Gilded Chaos by Benjamin Murphy
Artist Rowan Newton interviews artist Benjamin Murphy ahead of his striking new body of work Gilded Chaos, showing at Beers London soon!
After The Day After
Artist Rowan Newton interviews artist Benjamin Murphy ahead of his striking new body of work Gilded Chaos, showing at Beers London soon!
Gilded Chaos
Preview: Thursday 14 January 6-9pm
Exhibition: 15 Jan.- 13 Feb 2016
Why have you chosen electrical tape as your medium? When did this begin, and do you feel restricted by it?
I did it after a few too many beers one night around 6 years ago whilst I was doing an MA in Contemporary Fine Art at The University of Salford. I like it because of its limitations I suppose. There are no books about ‘how to draw with electrical tape’, so any techniques or solutions I need I have to work out for myself.
Why do you always use black tape, as electrical tape comes in other colours too?
All of my work is black and white, even when I’m not using tape. It’s a much bolder and more striking aesthetic, the world is multicoloured and anything black and white stands out in contrast to it.
Your pieces have a confliction between life drawing and still life. Often a nude study is at the forefront but in a staged environment with many still life objects dotted around in the background. What do you prefer, the still life or the life, and what is it that interests you about the both of them?
I always have the ‘still life’ elements in the background, as a way of suggesting possible storylines for the main character of the artworks. They are both important but the background detail is only there as a way to add extra potential narritive for the subject.
What is your reason for so much pattern work within your pieces, is this because it looks pretty, or because it is a challenge to recreate such intricate pattern work; or is there something else to it?
It is partly just a way of challenging myself and pushing my limits, and partly because I decided to make this new body of work as detailed and lavish as possible to resonate with the show title. (Gilded Chaos).
“I want to leave the works ‘meaning’ up to the viewer to determine”
There is a strong narrative to your work, is the message a direct one you wish to tell, or is it for the viewer to interpret for themselves?
I’m always careful to suggest multiple possible meanings and messages, but in a way that their interpretations are multifarious. I believe in the pluralism of interpretation, as any viewer who looks at an image will see it in a different way. So for this reason I want to leave the works ‘meaning’ up to the viewer to determine. I like to hint at things, but ultimately I feel that most of the work should be done by the viewer.
Is there room for you in the art world for just pretty looking art, art work that is just there to be enjoyed for its attractiveness but not so much trying to convey a message?
There definitely is a place for it, but I find that it doesn’t hold my attention for as long as works with more substance to them than their surface aesthetic. Craftsmanship on its own isn’t really enough without something else.
Constanza
Within your narrative there are regular motifs that pop up, skulls, crucifixes but the one that stands out to me in the toilet roll, talk to me about toilet roll?
I thought that that particular work needed something that was almost plain white in the center to balance the image, and so my first idea was a skull. The vase of flowers and the urn obviously both already have strong death connotations so a skull would have been overkill. As it looks like it is in some kind of funeral parlor or something the toilet roll seems to fit in, also there’s something darkly comical about it, which I like.
Will we see toilet roll in this show?
Yes the toilet roll one is in the show, it’s called ‘In Praise Of Darkness’. It’s titled after a short story by Jorge Luis Borges, who has been a big inspiration for the show.
There is a play with perspective in your work, the angles of chairs not quite lining up with angle of the shelf or the bed or the table etc. What do these mean for you?
My use of perspective is quite important and people rarely pick up on it, so I’m glad you have.
Perspective is utilized by the artist to transform a two-dimensional plane into a three-dimensional space. This brings the viewer beyond the frame and into the artwork, as what is seen in the foreground is imagined (through the use of foreshortening etc.) to be at the front of the image. Perspective in a two-dimensional image is an illusion, and its immobile vanishing points is something that is never seen in nature. This already makes the artwork static and artificial, before the subject matter is even considered.
Perspective can be utilized to create feelings of unfamiliarity and otherness when used in the right way. When I draw the person in the artwork, they are seen from below, as if the viewer of the work is looking up at them. This is drawn in a contradictory way to the one in which I draw the background, as the background is seen as if the viewer were above it.
