Posts in Damian Barr
Last Chance to See (In Lewes)

I can’t believe it, but the show I curated at Charleston in Lewes is almost over! It closes on April 12th. So you haven’t got long. This Sunday (29th March) is the last Pay What You Can Day and I plan to pop along and say thank you and generally enjoy the vibe.

Book tickets here!

About the show:

I’ve curated an exhibition that goes along with my novel. It’s called Robert MacBryde & Robert Colquhoun: Artists, Lovers, Outsidersand features over 100 works by them, their friends and lovers.

It’s open now at the Charleston gallery in Lewes - just across from the train station. It runs until April 12, 2026. It also includes new work by contemporary artists Davy Brown and Robert Montgomery – including stunning new paintings and a light sculpture that will make you cry (good tears).  

It’s the Roberts’ first major exhibition in England since 1962—since their relationship was illegal.

Also taking place at Charleston in Lewes (upstairs) is Soft Play, the first big show by the brilliant young Scottish artist Trackie McLeod. Google him and you’ll find a piece by him called Big Light and you’ll see why I love what he is doing. Like the Roberts and me, he’s gay and Scottish and working-class and I love imagining us all out for a drink together.

Curating is very much a team effort, so I want to thank all our lenders as well as Emily Hill and Shannon Smith at Charleston and the whole team of technicians and front of house.

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On Making Art and Finding Love

The world is burning. Fascism is rising. Countries are falling. And we’re on the brink of incredible technological change, which will either be the end of everything or a new beginning. So, who needs artists?”

You can read the whole article here (a warning: it contains some spoilers).

You can catch me at Hatchards on publication day in conversation with Tom Dyckhoff. Or at Pallant House Gallery on 5th September in conversation with Simon Martin. Please ask your local library to get the book in or preorder it, if you can.

Thank you for reading and sharing.

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SHELF ISOLATION - A new series for BBC Scotland produced by IWC and presented by Damian Barr.

The books, films and music we love say so much about us – every time we pick up a novel or sit down to another box set we add another chapter to the story of ourselves. And they give us the chance to forget about the world around us and disappear somewhere else, if only for a while. Right now we can’t leave home but we can still travel and meet new people and have new experiences in books, tv and film.

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