Sunday, 4 August 2013
Sarah Morris
If you're feeling a bit blue, head over to the White Cube gallery on Bermondsey Street for Sarah Morris' new exhibition Bye Bye Brazil. Her paintings evoke the exotic vibrancy of life in tropical Rio De Janeiro - fruit juice stands, beach chairs and bikini's, bossa nova album covers or the colourful urban jungle. It is all catalogued in her cinema scale video work in the last room which audits the gamut of life in this city. The catchy rhythms of the soundtrack fill the entire exhibition with Carnival energy.
Sunday, 21 July 2013
Sturtevant at the Serpentine Gallery
Sturtevant's Leaps Jumps and Bumps at the Serpentine Gallery in London's Hyde Park is perhaps the most interesting exhibition in London right now. She would be best known for her replica works of other, now famous, artists which she started to produce in the mid sixties. Her more current work is concerned with the cybernetics of the digital world and its imposition.
Monday, 6 May 2013
Sarah Turner's Perestroika
The Carroll / Fletcher Gallery is currently screening Sarah Turner's video work/film epic Perestroika:Reconstructed.
The film takes us on a journey across Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway over two different time periods. She first took the trip with friends in 1987 when she was an art student and then again some twenty years later in 2007. During this gap she lost her best friend, who was present for the first trip, in a cycling accident in Siberia. It also appears that Turner has succumb to some sort of memory loss of her own also. She retraces her steps in an attempt to regain the memories that she has lost.
The film is composed mostly of shots taken from the window of her train cabin with only a few brief ventures outside. The camera and the artists eye are subtly separated. There are only small sections which she filmed through the view finder. This positioning of the camera in important as it changes the images from being representations of actual memories to being only documentation or proof that the actions occurred at all. She includes a monologue to the soundtrack that records her attempts at recalling the memories while she reviews the footage. Her words are mumbled as though at times through gritted teeth or a medicated sedation, eyes closed and tense. Through this the film develops its two strongest themes, being: what we forget and how we remember things.
Stylistically the film is beautiful and the soundtrack is extremely effective (I think it is really what makes the film so special). It's long, at 180 minutes, but it's really worth taking the time. It's one of the best video works I have ever seen.
It is only showing on selected dates and there are only a few more sessions left so get on to the Carroll / Fletcher website and book a spot.
Exerpt from Perestroika (2009 Sarah Turner)
The film takes us on a journey across Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway over two different time periods. She first took the trip with friends in 1987 when she was an art student and then again some twenty years later in 2007. During this gap she lost her best friend, who was present for the first trip, in a cycling accident in Siberia. It also appears that Turner has succumb to some sort of memory loss of her own also. She retraces her steps in an attempt to regain the memories that she has lost.
The film is composed mostly of shots taken from the window of her train cabin with only a few brief ventures outside. The camera and the artists eye are subtly separated. There are only small sections which she filmed through the view finder. This positioning of the camera in important as it changes the images from being representations of actual memories to being only documentation or proof that the actions occurred at all. She includes a monologue to the soundtrack that records her attempts at recalling the memories while she reviews the footage. Her words are mumbled as though at times through gritted teeth or a medicated sedation, eyes closed and tense. Through this the film develops its two strongest themes, being: what we forget and how we remember things.
Stylistically the film is beautiful and the soundtrack is extremely effective (I think it is really what makes the film so special). It's long, at 180 minutes, but it's really worth taking the time. It's one of the best video works I have ever seen.
It is only showing on selected dates and there are only a few more sessions left so get on to the Carroll / Fletcher website and book a spot.
Exerpt from Perestroika (2009 Sarah Turner)
White Cube Bermondsey
Yesterday I cycled down to the imposing White Cube Gallery in Bermondsey. Inside, it is a really impressive space. The street is now home to a string of fairly pricey brunching venues - all of which were packed out! I'm not sure if this is related to the new gallery or not. Currently they are showing works by Julie Mehretu, who has created some monumentally sized paintings. They are comprised of hundreds of line drawings of significant city squares overlaid on top of each other, along with accents of colourful acrylic paint, and more ink. She takes these urban centres as an architectural metaphor for political institutions, and as spaces and ideas of power.