This imbalance in perspective is what creates the subtle but very real sense of unease in the viewer, as it is not immediately noticeable to be the source of the uneasiness. This difference in perspective creates two ‘artificial’ viewpoints that occur from every singular ‘real’ viewpoint.
“Like a pop-up book, the character in the artwork is forced out of the confines of the frame and into the real world”
The way that the subject and background are seen creates the illusion that the subject is in fact a giant in their surroundings, and is much closer to the viewer than they appear, and that they aren’t really situated in the background at all, but on the viewers side of the frame. By placing objects in between the viewer and subject, the subject is then forced back into the background slightly, back into the picture.
Like a pop-up book, the character in the artwork is forced out of the confines of the frame and into the real world. The person depicted in the artwork is brought into the real world, and not the viewer into the artwork as is created with the correct perspective.
These techniques with perspective deny the viewers eyes from properly feeling that they can enter and explore the artwork fully, which the perspective appears at first glance to invite.
Which artists have influenced/inspired you with there use of perspective in their work?
I’m a big fan of the expressionists, many of whom do their perspective a little off; especially Vincent Van Gogh.
There is a voyeuristic nature to your work, as if you’re looking into private moments, what intrigues you about these moments?
The work is voyeuristic in a sense, but it is intended in a totally non-sexual way. I am careful to make the subject non-sexualised and non-passive in her surroundings. It is more like the viewer is voyeuristically looking at someone going about their daily lives, but in no way are the subjects naked for the pleasure of the viewer. If anything seedy is going on it is the fault of the viewer and not the subject of the artwork.
I like the subtlety of how uneasy this makes the viewer feel.
Do you feel now that we as people are being observed in voyeuristic manner, as we expose ourselves almost daily on social media, especially Instagram?
I suppose we are, but we put ourselves out there to be looked at. No one can see anything you don’t first decide to post. Instagram and facebook are inherently narcissistic, but then being an artist requires you to be a bit of a narcissist to begin with.
Are you ok with that or do you feel you have to do it to help build your audience and try and connect with them on a more intimate level. If you did not have your artwork to expose, would you be on social media?
I think I probably would still be on it, but I wouldn’t take it anywhere near as seriously.
More often than not your subjects are naked, is this to do with vulnerability? There are also kinky aspects to your work, corsets, suspenders, knives, are you turned on by your work? Is there a sexual releases for you in your work? Who are these women and do these settings exist?
It is more to do with innocence than vulnerability in my mind. Lingerie and underwear tend to be sexy in a coquettish way, by suggesting that which they conceal. For me those items are more of a way in which to cover up something, which in turn is a way of making the work not so much about sex. I don’t like to draw fully naked character as its tough to have them still appear tasteful and non-sexualised.
What frustrates you about your art and the art world around you?
The only real times I get frustrated with my work is when I can’t find time to be drawing, or when I’ve been drawing for so long that I can’t tell what works and what doesn’t. In the art world in general I’m most frustrated by the continuous rehashings of pop art that are so ubiquitous these days, Pop Art ceased to be interesting a long time ago.
Face to face how do you find talking about your work, is it something you are comfortable with, or shy away from?
I don’t mind it so much, I find that I often talk too fast and go off on tangents for far too long though. I’m much more coherent when I’m writing it down.
You have a solo show at Beers Contemporary coming up. What is the theme of this show and have you approached it any differently to past shows?
I’m really excited about showing with Beers, they are a great gallery and have been amazing to work with this far. To be even listed as one of their artists is an honor.
There isn’t a theme as such, but all the works relate to one another in some way. There is a lot of detailed floral pattern running throughout the works, partially inspired by William Morris. These works have taken a lot longer to produce than the works for my previous shows, due to the level of detail et cetera. This in turn has meant that as I’m working for much longer, my inspirations are all the more myriad.
What was the biggest challenge to putting this show together?
The level of detail has been a big challenge, as the smaller you go the more difficult it is. It’s also hard to spend days drawing the same pattern over and over, it makes you go a little insane.
