Art Sleuth

November 13, 2009

Fred Gallery two solo exhibitons: Martin Brown and Guy Richards Smit

A windy and rainy night kept openings on Vyner Street rather quiet this Thursday. In the latest instalment in a series of dual Solo exhibitions at Fred Gallery, Martin Brown and Guy Richards Smit had a room each to display their current projects.

Martin Brown is showing a series of beautiful little paintings, a sort of modern day version of Dutch 17^th century domestic images with perhaps a hint of Victorian portraiture in their too. They are highly detailed, capturing faces brilliantly and some so small they are the sizes of a normal photograph print. Having moved from Australia in 2003 perhaps it is his keen eye as more of an outsider to London culture that has given him such a great insight. Snapshots of individuals, perhaps his friends, a group of fairly young Shoreditch types and landscape scenes of local spots such as the canal near Vyner Street and ‘Catch’ the bar on Kingsland road produce a gentle representations a modern (East London) life.

Alternatively Richards Smit’s work is far from realistic or in anyway tasteful. In fact it is totally the opposite. His main project centring on bizarre videos in the name ‘black comedy’ which although mildly amusing could also be filed under misogynistic soft porn with the artist making pouty young women take their clothes off while he oogles and doctors performing some peculiar examinations on young Asian ladies. You are free to make up your own mind. Paintings and drawings taken from the videos are also shown and a humming sound track accompanies the odd display. At the entrance to the room is a video and drawings dramatising army troops ‘hot body robbin’ – stealing jewellery off the chard remains of a dead bodies. But any real message (if there is meant to be one) is subtracted by the rather pointless main body of work.

It has to be said that one artist offsets the other which is probably the point of sticking the two together but with mixed results from Richards Smit’s work. Worth going along to see Brown’s little discerning masterpieces though….

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Tagged as contemporary art, dutch 17th century domestic, dutch 17th century domestic paintings, Fred Gallery, Guy Richards Smit, London Art Scene, Martin Brown, painting, Porn Art, shoreditch life, Victorain portraiture

November 6, 2009

CTRL.ALT.SHIFT. – Unmasks Corruption and Lava Collective – Cityscape

Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption below:

…..and Lava Colletive puts on a show:

Art Sleuth made it to two excellent openings last night. The first being Control.Alt.Shift’s Unmasked Corruption. Original artwork for Political comic strips have been amassed from all corners of the globe, trailing events such as the Iranian Election, Barak Obahma’s election and the Iraq War.

Some comics tackle dark and little reported human rights scandals; Unspeakable Things by Paul O’Connell gives an account of the African ‘blood diamond’ (and tin, and oil and more) crisis. Black Holes by Dave McKean (with text from an anonymous writer) provides a shocking insight into an alleged scandal involving the suppression of HIV sufferers and vanishing funds for treatment by the Chinese government. Another shocking story is that of the ‘Skin Hunters’ in Poland from 1999 to 2002, a group of paramedics who delayed ambulances and killed off patients in a scam which gave them a cut of the funeral parlour fees of the victims, drawn by Janek Koza.

Some are more humorous, like the portrayal of Margaret Thatcher and her husband draw by Hunt Emerson in 1987. Excerpts from Alan Moore’s new magazine ‘Dodgem Logic’ are ingenious combining drawings and witty, off the wall story boards. A book of the cartoons and artwork from the exhibition is well worth the £5 fee.

The exhibition will be held at Lazarides Gallery, 8 Greek Street, Soho, London, W1D 4DG and runs from 6th – 28th November (Tuesday – Friday 11am -7pm and Saturday 12pm – 5pm).

And on to the Truman Breweries to see Cityscape, the group show comprising some big names in Street and Graphic Art both in New York and London. Well worth a visit if you’re popping down brick lane, it includes a large and varied selection of works and artists including pieces by Obey, Restitution Press, Unknown, Seripop, Swoon, Philip Lumbang and up and coming Ashes 57. The dubstep mash-up after party was banging too. Good one Lava Collective!

Cityscape, Lava Collective, Dray Walk Gallery, Truman Breweries. (5th to the 15th of November 2009).

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Tagged as Alan Moore, Ashes 57, Control.Alt.Shift, Dave McKean, Dubstep, Graphic Art, Graphic Novel, HIV, Hunt Emerson, Iraq, Janek Koza, Lazarides Gallery, London Art Scene, Obey, Paul O’Connell, Philip Lumbang, Political Cartoon, Restitution Press, Seripop, Street Art, Swoon, Unknown, Unmasked Corruption, Unmasks Corruption

October 21, 2009

Autumn Art

As things get colder you might be able to drink the impending winter doom away with a free bottle of beer or two at some unsuspecting art show. Here are a selection of some interesting shows in London for the end of October, start of November and beyond. Including private view dates where possible.

Solo Exhibitions:

Eleven Gallery – Ben Turnbull I Dont Like Mondays Exhibition dates 21^st October to 7^th November 2009

“First solo show with London-based artist Ben Turnbull. Turnbull perverts objects associated with childhood to both reveal a darker side of youth and critique the way it’s often pictured in the media. His new series of works – seven school desks on which images of weapons have been painstakingly carved – is a direct comment on contemporary school life, alluding to the horrific crimes repeatedly splashed out in headlines, from knife murders in South London to the Virginia Tech and Columbine massacres. By whittling the desk down to expose these deadly shapes, Turnbull also hints at a latent feeling of violence, it’s as if the weapons were already there, waiting to be used.”

Fred Gallery: – Brian Montouri – Till 8^th of November. Brian Montouri’s quirky paintings capture a strange moment in American history when in a bid to increase tourism the twin towns of Niagra Falls pushed a raft over the Falls with live animals and human dummies on them. Work by Peter Davis also shown.

http://www.fred-london.com/index.php?mode=exhibitions

Group Shows:

Fitzrovia Pop Up Space: ‘Unrealistic Expectations’ is a ‘pop up’ exhibition of works by young and emerging Dutch and UK artists: Zakia el Abodi, Marcel Dingemanse, Caron Geary, Roderik Henderson, Alex Hudson, Claire de Jong, Kate Mayne, Stefan Sjouke, Anami Schrijvers, Joke Vrij, Martin C. de Waal.
24 October to 14 November 2009
Private View, Friday 23 October 17:00 until 21:00
Opening hours: Thursdays to Saturdays, 12:00 until 18:00
40 Riding House Street, W1W 7ES

The Vyner Street Gallery – ‘Archaeology of Subject/Object’ – a group show curated by Beata Kozlowska, the exhibition of painting, sculpture and photographs by exciting international and London artists.
Kalyi Amoto, Daphna Alon, Karima Al Shomely, Nandita Chaudhuri, Sivan Cohen, Lucy Cierniak, Beata Kozlowska, Bo Magnus, Agnieszka Pytlik, Margarita Trushina Exhibition runs 2nd-8th November 2009
Private View : Friday 2nd Nov 6.30-8.30
Late Night Opening: November 5th ‘First Thursdays’ until 9pm
JT Project 09 is: The James Taylor Gallery has invited six local artist-run organisations to each occupy a room within their vast Victorian warehouse organised by Fieldgate Gallery, Five Years, James Taylor Gallery, Katie Guggenheim, Supine Studios, The Centre of the Universe and Transition Gallery. Spread over two floors of a huge building, the project provides the opportunity to see shows by these peer organisations simultaneously. Exhibition runs 14 October – 1 November

The Lava Collective – ‘Cityscape’ – Focussing on cities and urban culture, Cityscape features works by Cleon Peterson, Seripop, Peru Ana Ana Peru, Ashes 57 plus more TBA. LAVA Collective [London Audio / Visual Art Collective] was founded in Summer 2009 to provide a platform in London for emerging artists from around the world. At the Old Truman Brewery. Preview on November 5th will be followed by an after party at the Princess Alice pub, 42-44 Commercial Street. LAVA Collective have invited dubstep luminaries Loefah, Mala, Pokes and Skipple to provide the soundtrack for the night. To get free entry to the after party, just go along to the art show and put your name on the list. Capacity is limited so get there early. 5^th to the 15^th of November. www.lavacollective.com

