Yoko Ono- #smilesfilm

Im afraid I'm in a synicle mood so this is a synicle piece inspired by these words;

Send a smile to your friend so he/she can smile, too.
Think of a way to do it.
You could send a photo that says ‘smile’,
or a picture, a story, or a piece of pie,
but specify that it’s a smile you’re passing on.
Ask him/her to do the same:
to pass on the ‘smile’ in his/her own way.
Love,

Yoko Ono

What does it mean to smile? well its some form of facial expression characterized by turning up the corners of the mouth, this often to signal pleasure. What if we are broadcasting that pleasure to everyone at the will of one person? Does it not remind you of some kind of quasi Kim Jong-Ill brainwashing. While there remains some nice gesture in getting everyone to smile and send it around the world, to "brighten" our live ands days etc. I find it somewhat more sinister in terms of our kneeling to a celebrity artist. Smile like your happy, then submit it via social media to an online database, to me that seems like keeping up appearances as it were; however, i think i have taken this too far, smiles are infectious, and this is a cute way of perhaps extending alot of Ono's other works that imply a universality between us all. A smile is a simple thing that transcends boundaries of all kinds.

So in light of this don't miss the Yoko Ono show To The Light at the Serpentine Gallery

Invisible-Hayward Gallery

Well the South Bank Center really has pulled out all the stops for the Festival of the World, and it has made a real blockbuster of a show with Invisible: Art About the Unseen 1957-2012. The show starts with some of the most influential artists of all time with works such as Yves Klein, famously known for his Klein Blue, and looks further with work by Yoko Ono and Andy Warhol. 

The Utopian ideals of the invisible art, the invisible architecture, whereby mankind had forgone secrecy and developed into a free forming world. The first room seems to take an almost chronological step through from 1957 where Klein presented an empty space (The Specialization of Sensibility in the Raw Material State into Stabilized Pictorial Sensibility, The Void) as an art work which up to 3000 people queued to view; however, I am not hear to give you a history lesson. What I will tell you is that this is possibly the best exhibition of the year so far in my opinion, each room and stage holds a genuine interest. My personal favorite is Lai Chih-Sheng's Life Size Drawing. This is a tracing of every line in the room, so the work is literally the largest possible work that could fit in the room, without having any real physical material presence. This work kind of goes under the radar until you see the label on the wall, and then you begin to notice, you begin to realise you are standing in the middle of a huge drawing, a piece of work that is so big, yet it has no imposing influence on us. 

In all i would definitely recommend this one, a few tips though; first, if you have attended the Wide Open School (if you haven't you should!!) take your ticket along for reduced entry to the show; and second, if you can get the show handbook, its really good, a great read.

In Short:- 5/5 Best show of the year so far, a great variety of work ranging over the past 55 years of invisible art. 

Parallax Art Fair

"The displacement of an object as seen from two different points that are not on  a line with the object", this is the definition my iPhone tells me when I typed in the word parallax. In an art world driven by money, at an art fair that drives to sell work, this seems an apt title. Parallax Art Fair run by Barlow Fine Arts was held from 17th-19th of May at Chelsea Town Hall on Kings Road just up from Sloane Square. The show itself displayed a varied field of artists, with varied prices and ranges of works. 

This was a show not only to sell work but for artist and art lovers to share and converse to create a better more caring arts community, with talks from artist not only about their work, but also advice and ideas about their practice and life as an artist. This community feel really helped to drive the show to something more than just a circus such as Frieze, this is due to several factors; first, it is the artists selling their own work, so they have a genuine passion for what they are showing, rather than commission based commercial galleries, and second is the scale, while there were over 200 artist on show, the scale is able to be held in the wonderful setting of the Chelsea town hall which generates a more intimate atmosphere. 

While I attend and worked at the show with the intent to see the inner working of the side of art we like to forget about sometimes, I gained far more by seeing that there is a genuine community that is out there looking out for each other. To me looking out for one's peers and colleges is something truly LADy

Alighiero Boetti- Game Plan

Two days running we have retrospectives from the Tate Modern, this time it is the turn of Alighiero Boetti. The show runs chronologically, which is pretty standard, but is a little uninventive in the grande scheme of things; however, the show starts with a look at his work with building materials used in ways they were not intended. The first room seems a little crowded like the hardware store feel which is a nice touch in an nice room that runs through his work in the 1960s.

