Last Sunday I headed to Kensington Gardens after brunch to catch the Anish Kapoor sculptures which were not seen a month ago (seen 2 on a sunny day, as you can see in the photo slideshow below) -
Kapoor's mirror-finish sculptures have a subliminal character which goes well with the natural setting of the park. You cannot say they have blended themselves in, as clearly they are all very visible and stand out from the surroundings. However, their existence seems to create an extra dimension to the space they inhibits. The distorted surfaces reflecting the surroundings produce a different version of the world to the audience, something intriguing even you have seen a hundred times. It is poetic sci-fi material, if you agree : )
Afterwards I turned to Serpentine Gallery to get my copy of 032c in their book shop. Since the demise of Borders, it has been a gain in my wallet but a loss in my magazine diet to explore periodical publications in London, with the exception of museum bookshops in Tate, Whitechapel Gallery & Serpentine Gallery.
032c A/W 2010
This is the 20th issue of the magazine. Based in Berlin, 032c has its 10th anniversary this year. Just like the reputation of Berlin being the hippest european capital from the millennium, nobody should judge this magazine from its sketchy graphic layout compared to perfectionist layout like Monocle. The magazine has one of the most lengthy articles I would ever willing to spend $ to buy a copy, and they consistently reach out to people from various disciplines to provide a dazzling spectrum of knowledge to the readers. Having said that, I have to admit the only time I can finish a whole issue is usually on a plane, striped out of any possible distractions so I can focus on reading and digesting the contents due to its "unfriendly" layout to my eyes... (clearly I'm a bit spoilt by conventional layouts!)
Odd addition to the Gallery facade
Before I stepped into the Gallery, I discovered a few little purple gloves on the window-wall. Are they part of the coming Philippe Parreno show?
Actually, the Gallery has just announced 2 weeks ago a new venue inside Kensington Gardens will be constructed and managed by them. Currently the Magazine Building, Zaha Hadid will transform it into the Serpentine Sackler Gallery with the donation from The Dr Mortimer and Theresa Sackler Foundation.
Back to the bookshop. Apart from 032c, I also noticed Apollo has Antony Gormley on their cover -
Feature in Apollo (11/2010) on Antony Gormley: Figuring it Out
And then this mysterious new title caught my eyes -
The Hub's debut issue - Never Neverland
Turned out it's a new launch based in London. The Hub is essentially like what its name said, a collection of art, culture, fashion happenings selected for its readers - a printed concierge for the urban troops. I like its layout and use of hand-drawn illustrations (at least they appear like so), a stark contrast to 032c! But it takes time to see if this experiment is going to have the same level of success like its competitors, all over the shelf in the bookshop. Good luck!
We are invited by sosogay.org for a private view of the GFEST's annual visual arts exhibition. GFEST is a cross-disciplinary arts festival, providing a platform for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and queer artists, organisations and venues to promote LGBT and queer arts.
A variety of formats is featured in this year's selection of visual arts exhibits, ranging from photography, painting to installation and ceramics. The following are three of the pieces exhibited in the show -
Adventure of a Horny Dyke, by Helena Janecic
Forbidden Fruit, by Peter Garrard
Nuts by Simon Croft
Simon has explained his work above is to portray a sense of 'constructed masculinity' resembling that of the trans-gendered male. You can see the screws are not driven through the metal plate as they don't align with each other on both sides.
Nuts by Simon Croft (side view)
A preview of the other works in the show and the profiles of the artists can be seen here. For the exhibitions in the past years, check out the links below -
A year ago, Simon Oldfield presented Ben Ashton’s first solo show in a former monumental stonemasons at 17 Osborn Street. A year on, Ben held an open studio last month in his Bloomsbury studio to let the public see his preparation of his next show. We visited both events and did an interview with the artist -
1. Did you plan your first solo show with all the different formats (painting, photography, installation) featured in the beginning?
Ben Ashton (BA): I started my last series of work by photographing different poses/attitudes with a mind to using the images in different ways. Some of the material was immediately translated into painting whilst others either stayed in their original format or were turned into optical installations. It was only toward the final weeks leading up to the exhibition when I started building the larger installation pieces that fused the whole show together. I feel that from the initial photograph my work follows a gradual freeform evolutionary path till it reaches its final destination.
