Nov 6, 2009 2
Frédéric Lebain – once-upon-a-time chef turned professional photographer – shot ‘Un printemps a New York’ the first time around last Spring. He printed posters of his details of mundane New York views and then returned to the same spot to place the original shots within a larger frame of the same view. Makes for subtly surreal photos in which visible helping hands or feet underline his unbrushed style.
Check the whole series of photos here.
Nov 2, 2009 1
Ever witty Erwin Wurm is at it again with his ‘one minute sculptures’. This time with Claudia Schiffer and a set of everyday objects in the lead roles.
These photos are part of a spread called ‘Kunst Pausen’ that Wurm shot for the November issue of German Vogue.
If you happen to be in Brussels, the ‘Erwin Wurm, Desperate Philosophers’ exhibition in the Xavier Hufkens Gallery is opening today at 6 pm.
Read more about it on Utopia Parkway.
Oct 24, 2009 0
RCA secret art sale coming up on Saturday the 21st of November. Join me in the queue … from 8 in the morning! Don’t forget to register in advance.
THE EXHIBITION
Original postcard-sized artworks, donated by internationally acclaimed artists plus up-and-coming graduates from the Royal College of Art.
THE SECRET?
The postcards are signed only on the reverse. The author of each work will remain a secret until after the cards are purchased and the signature on the back is revealed.
Oct 11, 2009 0
Action packed agenda!
‘Can Frieze reheat the art market?’ article by Alice Jones/Independent. Good read about the current art market and who to watch.
Frieze Art Fair starts next week (15-18 October) and attracts a lot of attention as usual. Because of the crisis, less (American) galleries coughed up cash for the expensive stands this year. Good thing about it is that there is more space for newcomers. Frame is a new section within the fair dedicated to solo artist presentations, it will show young galleries from around the world that have been in existence for less than six years. Looking forward to check it out!
Zoo 2009 (16-19 October), bringing together over 50 contemporary arts organisations and practitioners, through a series of exhibitions, solo shows and stand presentations, sounds equally exciting. They occupy a venue in East London this year which brings them where I think they should be, in the hart of creative London.
Zoo 2009 has produced an East End Map, highlighting over 60 contemporary art organisations within a 2 mile distance of the event. Representing all types, from emerging to established, public to private, commercial to non-commercial spaces, it will offer visitors a unique insight into the richness of what is known to be Europe’s largest cultural quarter. Check map here.
The Museum of Everything’s website looks entertaining and I am curious to go and have a peek. It is around the corner from Frieze, in a 10,000sq ft former dairy and recording studio in Primrose Hill. It is a space for “art created outside mainstream art circles”, with works nominated by a stellar cast of established figures from Annette Messager and Ed Ruscha to Jarvis Cocker and Nick Cave. The museum opens officially on the 14th of October and will have a shuttle bus service from Frieze.
As their website says: The brilliant Hans Ulrich Obrist, visionary curator and co-Director of the Serpentine Gallery in London, is bringing his Brutally Early Club to leafy Primrose Hill for a never to be repeated talk at The Museum of Everything. The talk will be on Hans Krüsi, the astonishing self-taught artist who decorated the streets of St Gallen with his strange Cow Machines. Breakfast will be served, along with free refreshments and lots of milk. A shuttle will be available to whisk guests straight to Frieze after the talk for everyone who knows a secret password to be picked randomly from Hans’ long sentences. Talk at 9am SHARP.
Check the events calendar for more info on new exhibitions. Anish Kapoor in Lisson Gallery/Subodh Gupta in Hauser&Wirth/Anselm Kiefer in White Cube/Various artists from Duchamp to Chapman Bros in Paradise Row/…
Sounds like we better leave the heels at home and put a pair of walking boots on.
Oct 11, 2009 0
In this Autumn’s Tate Etc. magazine, Michael Diers wrote an interesting article ‘Can you believe it?’ on the practice of trompe l’oeil. One of the illustrations used in his essay is the artwork ‘Clearings’ by Thomas Demand, which was on display at the Venice Biennale in 2003.
On the 2nd of November, I am going to a talk in which Demand takes part - Architecture+Art: Crossover and Collaboration, organised by the Architecture Foundation - and was intrigued to find out more about his work.
See a photo of ‘Clearage’ below, what looks like a photo of foliage superimposed onto real, live foliage is in fact much more complex.
As Diers puts it in his article:
‘In Venice it was hard for the viewer to tell wether this was a decorative windbreak, an anonymous billboard or a work of art. In the end it was only the small label that indicated that it was a new work by Thomas Demand. Now the viewer felt obliged to go back and take a closer look, and suddenly all was revealed. The thousands upon thousands of leaves in the picture had in fact been made from paper, carefully positioned as foliage and only then photographed.’
Imagine, 30 people were working on this piece for three months and used 280,000 pieces of paper, flower wire and rolls of carpet to achieve the natural looking effect.
One assumes initially that photography is used for the faithfull depiction of reality and falls into the trap of visual illusion.
Master of deception!
Let’s see if he turns up ‘live’ at the lecture or if he sends his papier mache alter ego!
Oct 8, 2009 0
First Thursdays - late night art on the first Thursday of the month - have now got routes on their websites for exploring galleries in East London.
Might be a bit much for a Thursday evening, but sounds just fine for a sunny Saturday afternoon.
This walk by Andrea Tarsia includes Victoria Miro’s gallery (next door to Parasol Unit), they will show ‘The Walthamstow Tapestry’, new work of Grayson Perry from this Friday onwards. More in this Guardian article. Worth checking I’d say …
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