What do you want people to walk away with once seeing this show?
I want people receive so many different and contradictory thoughts and emotions that they don’t fully understand them until they go away and ruminate on them. I also want the show to have a lasting impact in some way, be it positive or negative. Anything as long as it isn’t ambivalent.
Carnival Glass at Block 336
This December, artist-run gallery Block 336 is offering you a different view on art history, altering and mixing different cultures, times and movements with exhibition ‘Carnival Glass’.
Aiming to provide a platform for both established and emerging artists with an emphasis on collaboration, freedom and experiment, the project space combines the talent of seven artists in the UK art scene in one exhibition. Lewis Betts, Freya Douglas-Morris, Grant Foster, Brian Griffiths, Archie Franks, Lydia Hardwick, and Lana Locke will be taking on the challenge of combining numerous techniques such as sculpturing and painting to create beautiful entities, simultaneously exploring chaos to reach innovation. Art history connoisseurs will recognize references to Gothic, Baroque and Rococo aspects, while culture enthusiasts will be able to deepen themselves in the subtly integrated carnivalesque elements. Londoner and award wining contemporary painter Archie Franks is both displaying his artwork and curating the event.
As if there isn’t enough for your eyes the focus on, you can let them wander around in the remaining rooms of the building as there will be another exhibition going on at the same time. In his first solo show HOMEWARE_update, Corey Bartle-Sanderson displays the experimentation of combining objects that aren’t usually put together.
Both exhibitions will have their private view on the 4th of December.
5 must-see exhibitions this month
With so much happening in London this season, we selected 5 art shows for your gallery crawl.
With so much happening in London this season, we selected 5 art shows for your gallery crawl.
With digital integration in every facet of life, will we be predisposed to the negative effects this can bring to our lifestyle?
Digital Disturbances goes back and forward in time, showing the strange effects advanced technology can have on the fashion Industry.
11 – 12 December 2015
The World Goes Pop
“The World Goes Pop!” examines the global story of pop art and reveals a side of it you have never seen before. Revealing the outcomes it had in cultures and countries, and insinuating a language of protest throughout the 60s and 70s.
17 September 2015 – 24 January 2016
States of Mind: Ann Veronica Janssens
In ‘States of Mind’, Ann Veronica Jannsens creates a sensory experience, reminding us of the richness of our interaction with the world. Filling the gallery with bright coloured mist, her work disorientates the viewer through the dissolution of normal perceptual boundaries.
15 October 2015 - 3 January 2016
The Fabric of India
One of the most exceptional highlights of the V&A India Festival, ‘The Fabric of India’ holds more than 200 pieces of pure Indian culture and beauty. Covering historic costumes, modern fashion, and unique textiles from an amazingly large time frame, this is an exhibition every creative with a weakness for history, culture and craftsmanship should visit.
03 October 2015 – 10 January 2016
Ryan Gander: Fieldwork
A kitchen sink, a dead pigeon, a chocolate bar, a pebble beach and a helium balloon. This and much more is awaiting for you at the ‘Fieldwork’ exhibition. Expect to be blown away in this amazing freak out, as Ryan Gander is serving his inspiration on a silver conveyor belt for you to observe in an impervious and mysterious way.
25 September to 31 October
Liggers & Dreamers : a new book by Josie Demuth
Artists are doing it for themselves – or are they?... Tales from the London Art Scene
IT’S EXHAUSTING! Keeping up with three very resourceful artists at the same time for a Q&A session. Three of the creative arts' liveliest talents. First, Josie Demuth; a prolific author and the founding editor of La Bouche Zine. Second, Jason Gibilaro; a contemporaneous artist and the cover artist of Josie Demuth's new book; Liggers and Dreamers. And our third musketeer is illustrator extraordinaire Ian Wright whose visual art work has spanned four decades.