2. Are there any particular influences throughout your artistic career, e.g. other artists, certain types of music, certain social phenomenon etc?BA: I now have a very specific set of influences that I have narrowed down through the years. I try not to be overly influenced by other contemporary artists as I feel there is a risk of regurgitating what has too recently been done. I rather immerse myself in different parts of history, be that art history, the history of science or technology and innovation. I have been particularly interested in Victorian discoveries such as Stereoscopy and the Kaleidoscope. I meld these parts of history with my view of the contemporary world, often bringing to light things that have been lost through time.
Cindy Sherman
3. Do you view your works to Cindy Sherman’s, as both of you are attempting to portray another person through yourself?
BA: My last series could definitely be compared to Cindy Sherman’s even though she has never directly influenced me. We both have used ourselves in the appropriation of other peoples’ images. In my next series of works I have moved away from playing out scenes from art history and instead my influence is much harder to place. In the context of the question, I feel that this is what separates me from artists like Sherman.
Artist's residence in the gallery during Ben's first solo show with Simon Oldfield
4. The curator/gallery owner mentioned that you are working in-residence during your first solo show. How does it influence you to have feedback from the audience directly or become a live exhibit of your own?
BA: I have always worked within my shows. I feel that it is important to show that the creative process never stops and I believe that it is interesting for the public to watch the show evolve over time. It is important for me to get feedback from the audience as I spend most of my time in complete solitude. I also think it is a great chance for the visitors to receive a different type of input directly from the artist and I hope this makes the whole experience more personal. The gallery is often perceived to be a cold and clinical environment and I wish to change that misconception.
A wall in the artist's studio during the Bloomsbury Festival Open Studio event
5. Do you have any future plans? What’s next?
BA: I am currently working toward a solo show in February 2011. This show focuses on my studio as a domestic environment, taking its starting point from the era of Dutch Genre paintings. I am interested in the confined environment that I work in and the close interaction with my wife who also inhabits the space. I feel this introspective view of our life breaks down the barriers I had built up in my work and gives a very honest account of my reality. Thank you Ben for the interview - looking forward to the show next year!*****Further Readings -
White Cube is showing Christian Marclay's latest film, The Clock, in their Mason's Yard gallery.
Editing from thousands of movies, the Swiss-American artist presents this project which shows scenes in movies when time is explicitly brought in, be it a clock at the background, a watch on the lead actress's wrist or a word from the mouth of the actor. The impressive part is that Christian has sewn all these clips together and actually make it "real time" - so the whole film lasts 24 hours, and the "time" displayed is exactly the moment you watch it, hence it's called "the clock".
Click here to read more about this piece of work from the Economist (with slideshow).
The gallery is also showing 2 other works of the artist -
The Clock is showing in the next 2 weekends in the gallery, make sure you catch it and experience the magic (there're comfy sofa to lay back and watch!).
*****
Futher Readings -
Page: Official page for the show at White Cube online
Page: Official page of Christian Barclay's show at Whitney Museum of Art 07-09.2010, with images and videos
Adam Neate is famous for his 'charity' acts of leaving prints out on streets for passers-by to pick up. Check out Adam below to know him & his amazing range of works more.
Artist Ben Ashton is holding an open studio during the Bloomsbury Festival this weekend. He has been preparing his upcoming show in Simon Oldfield Gallery's Bloomsbury Studio and you can visit it this weekend to learn about all his interesting ideas and gallery mock-up installations.
Structured blank canvases awaiting the artist's strokes, made by the artist
Model of the studio, made by the artist
If you are not able to drop by in person, you can still visit online here. And this online open studio is going to be around even after this weekend.
Simon Fujiwara speaking at the Map Marathon at the Royal Geographic Society, organised by the Serpentine Gallery
Simon Fujiwara is the new kid in the contemporary art scene. If twitter to facebook is similar to facebook to google, then Simon is definitely the combination of twitter & facebook to established artists like the YBAs & Post-YBAs. Having graduated at the Städelschule in Frankfurt in 2008, he is receiving the Cartier Award from the Frieze Foundation (collaborated with the Gasworks) this year.
As the award winner, he resides in the Gasworks in Oval, London from last August to prepare for his masterpiece in the Frieze Art Fair. Although Simon Fujiwara has an architecture education background, his art does not resemble the monolithic nature of contemporary "starchitects". Instead of a grand signature over numerous productions which makes all his works visually homogeneous, his work is developed with a grand narrative and filled with numerous details created to enrich the whole story-telling experience. His signature is not on a visual language, but on the autobiographical label. He simply employs people's desire to read though a person's mind and life; and others' perception on himself to construct his works. He is like a master builder in the renaissance age, filling his work with ornamental details which are all beautifully crafted on their own, but also form a collective image of the grand picture when seen from a distance. Famous for his hybrid art-forms employing performances, lectures and installations to showcase his works, the Frozen City is no exception in its creation and presentation.
