William Thomson, Oil, 2015
June is the last push for most art professionals, we have been running around everywhere and we cannot wait for our summer holiday! Here are three exhibition choices to gain energy from.
Harper's Bazaar Arabia
Piero Tomassoni, of the new private online art advisory service Artvisor, gives his views to Bazaar Art on the Middle Eastern art market and artists of the moment.
Procedures & Materials, Collectionair, 2017
Collectionair
24 May 2017 - 24 July 2017
In the mid-1960s, process became a marked theme within the history of art. Rooted in the Dada movement and Abstract Expressionism, materials, procedures and facture began to take precedence over the final work. Eschewing the fabricated modular units of Minimalism, the artworks intentionally left exposed traces of their creation. Echoing the common refrain ‘it’s the journey, not the destination,’ Procedures & Materials follows in this tradition, investigating new processes in art. The exhibition brings together twenty-seven works by five international contemporary artists whose practices emphasize the interaction between maker and medium.
Printing, cutting, assembling and folding photographs into sculptural forms, Jessica Thalmann attempts to unravel conventional understandings of photographic images and their material implications. Meanwhile, archival imagery and constructed photographs form the basis of Alexandra Lethbridge’s practice. In both instances, the artist’s research becomes integral to our understanding and interpretation of their works.
Inspired by ideas and processes within photography, Will Thomson’s paintings seek to recreate the darkroom moment when an exposed print is placed in developer and appears almost instantaneously. The contrast between the control the artist wages over his variables and his inability to predict the final outcome is central to his practice.
Moving away from the photographic process, Scarlett Bowman’s abstract reliefs address the materiality that informs contemporary commodity culture. Playfully rearranging and casting sustainable materials, utility gives way to symbolism as she invites us to think about the shiny gleam of modern manufacture. Reappropriation is also central to Leni Dothan’s practice; her installations use repurposed wood and breezeblocks to create a set of alternative classical images. Choosing to depict nightmares over dreams, viewers are confronted with disturbing ideas that aim to sabotage patriarchal narratives.
Haute Living Magazine (Chicago)
By Marine Tanguy & Ariane Belisle
Fresh off the plane from Gallery Weekend Berlin’s 13th edition – a unique art fair that unites Berlin’s major galleries with international collectors, curators and art lovers – I wanted to discuss this incredible experience for my Haute Living series Collecting Art The Smart Way.
The entire two days of gallery hopping were spent – day and night – with my partner in crime, Ariane Belisle, the founder of AIB Art Advisory, a London-based art advisory firm offering art investment advice and specialist services to private collectors and corporate clients. She is someone I love working with but have also grown to love and trust. Thus, we decided to write the entire article with our two pairs of hands, side by side on our flight back to London.
Ariane Belisle: I contacted Marine on a gloomy London Tuesday asking her if she wanted to visit a city that was, at the time, completely foreign to us both. The plan was to fully immerse ourselves in the weekend festivities. Within a few hours, our tickets were booked and we were off to Berlin. Both avid art lovers (with incessant cravings for all that is Haribo), we came out the other side mostly unscathed with a renewed appreciation for the Berlin art scene… And perhaps a little wiser due to our run-in with the police.
Here’s what we learned on the ground. It’s a guide we invite you to follow for Gallery Weekend Berlin 2018, although safe souls and rule lovers may want to avoid most of our advice. Risk takers and free spirits, please read on.
The Art of Design Magazine Issue 26, May 2017
ART x INTERIOR at the Steininger Designers showroom in Vienna brings together thirteen artworks by nine international contemporary artists. Juxtaposed against Steininger’s iconic minimalist aesthetic and clean lines, the works subtly investigate whether the languages of art and interior design are now intertwined or simply exist in parallel.
Since the mid-twentieth century, the white cube has had a profound impact on the way art is exhibited and viewed. While this mode of display has punctured the history of art, there has been a notable resurgence of interest in recent years in the unique relationship that exists between art, architecture and design.
