2 forms of art in 2 new locations

The london art scene is always in transition. Galleries move around all the time, with new comers gathering in crowd where the affordable rent or new vibe is. Victoria Miro, the gallery which opens its Angel space in 2006 has recently returned to Mayfair, springing up a new venue with a Yayoi Kusama show in time for Frieze Art Fair. On the otherside of the river Hannah Barry is opening a new space right next to the Peckham Rye station, with performance by Tom Barnett for his solo show.

White Infinity Nets by Yayoi Kusama
Victoria Miro Mayfair
18.10-16.11.2013

The first Infinity Nets Kusama produced in the 1950s and 60s were white although she subsequently also made coloured net paintings.  In her autobiography, which is published in paperback by Tate Publishing this September, Kusama describes her first exhibition:

"I debuted in New York with just five works - monochromatic and simple, yet complex, subconscious accumulations of microcosmic lights, in which the spatial universe unfolds as far as the eye can see. Yet at first glance the canvases, which were up to 14ft in length, looked like nothing at all - just plain white surfaces". 

The paintings immediately gained critical recognition and were instrumental in making the artist's name in New York in the 1960s.
When we entered the gallery, 5 paintings were in front of us in the first room. In the corridor leading to the second room, there were 2 other paintings. In the second room, there was an installation together with the paintings. It is a nice surprise when you were expecting to see paintings in the show but found something 3D shows up.
To a certain extent, Kusama's white dots paintings are like a perfect symbiosis of oriental minimalism and western impressionism. While the full canvas is painted with numerous strokes, it remains almost a single entity when viewed as a whole. And when examined in close-up, these strokes come alive with their individuality and interactions with adjacent neighbours. The dynamics of the inter-connected strokes take your eyes through the motion across the whole canvas, and you are free to decide which stream of strokes to follow and explore the infinity landscape.
The white net covering the household installation in the second room has a similar effect or, at least the artist's intention, could be attempting to do so. It works partly, but there is an inevitable comparison to another contemporary here - Martin Margiela. One cannot imagine this gallery is not actually a pop-up store of Maison Martin Margiela, which usually features white on white design palette. And Martin Margiela's signature white paint over commodities instantly jumped into mind when we saw this installation in the second room. This unfortunate association has made Kusama's transformation of white infinity nets from 2D to 3D a little less sucessful compared to Julien Opie's facial illustrations.

Full photo set here

*****

Hannah Barry Gallery
20.11-20.12.2013

Tom Barnett's exhibition is a completely different experience from Yayoi Kusama's. It is more performance-based. In three acts he brings together his works in the worlds of sculpture, painting, live performance, music, choreography, installation and film.
The gallery perhaps was a little under prepared for the crowd showing up for the performance. Staff were asking people to step back to clear the space for the performance to take place, and it has taken well over 15 minutes for the audience to react and re-position themselves around various installation inside the gallery.
After a bold shot of arrow from a bow to the wall on the projector screen, the performance began. Tom brought along a person wearing an astronaut outfit from the back of the crowd to the front, carrying out several acts involving soil-ploughing, word-painting on the wall, playing drum and piano, singing and reciting text. A footballer and a group of boxers-alike were also present, and performed some impressive football tricks and impromptu sandbag punching.
There were quite a few photographers, possibly commissioned by the gallery or the artist's group, taking pictures throughout the show. Perhaps they were also part of the performance group (unlikely). The projector also showed several clips from Youtube during the performance, but it is unclear whether those clips were from the artist or else. The whole performance evoked an autobiographical sense, with the astronaut seemingly exploring the artist's topics of interests. It maybe unfair to say that the whole performance felt like a physical representation of one's facebook wall, as that is what everybody does in reality on facebook. But it did look like a collage of personal experiences. 

Overall the performance is an ambitious attempt for both the artist and the gallery to kick off a new venue in a way as such. The atmosphere was good and there were many interesting moments. Time would tell what Tom Barnett brings to the audience in the subsequent acts in this show, and his future career.

