Grantpirie gallery on Saturday farewelled gallery manager James Steele, who is Europe-bound. A 'family' gathering of friends and artists, and a sprinkling of artworld heavyweights, heard Bridget Pirrie give a sweet speech, and James a characteristically ironic one, while knocking back the winter red. He will be missed, and Le Flaneur will be keeping an eye on his no doubt glittering career.
A tout a l'heure.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Latino Visions #5: Damián Ortega at White Cube, London
Damián Ortega: Nine Types of Terrain
until 8 Sep 2007
White Cube, Hoxton Square
Left; ©Damián Ortega Project for Social Housing 2007
Clay bricks, cement, silicone and steel. Dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist and White Cube. Photo: Stephen White
Following last November's remarkable Gabriel Orozco exhibition Twelve Paintings and a Drawing (at the Mason's Yard space), featuring the gigantic work Dark Wave, fellow Mexican (Berlin-based) artist Damián Ortega's Nine Types of Terrain has opened at the Hoxton Square space.
According to the gallery: 'Damián Ortega often takes everyday materials - anything from car parts and furniture to light bulbs and toys - and channels them into objects of cultural, social and political import. His work maintains a determinedly hand-made appearance with an appreciation of linguistic nuance, in part a consequence of his early career as a political cartoonist. Ortega is interested in the meaning of materials and the relationship between object and action, as seen in works such as Nine Types of Terrain. Taking the form of nine short 16mm film projections presented in the ground floor gallery, this work references 'The Art of War', the 6th BC treatise by Chinese militarist Sun Tzu.'
Also featured is another work Project for Social Housing . Looks like a must-see.
until 8 Sep 2007
White Cube, Hoxton Square
Left; ©Damián Ortega Project for Social Housing 2007Clay bricks, cement, silicone and steel. Dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist and White Cube. Photo: Stephen White
Following last November's remarkable Gabriel Orozco exhibition Twelve Paintings and a Drawing (at the Mason's Yard space), featuring the gigantic work Dark Wave, fellow Mexican (Berlin-based) artist Damián Ortega's Nine Types of Terrain has opened at the Hoxton Square space.
According to the gallery: 'Damián Ortega often takes everyday materials - anything from car parts and furniture to light bulbs and toys - and channels them into objects of cultural, social and political import. His work maintains a determinedly hand-made appearance with an appreciation of linguistic nuance, in part a consequence of his early career as a political cartoonist. Ortega is interested in the meaning of materials and the relationship between object and action, as seen in works such as Nine Types of Terrain. Taking the form of nine short 16mm film projections presented in the ground floor gallery, this work references 'The Art of War', the 6th BC treatise by Chinese militarist Sun Tzu.'
Also featured is another work Project for Social Housing . Looks like a must-see.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Latino Visions#4: New Mexican art at MCA Chicago
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Escultura Social: A New Generation of Art from Mexico City
until September 2, 2007
Left: ©Dr. Lakra, Untitled (sillón rojo), 2004. The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Photo courtesy of the artist kurimanzutto, Mexico City and MCA Chicago.
If you are interested in the resurgence of Mexican contemporary art, and find yourself in Chicago, the excellent MCA has an exhibition focussed on Mexican 'Escultura Social' (Social Sculpture).
According to curator Julie Rodrigues Widholm: 'German performance artist Joseph Beuys's idea of social sculpture, translated into the Spanish escultura social, is used as a multivalent point of reference: the works are all socially engaged, they draw connections between people, animals, and nature, they revisit conceptual practices/actions from the 1960s, and promote a demystified and democratic idea of artmaking. In addition, the circulation and meaning of images, objects, and actions are at the crux of these artists' works and the exhibition provides an opportunity to showcase their recent developments. It includes site-specific, performative and ephemeral projects in addition to videos, photographs, and installations.
Featured artists are Maria Alós, Carlos Amorales, Julieta Aranda, Gustavo Artigas, Stefan Bruggemann, Miguel Calderon, Fernando Carabajal, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Mario Garcia-Torres, Daniel Guzman, Pablo Helguera, Gabriel Kuri, Dr. Lakra, Los Super Elegantes, Nuevos Ricos, Yoshua Okon, Damian Ortega, Fernando Ortega, Pedro Reyes, and dynamic young architect Fernando Romero.
Escultura Social: A New Generation of Art from Mexico City
until September 2, 2007
Left: ©Dr. Lakra, Untitled (sillón rojo), 2004. The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Photo courtesy of the artist kurimanzutto, Mexico City and MCA Chicago.If you are interested in the resurgence of Mexican contemporary art, and find yourself in Chicago, the excellent MCA has an exhibition focussed on Mexican 'Escultura Social' (Social Sculpture).
According to curator Julie Rodrigues Widholm: 'German performance artist Joseph Beuys's idea of social sculpture, translated into the Spanish escultura social, is used as a multivalent point of reference: the works are all socially engaged, they draw connections between people, animals, and nature, they revisit conceptual practices/actions from the 1960s, and promote a demystified and democratic idea of artmaking. In addition, the circulation and meaning of images, objects, and actions are at the crux of these artists' works and the exhibition provides an opportunity to showcase their recent developments. It includes site-specific, performative and ephemeral projects in addition to videos, photographs, and installations.
Featured artists are Maria Alós, Carlos Amorales, Julieta Aranda, Gustavo Artigas, Stefan Bruggemann, Miguel Calderon, Fernando Carabajal, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Mario Garcia-Torres, Daniel Guzman, Pablo Helguera, Gabriel Kuri, Dr. Lakra, Los Super Elegantes, Nuevos Ricos, Yoshua Okon, Damian Ortega, Fernando Ortega, Pedro Reyes, and dynamic young architect Fernando Romero.