AIB ART ADVISORY partnered up with VELVENOIR, an international art consultancy that aims to explore just this. Offering clients an international art portfolio, we strive to remold the way art is experienced. Through exhibiting effortlessly curated works within corporate, residential and hospitality venues, we seek to enhance both the interior and architectural shell of each property.
The fields of art and interior design have always intersected and been dependent on one another. Through this new approach to curating, each aesthetic discipline elevates the other, as they work together in perfect synergy. Here, creative expression and practical function rub shoulders and ultimately unite under one roof.
The selection of works exhibited within the Steininger showroom invites clients to consume contemporary art in a completely new way. Far from restrictive, the show includes paintings, photography and sculptures, as well as design features and furnishings that heighten the beholder’s perception of his/her environment. Hence, works by Chen Ping (China), Olivia Steele (USA), Carl McCrow (UK), Jeremie Lenoir (France), Jos Out (Netherlands), Maria Louisa Hernandez (Chile), Heike Cornelissen (Germany), Javiera Estrada (New Mexico) and Dusica Pejic (Serbia) are presented within the showroom’s pseudo living spaces (namely, a bedroom, office, reception room, kitchen and bathroom). United under an expansive overarching theme, the exhibited artworks converse in harmony from an aesthetic perspective, creating a visual ribbon of dialogue that runs through the gallery. It is a testament to the adaptability and transcendental nature of contemporary art.
Vogue Ukraine
26 апреля в Лондоне художница и коллекционер Ольга Ломака открыла галерею современного искусства Lomaka gallery. В дебютной групповой выставке приняли участие колумбийский художник Альбер Томедес, швейцарский концептуалист Хардисти, российский дуэт братьев Твороговых, а также французская актриса Оля Марева. Ольга Ломака признается, что новая галерея будет представлять как молодых художников, так и звезд современного искусства, "творчество которых не попадает под определенную категорию, а, наоборот, призывает взглянуть на реальность под совершенно новым углом". На открытие галереи пришли восходящая звезда британского телевидения Малькольм Модел, модный телеведущий Принц Кассиус, модель Оливия Арбен, дизайнеры Джошуа Кейн и Мария Жеребцова.
Velvenoir
Velvenoir: Was there a pivotal moment when you decided to follow your passion for art?
Ariane Belisle: I started my academic career as a business major. After my first year at university, I enrolled in a summer course entitled “From Pollock to Pop” at The Courtauld Institute of Art in London. I remember visiting Tate Modern for the first time; Cy Twombly’s Quattro Stagioni (1993-1995) was on display. Standing in front of those paintings, everything suddenly clicked. That’s when I decided to follow my passion for art and pursue a career within this field. When I returned to Canada, I immediately changed my major to History and Theory of Art. It’s funny to think how much those four paintings changed the course of my life.
V: How important is nurturing that personal relationship with the artists you work with?
AB: Working directly with artists is one of the most interesting aspects of my job. I love seeing their artistic practice develop over the years and ensuring my artists are receiving the coverage and attention they deserve. It’s also incredibly rewarding to place an artist’s work within a private or corporate collection, or institution. You suddenly become part of something so much bigger than yourself.
V: Can you tell us about the process of curating your clients’ projects?
AB: Each client is so different. Established collectors tend to be more transactional; most have a clear idea of the direction they want the collection to go in. So much of my knowledge stems from working directly with these individuals. In these instances, I become instrumental to their vision, an enabler of sorts. Emerging collectors, on the other hand, tend to favor a more dialogical approach.
V: If you could be born in another period of history, when would it be?
AB: New York in the 1940s. Abstract Expressionism is my favorite art period and I would have loved to mingle with the pioneers of this movement.
V: What do you think of the art fairs, which one do you prefer?
AB: My favorite art fair is Masterpiece in Chelsea. Perhaps not the most obvious choice but I like the variety of it. Old-master paintings, antiquities, contemporary art and design rub shoulders with exquisite jewelry, first edition manuscripts and curiosities. You can even find love, as evidenced by my 2015 visit!