The various rooms flow through to the next stage of his career sequentially, highlighting his major works of the time. I found that my favorite room was the first biro drawing room that I encountered called Mettere Al Mondo Il Mondo (Bringing the World into the World). These biro paintings contain commas marking various phrases etc, all of which "appear like islands or stars.", but the overall appearance is like a hand crafted quilt from afar. 

Despite the biro drawing being my favorite i was still a great fan of the rooms Tutto, a room of huge montages of pictures form various sources embroided together making no particular highlight of any image, creating a unity, and the other was The Kingdom of Papers, which was work in a similar vein but this time there was a larger emphasis on tracing and collage. In all the show was logically curated flowing nicely from room to room, and due to the Hirst and Kusama exhibitions also being on this one slips under the radar a little.

In Short:- 4/5 A great show in terms of work on display, but also due to the quiet easy atmosphere due to the Tate's other shows.

Damien Hirst- The Retrospective

Billed as the summer blockbuster for this year i was both excited and a little apprehensive upon arrival, it would have been worse were it not for the fact i skipped the queue with my Tate membership card; however, I was knocked back at how well the Tate had dealt with this show. Work ranging from throughout his career, starting at work as he left Goldsmiths in the late 80s and moving on through to the present day. Unlike the Kusama show there were several real center pieces for the show, in fact you could almost say it about all the pieces and each of them has had either their own piece of controversy or large media coverage. 

If you enter from the West entrance as I do usually you are greeted by two things, one, a very large queue (so either book in advance for a much smaller line or get a membership) and two, the ever present amazing turbine hall, which you might have thought to be filled with perhaps work such as The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living 1991, but no instead at the very bottom end of the hall there is a black box. Before you start queueing at the rear of the box you walk pas this image,

Now for many of you this will conjure up a familiar image such as the one on my previous blog post; however, upon entry and seeing it, For the Love of God 2007, in real life, it is instantly something special. What hit me most was the scale of it, in most images it looks huge, but in reality a human head isn't actually that large. The jewel on the forehead and the way it is presented in a dark room with spot lights makes it feel extraterrestrial, alien, the jewel an all seeing third eye, the eye of god perhaps. It is a little unnerving especially in the environment that you see it, a small group with security, not invigilators, watching and monitoring you in a room filled with the sparkle off the piece. 

If we move now to the main body of the work upstairs on level 3, it would take an age to go through each piece, all works that have been analysed time after time. Anyone who knows any of Hirst's work will understand the underlying theme of death throughout, and the almost contradictory nature of the way as questions are asked they are almost instantly denied by the work. The butterfly plays wonderfully with these themes the butterflies are simultaneously hatching from the lava on the canvases as other expire or live out their lives through this room that we as viewers can walk through. One is not allowed to take pictures throughout the show; however, I took a few snaps just to give you guys a quick preview. 

Another interesting part to the exhibition is the exit to the shop where there are many of Hirst's works for sale, smaller prints and editions all at more affordable (but still out of most of our price range) prices. It says two things to me first is that maybe there is a lot of truth in the rumors surrounding the value of his work and two, perhaps he wants a wider audience to his work, giving us all a chance to own a bit of art?

In Short:- 5/5 Great retrospective showing some of the most important pieces of art over the past 25 years.

Damien Hirst...again

Ok well this time its a pre-exhibition jitters type post, I've booked the ticket with my Tate Membership for 1300 tomorrow at Tate Modern, and I am genuinely excited. I'm 22 years old and have only seen a relatively small amount of works of good old Damien. I saw the Lets Eat Outdoors Today at last years RA show and was a big fan, and a few prints etc. at various art fairs; however, I have never fully experienced some of the major works in the flesh. Far too many people knock him and his works to quickly in my view especially when i think of some of the people who have in a similar situation to me, i.e. young and not really seen many of the works face to face.

 I consider Benjamin's idea of the aura when i look at many of Hirst's pieces today as i think of how many times i have seen for example For the Love of God in various magazines and on the internet. The autonomy of the work grows and the situational experience of the work is lost, having never seen this piece behind a glass box in gallery I cannot truly imagine how I might interpret the work.

