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.

Great Advert

This video shows some of the great adverts for the new Show The Jury on ITV, I haven't watched the show, but the advert on the screens on the escalators is truly unerving. I first discovered it at Leicester Square Tube station and I found it fascinating. Having the eyes there while you were moving up the escalators really made you feel like you were being watched, like they were following your every movement. For me this is an example of a well designed thought out advert, rather than the memorable but awful Cilit Bang adverts for example which are memorable for the wrong reasons. 

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.

Bob Dylan- Hammersmith Apollo

Wow! after 50 years of gigging and at the age of 70 Bob Dylan still knows how to rock. Despite recent criticisms of his gigs as of late i could not pass up the opportunity to see him supported by a truly majestical Mark Knopfler. Yes true the voice has perhaps changed, not faded, but this only reinvents old classics such as All along the Watchtower, this voice means that it was a very bluesy affair which suited the rocky swing of the night with Knopfler opening with an hour long set and then continuing to play guitar for half a dozen of Dylan's songs. 

As well as his Never Ending Tour continuing he has also had his own show of his painting at the Gagosian Gallery earlier this year. In all a Great gig with a fantastic evergreen Like a Rolling Stone to end. It proves that he still has a lot to contribute to music. 

Book review- I, Partridge

Steve Coogan reprises his role as Alan Partridge in this Autobiography of anecdotes and stories about his life. There are many memorable lines where we laugh at the small mindedness, or lovable arsehole, often spiteful, nature of Alan, "The divergence between our two lives (mine: successful, his: pathetic) is best illustrated in our choice of garden furnishing. I've enhanced my lawn with a rockery. McCombe has chosen a broken washing machine."

However, there is something i think a little sinister in our apparent likeing of Alan and his misguided ways. It is perhaps just as bad to laugh at his belittling un-pc way of thinking, as even though it is intended for us to be laughing at him for being to backward in his views, we should perhaps find it insulting that we can in fact say, "o i know someone who says that" or "my mate Jim is just like that", maybe showing the lack of acceptance in our society. Some say that in order to get over things such as this we need to laugh at them, while i appreciate the sentiment and admit begrudging to loving this sort of humor at times, i do think that there is something fundamentally wrong at finding someone like this funny.