V: What is your daily routine when working?
AB: Every day is different. Today, I had a call with an interior design firm in the Middle East. Visited an artist’s studio in north London. Whizzed around the gallery exhibitions in Mayfair before having lunch with a client at the Connaught. Met with the owner of a design showroom about a possible collaboration with Velvenoir. Had a few calls with artists in NY and LA. And finally had dinner with my dear friend and PR manager in Kensington.
V: What has been your most inspiring hotel experience with regards to an outstanding art and design concept?
AB: The London EDITION in Fitzrovia
V: What advice would you give to a young art consultant following in your footsteps?
AB: Only deal art that you truly believe in and would consider buying yourself.
V: Why did you join an international network?
AB: Art and interior design are such subjective fields. A collaborative approach to projects ensures that we can always deliver a multi-faceted proposal.
Art & Museum Magazine: Beauty of the Belle Époque, Spring Issue 2017 (The Inaugural Issue)
Flanked by two Eileen Gray chairs, Cy Twombly’s 1982 Naxos triptych is displayed. On the adjacent wall, Rudolf Stingel’s aluminium covered Celotex insulation board (Untitled, 2002) is juxtaposed against a Jean-Michel Frank minimalist shagreen cabinet. The pieces carry an underlying intellectual rigour that helped redefine 20th-century design, as well as Contemporary art. Engendering a haphazard narrative, the four works coalesce to form a different kind of dialogue, one that is distinct from the museum realm. Moving away from the white cube, these privately owned oeuvres – now housed in an Eaton Square townhouse – are cloistered from the rest of the world. Their chance placement and the consequential visual exchange it creates was not the work of a museum professional but rather of Jacques Grange, the esteemed French interior designer who rose to prominence after decorating Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé’s Paris residence.
While the artworks here are exhibited outside the museological sphere, they are still intrinsically linked to it as their history ensures that they are firmly anchored within the art canon. It is precisely this deeply interlaced relationship between the museum and the private collection that drew me to pursue a career in this field and establish AIB Art Advisory, an independent art advisory firm that offers expert investment advice and curatorial services to private and corporate clients.
Negotiating the unique rapport between the public and private sphere, the curator vacillates between these two worlds. Acting as a gatekeeper of sorts, he/she is charged with creating and managing ties between the institution and the individual. Needless to say, there is a claustrophobically tight circularity between these two facets of the art world; hence, the profession relies heavily on one’s ability to dip in and out of both pools. Arguably this could trigger a discord when it comes to curating the private collection with the public trust.
Today, private art collections are increasingly trying to permeate the educational realm, a realm previously dominated by museums and galleries. For instance, French Moroccan private collectors, Eli Michel and Karen Ruimy, established The Marrakech Museum of Photography and Visual Arts in 2013 to house and display their extensive collection of fine art photography. Open to the general public, the curatorial program sought to further our knowledge and understanding of post-war photography. Furthermore, foundations, such as The Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, are now providing new collectors with opportunities to exhibit their work more publicly. Similarly, Beatrix Ruf, Director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, founded ‘Pool’, an initiative to curate exhibitions at Luma Westbau in the Löwenbräu Art Complex with artworks owned by Maja Hoffmann and Michael Ringier. In Ruf’s own words: “‘Pool’ does not interpret private collections as merely the representation of individual preferences, but rather as a contemporary document.”
This trend is echoed in the number of startups that are cropping up promising to connect collectors with institutions worldwide. Namely, Vastari raised a significant round of funding while tooting the tag line: “the exhibition connection”. Bernadine Brocker, Vastari Group’s CEO says: “The future of art and technology is a fully integrated experience where collectors, museums and experts can connect, curate, tour their shows and define best practices within international relationships.”
