HE IS a household name and one of the few artists who can command widespread recognition – not just in the UK but globally too.

Ever since he represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1990 and then going on to win the country’s most prestigious art accolade, the Turner Prize in 1991, he has been widely regarded as one of the most important contemporary artists of our times.

A rare exhibition of his paintings at Oxford Museum ended in February 2022 – after a 40-year absence from the space and much attention will now focus on his work at the Gallerie dell’Acccademia di Venezia, which will run from April 2022 and coincide with Venice Biennale. It’s a prestigious project and is exciting many in the art world.

There was a lot of media attention for his exhibition at Houghton Hall in Norfolk in 2020. It opened in July and ran through much of that pandemic period largely unscathed – most the exhibits were outside and the exhibition closed in November 2020.

Much of the work on display were lodged in the grounds of the stately home, originally completed in 1720. Houghton House was once the home of Britain’s first prime minister Robert Walpole (1676-1745) and prime minister for 21 years from 1721. The Cholmondeley family, Walpole’s descendants’, still live in a wing of the house, while parts of the grounds and house are open to the public and have housed artist displays before. The spring exhibition had to be cancelled.

The 24 exhibits vacated one of the country’s most illustrious houses and accompanying grounds on November 1 this year. Houghton Hall is seen as one of the best examples of Palladian architecture that exist in the country today. Italian architect Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) was inspired by the classical buildings