Koszowska’s best phone picture

08-07-2023 11:00

Would wind and fog stop the PhD student getting the shot she was after?Dominika Koszowska is a self-confessed night owl but she had woken up extra early that morning with the goal of capturing the sunrise. The photographer, who is studying for a PhD at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, Poland, was visiting the Faroe Islands with her friend Michal.“The weather outside our rented cottage wasn’t encouraging; it was grey and gloomy, but we decided to head for the Skeidhsskardh mounta

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Thunderclap: A Memoir of Art and Life & Sudden Death by Laura Cumming review – up in smoke

08-07-2023 08:30

The critic explains her fascination with Carel Fabritius, whose studio was destroyed in a 17th-century explosionIn 1654 a gunpowder store exploded in Delft, taking a quarter of the city with it. The cause was carelessness rather than anything sinister, unless you were a particularly keen member of the strict Dutch Reformed Church, in which case you might believe that God was coming for you. Most likely a cack-handed caretaker let a spark fly from his lantern, and the whole thing went up in a ban

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From Pixar’s Elemental to PJ Harvey: a complete guide to this week’s entertainment

08-07-2023 07:00

Whether it’s the newest animated crowdpleaser or the return of the daring singer-songwriter, our critics have you covered for the next seven daysElemental
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Does Pixar’s latest have the magic of Pixar movies at their best? In a word: no. But when you’re competing with the likes of Toy Story, Wall-E and 2022’s Turning Red (inexplicably shuffled straight to streaming and well worth tracking down) perhaps there’s no shame in being a serviceable and intermittently

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