Deviating from the conventional curatorial structure, private art collections are remolding the public’s relationship with art. While this undoubtedly broadens our exposure to great oeuvres and deepens our knowledge of the art canon, curators need to be mindful of their responsibility when bridging the gap between public and private establishments, and managing diverging interests. This conflict, intrinsic to the art world, can be perceived when private collectors and foundations choose to employ curatorial labor. Thus, custodians of public museums often simultaneously curate private collections. While their shadow role could be justified as donor cultivation, it still raises some ethical concerns. The Trussardi Foundation, The Kadist Art Foundation, as well as the wealth management firm Northern Trust, all count amongst their advisors esteemed museum directors and chief curators, namely Massimiliano Gioni (Associate Director and Director of Exhibitions at the New Museum), Jens Hoffman (Director of Special Exhibitions and Public Programs at the Jewish Museum New York), Larry Rinder (Director of Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive), Hou Hanru (Artistic Director of the MAXXI in Rome) and Michael Darling (Chief Curator at The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago).
In an article written for ArtSlant, art writer Ryan Wong posits: “Within the art world, museums still set the standard for critical debate, the resuscitation and reexamination of artistic legacies, and scholarly research within the art world: their exhibitions are the most consistently reviewed, they command the largest spaces, and they attract the most visitors. But they no longer have a monopoly on that work.” The borders surrounding these two once distinct spheres – the institution and the private art collection – are beginning to erode. Hence, collecting has transitioned away from a manifestation of personal taste into a new realm; it is now a curatorial project. This relatively new phenomenon will shape our understanding of history and ultimately redefine the art canon.
Louis Nicolas Darbon, Smoking Hot, 2017
London-based art advisor, founder & managing Director of AIB Art Advisory Ariane Belisle spends her days scouting the world for new artistic talent. In collaboration with Disi Couture, Ariane talks about her experience and listed 10 emerging artists to watch.
“If there is one thing that I have learnt working with private collectors and corporate clients, it is that there is no formulaic approach to art collecting. The reasons behind the acquisition of a particular work can be as diverse as the art world itself. While there is no specific set of criteria when building a collection, factors – namely, aesthetic value, concept and execution, as well as provenance, exhibition and publication history – can guide us to make an informed decision and an intelligent investment.” says Ariane Belisle.
The Marrakech Museum of Photography and Visual Arts
Flanked between two Eileen Gray chairs, Cy Twombly’s 1982 Naxos triptych is displayed. On the adjacent wall, Rudolf Stingel’s aluminium covered Celotex insulation board (Untitled, 2002) is juxtaposed against a Jean-Michel Frank minimalist shagreen cabinet. The pieces carry an underlying intellectual rigor that helped redefine 20th century design, as well as Contemporary art.
While the artworks here are exhibited outside the museological sphere, they are still intrinsically linked to it as their history ensures that they are firmly anchored within the art canon. It is precisely this deeply interlaced relationship between the museum and the private collection that drew me to pursue a career in this field and establish AIB Art Advisory, an independent art advisory firm that offers expert investment advice and curatorial services to private and corporate clients.
Negotiating the unique rapport between the public and private sphere, the curator vacillates between these two worlds. Acting as a gatekeeper of sorts, he/she is charged with creating and managing ties between the institution and the individual. Needless to say, there is a claustrophobically tight circularity between these two facets of the art world; hence, the profession relies heavily on one’s ability to dip in and out of both pools. Arguably this could trigger a discord when it comes to curating the private collection with the public trust.
Today, private art collections are increasingly trying to permeate the educational realm, a realm previously dominated by museums and galleries. For instance, French Moroccan private collectors, Eli Michel and Karen Ruimy, established The Marrakech Museum of Photography and Visual Arts in 2013 to house and display their extensive collection of fine art photography. Open to the general public, the curatorial program sought to further our knowledge and understanding of post-war photography. Furthermore, foundations, such as The Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, are now providing new collectors with opportunities to exhibit their work more publicly. Similarly, Beatrix Ruf, Director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, founded ‘Pool’, an initiative to curate exhibitions at Luma Westbau in the Löwenbräu Art Complex with artworks owned by Maja Hoffmann and Michael Ringier. In Ruf’s own words: “‘Pool’ does not interpret private collections as merely the representation of individual preferences, but rather as a contemporary document.”