Liggers and Dreamers by Josie Demuth, Cover artwork by Jason Gibilaro
Unusual combinations often produce the most interesting read, as you’ll see in this article. Now, we are gathered in the basement of the famed unconventional Vout-O-Reenees Art Club and gallery The Stash, to share their unique insights on preparing for their major test yet, of their life’s work and more importantly to talk about Demuth’s manic short story book titled Liggers & Dreamers; Tales from the London Art Scene. To complement, and celebrate, the book launch, there is an exhibition of Liggers and Dreamers art by Jason Gibilaro, and Ian Wright’s photos from his collection of Arts Herbert’s on show at The Stash Gallery. Josie Demuth’s new book is innovative with no time for baloney. She goes for the jugular. A very tongue in cheek, tickling and fiercely observed manuscript on an extraordinary scale about liggers (derrière -licking persons) and dreamers (groupies & sycophants) of the London art world. A well written story on how they make their way through London’s elite art scene as well as the ruthless behaviour of a gang of intriguing and flamboyant personalities, as they diligently make their way all around London’s most fashionable gallery private views and bashes for the sole purpose of freeloading on champagne, decent wine and canapés “like a flock of seagulls”. Josie alleges that there are these individuals, “uninvited freeloading party goers”; for who it’s the art of being seen and accepted at art exhibitions rather than a passion for the often hollow modern art on show.
Demuth said: “We are having the unveiling of Liggers & Dreamers on a Friday so that all the liggers can come, after all there wouldn’t be a book and exhibition without them”. In harmony with Demuth, the proprietor of Vout-O-Reenees Art Club Sophie Parkin affirmed: “I will be making extra canapés knowing how Liggers swoop in on any free food and drinks”. Liggers & Dreamers is a fascinating work of creative writing by someone with tremendous imagination. However, some very identifiable famous individuals from the worlds of music and art also make an appearance in the novel. J. D. disputes strongly that any similarity is thoroughly accidental. Yeah right! We believe you Josie Demuth. Also, there’s a wry, shrewd narrative to her story that throws-up constant parallels with pale imitation celebrities and thespians, who regularly gate crash occasions for that chance to take a selfie and share via social media to prove that they have arrived...
Now welcome to the discussion with the three musketeers – oh yes, artists.
This is a very audacious and highly speculative book with some mischievous narrative, which could easily attract extreme dislike towards you. Why was it important that you write this book?
Josie Demuth: Whoa! That is severe. It is not an attack on freedom of expression. It is important for me to write this novel because it focuses on some very interesting characters. And being somebody that has been gallery hopping myself in the last few years, I found these characters to be very worthy of note in the gallery world. I felt and believe they must be documented. I initially started by writing short stories about them in The International Times, then when the list got produced in Cork Street gallery in a covert operation to blacklist these liggers – I thought right away this will be a great narrative for a novel. And my novel only focuses on about a dozen liggers for now. There are a lot more characters that I might report on in another book. A ligger is a freeloader. They go to parties and functions or corporate events with the view of getting freebies. I think everybody loves a freebie. But then again, liggers come in categories; there are some mild liggers and there are chronic liggers and there’re some arch liggers too. In my book you will find all sorts. And yeah, there are those who do gallery hopping that have substance, no doubt about that. So I don’t see how anyone would direct any hate towards me.
I love Charlie by Jason Gibilaro. Acrylic on canvas, 118cm x 153cm, 200
Jason Gibilaro is the book cover artist of Liggers and Dreamers. How did that come about?
Jason Gibilaro: let me answer that. I met Josie way back at an exhibition I staged and I am very interested in the team of liggers and dreamers. I did a small experimental drawing piece and sent it to a mate of mine and he ended-up sending it to Josie and others, and everyone liked it. One thing led to another and Josie liked the drawing and it ended up as the cover of the book. I am very proud of the cover.
Collaboration can be a tad tricky. Was it easy working with Josie or would you rather not work with her again?