Cell Project Space – ‘Lobby’ Stefano Calligaro, Karen Cunningham, Charlie Danby, Lieke Snellen, Mick Peter, Simon and Tom Bloor, Francesca, Nobilucci Private View Friday 6th November 2009- 6.30-9.30pm
November 7th- December 6th 2009 http://www.cellprojects.org/

Core Arts - ‘scare in the community’ – One night event showcasing video, performance, 2D and 3D works by artists addressing issues relating to community care as well as institutional critique both inside and outside the context of art. The theme of the show resonates with current tendencies to prioritise principles of care in the community over extended hospitalisation. The idea of the mentally ill being free to roam the streets and mingle with the general public has caused much fear amongst communities and frequently leads to sensationalist news headlines in the tabloids Frank Bangay, George Barber, David Blandy, Ian Bourn, Boyle and Shaw, El Vonne Brown, Enda Burke, Leona Christie, CoolTan, Tessa Garland, Julika Gittner, Alex Ingram, IRE-MIND, Stephen Jackson, Terry Jones, Jean-Paul Martinon, Octavia Arts, Jo Panter, Laure Prouvost, Jon Purnell, Natasha Rees, Erica Scourti, Temple of Mithras, Josephine Wood – 109 Homerton High Street - Sat 24^th October www.scareinthecommunity.com

Schwartz Gallery – ‘Celestial Contrakt’ navigates through the terrain of the ‘celestial’ and ‘ethereal’ in an attempt to offer different entry and exit points to the theme, to alternate possibilities of experiential environments.
Dominic Allen, Nikos Alexiou, Alex Bunn, Andrew Hladky, Bern Roche Farrelly, Stine Ljungdalh, Christina Mitrentse, Jonas Ranson, Lee Wagstaff, Marc Wayland.,
12 November – 6 December 2009
Friday-Sunday 12-6pm
Private view: Thursday 12th November 2009. 6-10pm
Guest sound Performers: Existjesus , Douce Angoisse,
Artist’s talk 2pm, Saturday 28th November, 2009

December:

Londonewcastle Project Space hosting RareKind London’s ‘3 Decades’ exhibition, celebrating 30 years of London graffiti art. Running from 5 – 12 December 2009, the artwork will be exhibited according to decade showcasing exclusive art work, photographs and memorabilia from the ‘pioneers’ of the art form in the 80’s, following a linear history through to the 90’s ‘masters’ and on to the 00’s and the ‘new blood’ artists. 3 Decades is the largest and most comprehensive show of its kind to ever be exhibited in London. It will include canvases and affordable prints by over 30 artists including Eine, Zomby, Prime, Roid, Tox, RT London, David Samuel as well as many more of London’s inimitable artists who have painted, sequestered in the shadows for more than thirty years, yet inadvertently changed the face of London’s urban art scene forever. 3 Decades will be open daily from 5-12 December 2009 from 11.00am to 7.00pm at Londonewcastle Project Space, 28 Redchurch Street, E2 7DP

Five Storey Projects guest-curate a series of events for the David Roberts Foundation in December 2009. 111 Great Titchfield Street London W1W 6RY
Charlesworth, Lewandowski & Mann, Lars Laumann, Sam Craven, Raagnagrok, Susan MacWilliams and others Dec 03.12.09-17.12.09 Also 2 October – 19 December 2009 The Object of Attack a series of footnotes and infiltrations parallel to the exhibition Sculpture of The Space Age at the Foundation. Deliberately reacting against a linear approach to interpretation, The Object of the Attack will work as an echo chamber to the main exhibition and raise multiple questions about art production and curatorial engagement, translations and communication, avoiding any fixed answers.
Artists have been invited to contribute to a collective and evolving conversation. The space will be constantly re-installed over the three months, hosting every week a new intervention, performance, artwork, sound piece, discussion, etc.
The set of the gallery will reflect this process, providing a space where the audience will be encouraged to have a more active and creative role. Artists Reto Pulfer and Patrizio di Massimo will create, one after the other, a different interpretation of what this space can be. For the final week, the space will host an installation by Roman Ondak.

Arty Party time:

Hunga Munga Halloween Party – Bethnal Green Working Men’s club on Sat the 24th of October

music, art and making stuff with the usual annual monster mash up that is our halloween party, with fancy dress, party games, competitions and prizes as well as the usual arts and crafts materials… perfect place tp make a halloween card or present or trick or treat costume…with live music from our lovely cabaret of crazy friends SLAPPER and more… and a special trick or treat gameshow for some lucky HungaMungarians…
it’s gonna be SPooOKtacular as always!!!
just £6 on the door!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=165090580468&index=1

THE DONDON LUNGEON Cosmicmegabrain presents
The horrors of 21st century London this HALLOWEEN Art, Music, Performance EXTRAVAGANZA 31 October from 10pm till late at 31B New Inn Yard EC2A with the support of: Hoxton Loft Society / Wild Life / I May Be Hungry But I Sure Ain’t Weird GUEST LIST ONLY! PLEASE RSVP TO: invite@hoxton.net

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Tagged as Art exhibition in London october 2009, Ben Turnbull, Brian Montouri, Cell Project Space, Core Arts, Eleven Gallery, Fitzrovia Pop Up Space, Fred Gallery, Graffiti exhibition London, Lava Collective, November 2009, private views london, Scwartz Gallery, Vyner Street Gallery

October 14, 2009

Opening night at Frieze Art Fair 09

Yang Shaobin, X – Blind Spot No. 17,, 2008. 176 x 55 x 51 cm.

Celebs were in and out early for the champagne reception at Frieze this year, spotted were regulars Lily Allen and Gwyneth Paltrow. A Frieze worker said she got a radio call from one of her star-struck colleagues outside saying Kate Moss had turned up, and they didn’t know what to do with her! The likes of Grayson Perry and Tracey Emin were there too. Emin’s new work is an exercise especially for the more interactive art buyer. She is offering to make a commissioned work in which (quoting from the instructions) firstly you pay her “10,000 sterling”, before completing a simple questionnaire of 14 questions, then she will make a phrase in neon lights in response to the answers. She asks for a further “45,000 sterling” on completion. Contract signed and framed before of course. It might have been a mirage but was that art media magnate Louise MacBain I saw perusing the stand?

New to the show this year is a more edgy section called Frame displaying the work of younger galleries with more solo focused exhibitions, in part scooping up the littler Shoreditch ones, like Kate MacGarry gallery from a stone’s throw down on Vyner Street. This includes a few that used to reside at Zoo Art Fair. It will be interesting to see what impact this will have on the new look Zoo this year.

The Brazilian and Far Eastern galleries are rocking the international section. Galeria Fortes Vilaca, Sao Paulo stuck hundreds of chess pieces scattered like a misshapen map of the world across a wall and A Gentil Caricoca, Rio de Janeiro has artist Laura Lima performing a strange drawing technique with only one hand coming out from a hole in a white screen. Long March Space, Beijing, is showing among other brilliant works Yang Shaobin’s moving lifesize model of a freakishly flashing miner man and the Kukje Gallery, Korea is definitely worth a visit with Gimhongsok’s Canine Construction – a dog made from cast bin bags in spoof on Jeff Koon’s bunny and Haegue Yang’s mixed media sculptures consisting of blinds, lights, colanders, earth globes, shoes and more.

The big guns like White Cube Gallery have the old crooners out on display such as Gilbert and George and Hirst, but these types of artists seem to have less of a presence this year thankfully. Raqib Shaw a reasonably new artist on their books is a welcome change with his decadent ape-god scenes painted out in painstaking detail with diamantes and marble effects.

It’s hard to stop and look around in the hustle and bustle of the opening night, but Frieze seems to have a fairly decent standard of work this year, with a variety of artists and not an overkill of flash with no substance…. Perhaps best taken-in on a quiet day without the champers…..