This trend is echoed in the number of startups that are cropping up promising to connect collectors with institutions worldwide. Namely, Vastari raised a significant round of funding while tooting the tag line: “the exhibition connection”. Bernadine Brocker, Vastari Group’s CEO says: “The future of art and technology is a fully integrated experience where collectors, museums and experts can connect, curate, tour their shows and define best practices within international relationships.”
Deviating from the conventional curatorial structure, private art collections are remolding the public’s relationship with art. While this undoubtedly broadens our exposure to great oeuvres and deepens our knowledge of the art canon, curators need to be mindful of their responsibility when bridging the gap between public and private establishments, and managing diverging interests. This conflict, intrinsic to the art world, can be perceived when private collectors and foundations choose to employ curatorial labor. Thus, custodians of public museums often simultaneously curate private collections. While their shadow role could be justified as donor cultivation, it still raises some ethical concerns. The Trussardi Foundation, The Kadist Art Foundation, as well as the wealth management firm Northern Trust, all count amongst their advisors esteemed museum directors and chief curators, namely Massimiliano Gioni (Associate Director and Director of Exhibitions at the New Museum), Jens Hoffman (Director of Special Exhibitions and Public Programs at the Jewish Museum New York), Larry Rinder (Director of Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive), Hou Hanru (Artistic Director of the MAXXI in Rome) and Michael Darling (Chief Curator at The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago).
In an article written for ArtSlant, art writer Ryan Wong posits: “Within the art world, museums still set the standard for critical debate, the resuscitation and reexamination of artistic legacies, and scholarly research within the art world: their exhibitions are the most consistently reviewed, they command the largest spaces, and they attract the most visitors. But they no longer have a monopoly on that work.” The borders surrounding these two once distinct spheres – the institution and the private art collection – are beginning to erode. Hence, collecting has transitioned away from a manifestation of personal taste into a new realm; it is now a curatorial project. This relatively new phenomenon will shape our understanding of history and ultimately redefine the art canon.
Barbara Hepworth, Construction I, 1965
Online catalogue: Artist biographies and artwork interpretation
Espace Magazine: Fetiches/Fetishes, No. 113, Spring/Summer 2016
Blain Southern Gallery, London
10 February 2016 – 9 April 2016
A white slab of marble towers over visitors as they enter the gallery. Flanked within a three-meter-high steel frame, the mammoth stone vacillates between taciturn menace and security, as it incites viewers to consider their own corporeal awareness. A meandering vein slices through the boulder, symbolising Cameron’s Line, a tectonic boundary defined by a subterranean belt of marble that runs from Connecticut to the Bronx. Oozing art historical references, Michael Joo’s work speaks of the geometric impulses and minimalist ideologies of the 1960s, of Joseph Beuys’ articulation of primal and elemental forces, of Gary Kuehn’s emphasis on the physicality of raw mediums, of Richard Serra’s sculptures that teeter on the brink of danger, and of Barry Le Va’s conceptual installations. Yet, Joo’s engagement with independent themes and the transformative qualities of matter lend his practice a unique position within the context of contemporary art. This sculpture, fittingly entitled Prologue (Montclair Danby Vein Cut) (2014-2015), acts as a preamble to the exhibition. Echoing the nucleus of the artist’s iconography, it sets the stage for Joo’sRadiohalo show at Blain Southern in London.
