Gemma Rolls-Bentley is an art writer, lecturer, creative consultant and curator of the largest permanent display of queer art in the UK, the Brighton Beacon Collection. Her new book, Queer Art, will be published by Thames & Hudson in June.
Emily Pope
“Full moon energy, the new perfume of the masses.” “Just imagine being reincarnated as an email.” Emily Pope’s witty text-based work, in posters, light boxes and videos, skewers the affirmational absurdities of the moment. Pope is currently part of Discord & Harmony, a group show at Karst in Plymouth (until April 18), curated in tribute to beloved local artist Beryl Cook’s long career of painting the under-represented with joy and humour.
KV Duong
London-based Vietnamese Canadian artist KV Duong recently opened his first solo show, Where Wound Becomes Water at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery to much excitement. Group shows in New York and Stoke-on-Trent follow later this year. Since graduating from the Royal College of Art’s MA painting programme in 2024, Duong has caught the eye of gallerists and awards bodies for his original approach to painting on stretched latex. Continuing an exploration of migration, postcolonialism and queer identity, his latest body of work features family portraits that resemble faded photographs and large panelled landscapes of regions scarred by war.
Veronica Ryan OBA, RA
Montserrat-born, London-raised sculptor Veronica Ryan needs little introduction to art insiders. She began her career with a series of celebrated institutional exhibitions across the UK in the 1980s and ’90s, and in more recent years has won the Freelands Award (2018), the Turner Prize (2022) and was commissioned to permanently honour the Windrush generation in Hackney with her marble and bronze Caribbean fruits. But a spring showcase at Whitechapel Gallery (April 1 to June 14) featuring more than 100 works, some brand new, puts Ryan’s whole career in the spotlight and deserves to be seen by the widest possible audience.
This article first appeared in the third issue of Broadsheet London's magazine. Here's where to find a copy.
