To rescue Kahlo from the clutches of the corporate art market, we need to acknowledge the overt and covert political dimensions of the work, demands GAVIN O’TOOLE
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Squid
In search of answers to what makes the mysterious cephalopod tick
STUFF OF NIGHTMARES: A kraken attacking a merchant ship, 1810, by Pierre Denys de Montfort
If you can see past the relentless commodification you will be rewarded by enormously powerful work, suggests JENNY MITCHELL
CHRIS SEARLE revels in the one-off collaboration between an American polymath and a British Muslim, and detects the presence of their revolutionary forebear
GORDON PARSONS revels in an ebullient production of Shakespeare’s magical comedy
BRENT CUTLER welcomes a thoughtful analysis of the Erdogan regime, viewed through the evolving history of a neighbourhood in Istanbul
GORDON PARSONS regrets the price, but is dazzled by an outstandingly ambitious study of the way art restoration in particular, and culture in general was weaponised by the Nazis
REAKTION Books has carved out a niche in the market with its fascinating animal series. Since launching some 20 years ago, it’s applied a natural sciences and humanities approach to explore everything from elephants to ants, looking at how the species have been impacted by humans around the world. It’s a method that’s continued by Martin Wallen in Squid.
He brings an academic lens to the subject, tracing the deep-sea terror of kraken mythology through to the contemporary scientific understanding of the cephalopod, two perspectives brought together by an exploration of how they’re represented in art and literature.
Supported by intriguing titbits of information about their biology, Wallen frequently stresses the “unknowability” of squid to science — their oesophagus passes through their brain, their movement and vision are simultaneous kinetically and their eating habits are fearsome — they “prey on almost anything that does not eat them first.” This unknowability inspires fear in the way they could prosper at the expense of humans.
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