After 9/11, making art felt almost absurd - what could it possibly do in the face of catastrophe? Now the catastrophes have multiplied, but that question has oddly lost its urgency.
youtu.be/j-f4nV-odfY
#contemporaryart #artcriticism #artists #collectingart #artworld #politicalart
At what point does influence become theft? This week’s newsletter looks at that uneasy moment when an artist sees something in someone else’s work and wonders whether it was once theirs.
open.substack.com/pub/blackbir...
#BlackbirdRook #ContemporaryArt #ArtWorld #ArtistLife
Why are grown adults surrounding themselves with nursery aesthetics - and turning away from art that asks more of them?
A short film about softness, retreat and the strange emotional weather of now.
youtu.be/NMnCkNochzU?...
#ContemporaryArt #ArtWorld #VisualCulture #CulturalCommentary #BlackbirdRook
We are not short of wealth. We are short of any convincing idea of what the wealthy are for. Maybe patronage deserves another look.
blackbirdrook.substack.com/p/the-new-pa...
#ContemporaryArt #ArtCollectors #Patronage #CulturalCommentary #BlackbirdRook
The Satiric Grotesque is now live.
2 April - 3 May 2026
#BlackbirdRook #ContemporaryArt #ArtExhibition #Painting #AndiMagenheimer #BarryReigate #EricBanks #GeraldineSwayne #JeanineWoollard #JohnGreenwood #RebeccaParkin #RichardWathen #TomWorsfold #ZoeSpowage
www.artsy.net/show/blackbi...
I’ve just published the April edition of my Collector’s Note - a short monthly selection drawn from the wider group of works I’ve been sharing privately with collectors.
open.substack.com/pub/blackbir...
#contemporaryart #painting #artcollection #collector #artist
Do I have to pretend to like performance art?
#ContemporaryArt #PerformanceArt #ArtCriticism #BlackbirdRook #ArtWriting
youtube.com/playlist?lis...
For artists, time is not just hours in the day - it works differently. Serious work needs space, continuity and the absence of dread.
open.substack.com/pub/blackbir...
#substack #blackbirdrook #contemporaryart #artists #time
New works on paper by Justin Mortimer. These are not studies or leftovers, but works at the centre of his practice: raw, immediate, unsettled.
Available now: www.artsy.net/artist/justi...
#JustinMortimer #ContemporaryPainting #ContemporaryArt #ArtCollector #BritishPainting
In this video, I explore the art world’s habit of performing certainty - and what gets lost when confidence replaces honest judgement.
youtu.be/Xjj-6bVdnLo
#ContemporaryArt #ArtWorld #ArtCollecting #ArtAdvisor #Painting #ArtCriticism #Collectors #ContemporaryPainting #ArtMarket #BlackbirdRook
“Buy what you love” is repeated so often in the art world it has almost stopped meaning anything.
open.substack.com/pub/blackbir...
#ContemporaryArt #ArtCollecting #ArtCollector #ArtAdvisory #BlackbirdRook #ArtWorld #ArtMarket #Collecting #Painting #Substack #Collectors #ArtAdvisor
Artist and advisor, insider and sceptic, poacher turned gamekeeper.
youtube.com/playlist?lis...
#ArtWorld #ContemporaryArt #ArtAdvisor #ArtCollector #CollectingArt #ArtMarket #ArtistLife #Painting #ContemporaryPainting #ArtWriting #ArtCriticism #YouTubeArt #ArtChannel #ArtistsOnYouTube #ArtDealer
Has social media changed not just how we look at art, but what kind of art gets made?
Blackbird Rook is a weekly essay on contemporary art, collecting and the culture around it.
youtu.be/KbCHgzWML7Y
#ContemporaryArt #VisualCulture #ArtCollectors #InstagramArt #ContemporaryPainting
Artists do not appear out of nowhere. They arrive with place, class, accidents, previous jobs, private fixations and all the odd material of a life already lived.
open.substack.com/pub/blackbir...
#BlackbirdRook #ContemporaryArt #ArtWriting #Artists #Painting
If you’ve ever bought a print, painting or photograph because you could not stop looking at it - but then felt you needed to explain yourself - this one is for you.
youtu.be/D9L9p5e_EJw
#ContemporaryArt #ArtCollecting #BuyingArt #ArtWorld #ArtCriticism #BlackbirdRook #DaveHickey #SusanSontag
We talk a lot in the art world about emergence… much less about what happens when an artist does just reasonably well.
open.substack.com/pub/blackbir...