Full photo set here

a trio show in three distinctive spaces

Ten Thousand Waves - Issac Julien / Yayoi Kusama / The Hallucinations of Poets - Hernan Bas
06.10-13.11

The Victoria Miro Gallery is one of our favourites in London in terms of spatial quality. Converted from an old warehouse to the current gallery complex by Claudio Silvestrin & Michael Dain Architects, this week the gallery opens a trio show with three artists showing works in 3 types of media in 3 distinctive spaces within their premise. 

-----

Once you walked into the gallery, you would find the works of Hernan Bas in the ground floor showspace and the upper level attic. The colours and landscape background in Hernan's paintings blend in very well with the attic's exposed timber frames. In this show, the paintings are all subjected with young men isolated in a gloomy grotesque landscape settings, but highlighted with sparkling or colo. They evoke a sense of "Dark Romantics", as the gallery press release says.

Hernan Bas's paintings shown at the attic (as well as the ground floor gallery space which inter-connect with the attic by a void)

The insertion of young man into bizarre landscape settings create a tense yet interesting image

Previous dialogue with Hernan Bas in New York:
A Conversation with Hernan Bas at the Brooklyn Museum in 02.2009

-----

Outside the building lie the wild flowers by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. Contrary to her previous work in the same space, this time she is as pop as ever and the 3 flora installations have definitely spiced up the calm backgarden. The presence of real nature provides an even-more contrasting aspect of the pseudo-nature (or mutated-nature) in Yayoi's works.

Yayoi Kusama's "Flowers that Bloom Tomorrow" negotiating with the private view crowd

The signature 'pop' of Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi Kusama - I Love ME trailer by jpop4america:

-----

At the top floor studio where the space is reduced to the minimal white walls, framless glazing and timber flooring; 9 photographs taken in the making of Issac Julien's film "Ten Thousand Waves" are displayed. The photographs have a very engineered feel with its glossy surface and the very subject of a movie set (the green screen, the ancient costume etc.), which re-inforce the artificiality of the minimal space they are situated.

Looking down the narrow staircase from top floor dance studio

Glass House (Ten Thousand Waves) by Issac Julien, 2010

A previous film by Issac:
"Baltimore by Issac Julien" by Alavaraoa

-----

It is an enjoyable visit which shows the power of well-executed curatorship.

 
Full photo set

Further Readings -
Page: Official page for the show in Victoria Miro online - Issac Julien / Hernan Bas / Yayoi Kusama
Page: Wikipedia entry for Hernan Bas
Page: Hernan Bas introduced by Saatchi Gallery
Page: Official page of Ten Thousand Waves
Video: Hernan Bas by Nicole Davis for Artnet TV
Video: Yayoi Kusama - Kusama's Self Obliteration (1967) by Andyfshito
Video: Director Isaac Julien and actor Tilda Swinton discuss "Derek" by sundancechannel

*****

And a side note - londonist has started a series called London Street Art Guide. Stik, Eine & CitizenKane are so far featured -

http://londonist.com/2010/09/london_street_art_guide_1_stik.php

 

art july in london - part 3

Walking in my mind - Hayward Gallery

Hayward Gallery's annual summer exhibition last year (Psycho Buildings) has been quite popular with its interactive exhibits. This year, the gallery invited &à artists around the world to create some large-scale pieces in an attempt to "transform the Hayward Gallery's indoor galleries and outdoor sculpture terraces into a series of gigantic sculptural environments", which in short, means "repeat the success as much as possible".

walking in my mind by you
official poster showing Yayoi Kusama's (草間彌生) work

walking in my mind by you
by Chiharu Shiota 塩田千春

While the show is a bit kaleidoscopic (there is really a piece applying this concept) which seems that every artist is speaking on their own, the show title does warn you that a common theme could be non-existent. Nevertheless the works shown could evoke thinking for viewers, be it the walls of posters by Keith Tyson or the signature chaotic web of strings of Chiharu Shiota. Feelings are intensified with the scale and complexity of the works, on the contrary of minimalism which takes the essence only and strips the rest. This show is about enlarging the essence and giving it a spin on and on and out around the immediate space and into the audience's mind.

walking in my mind by you
by Thomas Hirschhorn 

full photo set here

Further reading -
official website for Walking in My Mind
curator's audio pod-cast for download before visiting the gallery
official website for Psycho Buildings
review by Laura Cumming for the Observer
Keith Tyson's upcoming show in Parasol Unit opening on 16.09