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Jonathan Wateridge: ‘Another Place’ Private View with All Visual Arts – Short Version
30th June 2010 | 0 comments | 1 person likes this
Having been championed in Saatchi’s “Newspeak: British Art Now”, Jonathan Wateridge has a new solo exhibition showcasing a series made up of 7 mammoth works.Another Place consists of a series of seven large oil paintings, each 3m x 4m, depicting scenes from the production and narrative of a fictional American film that is centered on an unseen catastrophic event. The production process of the paintings is in itself redolent of film-making. Prior to the first marks on canvas, scale model sets are built, props fabricated, costumes made and performers cast in each role. Executed in a robust realist manner, the paintings are on the one hand akin to a grand historical cycle and on the other, a playful study of genre structures. But this is serious play, an adult playground – role-play for grown-ups that has more sober subtexts. A sense of unease and disquiet pervades the scenes and though each picture relates to the disaster, there is only one explicitly catastrophic image: a section of an overpass or directional interchange that has collapsed onto the ground below. The theme of divided strata runs throughout the series. This is represented by certain motifs such as the division caused by the collapsed highway, or within the work’s fictional cityscape: the relationship between hillside and valley living and its connotations of class and economy. Another central facet of the pictures is an exploration of their status as a construct. These paintings are elaborate fictions but with visible seams. Schisms within the work are created by blurring the boundaries between the narrative and the production process. Within this alternate reality, the series exploits the different angles from which you can approach the paintings and establishes a Brechtian sense of defamiliarisation and estrangement.
The paintings draw you in and establish a genuine, though uncanny, relationship with the figures depicted, which, like a ventriloquial movement of the lips, is then disturbed by revealing the underlying construction. The subtle dislocations within the narrative of each image emphasize a notion of intrinsic remove. Ultimately, in a world awash with the consumption of received and generic imagery, everything occurs to someone else and in another place.
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Art Attack: Venice Biennale 2009
5th June 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
Members and fans of the art world, if not treading the blue carpet at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition here in Blighty, will probably be heading to the continent for the Venice Biennale. Over the weekend artists, curators, dealers, journalists and collectors will be descending on the event en masse, before it opens to the public on June 7th. Read more »
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Vivienne Westwood and Giles Deacon support Art Against Knives
8th May 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
On 28 August 2008, Oliver Hemsley a 20-year-old student from Central St Martin’s college, was stabbed by a group of youths at least eight times in an unprovoked daylight attack on Boundry street in East London. Oliver’s heart and breathing stopped upon arrival at the Royal London Hospital, and while he was successfully resuscitated, he had to spend the next 134 days in intensive care relying on life-support machines to keep him alive. Read more »
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The Turner Prize goes back to basics with paintings, drawings and sculpture
6th May 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
Ah the Turner Prize – it was practically invented to fit the age-old adage that ‘one man’s art is another man’s rubbish’. I don’t think I can name another prize in history which has provoked such scorn and controversy – not the Nobel Peace Prize or the Best Actor Academy Award, in fact, I think election results have been less hotly disputed.
But this year’s shortlist marks an end to the more ‘publicity grabbing’ entries of previous years – with Enrico David, Roger Hiorns, Lucy Skaer and Richard White all competing for the prestigious title and £25,000 prize money, awarded in December. And what makes them all so special, is their ‘recognisable’ art – Enrico is a described as a ’surrealist’, Roger as an ‘alchemist’, Lucy as a ‘draughtswoman’ and Richard as a ‘thinking man’s graffiti artist’; ensuring that there can be no complaints that this year’s nominees are ‘too intellectual’ unlike last year’s Mark Leckey and his cerebral ‘Industrial Lights and Magic’. Read more »
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James Tregaskes’ First Floor Projects and Lucy Barlow bring art home
22nd April 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
You can say what you like about the recession (we won’t say credit crunch anymore, as we’re sure you’re sick of that phrase), but it has bred some pretty impressive and creative ways of saving money. And unsurprisingly, the most inventive money saving measure has come from young gallerist James Tregaskes, who rather than hiring out exclusive venues in notable postcodes, is hosting a variety of exhibitions by new and contemporary artists from his London home.
The first exhibition for First Floor projects is artist Lucy Barlow’s first solo show, Delicate Boundaries. The project sheds a formal narrative reflecting the intimacy that only exists in a real home. Much of Lucy’s fine art pieces are reminiscent of her previous illustrations, which Lucy describes as “contained, formal compositions…very controlled”, but her use of coloured and lead pencils on paper as well dip pens filled with ink and watercolours represent something of a departure from her signature style, with Lucy saying “I am still in control, but it is less controlling than my previous work”.
t5m loves Lucy’s tongue-in-cheek drawings, such as ‘Bears Say No” and her vibrant paintings like “Fire Ladders”, which are described as having a “sense of the unresolved, whilst being ironic and definitive”.