Some of the galleries metioned:

http://www.fortesvilaca.com.br/

http://www.katemacgarry.com/

http://www.agentilcarioca.com.br/

www.longmarchspace.com/

http://www.kukjegallery.com/

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Tagged as A Gentil Caricoca, art sleuth, Frame, Frieze Art Fair 2009, Galeria Fortes Vilaca, Gilbert and George, Grayson Perry, Gwyneth Paltrow, Haegue Yang, Hirst, Jeff Koon, Kate MacGarry Gallery, Kate Moss, Kukje Gallery, Laura Lima, Lily Allen, London Art Scene, Long March Space, Louise MacBain, Raqib Shaw, Tracey Emin, White Cube gallery, Yang Shaobin, Zoo Art Fair

October 14, 2009

The Turner Prize 2009

The cream of new contemporary art I hear you cry! Why yes here it is, the Turner Prize. And this year we have one oldie, a Mr Wright who has given a rather restrained response, Lucy Skaer who has given a mathematical, clean-cut, cultural experience, Ernesto David who will hurl us deep into the dark realms of his subconscious and Roger Hiorns who has continued to nurture his modern day momento mori theme into several distinguished pieces.

An interesting foursome then, and a difficult decision for the judges. Skaer has given us works in a variety of mediums. Brancusi’s ‘Bird in Space’ is reproduced 26 times in coal and resin to create ‘Black Alphabet (2008)’. The sculptures are placed carefully into rows, but some of the individual sculptures are clearly missing from the lines, in a sort of diminishing sequence. The remaining are placed in the corner, stacked up sideways like freshly cut logs hacked away from the regimented cubed forest in front of them. An antique wooden chair is displayed near by. Below the chair is a pile of bank notes with a printed image of glasses of water on them, a red triangular object in on the floor next to them. The chair’s parts have been deconstructed and printed in black ink onto a sheet of white paper forming illegible words, confirmed as such by the use of commas and apostrophes as something you could almost grasp as readable language but not quite. She has also been loaned a real sperm whale’s skull from a Scottish museum which is displayed through small openings in white walls, displacing the viewer’s experience, giving us just a glimpse of something impressive. She is reordering the museum experience and restructuring but not dislocating it from what it was. She has not violently ripped apart culture but has restructured the logic behind it.

Richard Wright’s main piece is a wall painting in gold leaf with detailed rococo swirls and sunsets, divided from the middle outwards creating a mirror image on both sides. It took him three weeks of hard labour to create it and you might suspect there to be a print underneath which he covered over with the hand painted gold, but material described is solely gold leaf, in which case it is an impressive effort. The affect of the whole is sumptuous and detailed but resembles nice bespoke wallpaper which is a little disappointing. Previous works on walls have had more innovation to them. They had movement and they worked with the environment and layout of the space. Here we get a block square. On the opposite wall above the door there are four red star-like shapes which do little to make a further impact to the room. Could he have not at least used a corner? His work since he rediscovered painting seems to be like a picturesque version of street art, but this is not one of his better examples.

Skaer has reconstructed the meaning behind objects but Hiorns has literally ground them down into a pulp. A passenger jet engine has been pulverised into dust, a symbol of what everything in the entire world will become one day. He admits he has a fear of flying and this piece contains obvious connections between airplanes and death. The layout of the dust with peaks and troughs and light and dark patches is reminiscent of an aerial view of mountains you might get from a plane. Hung on the walls are three sculptures, two of which are ivory coloured plastic casts injected with ground-up cows’ brain. They make a free-form grouping that look like slices of vertebrae from an alien animal. The other contains cows’ brain smudged into rectangular openings to create a regimented pattern in a stainless steel frame.

The materials’ previous identity has been removed by the industrial processes Hiorns has put them through. The only thing any of his work now still posses to their past self is the tenuous connotations of death, fatality and perhaps rebirth. Hiorns’ art here is a quiet and thoughtful conceptualism.

Ernesto David who some would describe as a latter-day Surrealist has made a long black stage stretching across the span of the room. A black cloth doll stretches across the entire length, its legs fall over various canvases and props, painted with eerie figures outlined in white and red on black. The doll could represent himself asleep and the props around him his dreams. Papier-mâché balloon men with faces resembling a young pouting George Michael, and a painting of faceless builders showing their arses provocatively are just some of the other motifs involved in creating this semi-nightmare world. It would help you to know that David is ‘in’ to gay pornography if you didn’t already. Inventive and slightly disturbing like all our dreams this piece is totally subjective to the viewers own experiences. If the Turner Prize is a good indication of shifts in trend then you could say that like the other three artists this year, David’s art is not sensationalist, the aim is not to be shocking or commercial, although it is an ‘uneasy’ consumption.

All of which asks the question are we moving into a subtle and more aesthetically appreciative period, with less emphasis on the sensational?

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Tagged as 2009, art sleuth, Bird in Space, Brancusi, British Art, Ernesto David, Exhibition, Gold Leaf, London Art Scene, Lucy Skaer, Richard Wright, Roger Hiorns, sculpture, Street Art, Tate Gallery, Turner Prize 09

October 8, 2009

Fourth Plinth Genius

click here to see the video: http://www.oneandother.co.uk/participants/Maya-Shamji

God bless Art Sleuth’s wonderful friend Maya Shamji for her most excellent performance on the plinth. If anything Antony Gormley has revealed that most Brits have little imagination. Reading a book or taking photographs of tourists? Surely there is more you can do in the sole hour of your life you have on this earth as a piece of live art?

I’m sure Nelson would agree.

But we cannot fault Maya on her art in action! She got over one thousand blue, pink and orange glow sticks to dangle in chains off the plinth in an hour! More importantly she got the crowd going. People were making pretty necklaces out of the fallen sticks, there was singing and perhaps a little dancing. We love you Maya!

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Tagged as Antony Gormley, Fourth Plinth, live art, Maya Shamji, One and Other, UV art

September 25, 2009

Richard Tuttle at the Modern Art Gallery

Richard Tuttle, Walking on Air, C1 2009, cotton with Rit dyes, grommets, thread, 2x panels

Richard Tuttle; Walking on Air, C3 2009. cotton with Rit dyes, grommets, thread, 2x panels

Richard Tuttle’ L’nger than Life, installation view, Photos taken from; http://www.modernart.net/

Now and again there is an exhibition that totally perplexes you because it asks the question; what is art? Richard Tuttle’s exhibition at the Modern Art Gallery does this, but unfortunately for all the wrong reasons.

Tie-die, the choice clothing embellishment of the traditional hippy could be the beginnings of a spectacularly different approach to an art exhibition. Here it seems that Tuttle, a well established ‘post minimalist’ artist has attached bits of died cloth together with grommets and then stuck them on the walls. Perhaps he employed young school children to produce them, which is honourable, but all in all the effect is rather disappointing and characterless.

Take ‘Walking on Air, C1’ for instance; an interesting mix of colours to combine and not asthetically displeasing; a sky blue cloth attached to a purple, white and red marble effect cloth. Then we have, (wait for it), ‘Walking on Air, C3”. This perhaps one of the most complex pieces being a green, red and white patterned sheet, joined onto a white sheet with a yellow splodge. But what is the point to it?

Richard Tuttle describes the meanings behind these works on www.artnews.org;

Tuttle describes his new work as being “in a syncretic tradition, where the equal and opposite can co-exist and the abstract and the real are not in a state of ambiguity.” Walking on Air represents for him an “expression of elation for the potential for a new beginning, the possibility to rebuild and discover a harmony for existing in the world today.”

http://artnews.org/gallery.php?i=166&exi=15334

Certainly he is getting at something here, a reconciliation of two seemingly disparate coloured cloths both totally unique and handmade (perhaps the way as humans our DNA is totally unique) united together to create a new start. The beautiful union of two bits of tie-died cloth! With this my friend, we could take over the world. Sorry, sorry, we could bring peace to the world. And the whole association with hippies, well, self explanatory.