Ai Weiwei, 2015
Royal Academy of Art, London
19 September - 13 December 2015
A thicket of reconstructed trees greats visitors as they enter the Royal Academy’s courtyard. The work, entitled Tree (2009-10, 2015), is made up of discarded pieces of bough collected from the mountains of southern China. Its medium reverbs within the open space, subtly echoing the artist’s manifesto. The disparate parts interlock and fuse, as the eight simulacral structures create a cohesive whole. Together they boom a visual commentary on the way in which geographically and culturally diverse people unite to form ‘One China’. Simultaneously playful and searingly political, Tree sets the stage for Ai Weiwei’s retrospective exhibition at the R.A.
Espace Magazine: Migrations Frontieres/Migrations Borders, No. 111, Autumn 2015
Gagosian Gallery, London
14 April – 30 May 2015
Presenting visitors with a portal into a fantastical world where the uncanny rubs shoulders with the familiar, Robert Therrien’s oversized objects displayed at the Gagosian Gallery in London from 14 April to 30 May 2015 speak of childhood curiosity. The colossal sculptures are a bid, if you will, to preserve the fleeting days of innocence through the ribbons of whimsical narrative that run through the exhibition. The exaggerated dimensions of the everyday housewares depicted punctuate the rigid white cube, as the space transforms and transcends into the absurd. Hence, it is difficult to walk through the gallery and not feel transported back to a simpler time. Akin to the artist’s earlier works, the oeuvres exhibited dissolve the boundaries that exist between dreams and childhood memories; Therrien depicts humdrum objects that each viewer is sure to have encountered in their past, objects that we can only revisit through a hypnagogic exploration. Thus, his installations simultaneously evoke the wide-eyed idealism and trepidation of youth. It is this guileless awe that beckons within us the sensation of being little again. I find myself unwittingly reminiscing about Lewis Carroll and his Alice, who when faced with the little door she was too big to fit through drank the shrinking potion. Much like Alice in Wonderland, visitors fall down the rabbit hole when confronted with the inevitable perception shift that occurs upon encountering Therrien’s rounded artworks.
Guy Bourdin, Charles Jourdan, 1979
Somerset House, London
27 November 2014 - 15 March 2015
Disembodied mannequin legs donning Charles Jourdan stilettos walk across the grainy surface of a vintage polaroid. Suspended in animation, the plastic legs strut along a deserted English boardwalk. Simultaneously eerily present and absent, they quietly echo the eroticism that saturated fashion spreads in the late 1970s while systematically disengaging from the normalization of the sexualization of the female form. This photograph, along with many others from the same series, sets the tone for the Guy Bourdin: Image-Maker exhibition at Somerset House. Both hauntingly distant and familiar, the images speak of the surrealist tendencies of the 1920s, of Alfred Hitchcock’s aesthetic cues, of the fabricated truths that surround consumerism and of fashion photography’s ultimate pursuit of perfection.
Exhibiting over 200 works and previously unseen material from Bourdin’s estate from 1955 to 1987, the aesthetic of the show quickly evolves into a distilled avant-garde form of fashion photography, as the plain plastic legs give way to 80s big hair, bright red lipstick, lacquered nails and sensual silhouettes. Needless to say, there is a marked contrast between the two sets of images. Yet, the simplicity and purity of the iconography used throughout the beginning of his practice remains intact. Much like his earlier body of work, the images are classic in their composition but possess an unexpected contortion that somehow reverberates a sense of uncanny horror. It is this infusion of eerie terror that toys with the audience’s definition of beauty and desirability, subtly morphing the realm of fashion photography.
Fashion photography – at its base, an art medium used to sell products – moves away from tradition in Bourdin’s oeuvre, as the image’s point of focus is transferred from the consumerist good to the composition as a whole. Advertising more than a pair of shoes, a piece of clothing, jewelry or lipstick, they draw the beholder into a world of intrigue and subversion; hence the product becomes secondary and almost incidental, a mere aesthetic cue used to move the twisted plot forward. From his professional debut for Vogue Paris in the fifties, Bourdin influenced the course of commercial photography through these ribbons of narrative that continue to inspire some of the most eminent contemporary photographers from Tim Walker to Nick Knight. Each constructed image is a portal into his world, a world real or imagined that you cannot help but wish you had been a part of. Above all else, it is Bourdin’s unyielding style of visual storytelling that never ceases to surprise, shock and provoke the audience. The narratives that run through his frames map his progression from Man Ray’s protégé to one of the leading figure in fashion photography, and firmly anchor his work within the art canon.