Map of the Frozen City - click here for an enlarged view
In the Frozen City, his take on the word "Frieze" (which sounds like 'freeze') and name his piece as the present perfect tense 'frozen' is a delightful play of language which also fits well in the time and space elements in his work with respect to the venue of the present art fair. With so many press coverage on the work already, we would not repeat here again on what the Frozen City actually is here. You can check the links at the end of the post if you need to find out more. We found this commission is more relevant and connected to the venue compared to previous years, which varoius artists are invited to create a piece on each own and be placed in various locations inside the fair tent. Because every artist has his/her own creation, even though some of them may be producing his/her works as a site-specific piece, they would seldom produce a collective voice that could link all these commission works scattered around the fair tent together. While one may argue this approach may help promote more artists, that actually makes the whole act weak, reducing them to simply place-holders between gallery booths, with not much attention being paid to.
Whoever in Frieze that decided to grant Simon the monopoly of the full venue to play with is genius. Of course Simon also did a brilliant job in finding a unique concept which could make the work most site-specific and maximise the advantage of colonising the whole tent. The creation of 'check-point'-like excavation areas across the 'site' makes the whole thing a journey one is tempted to embark on and complete. Simon has demonstrated his architectural sense in 'masterplanning' his works and subsequently developed each excavation areas like 'plots' in a masterplan. His take on engaging his works with the fair itself (both its nature of trading in a market place and its physical arrangement of various functions) has made visiting the fair the only way to experience it. Irrespect of artistic value, this non-transferable art piece with an expiry date is a huge brand-building (or perhaps more precisely brand re-inforcing?) success for both the artist and Frieze. And after you explored the Frozen City, we are quite sure you would agree on handing Simon the Cartier Award.
Tour guide explaining to the fair visitors in the 'archaeological' site
We congratulate Simon Fujiwara for his success and look forward to seeing his next masterpiece! If you are more interested in his works, remember to check out the 2 interviews listed below.
Kinetica Museum is opening their latest show in the Frieze week last friday. Kinetic installations by Ivan Black and drawings by Reuben Powell are shown in Reuben's gallery space in Elephant & Castle.
Lisson Gallery has chosen the Frieze week to launch a twitter interview with their 'new' artist Marina Abramović. It looks like a successful event, with the artist spending an hour answering questions posted by tweeple (people who uses twitter). We compiled the interview below from tweets under the #marinalissonlive hashtag - there may not be the 100% correct sequence of questions & answers since it is not really that clearly arranged online, but it should give you an idea of what's been asked and how she thinks of those topics nevertheless.
Q: (Nicholas Logsdail, founder of Lisson Gallery) How do you feel about your first Lisson show?
A: I feel great about my first show at Lisson. It is the right moment. Nicholas asked me last year if I could be his Louise Bourgeois.
Q: (Nicholas) How do you feel about the future of Performance?
A:Every time there is a economic crisis around you have to start from nothing. I always like to confront my fears. I am staging my fears in my performance. It is also important to explore humor in art.
Q: (@Squirrelala) Hi Marina, have you ever done an impromptu art performance or is it always planned before?
A:I've never done any performance spontaneously. I believe in preparation. I like to see the space before hand. I don't believe in performance as entertainment.
Q:Do you think the re-performing of historical performance work is necessary for a new generation to experience them?
A:I believe that performance is a living form of art.
Q:Marina, what is the first performance that you remember doing? The last major show you had in the UK was at MoMA Oxford in 1998, why has it been so long since your return to the UK?
A:In many ways there was no time for performance art previously. It was more about putting artists here on an international platform rather than bringing new artists to the UK.
Q: (@londonart - that's ours!) The 2 pieces with onion & potato with Marina - why she uses New York Times as wrap on one & russian paper another?
A:Russia was very present in my culture. Potatoes have so much to do with Russia.
Q: (@CreativeLondon) Marina, how do you get a lamb/donkey to sign a model release form?
A:I love this question. I didn't! I love working with the donkey - they are known for their emotion. They are stubborn like me!
Q:How have you spent your time recovering from your MoMA performance?
