The SHAPE of things to come : AT the SAATCHI

Photos of artworks by various artists taken by myself

Toulouse Lautrec and Jane Avril : Beyond the Moulin Rouge

"Toulouse Lautrec - A penis on legs!" His friends and contemporaries!

Jane Avril a dancer at the Moulin Rouge -
friend and muse of Toulouse Lautrec.
Mistress to the world.
Paris still better be like in my dreams.
I want to sit in the belly of an elephant.
Paint and be painted.

Chapman at Mason's Yard. Cliche all the way.

You may remember that I was absolutely mad about the Jake or Dinos Chapman exhibition at The White Cube in Hoxton Square so I fully expected Mason's yard to be fantastic too. What a disappointment!
It verged on the tacky, crude and gaudy. Was kitsch in a bad way and just NOT COOL. Maybe my tastes have done a U-Turn and it was still disturbing. But for the wrong reasons.
  I was quite impressed by the Bosch style painting.. the guys have talent and the drawing was almost exquisite but the model of the CLAN member with a massive hard - on. Not good.  :(
   I was impressed by the Hoxton Square show because of it' slack of cliche. Mason's Yard was the opposite. Maybe still worth a viewing... who knows. It's free...

The Vorticists - Manifesto for a modern world.

"Victorian vampire, the london cloud sucks the towns heart." Blast 1

Jacob Einsten -  Rock Drill

Henri - Gaudier - Bruska : Front (head)

Back : Penis

Jacob Einstein

"Think of a whirlpool...At the heart of the whirlpool is a great silent place where all the energy is concentrated. And there, at the point of concentration, is the Vorticist." Wyndham Lewis

The Tate Britain is a refreshing change from the wonders of the Modern and it never (all though far less frequently visited) fails to disappoint. I rushed at the last minute to "The Vorticists - manifesto for a modern world" exhibition...which finished yesterday.. despite the fact that I had been meaning to see it for as long as it has been in existence. 

   Just like The Miro I absolutely loved everything about the show. The curation was (thank god) intelligent and interesting. The wording fluid and the display stunning. The Tate seems to be getting better at understanding it's audience and inspiring awe in the viewer. The work was shocking but beautiful and I found a fragility in The Vorticists work as it so apparently took on the world it was scared of. Obviously the connection with writing was a point of interest and inspiration for me. Poetry is key.. however as with the Miro. I feel inspired to make art again. Thank you. 

  Even though I of course do not take the Vorticist view seriously its rhetoric makes me smile.

"BLESS the solitude of LAUGHTER.

BLESS the separating, ungregarious

BRITISH GRIN."

then again.. maybe I am just to fleeting or influenced.. lets hope it sticks!

Live Pianorama and Ron Arad's Curtain Call at The Roundhouse

Christian Marclay "Pianorama" - Live performance by Steve Beresford

Mat Collishaw "Sordid Earth"

Miro at The Tate Modern

It has taken me a while to do this post and I am not even sure why.
The main thing I have to say is that I (personally) loved this exhibition - the reason that this is the main thing that I had to say is because - I really didn't think I would. I have to be honest, most of the Tate's exhibitions disapoint me. I find the curation frustrating and all too obvious and everything a bit dry - especially with their "Painting" exhibitions. . . but I have fallen in love with Miro and have to say (possibly with painting again!)
  The retrospective was huge and the work vast - it was not a sparse exhibition and this was great. All the work was so vibrant and energetic - it screamed Barcelona at the viewer - something that excites me personally  (maybe a romantic attachment) - I don;t know what it was but this exhibition made me feel happy. I never really understood why anyone would really "buy" a painting - but you know what - I would fill my house with Miro's if I could!

The Head of a Catalan Peasant

Dog Barking at The Moon

The Hope of a Condemned Man

Burnt Canvas

"The Most Surreal Of Us All" Andre Breton on Miro

Pianorama (after curtain call) - to the sound of chords and such

Discord is a frenzy of your movement or the disquiet in my limbs
As notes pour and converse with your or mine
Or it or who.
Black and white is filled with greys and brights
Colour and movement and melodious sight.
Circular light is nothing without these eyes.
Waiting for the next touch is a caress to the ground
Jabbing or subtle dancing of finger upon finger.
The repetition drowns the imagination and jars at my irritation
But the blinking lid opens and flows off into sporadic dreams.
Translate into words without speech and stop waiting.
My ears are a window into what could be the strands of being.
The purpose to absorb something and disarm the present.

