RA Magazine's pick of this week’s art events (29 Mar-4 Apr)

Phyllida Barlow
Contemporary Arts Society, until 16 April 2013
We recently reported on the opening of the Contemporary Arts Society’s new Carmody Groarke-designed exhibition space, which allows the charity to present artworks recently acquired by the charity for museums and galleries.

_{Phyllida Barlow, 20 March - 16 April 2013. Recently gifted work by the Contemporary Art Society at 59 Central Street along with selected work from Nottingham Castle Museum’s collection by Nigel Shafran and Richard Wentworth. Photo: Joe Plommer.}

Currently on display are three characteristically playful works by Phyllida Barlow RA that have recently been donated to Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery, including two drawings and the wheel-mounted sculpture Untitled: Disaster III, a conglomeration of detritus from the Royal Academician’s larger works. A small selection of works from the museum’s modern and contemporary collections is on view alongside Barlow’s pieces.

Bernadette Corporation/ The Independent Group
ICA, until 16 June 2013‏
Two interesting shows opened at London’s ICA this week, both of which focus on art groups: the collective Bernadette Corporation, founded by young artists in 1990s New York and still active today, and the Independent Group, the famous 1950s association of British artists, designers and writers that – with members like Eduardo Paolozzi RA, Richard Hamilton and James Stirling RA – pioneered radical developments in the post-war arts scene.

_{Bernadette Corporation: 2000 Wasted Years. Installation view, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK. 27 March 2013 - 9 June 2013. Photography Mark Blower.}

The latter exhibition celebrates 60 years since the seminal Independent Group show ‘Parallel of Art & Life’ was staged at the ICA. Although presented here in separate exhibitions, the works of the two groups share many of the same concerns, such as the breaking of boundaries between different artistic disciplines and the embrace of advertising as a subject for art.

In Cloud Country
Harewood House, until 30 June 2013
During spring and summer each year, an increasing number of historic houses are staging enlightened art exhibitions. The shows more often than not feature modern and contemporary works, to act as a
counterpoint to the centuries-old environments in which they are presented.

_{Norman Ackroyd, 'Garden Steps', 1997. Etching, Harewood House Trust. Copyright of Norman Ackroyd.}

Iwona Blazwick, curator of London’s Whitechapel Gallery, selects the work for the lengthily titled ‘In Cloud Country: Abstracting from Nature – From John Constable to Rachel Whiteread’ at Harewood House, which opens this Friday. The second element of the title is the most relevant, as Blazwick chooses artists who emphasise the abstract appearance of natural forms, from Romatic-era watercolourist John Sell Cotman, who captured the fall of light so sumptuously, to Whiteread’s contemporary casts that resemble Arts & Crafts tracery.

Royal Academicians at Hatfield House
Hatfield House, 30 March — 29 September 2013
Hatfield House, in similar style, showcases the sculpture of six contemporary Royal Academicians from this weekend: Ann Christopher, Michael Craig-Martin, Richard Deacon, Gary Hume and Alison Wilding, as well as Bill Woodrow, who curates the exhibition. If you haven’t watched it yet, click here to see a behind-the-scenes video preview of the show.

_{Gary Hume RA, with his sculpture 'Bud', 2011. English limestone, 177 x 26 x 26 cm. Credit: Geraint Lewis.}

Moore Rodin
Perry Green, until 27 October 2013
And, finally, a reminder that from today the Henry Moore Foundation compares two modern masters of sculpture: Moore and Auguste Rodin.

_{Rodin in his studio in Meudon, c.1881, with 'The Kiss'. Photo Musée Rodin, Paris.}

On view until autumn, this show of both artists’ work – set in the grounds of the hamlet Perry Green, Moore’s former home – looks worth the trip to Hertfordshire wherever you are based. One of my favourite articles in the last issue of RA Magazine was Richard Cork’s interview with sculptor Anthony Caro RA about the two inspirational artists, so click here to whet your appetite.

Sam Phillips is a London-based arts journalist and contributor to RA Magazine

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