A:It means so much to be around nature. It was hard to go back to normality. This performance has affected me more than any.
Q: (@DANIELjonKING) Many participants in "THE ARTIST IS PRESENT" view you as a mother figure. Do you consider them as your children?
A:I see my work as my children. For me it was important to be in the present for my MoMA performance. I gave unconditional love to total strangers.
Q:What was the most special moment of your MoMA performance?
A:For me the special moment of my MoMA performance was an old woman who came and gave me a shawl as a sign of friendship. It was a symbolic appreciation of my work. It made me burst in to tears. There was a very spiritual element to the work. Also important for me was that the guard for the performance waited and came to sit in front of me.
Q: (@OperaCreep) Marina, do you think that performance art can live outside the realm of art galleries? Could flashmobs be its future?
A:What are these flash mobs? This is recent for me but I think its a great way to go. It is something I never use in my life because my is very real. I'm also a fan of second life. Flash mob is a big possibility.
Q:Where did you make most of the work in this show?
A:I needed to do something which is going back to simplicity, which i would have never been able to do if I had not made these works in the 70's
Q: (@annieh_artist) Does performance art need an audience?
A:Absolutely yes. Any performance without an audience doesn't have the same energy. The work is the audience.
Q:Can you tell us a joke?
A:Oh yes. How many artists do you need to fix a light bulb? I don't know I was only there 6 hours!
Q: (@gtvone) Marina, as a performance artist - how much input do you have into how your art is captured, technically?
A:In the beginning I never knew about control. Now I have complete control which is extremely important. To make such a performance you need to be invited and I have never been invited.
Q:Do you think you will ever repeat the performance in another part of the world.
A: I would never say no to this but right now I can't imagine it because it was only three months ago. I need time to see if I have the strength to do this.
Q: (@DANIELjonKING) Valuable friendships developed amongst many queuing for THE ARTIST IS PRESENT. Did you ever imagine this?
A:Why did Johnny Depp not ask anything? A community developed around my work at Guggenheim and this developed with the performance at MoMA. It was really emotional because people involved in the performance really felt it would change their lives. 75 people came 10 times to see me at MoMA.
Q:How do you feel when looking at work you made over 35 years ago in the 1970's?
A:It makes me very tired actually. It is the only time I feel old. I should really move on and I am always trying to move on. Let's say I have a healthy distance.
Q: (@yacabo) Do you believe that there is a star system in contemporary arts as well like Hollywood?
A:Oh definitely and I am against that. Artists should not be an idol. The work of art is important not the artist. I have just been asked by a film maker in Russia if I can play the lead role a film. I refused. That was my big chance to get to Hollywood.
Q:Can I come meet you? A:Who are you?
Q: (@rowanhull) How important is time in your work?
A:Time is everything. I really believe long duration is important in a work of art. It can change you emotionally and physically.
Q:Will your show from MoMA tour to anywhere else? A:What is this 'back-up' question? I just got information yesterday that it is going to be in the Garage Moscow in September 2011
Q: Why and how do you think people relate to your work? A: My concern is to give everything I have to the audience and it is up to them how they want to deal with that. There are so many different reactions to my work. The ones who participate see something happen because we have shared the same experience. The audience are free to take what they want from the work. The public are an important part of the performance.
Q: (@DANIELjonKING) if you could choose anyone (living or dead) to play you in a film, who would it be?
A:That is a good question. I need some time to think. I would like to be played by Maria Callas because she would understand me the best. Or I think it would be Anna Magnani. She's italian and she understands drama and emotions.
Q: (@IsabellaBurley) When will you stop producing work?
A:For an artist is is very important to know when to stop, when not to repeat oneself and when to die. I should not stop producing work now.
Q: (@delfinafdn) The Abramavic Studio at Location One is a powerhouse for development. Do you think residencies are still important in this mobile age?
A:I think artists today are modern nomads and residencies give them the chance to go from place to place. With residencies you are exposed to a new environment which is very important for artists making new work.
Q: (@annieh_artist) Is performance art the only unmediated art form?
A:Before there was a bit of photography but not any more. Performance now has a chance to become mainstream art.
Q:How are you finding this interview process
A:It is very fancy. I've never done Twitter in my life. I'm not good with technology. I had a washing machine for one year which I couldn't use and it was only pressing one button! This is like science fiction for me.
