Cyprien Gaillard

Gaillard's work The Recovery of Discovery at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin in march this year looked at the moving of architectural form from its original location, in this case it was boxes of the beer Efes from Turkey (who uses Greek mythology as the theme of the beer), and then by drinking it, looks at the destruction of a monument  This is a lot wrapped up in one piece, but there is something to the ideas surrounding the touristic transport of culture and history from one place to another. Perhaps one could bring in here some of the debates and theories that surround the world expos from the 20th century. 

With the initial picture we see the monument, removed from its surroundings, created in perhaps some sort of capitalist materialistic colonialism.

Then with the second image it is slowly drunk, or destroyed, this shows some sort of tarnishing of the origins, maybe the colonialistic power, the consumer driven market tainting the original, using it up until it is done.

And finally in the last image the monument is wrecked, it's destroyed and left behind as the imperial power over it has taken what it needs.

The Only Full Portrait of Van Gogh goes on View in Grimsby

A local couple bought the portrait which they believe to be the only known full picture of Vincent Van Gogh in existance, in an auction in France for €1,700. They took the chance because they believed that Van Gogh was in fact the character in the painting. They have since spent much time researching thie with various facial reconstructive experts and forensic scientists, in order to ascertain whether it was in fact whom they thought it was. 

The artist who is beleived to have created this portrait is a female artist of the name Jeanne Donnadieu. Little is known about her, but it is understood that she lived four doors along from Van Gogh so it is perfectly plauseable that she made the said painting. 

The painting is on show at the Abbey Walk Gallery in Grimsby, which has seen the number of visitors rise from 200 a week to around 1000 a week. And the couple have recieved several valuations for the painting from around £10,000 to around £3m, which raises an interesting point around the valuation of art, if the piece is created by a little known artist, but the subject matter is of who is considered one of the greatest ever artists, is it really worth so much more, but then again it comes down to supply and demand, if this is considered to be the only one of its kind in existance (the only full portrait of Van Gogh) then a higher valuation should be feesable; however, it is usually the artist who produces the work that adds the value to it. For exmple a painting of the english countryside by Constable would be worth more than an the same scene painted by my dad. All the same this is an amazing find, especially if it is prooved to be the real Van Gogh.

Tube Crush, are you some strangers crush?

tubecrush.net is a website of great fascination to myself and others curious interested in the cctv nature of the western world. The website where people post pictures of strangers on the tube of interest, or of whom they take a liking too is becoming increasingly popular, in fact it has even come up in an article on the bbc news site. 

Despite the light natured theme of the website, there are serious legal and moral qualms surrounding the use of strangers pictures without their permission. The tfl suggests that the underground is a public space and that it is infact legal to photograp people in this nature. the producers of the site say "We hope people take the site in the spirit it was intended - it is not to cause offence.". It can be said that this site is more of a celebration to the spirit of the underground and the growing popularity of social networking.  

You Know What Really Grinds My Gears? - The BBC's attempt to connect the people with Art

Programmes such as Show Me the Monet are the BBC's attempt to connect the everyman with contemporary art. The programme made not only the artists, attempting to sell thier work to the pannel, the judges, influencial people in the art world look pretencious and snobby, but also the art world in general. Now i am not saying that thier isn't alot of snobbery and nepotism envolved within the art world; however, it wasn't a fair representation of us, the art community. 

However depite this feeble attempt there is something admirable in this effort to make art accessable to all. Some of the BBC's other shows about the old masters have helped, especially one about Andy Warhol, which gave a hugely balanced and fancinating incite into his work. In general though the production of such shows needs to focus on making the art world seem more accessable, rather than the work itself, which I believe, given the right situation can be viewed by all constructively. 

Modern Empire

In our previous post regarding emerging artist Alec Finlay, we spoke about a company called Modern Empire. Modern Empire works with up coming artists, by producing prints, i.e. cheaper versions of thier work, to help distribute their work and allow them an income. Not only is there the sales of the prints, but also Modern Empire works as semi agents for the artists, helping them put on shows for example the recent Modern Empire show at La Scatola Gallery.

Inken Reinert-

Untitled (1), 2009, Collage

Modern Empire describes itself as "Modern Empire works with emerging and established artists to create and sell limited edition prints. Our aim is to create high quality prints by artists whose work we feel should be widely disseminated and enjoyed by many people."

Viki Bennett-

n Retrospect, 2011, C-Type Print

With artists such as Inken Reinert and Viki Bennett, there is a lot of potential with this company, and we will be looking forward to more shows with their artists in the future. 

Scott to Direct New Blade Runner Film

Blade Runner, a movie with small cinema success, but a cult classic non the less, based on the the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, by Phillip K Dick is to get either a sequel or prequel according to the director of the original 1982 film Ridley Scott.

The images of a dysotopian earth in the year 2019, have been the source for many artists and film makers since, the vast expansions, and visuals that Scott visualized are simply mesmerizing and are still just as impactful today in the digital era where we see films such as Avatar day in day out. 

It is said that Harrison Ford, the original Rick Deckard, will not star in the film as it is said to be a stand alone from the original. "This is a total reinvention, and in my mind that means doing everything fresh, including casting." - Andrew Kosove, producer

Blade Runner is a personal favourite of mine, and i can't wait to see what a proven sci-fi director, who created the original, will do for this new project especially since the technological advancements since the first. Coincidentally another of his sci-fi hits is to get a new movie loosely based on the Alien franchise, to which Scott directed the first, Prometheus. 