But they just don’t speak to me. They are essentially an inspired idea but Tuttle’s most eloquent description does not translate into something tangible.

Am I missing the point here? I probably I am. The Time Out review raved about how, “With work this good, this cogent and concise, how come it’s been almost 15 years since Tuttle’s last exhibition in this country?”

http://www.timeout.com/london/art/event/157146/richard-tuttle

And fair play to them, it must be me missing the tree hugger for the trees. (Bad joke)

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Tagged as Cloth, contemporary art, London Art Scene, Modern Art Gallery, Richard Tuttle, sculpture, Stuart Shave Gallery, Tie-die, Walking on Air

August 25, 2009

Memories of Hackney WickED 09

Another year another wicked show set up by Hackney’s huge community of artists. A maze of artist’s studios and exhibitions opened up all over ‘the Wick’ accompanied by lots of fun and frolicking.

Friday was opening night with galleries getting fiesta-like and Saturday saw a veritable array of live bands for the street party. Sunday was more chilled however you could stumble across the odd accordion or banjos being played if you were looking in the right places. Take a look at the photos.

(Some photos taken by Art Sleuth’s most excellent chum Louis Mustill – photographer extraordinaire)

Hackney Wicked 09:

Painting the town multi coloured – art in the street, White Hart Lane, Hackney Wick.

Ruben Sutherland, from ‘Sculpture’. See live show 27th August at Brixton Dogstar.

'Village' By Jakob Brondum, A12 Gallery

Village by Jakob Brondum, A12 Gallery

Simper by Emma Barrow, A12 Gallery (Cardboard, resin, spraypaint)

Blue Ocean by Greg Cox, A12 Gallery

Taken from the Present in Spirit Exhibition, A12 Gallery

The perils of red wine …Untitled by Mark Webb

Stuart Pearson Wright; on an adventure in paint.

Joseph Loughborough; working progress in studio.

Barometer style collage by Beth Louise Walker

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Tagged as A12 Gallery, Beth Louise Walker, Boat race, contemporary art, Contemporary Art Scene, east london, Emma Barrow, Greg Cox, Hackney Wicked 09, Jakob Brondum, Joseph Loughborough, Mark Webb, Ruben Sutherland, Stuart Pearson Wright

August 14, 2009

Vice Photo Exhibition 2009

Dana Goldstein, Punk boys

Archival Girls, Richard Kern

Tim Barber’s purple haired muse.

Candid Reich by Nico

Chubs, Jamie Lee Cuirtis Taete

Vice magazine has got some sort of reputation to live up to when it comes to its’ photos. So trendy it aches would be one way of putting it; like Dana Goldstein’s boys in rock star poses; and also a decent amount of nudity, girls snogging and some amusing commentary to undermine it all. Which this exhibition has. But it also includes some rather thought-provoking or technically impressive work too. Like Candid Reich by Nico, if true, the private photos taken by a WW2 photographer for the German army. To be honest they look pretty real. They show scenes from off duty soldiers on the road in their little round glasses and side-parted hair, mainly doing ‘off-the-wall’ type things; one guy has climbed up a tree looking a bit mental, a bunch of solders preparing a dead pig, and a man in long boots and underpants doing a heil Hitler! pose.

Tim Barber’s work both upstairs and down is compositionally beautiful, including a series of intimate portraits capturing his purple haired muse in various times and places. Martynka Wawrzyniak‘s close up of kids captures their scruffy, naughty personalities in a single shot. Unfortunately they are slightly reminiscent of the children from the recent swine flu ad campaign. But I’m sure nobody else will notice.

The Chubs series by Jamie Lee Curtis Taete is the best thing about the whole exhibition, bringing a wry smile to peoples faces as they come across five portraits of over-sized men in nude poses; one hiding his decency with a conveniently placed teddy bear, (thank god) another presented rather majestically on his toilet. This is more like the Vice we come to know and love. Bring on ironic sordidness any day.

The VICE photo exhibition will run until Wednesday 26^th August at the theprintspace, 74 Kingsland Road,London E2 8DL

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Tagged as Candid Reich, Chubs, Dana Goldstein, Jamie Lee Cuirtis Taete, Martynka Wawrzyniak, Nico, Tim Barber, Vice Magazine photo exhibition 2009

July 3, 2009

Nettie Horn and other East London group shows…..

Pop along to the group show at Nettie Horn to see the likes of Emma Mcnally who has created large scale paper-on-pencil works of ‘geometric calamity’. With the use of protractors and compasses she has created a cosmic mapping system which displaces the notion of scientific diagrams for artistic purposes. Good use of your typical school maths stationary.

Also in this show Rosie Levington’s tower block of over 2000 novels, such classics as Jilly Cooper are used as building bricks. Her sculptures are made from recyclable material. In the past she has cut the shape of a B52 into woods see: http://stevegray.com.au/blog/rosie-leventon-artist/rosie-levetons-b52-kings-wood-stour-valley-arts-project-uk/.

Abigail Reynolds uses photos from retro London tourist guides which are partly dismantled and re-structured into triangular compositions. Perhaps reflecting the way memories get reordered at time goes on.

Gordon Cheung also makes an appearance with one of his signature creations using a rainbow of mixed-medium-paint on a background of stock-listings newspaper. This one is a gorgeous piece, created in admiration of Le Corbusier’s masterpiece of modern living.

Just finished was the The Sensationisnt exhibition at the Empire Gallery down the road, a 3D wonderland. 3D specs were issued at the door. Paint by numbers and twister just some of the activities provided!

Close by Monika Bobinska is exhibiting a group show called Mill concentrating on works on paper, akin to Nettie Horn, but perhaps just a coincidence. A mixed bag of an exhibition, highlights include art on paper cups and a sketch of a Henry Moore sculpture military tank. A good idea on paper needs to get along to these exhibitions!

Other exhibitions to see:

are Fred gallery: 2 x 2: Renie Spoelstra /Juliette Losq /Nina Bovasso/ Tatyana Gubash.

And coming up; Stolenspace’s Group Show 09, looks like a large one in the Old Truman Breweries, private view July 2nd.

MORE PHOTOS COMING SOON!

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Tagged as Abigail Reynolds, Emma Mcnally, Empire Gallery, Gordon Cheung, Monika Bobinska, Nettie Horn, Rosie Levington

March 1, 2009

Hollywood In Cambodia Gallery, Buenos Aires.

Walking along the backstreets of Bs As equivalent to the Kings Road the Barrio Palermo, the last thing you would expect to find is a bar totally covered from wall to ceiling in stencil art. Over 1,600 stencils apparently. And at the back of this fantastic drinking den, a gallery full of contemporary and urban art. Unfortunately it seemed that on a Friday night when the main bars are packed with preened young Argenians, checking out each other´s dress-sense, ´´Claro!´´, this bar is not as popular.

If only this was a bar in East London. It would be totally over run with skinny jeaned Londoners.

Started in 2006 by The Run Don´t Walk collective the art both ín the bar (named Post Street Bar) and the gallery (Hollywood in Cambodia) are totally on par with London´s urban art scene. You get the sense that Street Art truely is a worldwide phenomenom. Take a look at some of the permanent collection in my photos. Nice use of a electrical box and car bonnet (Gavin Turk at Vauxhall Car Boot Sale similarities) some real nice peices.

The HIC gallery also runs a program of temporary exhibitions in it´s top rooms. Tirame de la lengua or ´Pulling of the Tounge´ is this bimonthly show by German born, now living in Spain, Sam3. The works are linear drawings on paper, suggesitvely trippy and sexual in feel. Like graphic designs on 70´s album covers. It has a more feminine, gentle feel in contrast to the surrounding street art. You can´t totally get away from the terratorial element even in this off-shoot of graffiti, however far removed.

Also check out the photo of the dude who runs the show. He is totally committed to the Bs As scene and up for any wanted stencil feind to come and ´renovate´ a section of his bar. That is if you can find any room left.