Q:How does your early work relate to what you are doing now? A:I could never do what I do now if I didn't do early work. I investigated my body limits now I investigate my mental limits. So what do you do in this office? Is this only a Twitter room? And are these your Twitter girls? Is the final question 'Where do you want to die?' It is really important to start from the beginning to see where everything comes from. My biography would be great to understand my childhood. Everything comes in to place after that. You have to take something personal and make it universal.
Q:(@dhmonroy) Dear Marina, who artist influenced you, when you begining as an artist?
A: I really don't think I was influenced by an artist. Being influenced by another artist is like being second hand. Artists that I admire are Yves Klein, Rothko, Duchamp and John Cage among others. So now I've done Twitter for the first time in my life!
Marina Abramović private view 12.10.2010 by Lisson Gallery
As our previous post suggests, here are 3 of our 10 picks in town during the Frieze Art Fair week which shows a sedimentation of the lives in the three artists featured -
*****
Dirk Stewen
Maureen Paley
08.10-14.11.2010
German artist Dirk Stewen is reknown for creating art pieces from his wide collection of materials, be it photographic paper, pages taken from antiquated art catalogues, posters, confetti of all sizes and colours, streamers, book covers, and sometimes with industrial prefab wood or metal.
Dirk's series of black-ink-soaked paper collage art evokes a sense of cosmic creations of the spanish surrealism master Joan Miró. And his use of 'aged' raw materials bring various dimensions of time in one piece - which is something quite poetically supernatural even though no new-age technology seems to be involved in producing each piece of work.
The intimate scale of individual elements within the overall scale of each piece of work; and the delicate nature of these pieces are key to his success (you can read the links below to find out more how he makes these pieces). It strikes a chord of 'vulnerable beauty' to us.
Finally, a special thank you to Maureen Paley & Wolfgang Tillmans for the complimentary autograph - it's a pleasure to meet 'the' photographer of our time!
Review (for Tanya Bonakdar show): by Fionn Meade for ARTFORUM
*****
Ai Wei Wei - Sunflower's seeds
Tate Modern Turbine Hall
12.10.2020-02.05.2011
The long-awaited Turbine Hall blockbuster by the hottest Chinese artist on earth is finally open. Ai wei wei's flower seeds is an installation full of his individual character and the communist character of collective production as well as uniformity. Each seed is hand-painted and thus should be unique on its own, yet when combining 100 million of them together you can no longer see the individuality but just one sheer mass of a uniform texture - it is exactly this conflicting dual characters that is so resembling to what contemporary China is to the West.
And whatever Ai does, people would assume/regard himself to be a representation of a group of Chinese fighting for human rights and social justice. To some extent, this is true. But irony sometimes do put a joke on him. In his interview with Fantastic Man magazine before the show unveils, he told the interviewer to 'ask me anything you like'. But then when he was asked about the Turbine Hall installation, he said "I really can't talk about it, they even asked me no to talk to you in particular about this." The interviewer concludes that Ai is 'partially censored' by Tate - C'est la vie.
Visitors are allowed to do whatever they like on the field - the sound of the porcelain sands make one feel like walking in a pebble beach. And because the seeds would get worn with constant rubbing, there is clearly a layer of dust suspending inside the hall, which creates a sense of anxiety despite the relaxed mood of the installation.
Ai embraces social-media technology. So there is an interactive element within the installation which the visitors can record and upload their views to the installation and questions to the artist.
We suggest a read of the current (A/W2010) issue of Fantastic Man or issue #22 of Mono Kultur if you would enjoy finding out what Ai Wei Wei's life is about through interviews.
Twitter: of the artist (translated english version - fewer updates)
*****
Marine Abramović
Lisson Gallery
13.10-13.11.2010
Known as one of the most important performing artist of our time, Marina Abramović challenges the limits of performance constantly in terms of the body of the actors as well as the mind of the audience. Here in this show, a complete collection of her early work series Rhythm is shown as well as some recent works in the 2 gallery spaces of Lisson across the street respectively.
Seeing her works from different times put together is an excellent manifestation of her achievement because of her endurance in the art pursuit. She has clearly lived her artistic life fruitfully, yet she hasn't been thinking of retiring and retreating. In her interview with the Monocle magazine, she said she is still raising funds for building a Performance Arts Academy under her name. Her whole life has been very much dedicated to this single art form. She hopes to keep her legacy in a permanent form to inspire the future generations.
Below are 2 videos produced earlier this year on her MoMA show -
