All tagged Mendes Wood MD
Vojtěch Kovařík’s exhibition ‘The Labours of Hercules’ at Mendes Wood DM tells the story of one of art history’s most frequently illustrated iconographical subjects. Although the title alludes to the 12 tasks carried out by the classical hero Hercules as penitence for having killed his wife and children – after his stepmother, Hera, turned him temporarily insane – only one of the 12 paintings on display directly references its subject (Hercules Dips his Arrows in the Hydra’s Poisonous Black Blood, all works 2023). In marked contrast to the exalted attitudes of most representations of the scene, Kovařík does not depict Hercules triumphantly in medias res. Rather, the viewer is treated to a quiet, even melancholic portrayal. The massive, marble-white figure of Hercules is almost too big to be contained within the picture frame, and there is a look of forlorn concentration on the hero’s face.
The return of Paris’s Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain (FIAC) after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19 was met with much trepidation. Despite the strong showing at this month’s Frieze Week in London and the relative success of online sales—which have become an absolute necessity for many galleries over the past year and a half—a mid-year review by Dr. Clare McAndrew on “Resilience in the Dealer Sector” found that French galleries had suffered a 6% decrease in sales due to COVID-19 restrictions, various new regulatory constraints (including the fallout from Brexit), and even political uncertainty, as the 2022 French presidential race begins to gear up. According to the report, over half (58%) of galleries from the major European markets of Spain, France, and Germany were skeptical about their chances of growth this year. However, the mood at FIAC’s VIP opening on Wednesday was one of cautious optimism that seemed to persist and evolve into a mixture of lukewarm satisfaction and even relief as the fair’s 47th edition drew large crowds to the Grand Palais Éphémère up through its closing on Sunday.