So all I can really say at this point is that i am really looking forward to seeing some of the most controversial works of all time, especially if we reconfigure some of the works under the current financial climate, in gallery for the first time, rather than sat here in this chair staring at a screen...wish me luck...

The Inception of Line- Coldharbour Studios

Coldharbour Studios is an innovative space in south London which works not only as a gallery but also houses many artists in the studios above. The latest show The Inception of Line shows creative and effective curating from Arethra Campbell, with Kate Terry's site specific thread installations cutting and reworking the architecture of the white cube space, bringing a new perspective to the work on the walls, the pieces of Keke Vilabelda.

The press release says "The work of art exists within a trajectory or line, marking a point of communication between viewer and work that refuses to repeat itself. Both Vilabelda and Terry's practices highlight this line, never reaching a point of stasis; rather they are constantly re-aligned and re-configured within the spaces they temporarily inhabit." and i would be inclined to agree. 

The show physically impacts you as well as visually as one has to rethink the space constantly looking out for Terry's work which slices through your path at unexpected moments. Vilabelda's paintings, if you will, have a certain eeriness to them as dreamlike landscapes and structures are intersected by this imaginary frames and formulations.

You will be able to see the green thread of Terry's installation if you look closely

In Short:- 5/5 Great young space with loads of potential with a great team behind it. 

Design Awards- Design Museum

Having never been inside the Design Museum I was unsure what to expect when I entered, and to my amusement the queuing system is hilariously badly designed as the entrance hall is so small that you have to end up queuing out side with automatic doors opening and closing every few seconds; however, despite this initial hiccup I was encouraged by the set up of the design awards, as no piece seemed to have a favoured space over another. 

There were some interesting choices with a wide variety of different fields covered, this ranging from Viviene Westwood handbags to new emergency ambulance layouts. The latter being my personal favourite, one that I perceive to make the biggest potential difference in making peoples lives better.

There is a keen interest in the world around us, and we eagerly await the announcement of the winners in April.

In Short:- 4/5 A well organised space and a nice range of designs to see.

Yayoi Kusama- Tate Modern

Kusama's retrospective at Tate Modern is surprisingly large exhibition, showing a range of works from the 1950s through to today. While much of the work is very entertaining to view, there becomes a problem when Tate relies to heavily on trying to spell things out for people. We had discussed this need of the Tate's before in making the work accessible to all; however, again we feel that there is a pre-scripted way of viewing some of the work. 

The set up allows us to look at the exhibition much like that of Yoko Ono, and i feel that is an injustice to the work and the artist, this cheapens its value. Some of the best work is the work least laboured with the Tate's authority over the art, such as the spot work of obliteration and the infinity room. 

The aformentioned infinity rtoom was a room that needed time and energy to consider despite its instant impact that even to the non art lovers out there can appreciate. This is only slightly spoiled by the way that you are forced to walk through the room at considerable pace shortening the experience. 

In Short:- 3/5 Defiantly worth seeing, but don't expect anything new from the tried and tested Tate formula for retrospectives. 

Paul McCarthy- Hauser & Wirth

The King, The Island, The Train, The House, The Ship, always vulgar, always crude always unforgettable. Yes McCarthy's show at Hauser and Wirth, again despite it closing in the near future (14th January) is definitely worth a look in if you can manage. 

Pig Island is a project which has spawned and grown from the characters of George Bush and Angelina Jolie developing into grotesque machines. The simultaneous movement of them with the whiring noises of the pigs,  have the eyes following you around the room, the uncomfortable or displeasurable feeling sits with you as you go through the exhibition with a underlying sense of humor about it as well. 

But with this showing of admiration for McCarthy he mocks us. The King, a silicone copy of McCarthy himself sits upon a throne at an elevated status, as we sit in church pews following him like a priest or even a god/king. 

In all definitely get down to the show if you can at both the Picadilly and Saville Row branches of Hauser & Wirth.

