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.
Full photo set
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!
Further Readings -
Page: Official website of the artist
Page: Official page for the show at Maureen Paley Gallery
Publication: listings from Cornerhouse.com
Show: Droplets (2009), Atle Gerhardsen
Show: Paper Eye Collection (2009), Tanya Bonakdar Gallery
Show: The Exhibition Formerly Known as Passengers (2008), CCA Wattis Institute of Contemporary Arts
Blog: Tribute by dearada.typepad.com, 02.06.2009
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.
panorama video
aerial view
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.
Making-of video from Tate Modern online
Full photo set
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.
Further Readings -
Page: Official website of the artist
Page: Ai Wei Wei on Fantastic Man
Page: Official page of the show in Tate Modern
Review & Photos: "Tate Modern's Sunflower Seeds - Globalisation in the palm of your hand" by Adrian Searle for the Guardian, 11.10.2010
Review:"Reflections on Ai Weiwei’s Dialogue with Katie Hill at the Tate Modern" by Jennifer Ng, 13.10.2010
Interview: by John Sunyer for New Statesman, 12.10.2010
Video: VernissageTV, 12.10.2010
Twitter: of the artist (chinese version)
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 -
"Marina Abramović: Live at MoMA" by MoMAVideos
T Magazine: T Exclusive | Marina Abramovic by TheNewYorkTimes
Lisson Gallery would hold a twitter interview with the artist on 14.10 - send your questions to @lisson_gallery!
Full photo set
Further Readings -
Page: Official page for the 2010 show in Lisson Gallery
Page: "Marina Abramović in London" by Cherie Federico for Aesthetica 05.10.2010
Page: "Marina Abramović - Make Me Cry" for her MoMA show 2010
Page: "Marina Abramović - Hotties" for her MoMA show 2010
Page: "Living the Art" by Luke Crisell for Monocle 10.2010
Interview: Matthew Stone meets Marina Abramović by Matthew Stone for DazedDigital
Wikipedia: entry for the artist