Espace Magazine: Diorama, No. 109, Winter 2015
White Cube, Bermondsey, London
18 July - 28 September 2014
Hybrid body parts, severed limbs and phallic figures populate Rachel Kneebone’s 399 Days (2012-2013). Towering over visitors as they enter the White Cube’s 9x9x9 gallery space in Bermondsey (London, UK), the artist’s psychosexual hinterland takes the form of an erect column that soars towards the cubic room’s bright skylight. Unfolding an infinite spiral narrative that purposefully lacks a cohesive beginning, middle and end, the ivory sculpture refutes both history and the passage of time. Instead, it chooses to focus on the now, or rather the viewer’s immediate visceral reaction to the anagrams of vehemence and violence that inhabit Kneebone’s porcelain chrysalis. Hence, recognizable shapes rub shoulders with the quintessentially bizarre, as 399 Days simultaneously conveys familiarity and strangeness, beauty and horror, purity and adulteration, ecstasy and mortality, fragility and monumentality, playfulness and menace, and completeness and provisionality. It is through these acts of negation that the artist’s uncanny plot unfolds.
Antonio Bay, South London Gallery, 2014
South London Gallery
7 June - 14 September 2014
Following their successful solo exhibition, ‘Hyper Bole’, at Legion TV (February – March 2014) and their six-month stint as the Nina Stewart Artists in Residence, collaborators Julia Crabtree and William Evans further explore the codependent relationship that exists between the body and the screen in their current SLG show, ‘Antonio Bay’. Exhibited on the first floor, the installation unfolds within the space to reveal the duplicity of visual representation, as well as the malleability of form.
Subjected to various layers of virtual and material alterations, the finished pieces carry marks of their individual histories as they merge to create a cohesive whole that points to the influence of digital technology on visual culture. Hence, atmospheric mist is flattened onto the thick carpet that paves our way around the exhibition, whilst horizon lines morph into abstract sculptures in the middle of the space. Engaging with filmic and cinematic discourses, the installation speaks of the digital revolution, of the deceptiveness of B-movies, of the spatial logic of cartoon physics, of Jacques Baudrillard’s ‘Simulacra and Simulations’, and of the trajectories that carry images from real to virtual spaces and the consequential shift that occurs in the viewer’s perception.
Referencing John Carpenter’s 1980 film, ‘The Fog’, the installation’s floor was created by engulfing a virtual model of the gallery space with multicolored smoke. An aerial photograph was then taken of the scene and printed onto dense pile carpet. Epitomizing the tension that exists between the use of digital technology and the consequential deterioration of the image through its replication, the floor’s manipulation of spatial depth further conjures the notion of the theatrical backdrop. The creation process is also integral to the sculptures that undulate through the gallery. Constructed using prop-making and industrial materials (expanding foam and car body filler), the pieces are sanded to expose their facture.
Much like Crabtree and Evans’ ‘Death Valley’ (2013), ‘Antonio Bay’ submerges us into a pool of our collective virtual memories. While the former drapes intentionally-pixelated photographs around a gallery space intermittently punctured with surreal cactus-like constructions, the latter furthers the submersive qualities of the artists’ oeuvre as it forces visitors to step onto the simulacral images. Moving away from the figurative, ‘Death Valley’s recognisable moon-like landscape evolves into an abstract imprint of smoke in ‘Antonio Bay’. Likewise, the columnar cacti morph into horizon lines in Crabtree and Evans’ 2014 installation.
The artists’ exploration of the pool of images that make up the virtual world we interface with on a daily basis deeply anchors the installation within the now. Blurring the line between a simulacral hyperreality and the three-dimensional world around us, ‘Antonio Bay’ booms the interconnectivity that exists between these two spheres.
