Spring is officially here and there are lots of new posts to look forward to in the following week, including post from Edinburgh, Liverpool and London, plus more mood posts, things that inspire us and photos from our recent excursions!
Thursday
Spring feelings
Tuesday
August Sander’s Untypical ‘Typologies’
Although the early twentieth century German photographer August Sander is most certainly best known for his photographic typologies of ‘humankind’, it also became clear to me, on viewing his original prints, that they are not at all ‘cold’ physiological studies. The one aspect of Sander’s work I didn’t expect to discover was its adventurous nature.
To me what makes these photographs so interesting is their experimentation. The visual language we see owes, and utilize far more of the expressionistic aesthetic of twentieth century modernist art than is commonly suggested. His work may act as a sociological human study, but I see references to surrealism and a cubist treatment of form, as well as the more documentary type photographs.
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With the exception of a few misplaced commercial studio works, which don’t seem to fit with the others in the series, and his images of nature, which clearly wasn’t his forte - on the whole the show is a worthwhile experience.
August Sander: People Of The Twentieth Century at the Dean Gallery in Edinburgh runs until 10th of July and it doesn’t cost a penny, so if you can, you must go and see it.
Wednesday
Mood 2: “I don't mind being by myself…
And in the morning walking your bridges home…
Don't wanta’ be anywhere else…
And history just repeats itself
Keep me away from the Festival…
They say you project yourself…
Cause our miserable king won't protect us from ourselves”
All text comes from the Fall’s Edinburgh Man
written by Marc E. Smith
Monday
Pablo Picasso, David Hockney, Edgar Degas
Sunday
Listen up its Haroon Mirza!
This month the artist Haroon Mirza has become a particular favourite of ours here at pipe. His show at the Lisson Gallery was his first solo exhibition in London and it certainly made an impact on us.
Mirza, a former DJ, uses sound in his powerful installations. This makes for an awakening experience. What is striking in experiencing his work is the emphasis he puts on hearing and listening, which becomes as significant as seeing and looking. The political dimension in his work, although subtle and undefined, communicates a resonance that speaks of modern warfare, and its ideological rhetoric.
He is currently exhibiting a piece, Regaining a Degree of Control at British Art Show 7, at the Hayward Gallery. For me this piece is one of the standout exhibits in what is a fantastic show. This work looks at our obsessions with death. By displacing the lyrics of the classic Joy Division song She’s Lost Control and repositioning them in a visual adaption of Samuel Beckett’s play a Knapp’s Tale the work becomes a unique audio-visual artwork.
As a relatively young artist it seems clear that Haroon Mirza will have a bright future if he continues to create such eye, and ear catching, artwork.
Saturday
19/2, a trip to Stockholm for the international art fair, Supermarket
On an ice cold Saturday (-23 C) in February, we made our way to Stockholm to visit Supermarket.
Supermarekt is an artist run art fair held in Stockholm at Kulturhuset, which means ‘the House of culture’. This fair started in 2007 and has since then grown into a vast international art event. It is a development of Minimarket, which was at Konstnärshuset: ‘the House of Artists’, held in February 2006. This was in reaction to the new commercial art fair Market; which they describe as “The Nordic region’s leading fair for contemporary art”.
Supermarket has become an international art 'happening', which has helped to establish Stockholm as an important cultural center. This years Supermarket featured galleries from all over the world.
Here follows a small sample of the images we took:
for more information visit supermarketartfair.com/
bye Sweden...
Thursday
Larry Clark: What do you do for fun?
Larry Clark has been hyped by the media many times. During his initial success in the late 90s he became the unconventional conductor of American photography’s suburban underworld. Clark's portraits often highlight teenage life in a sexually charged, often fascinating way, which is sometimes on the borderline between disgust and intense sadness. His art is not unique in this way though. This unflinching manner of documenting people is one he shares with other recent American photographers. Practitioners such as Terry Richarsson, Nan Goldin and Ryan McGinley are three photographers who use similar stylistic traits in their work.
In this particular exhibition Clark displays collections of Images and artifacts that give the viewer an insight into the thought process behind his art and an insight to what it maybe all about. These notes, snapshots and newspaper cuttings help the ‘collages’ address and question the importance of family and safety. They are accompanied by a series of portraits that reveal sensitive insights into the life of certain young people, the importance of identity, feelings of isolation and the seedy nature of American culture.
The exhibition's title, ‘What do you do for fun?’ stands in sharp contrast to its content, but it is definitely worth seeing.
Larry Clark: What do you do for fun is at Simon Lee Gallery until April the 2nd
fun !Monday
Wednesday
Douglas Gordon’s K.364 at the Gagosian Gallery
After having acclimatized myself to a gallery setting smelling of baked potatoes and cheese (and the customary hungry reaction it produced in me), it appeared from the oversized reception area the various ladies working there were having a rather late lunch. After this initial observation I attempted to absorb the work. However before this could take place I was also struck by the number of security attendants present in the gallery. These men gave off a certain menace actually; resembling a mixture of the ‘agents’ in the Matrix and your local nightclub bouncer. Perhaps part of the shows Israeli subject matter was the reason behind their presence? Anyway this was not the most typical gallery visit.
The presentation and appearance of the film k.364 shows a mixture of two different features evident in earlier Gordon pieces. When you enter the vast projection room, the double screen (a split screen) layout, like that seen in Through a Looking Glass (1999), is mixed with the live recorded footage of the kind evident in Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (2006). The screens positioning in the middle of the room encourages the audience to circumnavigate them. This is further emphasized by a two way projection.
The work is intentionally “coded” as described by Gordon himself. There seems to be a far more subtle feel to this piece, than there is too many of his previous works. It certainly has an impact, but is more of a ‘slow burner’. This is in contrast to works like 24 Hour Psycho, with its instantaneous impact heralding in the viewer’s intrigue.
The work’s subject matter involves two Israeli musicians, their names Avri Levitan and Roi Shiloah, travelling from Berlin to Poland by train, which is depicted at the start. Importantly they travel through Poznan ‘home of the celebrated Amadeus chamber orchestra, where the former synagogue is still used as a swimming pool’ a fact we are reminded of. They are going to Poland to perform Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E flat minor - or k.364 - at the Warsaw Philharmonic concert hall.
What we see and hear during both the train journey and then in the musician’s performance is a multi-screen display, which uses layered sounds to fill the space. The combination of all these dynamics help to support the films main themes, based around the relationship between individuals and their love of music. However this is the trigger in the artwork for its more significant meaning. This meaning alludes to a collective social history and conflict. The barren landscape we see on their journey, with its uncertain nature which it helps to connotes. The artist himself describes the underlying theme as being “the battle between history and the fleeting beauty of music.”
In my view the beauty of this music and the knowledge of historical violence work towards a calm reflective nature in the imagery, quite unlike any other work I have seen by this artist.
Tuesday
A very untypical gallery outing…
Slightly understaded building to have such an important title, and no they didn’t even sell coffee!
Sunday
Saturday
25 feb - 2 apr 2011 at the Bischoff Weiss
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