Delicate Boundaries by Lucy Barlow is at First Floor Projects, 23 April – 16 May 2009, 5 Redcliffe Gardens, London, SW10 9BG, Opening Times: Thursday Saturday, 12pm-6pm www.firstfloorprojects.com
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Art lover wins a £3,000 Banksy for a penny
15th April 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
An art lover has won a £3,000 Banksy piece in a raffle for one penny. Joe O’Donoghue, 30, won the graffiti art ‘Trolley’ piece after entering prize draw with 10,000 other hopefuls. The final 500 were invited to a secret draw in a studio near Carnaby Street, where O’ Donoghue was picked as having the winning ticket number.
In a hilarious turn of events Joe almost missed out on the prize after all, because he did not expect to win, he realised that he didn’t actually have a penny on him. But a member of the crowd was happy to help and he was able to collect his prize. The advertising executive from Maida Vale said “I could not believe I had won it- it was an amazing feeling. Most young people know about Banksy, he is an artist of our times. To win one of his prints – which is also pretty valuable – is brilliant”.
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Ethan Hawke and Diane Von Furstenberg back urban rainforest in the sky
14th April 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
It takes a special imagination and vision to transform an overgrown, potentially unsafe rail track into a cultural phenomenon and landscape-altering floating garden. Robert Hammond and Joshua David have managed to do just that.
To some, the overgrown ‘High Line’ track was something to be torn down and forgotten, a ’some’ which included former Mayor Guiliani – to Robert and Joshua, it was something that had to be saved. Having met at a community meeting, the pair decided to form ‘Friends of the High Line’, a campaign to save the structure – last used in 1980.
And it was there that the pair discovered that in it’s 20 years of abandonment, the High Line had become overgrown with plants, grass and trees – with one section even being covered in temperate rainforest.
“It captured my imagination” says Hammond, a former magazine writer who was working on a piece on the local area when he first noticed the line. “It seemed like an amazing opportunity to create something that would allow people to experience the city in an utterly new way. To go and tear it down without considering how we could use it seemed a waste to me.”
With the backing of local celebrities such as Edward Norton, Diane Von Furstenberg and Ethan Hawke ‘Friends of the High Line’ had a design competition for the reuse of the site, which was won in 2004 by Field Operations and Diller Scofodio + Renfro. Read more »
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Derrick goes gaga for Gaga
18th March 2009 | 2 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
Derrick Santini has photographed starlet du jour (and t5m favourite) Lady Gaga for an upcoming issue of Fabulous magazine.
Derrick, who has previously been commissioned by FHM to Vice and Flaunt, believes that in photography ‘you have to make a statement’ and that ethos is more than evident in his shoot with Lady Gaga. The ‘Just Dance’ star looks saccharine-sweet against candy-coloured backgrounds as Derrick captures her feisty brand of self-confidence.
Lady Gaga can now consider herself part of the elite, with Derrick having also worked with pop legends Iggy Pop, Queens of The Stone Age, Lil Kim and Lily Allen.
For exclusive interviews with Derrick Santini, in which he talks about everything from the secret behind his success to digital photography - check out the Derrick Santini channel here on t5m.
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David LaChapelle gets retro in Paris
18th March 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
Hopping over the channel to indulge in all things gallic has never been a bad idea. Now it is absolutely vital, if you want to catch a glimpse of irony-obsessed hipster photographer David LaChapelle’s Retrospective at the Monnaie de Paris (a building normally used to show coins).
David LaChapelle, just in case you’ve forgotten, is responsible for everything from painting a naked Lil Kim with hundreds of tiny designer logos to getting Elton John to ride a leopard skin piano – as well as our personal favourite ‘Death by Burger’. His photography acts as a chronicle of the excesses and ersatz of celebrity culture, presenting the more sinister aspects of modern society in his loud and brash style. Read more »
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YSL it’s for chair-ity
27th February 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
It wasn’t too long ago that Pierre Bergé decided to put up for auction his and fashion legend Yves Saint Laurent’s private art collection. The event which took place earlier this week at the Grand Palais in Paris has shocked the art world, as many works more than tripled their initial estimated worth. The most outstanding sale was the ‘Dragon Chair’ made of leather and wood by Eileen Gray, which smashed its estimate of €3 million to be sold at €19.5 million! Bergé says money made from the auction will go towards funding aids research.