Jason Gibilaro: Oh yes, she was nightmarish. (Just kidding!). I will work with her again if the opportunity arises. The final drawing on the cover was a consensus. Yes, we had several meetings with others, but at the end everybody decided that my painting was the one for the book. Initially I was for the image I did for the I love Charlie thing, but what the heck? This cover is very artistic. I am an artist in my own right and it’s just a coincidence to work with an author. It’s an opportunity to do some exploring and add to my repertoire. I see Josie as an artist who personally engages.
Is Josie Demuth shrouding as one of the characters in this book?
Josie Demuth: Yes someplace. The book mirrors and captures the spirit that I believe in. I have been gallery hopping myself for years, so I am in there somewhere and I have witnessed these sort of quirky little scenario situations, so to tell this sort of story, I have to be a part of the story. I implicate myself in things I do. For Liggers & Dreamers, there was no way I could have written it just standing outside saying look at this; this is good or this is terrible or whatever.
Is it fair to describe J. D. as an eccentric, provocateur or just ridiculously over-dramatic with tremendous imagination?
Ian Wright: Let me answer that question. (Why are you guys taking it in turns to answer for Josie, is hilarious) I know that to write this book took a long time and, of course, some imagination. It was a work in progress and I can also understand why some persons would conclude – especially the press like you, that she is being provocative and over dramatic. We are living in interesting times as far as the arts or creative arts are concerned. I think this is just a segment of the arts that she has hit upon and it’s interesting to inform the wider public what is going on in the art world. She is brutally honest about what she thinks, not at all over dramatic. I wouldn’t say she is provocative and dramatic. But if she provokes a debate or a response about freeloaders, great. We all like a bit of drama. I like a bit of drama too.
The Collector by Jason Gibilaro. Acrylic on paper, 17.50cm x 27.00cm, 201
How does this ménage à trois work – professionally?
Ian Wright: We are eccentric in different ways. We all have our different interests but also have similarities too. It is fair to say that our eccentricity works greatly for us. And it is fair to say the book and the art exhibition is kind of a celebration of eccentricity. At the end of the day, be you a writer, painter, architect or poet, we are all artists in the creative arts. So why can’t we work together. It’s something we should see more and more and these boundaries will become very fluid.
Photo by Ian Wright. The Painter and the Poet from The Art Herbert Series, 2009. 6x9 inch
Photo by Ian Wright. The all star Hackney Wick sand gang, 2015. 16x12 inch
...
This threesome Josie Demuth, Jason Gibilaro and Ian Wright seemed destined to be both notable polemicists and visionary creators. An avant-garde underground art movement of the modern era. They have been able to transcend the rather claustrophobic boundaries of the art world. About Liggers & Dreamers, I find it thoroughly frenetic and fresh - highly recommended. Read it and I bet, you will see freeloaders and hangers-on in a totally different light. And it’s not pretty.
An exhibition of Liggers and Dreamers Art by Jason Gibilaro & Ian Wright’s photos is on show at The Stash Gallery, 30 Prescot Street, London E1 8BB
September 11 - September 27
Liggers & Dreamers – Tales from the London Art Scene by Josie Demuth
A preview of Judy Chicago's Star Cunts & Other Attractions
The Riflemaker Gallery will play host to Judy Chicago once again with work both acquainted and un-introduced. Meet her Star Cunts & other attractions; a feminist-fired suite of her historic sculptures, paintings and archival pieces.
Image credit - Judy Chicago at work in her china-painting studio in 1974. Courtesy of Through the Flower Archives
By Suzanna Swanson - Johnston
From 14th September - 31st December 2015, the Riflemaker Gallery will play host to Judy Chicago once again with work both acquainted and un-introduced. Meet her Star Cunts & other attractions; a feminist-fired suite of her historic sculptures, paintings and archival pieces.
Artist, writer, educator, pioneer and artistic-punk-rocker, Judy Chicago created the feminist art movement; reacting to to social and political injustice during the revolutionary times of the 1960s and 1970s that she rose to prominence in. The history of art was the history of the white bourgeois man, till it was remoulded in the hands of Judy Chicago. Her art is dry-witted, dirty-talking, socially-pointed, intricate, fecund, frank, kick-ass-colourist abstraction. It dresses up in a history of representational feminine imagery in order to draw on the historical associations, and subvert them. Rifle-maker offers us a peep-show of the elements unseen.