Wendell Castle- Best Leg Forward

There are only 3days left of this great show as it ends on the 7th, but i liked it so much that i thought i had to tell you all about it. While it may be in the modest Albermarle Street Carpenters Workshop gallery, the work seems to say something bigger and work in a far larger way than the physical appearance of the gallery suggests. The work flows from the sketches they are based upon, working not from computer aided design but instead from the hand and mind of the artist; however, an interesting thing that Castle notes is that each piece is also sculpted by the grain and feel of the wood, the work itself presenting a resistance. The work is constructed from stack-laminated wood, which is literally inch-thick stacks of wood sculpted into these explorations of volume and shape. 

This stacking technique seems to immortalize the works for me, the banding effect created representing the rings a tree, but with these the flexibility of the materials and this technique allow the work to go on and grow. Each piece has its own character and feel, every curve telling a different story evoking different thoughts.

The Big Art Gallery Dilemma

Tweet I found recently that it is increasingly difficult for me to view some of the big shows at the capitals major galleries, e.g. Tate, Saatchi, National gallery etc. This isn't due tot he nature of the shows, but more down to a guilty feeling I have myself. I want to go view these shows, but with lack of time an issue I feel I should be viewing some of the art in the smaller galleries just to get more of a feel of what is in the Zeitgeist. 

Another thing that doesn't help is that when I do see a bigger show, my tutors kind of expect me to have seen these so me going to these instead of other shows leaves me stumped when they say "what have you seen?", when I reply with "um the Richter show" they kind of of go "and?". Now I no this is no fault of my tutors and it is solely mine, but I just hope there are some of you who can empathise. There is no solution to this problem other than get up earlier and spend more time with my head In the game, even so The Big Art Gallery Dilemma remains.

Damien Hirst - Retrospective at TATE

Love him or loathe him, as many do, you can't deny that he has certainly been a huge figure in the bringing of art from the aristocracy to the people. While critics are still divided, papers still undecided, i believe that a Damien Hirst retrospective is a great idea. Why you ask, well to start with many of his works which have been out of the country for years will return in time for the Olympics, while this maybe a rather crude showing of success and culture on behalf of TATE and Britain in general, I myself will be excited to see some of the works that i haven't seen in the flesh. 

While there are other down sides such as another cash injection for a man already called "the worlds richest living artist", I feel as though it will be a great educational opportunity as well for budding young artists and art lovers, seeing some of the work from the roots of the YBA movement. 

Personally I am really looking forward to seeing some of these works, and getting a chance to view them with my own eyes rather than on a screen or book, that is something that you can never replace and no one can tll you otherwise.

Frieze Art Fair

Ok so i know that this is a week post fair; however, i was so disappointed that it has taken me the best part of a week to recover from it. Unfortunately when one attends one has to realise that this is a purely commercial event, with every galleries goal to make money and network. When has this concept in your mind the experience is far more enjoyable, as you see that the work there is purely because it is sell able, the reason for the extortionate amount of paintings, not because it represents the best work of the artists the gallery represents. A great example of this is Huma Bhabha's work at the Stephen Friedman Gallery's stand. Some of Bhabha's best work are the fantastic sculptures she makes, of which there was only 1, the rest of the work were her still beautiful paintings, but they do not quite give the same impact as the sculptures. 

Despite the shier quantity of paintings and "sellable" work there were a lot of well presented works; however, my overall conclusion is based upon something that my friend told me, this isnt the exact quote but it goes something like this. Frieze to an artist is like seeing your parents have sex, your glad it still happens but its something that you don't want to see. 

Pipilotti Rist- Hayward Gallery

The Hayward really hit the jackpot with this exhibition Eyeball Massage by Pipilotti Rist. Work varies from the mid 80s until the present, and it works with video and the way we experience it. Moving it from the screen or basic projection into and onto new fields and plains. By changing the ‘standard’ ways of viewing by putting projections in shells or making the viewer lie on the floor on cushions made from jumpers and trousers, we are disrupting the usual rituals of a gallery visit. The human body becomes a recurring theme, for example the chandelier, Massachusettes Chandelier, made from underwear, looks to celebrate the body by using garments that would usually cover what is considered the most ‘sacred’ parts of the body, the parts which site “our entrance into the world, the centre of sexual pleasure and the location of the exits for the body’s garbage”

A personal favourite of mine had to be the piece Suburb Brain, where by videos were integrated to a small suburban house. The placement of the videos onto the architecture of the bungalow work well for me, with videos showing us the inside of the house, what was really going on, commenting on how what we see and what we perceive is often at conflict with each other.  This again works to comment on the nature of suburban life, a perfect little world often at odds with itself. The show continues until 8^th Janurary 2012 so go and check it out.

