Art Lad of the Month- Nick Horton

So it has come, the Art Lad of the Month or alotm. anyone who foloows the twitter account will already know, but for those who don't, this month the inaugural month into this award has gone to an inspiration of mine, a recently fellow student, who has combined LADy behavior with an art degree of a high standard. That man is Nick Horton. I think Nick is a fine example of an Art Lad, why? well because he may not convey the stereotype LADy behavior, apart from going to the gym; however, he is a fine considered man, a gentleman (gentleLAD) who took me under his wing, showed me the ropes and and passed on the great wisdom of the grandfather of Art Lads (this a man to be revealed at a later date), plus he has also just finished his degree show.

His work utilises "lo-fi" elements of popular culture, through technique (spray paint) and text, to create atmospheric space like images. He is certainly a painter interested in the act of painting, in the gesture of a mark made when plunged into historically referenced theories on perspective and form. There is also some nod towards a containment of the universe, an ever expanding object, placed into an oblong which is very measured and precise. Have a look at his cargo page or his page in the Goldsmiths Undergraduate catalog  

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

Art World Pretence

A rather skeptical and cynical friend of mine (who is a self claimed artist's son) has a huge problem with the art world and its lack of accessibility to the everyman.  It's something he has always believed; however, there was one night last year in particular that exaserbated his feeligns on the matter. This was a private view at the White Cube for Christian Marclay's work The Clock whereby mate friend preceded to get very drunk and was refused entry, in light of this he preceded to call the Director "a pretentious c#%t" due to his rage that he wasnt allowed in. Here we see an obvious and probably very justified resistance to the LAD; however, the main focus here is some notion of  pretentiousness exerted by the art world.

I think despite my friends perhaps overtly hostile reaction to the justified reason to not let him in, there was perhaps something more sinister as the director would not let any of us in, it was especially disconcerting when he looked at the three sober members of the group (one of them being a relative of his) as if we were not fit to be allowed in due to our appearances. While LAD culture and behavior might not at times align itself with the "appropriate" nature of such events, it did highlight the the overtly snobbish attitude that is often held by the "art crowd". 

Much of the claims of pretentiousness relies on the continued attempts by many to live up to some form of stereotype as an art folk, this quite ironical as stereotypes are something that many artists try to critique. This does not mean that the LAD culture itself doesn't live up to some kind of stereotype; however, it never pretends it doesn't. The rise of the LAD culture does have some roots in the ironic behavior of guys laughing at actions that they previously laughed at, but now by making it ironic they have in fact become the LADs themselves. This last point is perhaps something that the art world could build upon, by this I mean making fun of the pretense that covers so much of its sphere, maybe trying to not dumb down, but laugh at its own ridiculous behavior. Art for everyone is a lovely idea; however, the commercial side of art excludes and reduces the possibility of this happening. 

Rebranding

I have spent a lot of time recently thinking about what art means to me, and this therefore encumbers thoughts of where I figure in this realm. LAD culture is a bizarre sub-culture that has emerged form universities around the country, many (especially them of the art world) look down at this LADiness, I however want to explore these LADdy ideas and how it might not all be as bad as it seems. On the surface there are the exploits of individuals such as Man vs Booze which draw media attention; however, there is another side that creeps underneath the resistance to the growth of the metro sexual male figure, and that is some strangely configured notions behind that of a traditional Gentleman. LAD "banter" feeds on website such as TrueLad.com show that there is huge support for quotes such as "just took my lady out for dinner. knowshowtotreataLADyLAD" gaining likes just as one can on Facebook. 

So for me as an art student in London and not quite fitting into the artsy crowd, yet, and seeing around what perhaps started ironically the growth and taking over of LAD culture at university, I want to see how some of these so called LADdy actions can be in some ways a veil for something less gaudy and destructive as initially thought, and perhaps promote something more interesting in terms of a youth sub-movement. This sub movement isn't trying to subvert or destroy the establishment, or strike up some binary against progressive attitudes to the world around us, its perhaps just saying "hey wait, I can adapt to these changes, but perhaps I don't want to be so dignified in the way i do it". 

The progression of this blog is to carry on with the talk around contemporary art, but also perhaps unlock some of the snobery in the art world, perhaps one day Lads and Hoxtonities wont be so different. With this in mind i want to carry on the work that am/have already done, but from now on I want to do it with the LAD in mind. 

You Know What Really Grinds My Gears? - Not Being Able to take Photos in Galleries

I feel incensed that I am not able to take photos of works in galleries, by this I mean non-flash as obviously this can damage some works; however, especially when I have payed good money, such as any of the shows at Tate etc, i feel as though i am entitled to. Anyone who sees artwork in galleries on a regular basis knows that there is absolutely know comparison between a photograph of any quality and seeing a work in the flesh, in real life in a gallery. 

I understand there may be some gripes in commercial spaces such as Hauser and Wirth, but even so I don't  feel as though me taking a photo on my phone and uploading to for example this blog will make any difference to the work, there are already pictures available of the shows online, and in most cases pictures are taken because the work is not well known, or there is a particular aspect that one's own photo will highlight. 

In all, while we can all understand various copyright, and value related reasons for no photographs, we al know that at the end of the day the best way to view a work is in person, so an online photo or a picture in a students sketchbook isn't going to make any real difference, and in the end just creates an annoyance, and also possibly puts people of the art world.

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.