Alec Finlay

I recently purchased these three drawing by Alec Finlay following an exhibition through Modern Empire at La Scatola Gallery, in Shoreditch London. Modern Empire "work with emerging and established artists to produce limited edition prints and to foster investment in artists' works on paper", through this way of working they have a number of talented young artists on thier books, who are creating affordable work for investors or art lovers, as well as getting their name on the map. 

 Knock of Braemoray, Sgurr Nan Gillean and Cauldcleuch Head, are the names of three mountains in Scotland. Finlay created these three as part of a series that included all of the mountains in Scotland. There is something about this work that i love, i think it is the simplification of the natural object, the quantifying of such awesome visually impressive articles that intrigues me. There is some notion to the sublime here, something about the measuring of the immeasurable.

 Knock of Braemoray

Sgurr Nan Gillean

Cauldcleuch Head

You Know What Really Grinds My Gears? - Wall Art

By this term Wall Art I am referring to the finished mass produced pictures that one finds in the interior decoration sections of any shop such as B&Q. As an artist I find this kind of work almost insulting as it merely fuels arguments by contemporary art haters as to the lack of the skill of the artist.

Many of us have read Benjamin The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction so the idea of reproducible mass produced work is not something that in itself is insulting or negative in any way.  It is the idea of purchasing a work in a way that is made to look original or creative when it is in fact manufactured with no purpose other than to complete the latest tacky purple themed room with an equally tacky burgundy coloured rose.

The point of the work is admirable in terms of it is designed to make a room look unique, perhaps and to add a feature at an affordable price. I think that if you use a piece such as this as a feature in a newly decorated room you need some serious help from Lawrence Llewelyn Bowen. One would be better off spending the money on materials to create your own work. I think for the sake of Art and the sanity of Art lovers and Artists all around the world, the sale of such products should be outlawed.

Andy Warhol at 83

Edgar Askelovic has created this sculpture to represent what an 83 year old Andrew Warhola might look like. he creates a copy as it were, of Andy Warhol; however, there is no original to generate the image from. with this an alternate reality is formed, we wonder, what if Andy Warhol hadn't died from a gall bladder operation when he was 58? In creating this monument to Warhol, Askelovic is making himself a god to control life and death. 

Much of his other works focus on this alternate reality that the power, or title of the artist grants. Homeless Queen for example plays with notion. 

"Creating my own world, to be a Queen or a King, and it doesn't matter who you are in the real life. In my work, the third stage masks the absence of profound reality, where the simulacrum pretends to be a faithful copy, but this is a copy without original."-Edgar Askelovic

The Andy Warhol sculpture will be on show in the McDermott Galleries in Birmingham

Your Paintings Tagger

YPT is a site set up by the Public Catalogue Foundation and the BBC to put 200,000 publically owned oil paintings online. The project is currently asking people to go online and tag the pictures, not only with who, when what how? but also with descriptions of what you see and how you inturprate each picture to make them easier for people to search for.  With multiple people tagging each picture the system looks at the more popular tags in order to find one that is more accurate statistically. 

They say that no prior knowledge of art is needed, and that one only needs to tell what they see, making not only this site but also the work accessible to all. 

check it out at tagger.thepcf.org.uk/ it looks like great fun and a real worthwhile project in the attempt to get public motivation behind art in a time of cuts in the arts world.

Alvaro Tamarit

Tamarit links together the two ideas of recycling and collage in many ways with his work, ranging from collages of the city, to furniture assembled from different sources. The city collages re-imagine how we experience the city, gone are people, streets, cars and any desirable space within the city itself, all that remains are towers and stacks of buildings merged together to create an economically spaced unit. 

His work with sculpture, looks at the re use of wood and objects, e.g. books to create furniture which serves a purpose, or retains a function. This is a really interesting way to look at recycling a book, as usually it it is turned into new paper etc., but here it serves a new function generating thoughts as to how one can re invent everyday objects, what determines their function? How would we use a book if we could not read, or had never seen one before?

check out more of Tamarit's work at : http://www.alvarotamarit.com

You Know What Really Grinds My Gears? - Foamboard

We here at The Uhoooooo Art Blog have found that while we are enjoying one of our favourite past times, looking at art, there are several niggly things that annoy us. This has led to this new weekly post which is going to be entitled, “You Know What Really Grinds My Gears?”. Lifted from the evergreen Family Guy in title, and in its content we will go on to rant about something particularly aggravating that we have seen.

So we will start this week with my biggest gripe when it comes to the presentation of art, something that I feel has ruined many a degree show, and even some professional ones, a common rookie error when searching for the easier option seems to be the right one, when it clearly isn’t. What I speak of is in fact FOAMBOARD.

I myself have never used it due to its horrible nature, but it is either a difficult thing to cut, or the type of person it attracts seems to be inept at cutting sufficiently, as the edges are always frayed and jagged. The edges cut in this way downgrade any work with any potential to a mess that is unviewable. It’s cheap and flimsy nature is of course a more economical option to a far superior mounting material such as Dibond, but photos stuck to the foam board and cut look like primary school rubbish even if the pictures themselves are a master piece. If I was unable to afford the luxuries such as a Dibond mounting, I would use pins instead as despite the possible damage to the surface I think that is far more bearable than the horror show that is foam board.