One final point, it is damn hard to take photos of any gallery art in Bs As without the owner forcing you practically at gunpoint to delete the photos. Sluething is hard work. So thank you for the permission HIC!

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Tagged as Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires Contemporary Art Scene, graphic design, Hollywood In Cambodia Gallery, linear drawings, Palermo, Post Street Bar, Run Don´t Walk art collective, Sam3, Stencil Art, Street Art, tirame de la lengua

December 4, 2008

Alexander Hoda. The Arts Gallery, University of the Arts, London.

Alexander Hoda‘s animals delve deep into the realms of a twisted imagination. Like something out of a fantasy novel they possess Predator style teeth, teats growing out of their backs and armed with weird objects of indescribable weaponry. These are potential killer creatures. Many are in chains. Suggesting a tension, a threatening danger.

Hoda varies the textures of his sculptures. Some are a matt rubber finish smoothing over any clear features. Some use Polyurethane (also used by Sterling Ruby) to create a glossy finish and a marble effect of mixed colours. This lends itself to creating morphed or melted appearances, like they are swamp monsters. Intricate features like long bony fingers come out of the blur of dripping slime that obscures most of the features. This recognition of parts but leaving the whole unspecified feeds on our fear in the unknown. Their blurry faces like a Francis Bacon painting, also de-personifies these creatures, making them more likely to be cold-blooded killing machines, whose only actions are to bread and to hunt. Like Bacon said `We live, we die and that’s it, don’t you think?”

These animals feel alive, truly solid, three-dimensional things as tall as humans. Hoda wants us to believe in these things, to see them as something that could exist and that with the lack of clear definition we can build on our own concepts of terror like in a nightmare where we can only partially make out the monster that is chasing us. Ironically having said all of this, ‘Backlash’ a grouping of what resembles two distorted walruses twisted together in a sort of mating pose has a certain likeness to Rodin‘s ‘The Kiss’, and perhaps shows that even evil slayer animals also have a capacity for tenderness.
Thursday 20 November – 9 January

At: The Arts Gallery, University of the Arts London, 65 Davies Street, W1K 5DA

Opening times: Monday – Friday 10am – 6pm and Saturday 11am – 4pm

More info: http://www.arts.ac.uk/events/hoda.htm

Check out more blogs at http://www.openmagazine.co.uk/blog

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Tagged as Alexander Hoda, art sleuth, Francis Bacon, killer creatures, Polyurethane, Rodin, Rubber, sculpture, The Kiss, Unversity of the Arts London Gallery

November 21, 2008

5 Storey Projects, group show ‘Matter of Time’

Last photo – artwork predating the 5 Storey takeover you would suspect.

5 Storey Projects, has concentrated mainly on two things, site-specific installation, something old dilapidated warehouses lend themselves too very nicely and art which reflects some type of ’critical sculptural aesthetic’.
By this rather loose and also poncey term I cobbled together I mean a lot of geometric based stuff. Wooden inlaid sculpture based around circles and lines by Paul Mart, glitter on the floor to mark out unfinished rectangles like a tennis court gone wrong, parts of the parquet flooring painted in by Alastair Levy.
The site-specific art came in all shapes. Such as the three coloured tyre swings, by Elisabetta Alazraki hanging from one of the iron girders in the ceiling. Unfortunately they broke when people used them. No so Turbine Hall then, however the artist did point out that they were for art purposes only and would not take responsibly for people’s safety. Fair play, I guess she’s no swing technician.
‘Supernatural,’ 2008 by Kim Coleman, Haroon Mirza and Jenny Hogarth, created an effective use of the space, with a dark room lighted at each end by projectors moving slowly through changing blue hues in circular patterns, accompanied by sound of radio interference. Kinda spooky.
Phil Smiley, used found tyres and palettes and clay pigeons. Splattered white paint from the birds onto the makeshift base, links the objects together. A comment on London perhaps, animals, humans intertwined with the environment around them. Possibly.
Sculptural ‘comment’ also, in the form of white plinth boxes, usually used as the stand for sculpture with painting things left around them as if forgotten, perhaps conveying displacement? IS art really ever finished? The eternal and perhaps wasted question ‘What IS art?” etc. etc.
The space is probably the most impressive thing about this show, and you can tell the artists have worked to incorporate their respect for the building and its history (built during the industrial revolution) perhaps more profound as it will be demolished shortly.
Nice to see tags on the walls too. A good indication the factory building had another use since its’ ‘official’ closure ……

9th-18th of December 12-6pm, Free entry
James Taylor Gallery,
Collent Street (off Well Street)
Hackney
E9 6SQ

Art Sleuth is part of www.openmagazine.co.uk check out the main blog site at http://www.openmagazine.co.uk/blog/

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Tagged as 5 Storey Projects, Alastair Levy, Art, art sleuth, Elisabetta Alazraki, Group Show, Hackney, Haroon Mirza, installation, James Taylor Gallery, Jenny Hogarth, Kim Coleman, london, Matter of Time, Paul Mart, Phil Smiley, Turbine Hall, warehouse

November 17, 2008

The Subway Gallery. A Subterranean Oasis

Subway Gallery is possibly THE coolest gallery in the world. Just because of what it is and where it is. Totally at random you could be walking through the dank, dreary streets of Edgware Road, past the maximum security police station and down into the pedestrian subway by the Bakerloo line station and there out of nowhere is a little subterranean oasis of creativity.
The guy who runs it is an artist himself, he wrote the Him Book, the book that accompanied the wax works of Charles Saatchi (shown in various exhibitions including Zoo Art Fair last year if anyone remembers) one of which has taken up semi-permanent residence in the gallery. Subway attracts a unique crowd from one visit there to an opening you can tell there are certain regulars, all rather quirky figures which form part of what seems to be little community. A completely different vibe from the white cubed space of the Lisson Gallery, the closest gallery to it, or any other mainstream gallery for that matter. And thank god for that.
This month’s exhibition is a solo show of Charlie Baird’s work. It comprises some strange paintings centring on the theme of chance and fate. Some are like rather unfashionable early 90s style murals with tarot card imagery, a sort of painted version of a Phil Collins album cover. However, other paintings have a sense of modern anxiety and purpose. Scenes of urban apocalyptic turmoil, burning cars in the sky, flyovers (very much like the Westway directly above Subway) are now playgrounds for disaster.
Subway exhibitions change each month and vary from contemporary instillation, to more conservative paintings to documentary photography and much in-between. Keep you ears peeled for the new exhibition opening around the first week of December.

Art Sleuth is part of www.openmagazine.co.uk check out the main blog site at http://www.openmagazine.co.uk/blog/

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Tagged as art sleuth, Charlie Baird, contemporary art, Edgware Rd, Lisson Gallery, mural, painting, Subterranean Gallery, Subway Gallery

October 24, 2008

8 of the best at Zoo Art Fair

sorry for the delay guys, technical issues! I am moving to another site, so this will be the last blog on this site. From now on I will be part of the www.openmagazine.co.uk blog see here:

http://www.openmagazine.co.uk/blog

This year photography and painting stole the show at the Zoo Art Fair, and some funky installation pieces. Here are 8 of the best:

Peter Funch – En Passant, 2008 – Superimposed figure upon figure, Funch has documented the social environment and more particularly the people inhabiting different corners of Manhattan streets, deciphering patterns forming from around 14 days of photographing in the same spot. This is one in a series of 28 images. Dog walkers or smokers (or here what looks like ‘Carrie Bradshaw style’ women) give a fascinating mixture of reality and fiction. Taken from his ‘Babel Tower’, solo exhibition at V1 Gallery, Copenhagen.