Phyllida Barlow - Rig

Hauser and Wirth's Piccadilly branch is currently houseing a wonderful show by Phyllida Barlow. The initial work as you enter from Piccadilly at first makes you stoop as you feel as though there are tones of concrete suspended above you on flimsy wooden poles, and then a sudden relief comes as one discovers that is in fact polystyrene painted like concrete that is floating above your head. 

The show continues downstairs in the very bowls of the building where further sculptures are reminiscent of incomplete forgotten objects subject to aging, but also others where by they have grouped together to form almost packs of art. There is also an interesting juxtaposition set by the grand wooden rooms and the poorly painted forgotten works within. 

There is a lot of fantastic works here that create an interesting visual setting with their surroundings, especially the one in the roof space, untitled pompoms 2011.

The Storyteller - Soheila Sokhanvari

Soheila Sokhanvari's show at La Scatola Gallery portrays a intertwining of the everyday and the magical. Several of the pieces require research in order to "decode" the pieces, which can make them a little inaccessible, but their intriguing state in the physical world leads to much interest and a genuine want to look further into what one is seeing. This can be noted with the piece Moje Sabz 2009, which has this statement next to it ont he press release, 

N.B. In order to decode this work the full title needs to be searched on google and choosing the first few hits on the search engine.

This piece has become the flagship piece for this show, it seems to follow some line surrounding a disgust that people often find surrounding taxidermy and a level of cruelty about the trophy state that is generated. While when pt into a gallery  and modified it becomes something more, perhaps in a similar remit, than a trophy, certainly taking a more mystical route. 

Much of the rest of the work takes very political route, Sokhanvari's Iranian roots taking center stage. This is especially true with the piece Talking to Myself a performance first performed in March 2010, and then again last night in La Scatola, where there is alot of questions surrounding the conformity of culture and the adaptation of one when moving to a new environment.

Little White Lies- Aubin Gallery

"First Thursdays" which should possibly be renamed "Thirst Thursdays", was as usual a terribly drinky affair, where artwork is one of the lowest priorities on most lists; however, possibly the best gallery on the Redchurch Street stretch was, as it usually is, the Aubin Gallery. Not only because it isn't filled with drunks, but also because it is far more measured and considerate in its curating. Little White Lies is a show which aims to recognize artists that twist and turn reality, re appropriating media to some kind of whimsical magical reality. These white lies subverse the viewer into something a little less comfortable as their mind is opened up to the possibilities of these changes. 

Angus Sanders-Dunnachie's work was in my opinion the highlight of a very good show in the galleries sometimes overlooked location above the Aubin shop and cinema. 

I think that there is a real intentional confusion with this work, that creates a doubt around what is going on, what we are seeing, and about the reality that we face here. There is a comforting knowledge that we know these images are not possible in terms of their physicality in our world; however, their is doubt and mystery even if it is at first glance and only for a moment. 

In there was some promising work at the exhibition and it is definitely a show worth seeing, it is on until September 11th 64-66 Redchurch Street, E2 7DP. 

Hajj Exhibition, with contemporary Saudi artists

The British Museum despite recent rumours of the closing of its library, will play host to an exhibition on the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, in early 2012. The ritual that is supposed to be carried out by every adult Muslim at least once in their life, will be displayed by form of manuscripts, photographs and diaries and will be accompanied by work from contemporary Saudi artists such as Ahmed Mater and Shadia Alem.

I myself am particularly looking forward to this exhibition especially due to its inclusion of the contemporary artists. Ahmed Mater is an internationally renowned artist whose work covers many grounds. There is one work of his that I particularly like, and that is Antenna. 

There is a searching here, a scanning for a signal for something to watch to grab onto, something that translates in away not only from the childhood that he references, but also a little bit of all our lives, that stage where one searches for someone, something to set them right. Or perhaps as the signal fades it was a glimpse into something better. This I feel resonates not only with the public but also to any fellow artists, as this is a path in life that is often uncertain.