In the north galleries are works by three younger artists. It seems White Cube has brought them together to represent some sort of new group of artists who use photography as their medium of choice. Or perhaps a new generation with a new approach to photography. They are Lucas Blalock, Erin Shirreff and Matthew Booth. In particular I liked Blalock's work and there are some images below.
In the north galleries are works by three younger artists. It seems White Cube has brought them together to represent some sort of new group of artists who use photography as their medium of choice. Or perhaps a new generation with a new approach to photography. They are Lucas Blalock, Erin Shirreff and Matthew Booth. In particular I liked Blalock's work and there are some images below.
Saturday, 8 December 2012
Drafts
Drafts of my forthcoming cookbook titled 'I Think You'll Find There's Spam On That', are here!! I hope to have finals ready for Jan 1st. Please get in contact if you are interested in getting your hands on a copy.
Bernd Ribbeck
Bernd Ribbeck was born in Cologne in 1974 and now works and resides in Berlin. Ribbeck's latest work takes influence from 20th Century modernist church interiors and architecture, commenting that their pious nature compromises their ambition. He also takes influences from more abstracted associations to the divine such as casinos and their chorus of slot machines, and Hilma af Klint (link). He meticulously refines his paintings by increasing layers, scraping some back, building up more, then scratching more away, until the end result defies the viewer of being able to unravel the mystery of their construction. It's difficult to pick a favourite. (at Alison Jacques Gallery)
Tuesday, 13 November 2012
observations of the unspectacular
Swiss based artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss currently have an exhibition at Spruth Magers Gallery on Grafton Street in London's Mayfair. Entitled Walls, Corners, Tubes the works are a continuation of others made for their Venice Biennial in 2011. Cast in unfired clay and rubber - two very different materials and processes - they are shown in various degrees of scale and reduction. These pieces, on their white plinths, would feel much at home in the British Museum.
Sunday, 4 November 2012
Random International: Rain Room
Last Saturday I left the house early(ish) and headed down to the Barbican to check out the Rain Room by Random International. It is a free exhibition showing at The Curve inside the Barbican Centre. It has attracted some attention for it's two hour queue lines, but I am a sucker for this kind of thing so I stocked up on snacks and joined the queue. A friend came down to join me at about the half way point.
The exhibition itself consists of a darkened room with one strong flood light and heavy rain falling from the ceiling. A computer system tracks your movement through the rain and creates a space around you so that you remain dry. The artist's statement explains that the viewer can experience what it feels like to control the rain. Rather I found that the rain was controlling me, as you need to maintain a snail like pace for the computer system to keep the space around you dry. Also the strong, directional lighting means that if you turned around to face the entrance the illusion is basically ruined, as all you see is a queue of people squinting awkwardly in to the light. However, in saying that, we both really enjoyed ourselves and agreed that we'd recommend it to anyone willing to queue in the line without begrudging it. If you visited Roger Hiorns Seizure, which involved queuing outside in the freezing cold for over an hour, you'll find this a walk in the park.
Also, if you haven't yet done it, check out the conservatory. Which I am told is the second largest in London (if that means anything). It's pretty run down and shabby looking, but still worth a look. It's somewhere between a grandma's garden and the Jurassic Park compound.
The exhibition itself consists of a darkened room with one strong flood light and heavy rain falling from the ceiling. A computer system tracks your movement through the rain and creates a space around you so that you remain dry. The artist's statement explains that the viewer can experience what it feels like to control the rain. Rather I found that the rain was controlling me, as you need to maintain a snail like pace for the computer system to keep the space around you dry. Also the strong, directional lighting means that if you turned around to face the entrance the illusion is basically ruined, as all you see is a queue of people squinting awkwardly in to the light. However, in saying that, we both really enjoyed ourselves and agreed that we'd recommend it to anyone willing to queue in the line without begrudging it. If you visited Roger Hiorns Seizure, which involved queuing outside in the freezing cold for over an hour, you'll find this a walk in the park.
Also, if you haven't yet done it, check out the conservatory. Which I am told is the second largest in London (if that means anything). It's pretty run down and shabby looking, but still worth a look. It's somewhere between a grandma's garden and the Jurassic Park compound.
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