In their exhibitive debut, on show are porcelain test plates which chronicle Chicago’s studies of china painting in preparation for the Dinner Party. In her key note work, Chicago created the symbolic history of women in Western civilisation and brought the diminished voices of 39 historical and mythological female figures to the table…literally. Using her distinctive multi-disciplinary-multi-media style, Chicago incorporated subject matter into the method by drawing on the traditionally feminine applied arts for the place settings. Along the 49ft triangular table sits embroidered runners, ceramic flatware, embroidered gold napkins, 2000 inscribed tiles and china plates with hand-painted vaginas; the studies for which are on show. Also featured are a series of steel dome sculptures and the eponymous Star Cunts - a set of prismacolour and pastels on paper - that lean towards her earlier minimalist style but still carry the prevailing feminist and feminine forms that characterise her work.
2015 marks quite the year for Chicago; she will simultaneously carry seven shows across Europe which stands as quite the testimony to her continuing influence, impact, relevance and status as ’America’s most important living artist’; this is one dinner party invitation I wouldn’t pass up.
‘Star Cunts & Other Attractions’ : Riflemaker Gallery, 79 Beak Street, London
14th September - 31st December 2015
All images courtesy Riflemaker Gallery
Overture: Idris Khan’s figurative translation of language
Idris Khan presents his upcoming solo exhibition Overture, revealing further interrogation of language through his practice.
London based artist Idris Khan exhibits in New York this September with some ambitious and exciting new work. Khan uses photography and digital images in his work but does not consider himself a photographer. He repeatedly layers these images, often text, to create a new piece, which is distanced from the original through the process of abstraction.
One of his more known work involved scanning every page of the Qur’an and layering the text into an image, bringing a figurative element to the writing while remaining almost readable.
Khan’s work reaches for a new perspective or a re-appropriation of an already existing visual cultural significance; he explores and interrogates language by working with text in this way. His work simultaneously addresses society’s shift on how photography as a medium is used. Khan has previously encountered the work of two German photographers and closely duplicated their photos, giving the new images new context and meaning. With the widespread use of smart phones as a photographic instrument documenting culture, the question of amateur/professional continues and images are easily available for hijack.
In his upcoming exhibition there is set to be a large-scale sculpture using panes of glass to overlap layers of text, casting an image onto the gallery wall. Khan will be exhibiting a wall drawing derived from what is cast by the glass, adding a performative element to an already complex multimedia body of work.
Overture Is opening at Sean Kelly Gallery, New York on 10 September 2015 running until 24 October 2015.
Idris Khan at Sean Kelly Gallery
The von Bartha gallery hosts Bernhard Luginbühl and friends
The works of one of Switzerland’s best known sculptors, and a few of his fellow contemporaries are erected in all their glory at the von Bartha gallery.
The works of one of Switzerland’s best known sculptors, and a few of his fellow contemporaries are erected in all their glory at the von Bartha gallery.
If you live in Zürich, there’s probably no doubt that you’ve heard of Bernhard Luginbühl. And if you’ve walked down Mythenquai road you definitely would have seen De Grosse Giraffe (1969) – a great iron sculpture, with its magnificent curved beam looming over Zürich like a watchful sentry.
The sculptures of Bernhard Luginbühl (1929 – 2011) can be seen erected not only in Zürich, but in Hamburg and Muttenz too. He was an expert craftsman – who had a particular penchant for producing sculptures from scrap metal. Aside from Eduardo Chillida, he was one of the first to pioneer the iron sculpture from the 1950s, which is arguably what raised him to prominence in the art world.
A large portion of his earlier work no longer exists – due to Luginbühl destroying or burning some of them. This ‘creative arsony’ rekindled itself in his later work, from the mid 1970s, where he burned several of his wooden structures in ceremonious artistic fashion.
