Alice Neel: Eleanor Nairne, Rochelle Roberts and Chloë Ashby

“One of the reasons I painted was to catch life as it goes by, right hot off the griddle."

The curator of the Barbican’s landmark Alice Neel exhibition and the editor of the exhibition catalogue speak to writer and art critic Chloë Ashby about the life and work of the great American portrait painter.

The critically-acclaimed Barbican show is the largest UK exhibition to date of Alice Neel’s hugely distinctive and intimate paintings. Stylistically inventive and politically radical, Neel’s work promoted figurative painting when abstraction was at its most fashionable and focussed on subjects often marginalised by society.

The exhibition catalogue, stunningly illustrated, includes essays by curator Eleanor Nairne, critic Hilton Als, and poetry by Daisy LaFarge.

Eleanor Nairne is Curator at Barbican Art Gallery, where her previous exhibitions include ‘Lee Krasner: Living Colour’. She was formerly Curator of The Artangel Collection at Tate, and has contributed writing to the London Review of Books and frieze.

Eleanor will be joined by the exhibition catalogue’s editor, Rochelle Roberts, whose own writing has appeared in Art of Choice, The Droth, among others, and whose poetry has been published by Prototype Press and Tentacular, among others.

Eleanor and Rochelle will be in conversation with Chloë Ashby. Her first novel, Wet Paint, was published in 2022, and her art criticism has appeared in the Times, TLS, Guardian, FT Life & Arts and frieze.

The conversation will be followed by an audience Q&A and a book signing. Doors will open from 6:45pm.

Tickets: £8 General Admission / £28 Book and Ticket, inc. a copy of Alice Neel: Hot Off The Griddle Exhibition Catalogue (RRP £24.99)

Venue: The Auditorium (Level 6) at Foyles, 107 Charing Cross Road*

*Please note that the Auditorium at Foyles is fully accessible from the Ground floor lifts.