http://www.v1gallery.com/

Milton Marques, Livro Teoria Microeconomica 2007.
A Brazilian artist, Marques, uses second hand motors, cameras, scanners and mechanisms defunct from their original use to produce illogical but thought-provoking art works. A trick on your mind, here, what looks at first like a pile of flies (on a turd), is actually iron fillings constantly moving because of some sort of electric magnet placed inside the book. Humorous and ironic, most likely you would expect it to actually be flies on a turd these days rather than this rather more pleasant alternative. Highlighting the uselessness of some modern technology and perhaps pointing to certain trends in Contemporary art. Galeria Leme, Sao Paulo -
p.s (worth checking out website looks like interesting space in Sao Paulo)

http://www.galerialeme.com/

Lisa Manner has recently finished her masters in Sweden and seems to have produced a huge body of work already of a very original and eye grabbing nature. She paints with such an impeccable hand, a real fine art student, it almost looks like print. Swimfeilds, typical of many of her recent paintings use certain icons, here chairs and fans repeated within these surreal worlds of eternal stair cases, buildings and fairground rides. What is brilliant is the switch from one mode of painting to another. Inside one window is a completely different image and style from the rest of the painting. Quirky and wonderful. And perfectly presented, like most Sweeds
ALP/Peter Bergman Gallery, Stockholm.

http://www.alpgallery.com/

Never a disappointment, Paradise Row, London, pulled one out the bag with their dark brooding space painted black and with random material strewn on the floor. Totally in keeping with the get up was Douglas White’s Totem 2 – a conversion of man-made and natural objects into something quite perplexing, close to something you would see in an abattoir but made from tree trunk and metal chains. Perplexing.
Jean-Charles de Castelbajac found an old 16th century portrait, got someone in China to reproduce it and send it back, then he painted the Pizza Hut symbol on top. Comments on consumerism welcome.
On the back wall were animal skulls drilled to the wall with the symbol for ‘um’ liturally ummmmmmm, as in meditation painted in red on their foreheads. By Shezad Dawood, The Wasteland (Detail), 2008, was inspired by the content and fragmented structure of Eliot’s poem by the same name, and the world (according to the blurb).

See links on right

Madonna and Children, framed with museum glass, 2007
Liane Lang – Xanadu T1+2 Gallery , London – delicate feminine artist. Here wrapped around this famous Michelangelo wood carving. All is not as it seems. This is actually a lifelike wax image of herself, and the wood carving is a cast. And it is a photograph. Three stages away from reality.
In the same series is a model of her becoming an addition to the Lacoon and also Theseus. Embracing the heritage (literally) of Renaissance/Roman sculpture rather than Bai Yiluo’s more demoralizing vision in the Saatchi Gallery right now.

See link to right

David Ellis – Roebling Hall Gallery, New York.
Takes printed pages, from old books or the like and uses them as a base. On top he paints flowing graphic layers partially obscuring the under coating. Perhaps representing architectural build up in cities? On an aesthetic level eye catching stuff.

http://www.roeblinghall.com/

Robert Dowling: – Alexandre Pollazzon LTD, London
Here Dowling has cast and made fiberglass molds from canvases based on only 2 polygon shapes. They have then been placed back into the form of a basic rectangular canvas. This is one of a series each in a different monochrome colour in grey, black and purple.

see link to right

Anna Sew Hoy – Renwick Gallery, New York.
Work has got her noticed for all the right reasons in magazines such as Art Forum. Her projects are mainly to do with relationships with friends and family. They grow organically, most of the material coming from found objects. Here her friends signed this cast, (a model copied on one her surgeon farther made of her arm) as part of a live exhibition in LA. The whole of Renwick’s stand at Zoo Art Fair was dedicated to this artist and included other works such as a ball of jeans and electric cables tied together all of which had been donated by friends. Also ceramic wall pieces with old t-shirt material tied through them.

http://www.renwickgallery.com/

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Tagged as Alexandre Pollazzon LTD, ALP/Peter Bujman Gallery, Anna Sew Hoy, David Ellis, Douglas White, Galeria Leme, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Liane Lang, Lisa Manner, Milton Marques, openmagazine blog, Paradise Row Gallery, Peter Funch, Renwick Gallery, Robert Dowling, Roebling Hall, Shezad Dawood, V1 Gallery, Zoo Art Fair 2008

October 19, 2008

Frieze – it’s all about the Art or the buy sell buy sell?

Going to Frieze Art Fair is a bit like shopping at TK Maxx. You sift through the good, the bad, the humorous and the downright bizarre-what-is-that-actually-meant-to-be-anyway? And leave after three hours (you have lost the exit) feeling confused. Your own idea of taste has been so diminished by the sheer amount of stuff you have been bombarded with in a short amount of time you leave with a pair of purple leather trousers that you will never wear (ok that’s just TK Maxx).

The difference with TK Maxx, on a Thursday afternoon is that Hugh Grant is not milling around with a French Brunette on his arm.

This year the good stuff was great.

The bad were shocking. The photos of strategically naked Japanese women tied up with rope were really quite rank.

And there was a lot of indifferent.

Talking of the good, Dirk Skreber’s incredible painting Air Force 4.0 at Gallery Luis Campana was excellent to get up close to and see in the flesh.

Arndt and Parter Gallery, Berlin, had some really cool stuff, including one of those tattooed pigs that have been making the headlines recently. Unfortunately it was a stuffed one. They also had exciting work by Reena Kallat. Stamps (as in the librarian type) had been arranged inside a glass container to create the impression of a face. Doesn’t sound that special but was really well done.

Sterling Ruby ’s work seemed cropped up twice, impressive sculptures made out of Formica, a type of plastic, melted and reformed into huge dripping sculptures that resemble a wax. It was nice to see a Tomory Dodge, a sublime rainbow-on-black abstract painting typical of his most recent work at the CGR Gallery, from New York.

Talking points this year were parrots that had apparently been taught to bark like dogs. Although this seemed highly dependent on the parrot’s mood. And singular glass smoking booths, a working installation, each smoker entirely exposed to an audience as they puff away on the most public fag they will ever have.

Sadly little of the renowned London galleries stood out from the pack. The White Cube for instance displayed Damien Hirsts we have all seen a thousand times before and not much else of any interest. It could have been the exactly the same works as lasts year. Damian could have preserved the whole thing in formaldehyde for this year. Nobody would have noticed.

The thing is, when it boils down to it, Frieze is a fair and the galleries are here to sell.

Curatorial concerns are not top of the list. Most galleries play it safe; they exhibit one or two works from each artist they represent including the ones they find it difficult to sell so that a passing collector can see the full range.

Those that had guts, and treated their space like they were putting on their own exhibition centering on a theme, separated them from the rest.

A gallery based in Old Street, Cabinet, covered the top of their room to create a darkened, quiet atmosphere, and exhibited caricatures and projections. You could put headphones on and listen to Tris Von-Michelle as he jabbered away in stunted conversation whilst taking in the rest of the works. The black and white theme also pulled it all together.

Appetite Gallery from Buenos Aires, billing themselves as ‘radical and contemporary’ lived up to their name. Their space from top to bottom was a controlled mess of art and rubbish, used paper coffee cups lining the sides. A crazily dressed Argentinean lady was asked whether you would like an appointment with ‘the Cotton Man’. Most people survive this meeting apparently, but not with all their clothes in the state they arrived in.

It is just a shame that with this lack of concern for cohesion and the huge concern for the big sale, the galleries have lost sense. They have no interest in producing something for the rest of us, the little people. The ‘general public’ has to pay 20+ pounds to see this hyped jumble sale. Grow some balls galleries! Put on a show next year please!

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Tagged as Appetite Gallery, Arndt and Parter Gallery, Art scene, art sleuth, Buenos Aires, Cabinet, CGR Gallery, Damien Hirst, Dirk Skreber, Frieze Art Fair, Frieze Art Fair 2008, Galleries, Gallery Luis Campana, Hugh Grant, London Art Scene, Old Street Gallery, parrots that had apparently been taught to bark like do, Reena Kallat, Ruby Sterling, Tomory Dodge, Tris Von-Michelle, White Cube

October 16, 2008

The Future Can Wait, Kounter Kulture and Saatchi – 4 Sensations

The Truman Breweries’ triple art fair extravaganza: Kounter Kulture, Saatchi – 4 New Sensations and The Future Can Wait, are most definitely worth a visit and more so as they are exactly zero pounds entry.

