Where to buy…
The Week reviews an exhibition in a private gallery Harry Adams at Eagle Gallery
At first, the premise of this show, entitled Victory Over the Sun, might seem a bit confusing. The exhibitor’s name – “Harry Adams” – is actually a fictional persona contrived by artists Steve Lowe and Adam Wood for their collaborative projects. As they see it, “Adams” is a painter and printmaker with a distinct style of his own, producing work that combines elements derived from English romanticism with the forcefulness of the early-20th century Russian avant-garde. Odd as this all sounds, the art on show is terrific. Most of the images depict skyscrapers that might be described as Turner-esque were it not for the peculiar, distinctive smudges scattered across them like buckshot marks, and their jarring, psychedelic colour palette. Intense red or black suns pulsate against hazy backgrounds and clouds of chemically orange or yellow smoke. Visually confrontational though this all is, it makes for some highly arresting and rather beautiful images. Prices range from £250 to £9,000.
159 Farringdon Road, London EC1 (020-7833 2674). Until 9 August.
Raider of the lost artefacts
It is a haul that would make
“Indiana Jones reach for his whip”, said Jim Mustian in the I newspaper. In charges filed this week at Manhattan state court, Subhash Kapoor, a 70-year-old former New
York gallery owner, stands accused of trafficking more than 2,600 stolen antiquities, worth £116m. The US
Department of Homeland
Security described him as
“one of the most prolific art smugglers in the world”. It is alleged that over three decades, Kapoor travelled the world seeking treasures looted from temples and archaeological sites in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Cambodia – and then sold the artefacts that he’d “nefariously acquired” to dealers, collectors and “world renowned” museums. Prosecutors say he went to extraordinary lengths, arranging for statues and other “ancient masterworks” to be repaired, and providing forged documents falsely proving their provenance, before illegally exporting them to the US. The works represent the “culture and history of the countries from which they were stolen”, said district attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. “They are of enormous value.”