Latino Visions #3: Tomas Lopez Rocha in Mexico City
©Tomas Lopez Rocha Untitled 2006, courtesy Charra Negro Gallery, Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico
Photos below © Le Flaneur
Showing at MACO (see Latino Visions#1 below) by Charro Negro Gallery(http://www.charronegro.com), and simultaneously at the excellent Galería de la SHCP in Mexico City's Centro Histórico, was the exciting Guadalajara-based painter/sculptor Tomás López Rocha. It's interesting that his painting and sculptural styles are quite different, almost to the point of appearing to be the work of different artists. The SHCP show featured paintings, drawings and installations, beautifully hung and lit in a noble (inevitably muralled) space, and unusually I was allowed to take flashless photographs - see below. See more at the artist's site: http://www.tomaslopezrocha.com
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Latino Visions#2: The Hours, Visual Arts of Contemporary Latin America
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
until 2 September 2007
Left: Nicola Costantino Soccer Ball 1999 From the series Human Furriery. Silicone and leather. Courtesy Daros-Latinamerica Collection and Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney. © the artist. Photograph: Peter Schälchli
This is an impressive show, notwithstanding (love using that word) my earlier post comparing it adversely to the vibrancy of the MACO art fair in Mexico. I re-visited it the other day, and although I still thought it somewhat sombre and monochrome overral, there's no denying the sheer quality of all the work. As it's one of those 'from the collection of' shows ( in this case the Rio de Janeiro-based Daros-Latinamerica Collection) it can be excused any omissions, for instance Mexican art star Gabriel Orozco. I didn't get the pricey catalogue, so forgive me for not knowing the names of some of the works referred to below.
Several things called me back for a second look. I was fascinated by Nicola Costantino's (Argentina) extraordinary objects, fashioned from latex, but apearing to be human skin, complete with delicate nipples and puckered anuses. Apparently cast from the skin of a male friend of the artist, her technique is astonshingly realistic, and the vitrine-displayed objects (see the soccer ball, left) resonate with a peculiar power. These works have featured prominently in publicity material, and you can by a limited-edition tote bag in the MCA shop. Vik Muniz's (Brazil) portaits of iconic faces - realised in media like black bean soup (Ché Guevara), ink (Warhol) and diamonds (Mariyn Monroe), then photographed, have also been prominent in publicity material. Though somewhat gimmicky, they are certainly highly skilled, visually arresting, and accessible.
I'm often underwhelmed by video art, but José Alexandro Restrepo's (Columbia) single video installation is mesmerising. To wailing voices (of Columbian tribal women), a dark figure punts a canoe along a dark, jungly waterway. There is of course a cultural and environmental subtext which you can read, but the power of this work sustains itself without explanation. It reminded me, if not in content then in atmosphere, of Susan Norrie's video work - there is a sense of foreboding and menace that isn't easy to convey in words.
There's some beautiful (as aways) work from our very own Maria Fernanda Cardoso Columbia/Australia)and a lot more, including some excellent photography and remarkable carpentry, so if you haven't already, go see it - it's free and it's warm inside.
Hasta lluego, crocadillo.
until 2 September 2007
Left: Nicola Costantino Soccer Ball 1999 From the series Human Furriery. Silicone and leather. Courtesy Daros-Latinamerica Collection and Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney. © the artist. Photograph: Peter SchälchliThis is an impressive show, notwithstanding (love using that word) my earlier post comparing it adversely to the vibrancy of the MACO art fair in Mexico. I re-visited it the other day, and although I still thought it somewhat sombre and monochrome overral, there's no denying the sheer quality of all the work. As it's one of those 'from the collection of' shows ( in this case the Rio de Janeiro-based Daros-Latinamerica Collection) it can be excused any omissions, for instance Mexican art star Gabriel Orozco. I didn't get the pricey catalogue, so forgive me for not knowing the names of some of the works referred to below.
Several things called me back for a second look. I was fascinated by Nicola Costantino's (Argentina) extraordinary objects, fashioned from latex, but apearing to be human skin, complete with delicate nipples and puckered anuses. Apparently cast from the skin of a male friend of the artist, her technique is astonshingly realistic, and the vitrine-displayed objects (see the soccer ball, left) resonate with a peculiar power. These works have featured prominently in publicity material, and you can by a limited-edition tote bag in the MCA shop. Vik Muniz's (Brazil) portaits of iconic faces - realised in media like black bean soup (Ché Guevara), ink (Warhol) and diamonds (Mariyn Monroe), then photographed, have also been prominent in publicity material. Though somewhat gimmicky, they are certainly highly skilled, visually arresting, and accessible.
I'm often underwhelmed by video art, but José Alexandro Restrepo's (Columbia) single video installation is mesmerising. To wailing voices (of Columbian tribal women), a dark figure punts a canoe along a dark, jungly waterway. There is of course a cultural and environmental subtext which you can read, but the power of this work sustains itself without explanation. It reminded me, if not in content then in atmosphere, of Susan Norrie's video work - there is a sense of foreboding and menace that isn't easy to convey in words.
There's some beautiful (as aways) work from our very own Maria Fernanda Cardoso Columbia/Australia)and a lot more, including some excellent photography and remarkable carpentry, so if you haven't already, go see it - it's free and it's warm inside.
Hasta lluego, crocadillo.
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