The Future Can Wait stands out as being something special due to the diversity of content and the vast warehouse setting lending the perfect space for mind-bending installations.

You are greeted by a huge statue of Bert from Sesame Street (by Christopher Davies) rotating continuously, creating what can only be described as a perpetual mono-brow. Genius.

Janak Odedra’s clever ‘Project KA’ is an assemblage of found car-parts recreated into the shape of a car. The parts now defunct from commercial purpose are transformed into useful objects of artistic purpose.

Aisling Hedgecock is another artist who uses human debris as a material for her work. ‘Saracen’ is a group of hefty structures made up of mini polystyrene balls which now resemble a futuristic coral reef. Their appeal is their transient state, unlike Project KA their form is not fully complete, a live organism.

‘Licking Dogs’ by Angela Bartram is beyond the bizarre, but apparently not beyond the realms of contemporary art, as it is a video of a woman snogging a dog. Snogging; defined by full tongue on tongue action. The dog, it must be said, is now probably very confused about human interrelations.

Among other gems are Andrea Gregson’s ‘Borrower-sized’ fantasy worlds. Peep through wooden boxes taken from her Headspace and Wonderland exhibition in 2006. Also Kim Rugg’s intricate collages made from the front page of The Guardian. Each letter down to the very smallest type has been painstakingly cut and re-arranged so that they are in alphabetical order and stuck back on the page.

And Gordon Cheung’s enormous triptych, ‘Death Cuts Full 1’ with his signature background made from stock listings, draws you into a fantasy landscape of trippy perspective.

Kounter Kulture centers on themes of sub-culture; heavily concentrating on the ‘Street Art’ genre, kitsch, cartoon and pop art legacy, print and graphic design trends.

Pieces from old favourites such as Eine put up a minor appearance alongside the main body of less established artists, there also a few pieces being flogged from high ranking artists such as a David Hockey print and a spot painting print signed by Damien Hirst going for around 25k. Probably the most highly priced art work in the whole fair.

William Tuck, is exhibiting a very Koons-esq series of oil paintings, smoothly painted to the point of giving the impression of lamination. They consist of porn-star women recreating Bottichellian style scenes. Questioning how the original paintings might have been received in the Renaissance by some, along with presenting a merge of high art with newsagent top-shelf literature. Interesting, but perhaps something not particularly ground-breaking.

Snuck into a corner are Laurie Hodgekin’s Vanitas paintings of evil technicolor monkeys, intricately painted so each hair on the monkeys has a spiky realism. Although small paintings, these are significant as they push against the mainstream with their heavy gold frames, Dutch master painting style and warped Gremlin figures.

Stephen Dryden‘s, ‘Undo‘ and ‘What About My Mother‘ are rather more removed from the central theme of the fair. They are faceless figures made out of woollen threads which unravel past the shoulder into a woollen mess, as if they are melting into the floor. Very Antony Gormely in a fresh and inspiring way.

Works from Stuart Semple and Nathan James including paintings from the MASH UPS exhibition are also present (see earlier review on Art Sleuth).

And Wang Zhi Jie series ‘ Little Girls’ portraits with blown up heads and popsicle colours twist the Manga genre.

Unfortunately 4 New Sensations, an art competition in collaboration with Channel 4 was not entirely sensational, but showed the budding possibilities of fresh out of college artists. Which is the whole point.

Definitely worth a jaunt, among the four winners, Mark Davey’s moving rotary contraptions and the paintings Robert Sherwood stand out.

Photos all from The Future Can Wait in order from top to bottom:

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Tagged as 4 New Sensations, Aisling Hedgecock, Andrea Gregson, Angela Bartram, Antony Gormely, Christopher Davies, Damien Hirst, David Hockey, Eine, Gordon Cheung, Janak Odedra, Kim Rugg, Koons, Kounter Kulture, Laurie Hodgekin’, Mark Davey, Nathan James, Robert Sherwood, Stephen Dryden, Street Art, Stuart Semple, The Future Can Wait, Wang Zhi Jie, William Tuck

October 13, 2008

Brilliant gallery exhibitions opening this week

Is everyone gearing up for art week? Here are a couple more exhibitions that look to be the best and most out there stuff running alongside the big art fairs.
Look out for much coverage towards the end of the week, Art Sleuth is getting out the Miss Marple glasses, smoking a Columbo style cigar, wearing a Dick Van Dyke stethoscope, donning a Poirot-like moustache and pinging away on her typewriter like Jessica Fletcher after a hat trick of murders in Maine.

‘All This Time’ The Vanity Group’s second show at The Crypt – St Pancras Church:

Site-specific art in the crypt of a church. Sounds exciting!

Artists are: NATASHA STANBRIDGE, TREVOR TAYLOR, CORNELIUS BRADY, AGATA CARDOSO, SHARLENE CHANNER, LORNA MACMILLAN, MARK METCALFE, LUCY CAREW, JON GABB, SARA GRAHAM, GILES HINCHCLIFF, JON SOLOMON, ZOE CROSS, MATT BLACKLER, JANE BURNHAM, GARY MEYNELL, TOMOKO SAKANISHI, NICHOLAS LOCKYER, JENNY JOHNSON, SAYSHUN JAY, SRDJANA SARCEVIC, NATHAN GORDON, DILYS REES, GEORGE WILLIAMS, JI YOUNG PARK, DENIZ UNAL

The next week it its the turn for No Place Projects, a project group that exhibits in traditional spaces who hold an interest in drawing to sound and installation, and “are united by a common interest in responding to issues and ideas concerning place and space.”

All This Time: 11 – 19 October 2008

No Place Projects: 24-30 October 2008 12-6h

The Crypt, St Pancras Church, Euston Road, Kings Cross NW1 2BA

http://www.stpancraschurch.org/index.php?id=53

Julian Opie at the Lisson Gallery:

Julian Opie Antonia with evening dress, 2008 Inkjet on canvas 120 x 86.5 cm Installation view: © JULIAN OPIE. Recent Works, MAK, Vienna, 10 June – 21 September 2008 Photo: Dave Morgan Courtesy of the artist and Lisson Gallery

Major exhibition showing 40 of Julian Opie’s works from LED installation to painting. Opening is tomorrow night Tuesday the 14th Oct.

15 th October – 15 th November

Lisson Gallery
52-54 Bell Street
London, NW1 5DA

Elevator Gallery 1st Birthday Bash – this Friday 17 th October

Game for a bit of a shindig? I’d pop along to Elevator it looks like fun:

Live Art, Music, Art, Film, Installation and DJs including a live performance from HK119 AND there will be a one eyed psychic!

Check out the blurb:
Musical performance also from the French sensation Douce Angoisse, Random Connection Quest, and lots more. Meet a one eyed Psychic and receive a free art gift and reading. Artist Mark Mcgowan will breakdance before your eyes. The Singing Darlek will perform a rendition of Happy Birthday. Play traditional party games and win prizes! Fun for all. Party into the night….

A bar will be available and vegetarian canapés will be offered throughout the evening. Entrance is free

*S*T*A*R*R*I*N*G*

HK119, DOUCE ANGOISSE, RANDOM CONNECTION QUEST, GILES CORBY (The Singing Darlek), MARK McGOWAN, RUSSELL HERRON AND THE RUSSELLETTES, CAPSTAN STRING, THE PSYCHIC OF HEXAGON & OSCAR MURILLO, JON PURNELL, PIL & GALIA KOLLECTIV, MATT LIPPIATT, LAURA WILSON, SNOOZIE HEXAGON AND ADELINE BATTISUTTA’S MAGICAL PASS THE PARCEL, CRAIG COOPER, SIMON REUBEN WHITE, NATALIE SANDERS, LISA FLYNN, ANTOINE CATALA, KAREN RUSSO, JOANNA FILIPE, SOME GHOST, ROMANY DJ, DJ SPECTRA PET & DJ ETCHYSKETCH….and more acts/artists to be confirmed.