But of particular note were his fascinating collaborations with contemporaries Dieter Roth, Jean Tinguely and Aflred Hofkunst, who feature in this upcoming exhibition. Sculptures like HAUS (1979-94) are comprised of iron and wood, brushes and bone – showcasing his playful yet masterful ability to combine media into something to marvel at.
While some of the collaborative sculptures such as Schluckuck (1978 – 1979) look like condensed, complicated rube-goldberg machines, the exhibition displays some of his solo works too. Expect to witness his ink drawings as well as the fantastically mechanical, yet abstract Kleine Kulturkarrette II (1975) – which is more than just a colourful cabinet on wheels.
Bernhard Luginbühl and Friends will run from 4th September – 24th October 2015 and the preview will be on September 4 from 5-8pm.
Address:
von Bartha, Kannenfeldplatz 6,
4056, Basel, Switzerland
Opening Hours:
Tuesday to Friday 2-6pm, Saturday 11am – 4pm or by appointment.
Tetsumi Kudo at Hauser & Wirth London
A seminal figure in Tokyo’s Anti-Art movement in the late 1950’s, multidisciplinary artist Tetsumi Kudo (1935 – 1990) left behind a lasting legacy: this autumn, Hauser & Wirth London will host an exhibition of his works, marking 25 years since his passing.
A seminal figure in Tokyo’s Anti-Art movement in the late 1950’s, multidisciplinary artist Tetsumi Kudo (1935 – 1990) left behind a lasting legacy: this autumn, Hauser & Wirth London will host an exhibition of his works, marking 25 years since his passing.
The exhibition will present a selection of work dating from the first ten years that Kudo spent in Paris (1963 – 1972), following the completion of his studies at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts in 1958.
Although marginalised in North America and Europe for many years, Kudo’s influence on subsequent generations of artists has been profound and far-reaching. The artist spent the majority of his career preoccupied with the impact of nuclear catastrophe and the excess of consumer society associated with the post-war economic boom, his interest in these topics intensified upon his exposure to the European intellectual scene.
Developed in the context of post-war Japan and France, Kudo’s practice, which encompasses sculpture, installation and performance-based work, is dominated by a sense of disillusionment with the modern world – its blind faith in progress, technological advancement, and humanist ideals.
Consisting of a die enlarged to over 3.5 square metres with a small circular door allowing the viewer to climb into the dark interior lit with UV light, ‘Garden of the Metamorphosis in the Space Capsule’ will form the exhibition’s focal point, shown alongside examples from his cube and dome series.
In his cube series, small boxes contain decaying cocoons and shells revealing half-living forms – often replica limbs, detached phalli or papier-mâché organs – that merge with man-made items. These sculptures were intended as a comment on the individualistic outlook and eager adoption of mass-production which he found to be prevalent in Europe.
Kudo’s dome works appear as futuristic terrariums: perspex spheres fed by circuit boards or batteries house artificial plant life, soil, and radioactive detritus. What is being cultivated in these mini eco-systems is a grotesque, decomposing fusion of the biological and mechanical, illustrating Kudo’s feeling that with the pollution of nature comes the decomposition of humanity.
The simultaneously political, yet highly aesthetic, characteristic of his sculptural work is at the centre of the contemporary oeuvre.
Tetsumi Kudo
Hauser & Wirth London, North Gallery
22 September – 21 November 2015
Opening: Monday 21 September, 6 – 8 pm
OUT OF AFRICA
Africa Industrial Revolution. This time the revolution will be downloaded.
London in summer is a wonderful place. With or without the heatwave. There’s a host of arts exhibitions across London this summer, offering a feast of delectable, outstanding and eye-opening events to indulge your eyes, add to your repertoire and broaden your horizon. And roomsmagazine.com have brought you quite a few, well more than a few. Here is one more to indulge in. All hail to the Tiwani Contemporary Gallery who have brought us this captivating exhibition titled: “African Industrial Revolution / the revolution will be downloadable”. Yes, you read right. I know most of you must have heard and read of – “this time the revolution will be televised”. But in keeping with the times as there’s been a complete revolution in digital technology, and people look more and more at art through the media, its apt for the artist to state that, this time, the African Industrial Revolution will be downloaded. How about that?