World Music, Carlos/Ishikawa Gallery, 2014
Carlos/Ishikawa Gallery, London
02 May - 14 June 2014
A wall of cheap mass-produced posters advertising a distant moon greets visitors as they enter the Carlos/Ishikawa Gallery. Paving the way to their current show, World Music, the posters serve as a visual reminder for all that is at once distant and hauntingly familiar. Ostensibly accurate renderings of reality (namely, Shasha Litvintseva’s artful documentary film, Alluvion) rub shoulders with the quintessentially bizarre (Renaud Jerez’s two anthropomorphic sculptures, No Title), as the show operates on a wide spectrum.
Much like its title World Music, the exhibition embraces an all-compassing genre. Seemingly relinquishing their role as curators, artists Steve Bishop and Richard Sides juxtapose works to create an overarching theme that is both nebulous and subjectively experienced. Privileging an immediate response to each artwork’s material presence within the gallery, the beholder’s reaction is not mediated through various lenses namely, press releases, catalogues and audio guides. Instead, these modes of communication make way for the viewer’s physical encounter with the art, as well as the ribbons of dialogue it creates within the space.
Here, the work takes center stage.
Once Upon A Time You Dressed So Fine, Rod Barton, 2014
Rod Barton, London
21 March - 26 April 2014
Oscillating between painting, sculpture, installation, architecture, fashion and performance, Bas van den Hurk’s upcoming show ‘Once Upon A Time You Dressed So Fine’ (21 March – 26 April 2014) at Rod Barton explores art-making in its many forms. Revealing traces of their modes of production, the works are simultaneously presented as autonomous agents and active participants on the exhibition’s stage. Entwined in their respective networks of histories, temporalities, locations and materials, they speak of Arthur Koestler’s Holon philosophy, of the auratic dimension of art and of the subjectiveness of representation.
The artist talks to Ariane Belisle about his artistic practice, in light of his upcoming solo exhibition at the Rod Barton gallery in London. This interview was conducted via a telephone conversation on Friday 14 March 2014.
Diane Arbus, Child with Toy Hand Grenade, 1962
Central Park, summer of 62. The subject, a boy, stands in the center of the frame. His left strap hangs awkwardly off his shoulder. Long, thin arms extend at his side. His right hand clenches a toy hand grenade, while his left hand is contorted in a claw-like gesture. His face conveys a maniacal expression, perhaps borrowed from the super villain, the mad scientist or simply an antagonist on the silver screen. You have seen this photograph before. As one of the most celebrated images within the canon of fine art photography, it has been embedded in your mind’s eye. Immortalized in grainy celluloid through popular culture, it is anchored in our collective memory.
Diane Arbus’ iconic image – Child With Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park – has come to symbolize the deep-rooted tension that exists between primal violence and the tomfoolery of youth. It speaks of America’s historic evolution from the obsequious isolationism of the 1950s to the sociopolitical chaos that would materialize in the late 1960s and 1970s. While these themes appear to simmer beneath the surface of the gelatin silver print, the image does not actively search for metaphors but rather investigates the physical world in a solidly corporeal manner. Far from being orchestrated, the still merely captures a candid and fleeting moment.
Much like all of Arbus’ photographs, Child With Toy Hand Grenade inadvertently hints at Alan Kaprow’s radical assertion from his 1966 manifesto: ‘The line between [art] and life should be kept as fluid, and perhaps indistinct, as possible.’ Thus, Arbus’ practice breaks out of the controlled studio environment, as it creates uninhibited spaces of possibility and incites subject-participation to bring the artwork to life. In the wake of flawless fashion shoots and faultless photography, Arbus’ raw images present us with a visual argument for the dismantling of conventional standards of beauty, the undoing of aesthetic traditions, the blurring of art and life, and a re-imagining of the photographer’s encounter with the subject.
