We’ve
had a couple of gallery days recently, plenty to recommend and some to condemn…
We’ve
had a couple of gallery days recently, plenty to recommend and some to condemn…
Elliot
Dodd has a show at the Zabludowics Collection called ‘The Manbody’. It’s
an amazingly beautiful 4K digital film that borrows its stylistic structure
from Hip Hop music and commercial promotional videos. One of our favourite
aspects is one of the characters, who is wearing a remarkable camouflage jump
suit, is immersed in playing a Playstation VR system throughout the entire
film.
There’s
another exhibition of photography works in the other section of the gallery
titled ‘You Are Looking at Something That Never Occurred’; a great title that’s
borrowed from a conversation between Jeff Wall and Lucas Blalock in which they
argue for art that is experimental and mysterious. It’s fun to see some of the
classics IRL – Cindy Sherman’s film stills, Andreas Gursky’s trade market
photo.
The Serpentine
Galleries have a couple of John Latham-based shows; one of which is of his own
work and then the other, work which is extend and update Latham’s radical world
view. The main show containing work of his own is incredibly dense which is to
be expected when dealing with such massive ideas as time-based cosmology or a
space-based framework of objects. Next we had Tania Bruguera, Douglas Gordon,
Laure Prouvost, and Cally Spooner. Definitely a well curated show – undeniable
that all these artists deal with language as a medium for action, exchange and
disruption, in a similar fashion to Latham. It’s Laure Prouvost who pays the most tender (and perhaps our
favourite) homage. A series of radiators with teabags lying on their grills is
surely a fond reference to the time she spent in Latham’s studio-home as his
assistant; her installation ‘End Her Is Story’ is melancholy and poetic.
Pi
artworks has a group show with one work in particular which is almost
hypnotising; a group of 11 canoers paddle round in a circle continuously,
creating this shape in the water, marking some sort of fleeting territory. It
made us think back to Song Dong’s performance where he attempts to print onto
the surface of water, obviously with to no avail.
David
Ferrando Giraut’s exhibition at Tender pixel was truly awesome! A 45 minute
audio visual essay downstairs deconstructing the nature of image, sight and all
things to do with triggering the visual parts of our brains; bringing art and
capitalism together piece by piece. Not to mention the absolutely stunning 3D
imagery which was spellbinding.
The
work at Massimo De Carlo seemed quite decorative so we found it hard to care
about whatever it stood for, but perhaps that’s because they had to stand up to
a rather excessive praise by the artists (Paolo Pivi), suggesting that the
works ‘stop the perception of time’…really? However, there was a funny room
upstairs with a Polar bear sat at a desk in a way that makes you think it’s
going to say ‘I’ve been expecting you’ when you step into the room.
Some
very dull oil paintings at Timothy Taylor by Eddie Martinez a quote from the
press release sums it up perfectly; ‘gestures are strong but also impulsive’,
translation, he doesn’t know what he’s doing it anyway.
We saw
a solo show at Carl Kostyal by Yu Honglei which was a number of videos and sculptural works
dealing with the forms and objects of daily life.
Some
unfortunate works by Annette Messenger at Marian Goodman, unfortunate because
her work has impressed us in the past; her masked (‘The Pikes’) and sweatered (‘Le
Repos des Pensionnaires’) birds
have brought us much amusement. This selection didn’t seem nearly as considered
and much more ‘art-like’.
Ryoji Ikeda has put together an incredible show
at Almine Rech! The final room is just
amazing; time, space and mathematics
all condensed into nine thigh-high screens which spurt out endless reams of
data – numbers, 3D grids, flickering patterns. Electronic blips fill the air,
pops and hisses swirl past your ears. Ikeda is visualising unimaginable amounts
of information. This is data that surrounds us, it’s in our computera, on our
phones, in our minds and DNA, it’s the data that is the fabric of the universe.
(a big thumbscribe from us)
Matt
Collishaw’s new sculpture, installation and paintings at Blain Southern emerged
from his interest in a theory about why humans make and display art. The central
installation features a giant projected image of the Major Oak, a 1000-year-old
oak tree in the centre of Nottingham’s Sherwood Forest that, according to local
folklore, sheltered Robin Hood and his Merry Men. What is arguably the most
famous tree in Britain has, since the Victorian times, been propped up by an
elaborate series of crutches, chains and supports. Here, the tree is being
analysed and portrayed in a very scientific manner, contradicting its mythical
status in a funny sort of way; like looking for a soul with a microscope.
Fortunately,
we are aware of how brilliant the shows are at Carroll Fletcher because if we
were anyone else we wouldn’t have managed to see the show since we were met
with a locked door on three separate occasions (none of which were mentioned on
the website). We forgive and forget. The final installment of their 4 part show,
‘Looking at one thing and thinking of something else’ focuses in on the
system that controls the art market. Always great to see Eva and Franco
Mattes’ ‘Stolen Pieces’, a collection of tiny parts of various famous artworks.
Really interesting critique of the ways art is produced, distributed
and sold.