Deep Impact

Keith Tyson's Deep Impact was definitely the highlight of The Summer Exhibition 2011 and for me made it  a completely worthwhile visit ( whilst sifting through all that TWEE!!) . The painting is outstanding and incredibly beautiful. It is full of energy and feeling, fire and colour and did what art should - moved me. The Summer Exhibition is always frustrating because of its sheer nature and although this painting deserved far more space and perhaps a different setting its reflective nature sucked in the energy of everything. Its mirror like surface made its hanging come alive as the audience moved about within its surface and the colours of the other (crammed) paintings in the room.

This apocalyptic and fiery work seems incredibly relevant in my mind today as the riots continue to spread through london. The fear of the end and danger is everywhere bubbling under the surface. I can't help but think what this all means. What is the end?

Art that really SHOCKED me

Before i found out about Amy Winehouse's tragic death on Saturday what I really wanted to write about was what shocked me face to face. There is a lot of art  out there that is supposedly meant to shock. Most of it, in reality, might be amazing art, might be art that I love, but it doesn't shock! Sex is exciting not shocking. Swearing just a part of the every day human language. Religion discussed.... Politics obvious! I must admit, even a water boarding  (torture technique) performance installation at the recent Goldsmiths showcase didn't shock me. It was too obvious, too tacky. What really shocks me is when I feel. When I feel disgusted, uneasy, shocked...at god knows what. When art is the unexpected.
  On saturday I walked in to the White Cube on Hoxton Square for the "Jake or Dinos Chapman" exhibition. A show put on in both White Cube's (I haven't been to Mason's Yard yet - but can't wait) in which the tow brothers have both made art separately from one another for one another but we don't know whose is who. Anyway I walked in and it was busy. There were some interesting paintings on the wall and some intricate sculptures. They didn't really mean anything to me. A mix of contemporary and african art by the looks of it. Fairly fun ... and then I noticed this group of school children at the end of the room. I thought to myself "Odd place for a school trip (they were very small looking - so i assumed must be young) especially on a saturday." And then in struck me. they were all ever so perculiar. Ever so still. Ever so intimidating. They weren't real!
  This made me feel incredibly uneasy. I don't know why. I couldn't stop staring and I hadn't even seen there fronts yet. I walked round and here it becomes obvious they aren't real but there is certainly some sort of life in them. They are a presence. A very REAL presence. I wont tell you about there faces. They aren't normal faces. But you have to go and see. It is the feeling that shocks. It is not the Nazi content or the distortion but just the fact they are there. Quite frankly I can't get over it. The press release has it just right "It is the attack on the body". The body of everyone.

It isn't there in the picture

"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to corollate all its contents"

    Dinos Chapman from the book "Nothing they Teach us"

Yohji Making Waves

Photographs taken from Yohji Yamamoto's installation at the Wapping Project.

In the stillnes she quivered, 

A reflection on her loss.

She echoed a beauty across the lake

And under the moon light she sung her siren song.

To be in that moment and then gone again.

Ephemeral ghostly peace. 

Yohji Yamomoto at The V & A

“When I started making clothes all I wanted was for women to wear men’s clothes”

                 –  Yohji Yamamoto


The current retrospective of Yamomoto's work at The V & A is a must see (ending on the 10th of July)..
The work speaks for itself. Pure Beauty. 
Asymmetry. Androdgony and CLASS. 
The material speaks for itself ... 
And I can't stop watching this show :

BP Portrait Award 2011

Paintings are mostly lost on me. Portraits confuse me. Generally I am more drawn to photography and film as a medium. Painting is a skill. A skill I don't have. Or maybe it is a patience I don't have?
If I could and loved it.. I probably would paint more.
I am not sure how they pick these portraits, it must be a mammoth challenge? Some I like. Some I don't.
"Holly" the second prize winner I thought was beautiful.
I was also surprised to see a familiar face hanging on the wall. That of David Carter. The thing about seeing a painted portrait of someone is that it has some kind of authority and grandeur that you don;t link with people you might actually know face to face... even though Mr Carter is more than GRAND!
I would go see... It's interesting because we forget where art comes from. We forget there are still artists painting portraits and self training and artists from all over the world just loving there craft and wanting it to be seen. Whatever you think of the painted portrait. This is good. And I love people, I think any portrait is a celebration of this.

"HOLLY" by Louis Smith.. described by the Independent's Jonathon Jones as "a retro-academic soft- porn fantasy" (and in a good way)  is definitely my favourite. 

Washed up...