#ContemporaryArt #ArtWorld #ArtistsLife #EmergingArtist #MidCareerArtist #ArtMarket #ArtCollectors #ArtAdvisory #CreativeCareers #ArtistCareer
The Wise Middle
open.substack.com/pub/blackbir...
#blackbirdrook #diaryofanartadvisor #contemporaryart #painting #artworld #artcollecting #collectors #artadvice #artdealer #artadvisor #artwriting #artcriticism #galleries #artfairs #studios #emergingartists #midcareerartists #artistestate #artmarket
Alison Blickle,
Romantic Experience (The Garden), 2026
Oil on canvas
L40.5 × 51 cm
Showing in Alien Hand, 6-21 March 2026, General Assembly, 12 Saint George Street W1S.
www.artsy.net/artwork/alis...
#alisonblickle #irinikarayannopoulou #generalassembly #alienhand #blackbirdrook
Irini Karayannopoulou,
Magic Filter, 2025
Acrylic on Offset print
36 × 53 cm
Showing in Alien Hand
March 6 – March 21, 2026
General Assembly
12 St George Street, London, W1S 2FB
www.artsy.net/show/blackbi...
#irinikarayannopoulou #alienhand #generalassembly #alisonblickle #blackbirdrook
How do you tell the difference between a serious artist and a perfectly competent operator in the age of hype - when visibility is constantly mistaken for value?
youtu.be/wEO1aWOk6Qs
#BlackbirdRook #ContemporaryArt #ArtAdvisory #MarilynHallam #Painting #ContemporaryPainting #RobertIrwin
The Diary of an Art Advisor - sharp, unfiltered essays on contemporary art, money and meaning from inside the market.
youtube.com/playlist?lis...
#ContemporaryArt #ArtMarket #ArtAdvisor #ArtWorld #ArtCollectors #ArtBusiness #CreativeEconomy #ArtCriticism #CollectingArt #VisualCulture #CultureWars
We’re told to “do our own research”, but it’s often just a liability waiver. The seller shrugs, the buyer takes the risk, and expertise gets reframed as something vaguely elitist.
open.substack.com/pub/blackbir...
#searchengine #diaryofanartadvisor #contemporaryart #artadvisor #artcollecting
Contemporary Art in Britain | Why Are We So Suspicious of What We’re Good At?
Why does the phrase “contemporary art” make Britain uneasy?
youtu.be/R_I8IUeIkPc
#ContemporaryArt #BritishArt #ArtCollecting #ArtMarket #ArtWorld #BlackbirdRook #LivingArtists #CulturalCommentary
Hi Yann. Why would you like me to do that?
Eric Banks,
Tomb, 2007
Acrylic and Paper fusion on Canvas
40 × 50 in | 101.5 x 127 cm
See the work and exhibition at blackbirdrook.com - follow the link in @blackbird_rook bio
#EricBanks #ContemporaryPainting #MaterialPainting
#LayeredSurface #Abstraction
Art funds don’t fail because art is worthless. They fail because the fund structure is the wrong shape for art.
youtu.be/7F1haqJO9bs
#artmarket #artfunds #artcollecting #contemporaryart #alternativeinvestments #artadvisor #blackbirdrook
Yoona Kwon
The way you move, the way you breathe, 2025
Acrylic and oil on panel and organza
31 × 20 cm
Showing in Welded Rivers
12 February - 14 March 2026
www.artsy.net/show/blackbi...
#contemporaryart #painting #YoonaKwon #BlackbirdRook #WeldedRivers
The artist-dealer relationship. On belief, disappointment and why transparency in representation now matters more than ever.
open.substack.com/pub/blackbir...
#contemporaryart #artworld #artists #galleries #artdealer
This week’s essay is about what prices in the art world are actually measuring - not value, but position. Context. Leverage. Urgency. Who is standing behind the number.
youtu.be/3Ev3bfdk72I
#BlackbirdRook #ContemporaryArt #ArtMarket #ArtCollecting #artworld
There isn’t one art world. There are several. They run alongside each other – overlapping, rarely aligned – each with its own values, economics and gatekeepers.
youtu.be/p3H4wLLRMIw
#ArtWorld #ContemporaryArt #ArtCareers #BlackbirdRook