Vegas Gallery – Fake ID group show:

International group of artists. Preview on Saturday the 18th

Jemima Brown Morten Viskum Michelle Deignan Anne-Mie van Kerckhoven Risk Hazekamp Simon Willems Angie Reed Deborah Schamoni Caron Geary

Somebody needs a wax.

Another Roadside Attraction Gallery. Richard Owen – Moods for Moderns

“Richard Owen’s work uses Modernism as the starting point for investigation. He uses the visual language of the 20th century ‘movement’ to produce a series of motifs, reliefs and semi-functional objects that examine our relationship to design, art and consumerism.”

18 October – 15 November 2008
Open Friday to Sunday 12 – 6 pm
Preview 17th October 6.30 –9pm

Surpine Studios – Cian O’Neil. Meat Works

Solo exhibition by the Irish painter of goulsome paintings influenced by Dutch painting school, anatomy and Michaelangelo.

Preview: 17th of October (6-9pm) open for only the Saturday and Sunday after 12-6pm.

Surpine Studios – 255 Amhurst Road, London.

ALSO ALSO ALSO!!! 1st Xmas Art Xposure 08 – Those of you who loved Hackney Wicked, word on the street is there will be a Christmas collaboration, which will be a merge between a ‘Victorian freak show and a German Christmas Market, with a touch of eccentric English jumble sale thrown in’. Fantastic!

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Tagged as 1st Xmas Art Xposure 08, Another Roadside Attraction Gallery, art sleuth, ‘All This Time' The Vanity Group's second show at The, Cian O’Neil, Elevator Gallery 1st Birthday Bash, Fake ID, Hackney Wicked, HK119, Julian Opie, Lisson Gallery, No Place Projects, Richard Owen, Surpine Studios, The Singing Darlek, Vegas Gallery

October 3, 2008

Concrete and Glass opening night

At Heart of Glass exhibiton (all images Francis Ware, courtesy of the artist.)

Richard Bullock Everything’s Not Going To Be OK 2008 Wood, wax, acrylic, animal remains 11 x 2.5 x 2.2 m

Alistair McClymont The Limitations of Logic & the Absence of Absolute Certainty 2008
Fans, humidifier, scaffolding 300 x 200 x 230 cm

Adam King Curiositas (Cave of Terror) 2008 Mixed media Dimensions variable

Orlando Mostyn Owen Cerberus 2008 Mixed media Panel 200 x 250 cm, installation variable dims. (Look through the bears eyes if you dare…….!)

Rebecca Nassauer’s installation room in Cordy House. Some Way Home

last photo by Matthew Brindle for Beach Blanket Babylon, Shoreditch

Heart of Glass is set in the maze of dark hidden basement rooms in Shoreditch town hall, had a queue going round the block last night, and for good reason. It is an ideal environment for installation-based shows and this one showing 33 progressive artists’ work is a must see. Alistair McClymont created a mini cyclone from fans, scaffolding and a humidifier, Kate Terry had used a room to attach fine threads crossing diagonally from ceiling to floor, Adam King hung the weird and wonderful ‘Cuirositas (Cave of Terror)’ structures made from plastic household items and mutli-coloured patterns. Everything from the taxidermy of Polly Morgan to a forest of trees and wax created by Richard Bullock has made this exhibition an incredible experience. Be prepared for the disturbingly creepy Cerberus by Orlando Mostyn Owen. All in all an exploration into the darker side of art.

The Saatchi Online opening was buzzing with the likes of Russell Brand mincing around the show and a man with a certain similarity to Russell dressed in a long black robe, white mask and huge black hair. Just a coincidence I suspect.

Highlights from the show included Murizio Anzeri’s Late at Night. Real hair has been sculpted into a faceless ethereal being. Also by Anzeri are old 50’s family portraits, sewn into with ‘spyrograph’ patterns leaving isolated bits of the face, an eye or a mouth. Elements in these works echo the Chapman Brothers’ defacing of old Victorian portraits.

Sarah Douglas, explored personal subject matter through her subdued pastel paintings with stylistically blurred figures and domestic settings.

Sam Zealy melded art with science in his installation made from two huge magnets attached to posts by wire raised horizontally so that at least an inch of pure air separated the two in the middle.
Continuing to support up and coming artists through the Saatchi Online program, this exhibition shows the promising potential of these young artists.

On Curtain Rd I stumbled upon Rebecca Nassauer’s installation room in Cordy House. Some Way Home is a floor structure of circular lamps connected by wires with mini cities made out of thin plastics on top. Concerned with the placements of refugees and their precarious journeys, this structure seems to expand on Mona Hatoum’s Undercurrent, 2004 made from electrical wire and light blubs. Binoculars are provided to view each, which puts a physical distance between the viewer and the object, perhaps suggesting our own mental detachment as UK citizens to the plight of refugees.

Favella Descending at Village Underground is a film installation made up of huge screens facing around a central viewing point. As the name suggests you are taken through favellas with each screen showing a different perspective on the architecture and people that make up the Mineira in Rio, one of the most dangerous and poverty stricken favellas.

Concrete and Glass art exhibitions continues free from Saturday onwards for around a month. This is just a selection of exhibitions from 35 open galleries.

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Filed under Art, Contemporary Art, Festival, London Art Scene, Uncategorized

Tagged as Alistair McClymont, ‘Cuirositas (Cave of Terror)’, Chapman Brothers, Concrete and Glass, Favella Descending, Heart of Glass, Kate Terry, Mona Hatoum, Murizio Anzeri, Orlando Mostyn Owen, Polly Morgan, Rebecca Nassauer, Richard Bullock, Russell Brand, Sam Zealy, Sarah Douglas, Shoreditch Town Hall, Some Way Home, Village Underground

September 24, 2008

Another Alternative Art Fair….Free Art Fair ’08

Oooops missed one! Thank you Jasper Joffe for kindly pointing out another art fair definitely worth visiting.

The Free Art Fair, taking place on two streets near Marble Arch is a fair with a difference. Jasper has arranged it so all the art work gets given away free to visitors, the little people. The people who should be getting the art. Right on Jasper Joffe! And this is no small fry. Saatchi favorites such as Mathew Collins and Stella Vine plus others taken from over 50 emerging international artists exhibiting over the 7 days.

Artists:

Artists Anonymous Centre of Attention Matthew Collings Jimmy Conway-Dyer Sacha Craddock Stuart Cumberland Adam Dant Stephen Farthing Rose Gibbs Luke Gottelier Alex Hamilton Peter Harris Pablo Helguera Saron Hughes Lee Johnson Sayshun Jay James Jessop Chantal Joffe Jasper Joffe Peter Lamb Cathy Lomax Amanda Loomes Marta Marce Bruce McLean Alex Gene Morrison Stephen Nelson House of O’Dwyer Harry Pye Danny Rolph Martin Sexton Bob & Roberta Smith Terry Smith Geraldine Swayne Chris Tosic Gavin Turk Markus Vater Stella Vine Michael Ward Douglas White Charlie Woolley

With performances by: Laura Wilson Frog Morris Lee Campbell Mark Dean Quinn Dora Wade Adrian Lee Jenny Baines Rebecca Birch Kate Hawkins Jordan McKenzie Charlotte Young Victoria Melody Alex Staiger Peter Bond Sarah Turner Daniel Lehan

13th-19th October

14, 19, 21 New Quebec Street and 5, 8, 16 Seymour Place
Portman Village, London W1H

nearest tubes: Marble Arch and Edgware Road

Open Monday to Sunday 11am till 6pm

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Filed under Art, Contemporary Art, Festival, London Art Scene, Uncategorized

Tagged as 13-19th October 2008, art sleuth, Free Art Fair, Jasper Joffe, london, Saatchi

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