... visit Selfridges to see "Washed up". An exhibition celebrating fashion's creative debt to the ocean.

My favourite is of course the McQueen. "Plato's Atlantis" still remains one of my favourite ever collections ( I posted the video of the show way back) and it is wonderful to see it in this setting celebrating the ocean, nature and creation.

Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 2010

Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 2010

The hats are also pretty outstanding :

Crystal Swimming Cap; Naomi Filmer in Collaboration with Swarovski

Philip Treacy for Lady Gaga

Plato's Atlantis (The legend) a Fashion Video directed by Nick Knight for Plato's Atlantis (shown alongside the live streaming of the show :

SO BEAUTIFUL!

LOVE IS WHAT YOU WANT

 "Is Anal Sex Legal?

Is Legal Sex Anal?"

A visit to the current Tracey Emin exhibition  "Love is What  You Want" at The Hayward Gallery is, yet again, another must. I am not quite sure what expectations I went with. . . I always think the curation of any show at The Hayward is well done (far better than any TATE, Royal Academy e.t.c) and well covered; I generally like Tracey Emin's work, or at least don't have any strong opinions against what she does but I must admit I have come away an avid fan! The show was enticing, interesting, personal, colourful and heart warming!
  We all have our pre-conceptions of this artist. We know she uses distressing aspects of her life to create her art but this is with merit. Her pieces are not trashy but careful and tender. Some points are most certainly shocking but no pushiness comes across in construction. When looking at her work I did not feel she was showing off or shoving her life in my face. Her art was doing exactly what art should. Making me question my own life? Things personal to me? Or universal truths`?
  We all are affected by sex in some way or another. Sex and Love. Sex and Love. Sex and Love. You can't escape it. Of course I am writing from my own perspective. As a woman it is perhaps different from a man as motherhood or the possibility of motherhood comes in to the whole arena as well. Not that men are not involved in the creation create but perhaps they are more distant from the fear or the longing or whatever it is about the possibility of having a baby inside you. Sex . Love . And babies. The battle with our body. The battle with our mind. The battle as an artist. Creating art? What does it mean? Is there something wrong with my mind? These are all questions. Questions. Power. Questions.
 Yes it made me think.
 I admire her. I really do. She has worked hard. She is nearly 50. I like her smile. I like her smile. She looks warm and friendly. I like her writing. It is simple and clever and warming. Her art is real. But it is art. She knows this. Art makes me struggle ? Is there any point? Yes if it helps. Yes. Therapy for me. Or making the world think. Now this is about me...
See?
Middle class men (THE CRITICS) don't understand (read some of the reviews (by men)) They are sad and  jealous. CUNTS whatever CUNTS.

Love Is What You Want

Tracey Emin Running Naked With a Flag

I can't write a review. It is all about feelings. It made me feel a lot. Go see...

I WAS A MAN

Photograph from  CSM Trinity Buoy Wharf Private View

Private View with a View (seaside time)

Roll up roll up... anybody free between 6 and 9pm tomorrow come on down to the Trinity Buoy Wharf to see what the Central Saint Martins Kids have been working on for the last three days. There will be beer and wine and hopefully it will be a bit of a laugh. Pretend your at the sea side on the river... I will be showing a short (shit) film called "Up against the wall; Down a dark alley" ... the culmination of a couple of days work which is basically just prancing and trancing.
Here's the link to the Facebook event and go to the Trinity Buoy Wharf website for directions...
 http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=148217295247050






See you all there xxx

Laurie Anderson, Trisha Brown and Gordon Matta-Clark : Pioneers of the Downtown scene, 1970s New York

Again my love for all things Barbican grows as I visit yet another inspirational event. This time at the art gallery ; Laurie Anderson, Trisha Brown and Gordon Matta- Clark : Pioneers of the Downtown scene, 1970s New York was an exhibition right up my street. Featuring live performances every hour (I saw four) this really is a once in a lifetime show. Performance art is still an underated medium especially when displayed in a gallery setting and it was refreshing and exciting experience. The well curated exhibition guides the viewer around the space in four different sections incorporating video, photography, sculpture, installation, drawing and documentation. The world and community of this 1970s New York scene is recreated before your eyes as the Barbican in London becomes the perfect setting for performance. The exhibition is really a must see (hurry it ends next week) and well worth the money. Make sure you take time and really enjoy your self. Interaction is a necessity!

Information about the exhibition :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12628516

About "Walking on the Wall" by Trisha Brown
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/audioslideshow/2011/mar/03/dance-art?INTCMP=SRCH