Welsh Visual Arts have flourished in 2020, with exhibitions even appearing online and livestreaming award presentations to ensure no one missed out. After much deliberation, the Wales Arts Review contributors have settled on our favourites – here’s our list of top visual arts exhibitions of 2020.
Our number one will be announced on Monday 21st of December.
Transcape: The Art of Annabelle May Hampton (Oriel Joanna Field Gallery (Torch Theatre), Milford Haven)
Claudia Williams (Martin Tinney Gallery, Cardiff)
Art Box on Tour: David Hurn (Workers Gallery, Ynyshir, Rhondda)
National Eisteddfod: Epona (Online)
Newport College of Art: 40 Years On (Online)
Wales Contemporary/Cymru Gyfoes (Waterfront Gallery, Milford Haven)
Work Be To Done (Ffotogallery, Cardiff)
BEEP Painting Prize (Elysium Gallery, Swansea)
The Literary World of Paul Peter Piech (National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth)
Undo Things Done – Sean Edwards (Tŷ Pawb, Wrexham)
Becoming Richard Burton (National Museum Wales, Cardiff)
Previous winners include:
2019: David Nash: Sculpture Through the Seasons (National Museum of Wales, Cardiff)
2018: This Inconstant State by Shani Rhys James (Connaught Brown Gallery, London)
2017: Diffusion: The Cardiff International Festival of Photography (Various venues, Cardiff)
Wales Arts Review works to bring our readers the best critical writing from Wales, and the best critical writing about Wales. It is a place where passionate and informed arts critics, from Wales and beyond, can find expression. Our writers are neither drum-beaters nor axe-grinders but simply knowledgeable and dedicated people who care deeply about culture and society.
Founded in March 2012, Wales Arts Review is a media platform where a new generation of critics and arts lovers can meet to engage in a robust and inclusive discussion about books, theatre, film, music, the visual arts, politics, and the media.
Wales Arts Review commissions and publishes content in the English language, yet it proudly acknowledges that Wales is a bilingual nation with a richly diverse bilingual culture. We therefore do not restrict our focus to arts and literature delivered only in the medium of English. We have published reviews and articles examining works by Welsh language artists and companies; from the work of Theatre Genedlaethol Cymru to TV hit crime-thriller Y Gwyll. We have also covered the National Eisteddfod and were proud to announce that the winner of our 2014 ‘Greatest Welsh Novel’ prize was Caradog Prichard’s Un Nos Ola Leaud. Wales Arts Review looks forward to working with partner organisations on future projects that critically evaluate and celebrate all the languages of Wales.
We believe that a vibrant arts scene is the expression of a confident, healthy and creative society. We further assert that a flourishing and vigorous critical culture is vital to its sustenance and development. As such, we regard Wales Arts Review as an important building-block in the new outward-looking, forward-thinking Wales.
