My top five art encounters of the year

As the end of the year approaches, it’s become something of a tradition for me to scroll back through the pictures on my phone and reflect on my favourite encounters with art over the course of the year.

On the surface of it, it feels like I haven’t seen all that much this year. I’ve prioritised other life factors like hanging out with friends and traveling over engaging with art or blogging. But looking back, it’s been a rich year for discovery, including some memorable exhibitions and some new places visited. In the end, narrowing down this list became harder that I thought it would.

My top five in reverse order are…

5) ‘Tracing Time’ by Do Ho Suh

This unassuming exhibition at the Modern Galleries in Edinburgh has stayed with me since I visited the show in April. There was just so much to discover and be enchanted by. Do Ho Suh examines feeling and conceptual pull of ‘home’, exploring the different homes he has lived in over the years. Through his delicate and immensely varied work, he captures some of the magic that resonates within us and root us different places from our past.

Highlights for me included the beautifully fine drawings incorporating messy masses of thread spooling out from them, as well as the stunning 3D installation which stitched together different entrance halls from two different buildings Do Ho Suh has lived in, in London and Berlin. I was also mesmerised by a short video about Fallen Star, his ambitious and deeply imaginative work inspired by the house swept away by the tornado in The Wizard of Oz, which is installed at the top of a University of California campus building. The whimsey of the idea, combined with the rigorous architectural and construction know-how to turn a sketch into a reality is inspiring and surprising in equal measure. Art can be utterly bizarre sometimes, but it can open our eyes to new possibilities in that way.

Fans of the show, or those who missed it in Edinburgh have the chance to see a retrospective exhibition which is coming to Tate in 2025. That one will certainly be on my list to visit.

4) A double bill of El Anatsui

For as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed art that functions on a big scale. I vividly remember when I was little, staring up at Stubbs’s Whistlejacket in the National Gallery, being bowled over by the sheer size of the thing. Then, in my early twenties when I came to love contemporary art, it was the gigantic canvases by Anselm Kiefer that caught my imagination. So, it only makes sense that I’m drawn to large-scale installations like the work of Ghanaian artist El Anatsui. This year, I had the opportunity to see a huge exhibition of his, Behind the Red Moon, in the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern, followed by an extensive exhibition of his work (including some on a much smaller scale) at the Talbot Rice Gallery in Edinburgh.

What’s special about El Anatsui’s work is that it seems simple but is in fact telling a much more complex story. The metal he repurposes for his giant mosaics speak of the complex material histories and imprints that objects carry with them. There are tales of colonialism, of industry, of waste and of rebirth in every piece which contributes to a greater whole. Looking at this art makes you feel small, humbled. You can decide to step back, to view it from afar as chunks of colour and form and shape, and ponder the global systems that brought these materials together, or you can zoom in, get closer and see the intrigue in each piece, and consider the many hands who have contributed to make it a thing of beauty.

3) Discovering new perspectives at the Young V&A

There is nothing quite like childlike wonder. I wish I could bottle it and save it for days when I feel jaded. I had been keen to visit the Young V&A ever since its reopening in summer 2023 after a £13m revamp. In April, I got to go along with my brother and my two nephews (aged 6 and 1). I love what they’ve done with the place to make it fun, interactive and genuinely entertaining for kids and grown-ups alike – though I would recommend going with some kids to see their enjoyment unfold with you. There are different zones for different age groups, called Play, Design and Imagine, all exploring the different ways children have played over the centuries, bringing together objects dating from 2300BC onwards.

The standout piece for me was Rachel Whiteread’s installation Place (Village), made from the extensive collection of doll’s houses the artist collected between 2007-23, and formed into a village on a hill. As someone who played with a doll’s house as a kid, but who also loves to peek into homes at night, this beautiful installation, the lights shining out from these homes in the darkness, made me feel nostalgic and curious all at once. I guess that’s the point of places like the Young V&A, they remind us all we were once children: art doesn’t always have to be serious and we can still experience life with a healthy dose of childlike wonder and a sense of play.

2) Moved to tears by ‘Ricochets’ at the Barbican

The power of play is also explored in what was probably my favourite exhibition of the year, Ricochets by Francis Alÿs at the Barbican. I wrote a long blog post about how the exhibition was one of hope and sadness, joy and melancholy. The heart of the exhibition revolved around his Children’s Games series, which looks at how resourceful and innovative and can create games even in the toughest of circumstances, including war zones, deserts and crowded cityscapes. These can all be explored online and I would recommend diving into the collection: you will be moved and uplifted in equal measure.

1) Exploring Little Sparta’s treasures

At the start of this year, I wrote a post about my Art in Scotland Bucket List for 2024. I really didn’t get very far with this list (the best laid plans of mice and men…) However I did, at last, make it to Little Sparta, the garden of poet Ian Hamilton Findlay and his wife Sue, which is nestled in the Pentlands. It’s not far as the crow flies from Edinburgh, but feels worlds away, like an enchanted garden with fragments of poetry half buried in the undergrowth. The paths wind their ways through woods and little pools, there are half-hidden sculptures and moss-covered pillars and sundials. The artworks explore themes ranging from classical antiquity to the sea and fishing fleets. I didn’t understand many of the references, but in this way the garden was like a poem in itself. I don’t always understand poetry, but I like how it makes me feel.

The garden is open June-September each year, respecting the late poet’s wishes that the garden should be seen while the trees and plants are in full leaf. You can find out more about visiting here.

So there we have it, my top five encounters with art for 2024. I’d love to hear what your favourite art or cultural experiences have been this year. Feel free to leave a comment below!