Francisco Vidal, 'If I'm free, it's because I'm always running no.1', 2015, oil and acrylic on recycled handmade paper, 255x255cm. ® Sylvain Deleu
Africa Industrial Revolution is a venture by the e-studio Luanda. E-studio Luanda is an international artistic collective of passionate artists resident in a studio complex founded in 2012 in the Angolan capital Luanda by four artists: Francisco Vidal, Rita GT, António Ole and Nelo Teixeira. The collective has played an influential role in developing the visual arts scene in Luanda, bringing into being regular shows and running an art education curriculum. What it means to be an artist now, even compared to 1980s, has changed so dramatically that they have redefined not just how we make art, but how we consume it. In this the collective’s first exhibition in the United Kingdom, A. I. R. exposition is a backdrop and also takes the form of an open studio within Tiwani Contemporary’s space, transforming the gallery space into a temporary artist studio where the visiting public can appreciate artist Francisco Vidal and Rita GT producing work live in-situ. Visitors can also observe the artists start up the U.topia Machine:
U.topia Machine is a 60 x 60 cm plywood box containing an all-in-one toolkit for producing work. I'd say this is what being an artist is in the 21st century. The complete exhibition at it's very best portrays artists who like to build momentum. The whole gallery is covered with art display – from top-to-bottom, windows and doors. The large scale works are all by Francisco Vidal and the posters are by Rita GT. The exhibition gives the visitors a whole new perspective on wall-to-wall arts. One thing among many others I find interesting is that the works are displayed in order to catch the eye and get one thinking. I don’t want to spoil things by giving too much away in this review, go see for yourself. Even if you have seen a picture or a painting on the Tiwani website or on roomsmagazine.com, when you actually stand in front of these large scale works it is a completely different experience. The paintings are challenging, moving and a lot more besides. Hurry!
It’s also worth seeing the artists live at work. How cool is that? If you ask me this exhibition is initiating a riot, but in a good way. There are many more artists coming out of Africa these days and for a long time now it’s been a lot more vibrant and less political. The international art world is now looking at Africa a lot more, not as a backwater but as a would-be front-runner of the art world, sooner rather than later.
African Industrial Revolution, Tiwani Contemporary, 2015 ® Sylvain Deleu
African Industrial Revolution | e-studio Luanda
10 July - 15 August 2015
Tiwani Contemporary, 16 Little Portland Street, London. W1W 8BP
Tuesday - Friday, 11am - 6pm
Saturday, 12pm - 5pm
Free entry
Michael Armitage at the White Cube
Art is an agent of social change - we interview Kenyan artist Michael Armitage.
Michael Armitage, Accident 2015
Oil on Lubugo bark cloth. 67 x 87 in. (170.2 x 221 cm) © Michael Armitage. Photo © White Cube (George Darrell)
Renowned Nigerian photographer Johnson Donatus Aihumekeokhai Ojeikere (J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere) (1930 – 2014) once said: “Art is life. Without art, life would be frozen.” Totally true. Art is a means of expression. Be it painting, drawing, welding, fashion, writing, sculpture and poetry - Oh yes, welding and construction is art too.
Art is the grander merchandise of the human imagination. As well as “the state of our souls”, enthused Kenyan born, London-based artist Michael Armitage. “Art can be an agent of social change. I don’t think anyone should underestimate the impact of art on any society”, he worried. Little did he know he’s agreeing with the master - J. D. Ojeikere. Why is Armitage saying things and why am I in tête-à-tête with him? The reason is that this promising young aspirant has taken up residence at the White Cube - the avant-garde fashionable art gallery in Bermondsey in South East London.
In this his first solo exhibition in the UK, he’s transformed this very enormous White Cube room with eleven giant symbolic paintings that center primarily on stories from his native country, Kenya. Countless concepts for his paintings commence with reports of a newsworthy, contemporary incident, including media news, East African legends, internet chats or thoughts and images stuck in his own personal memory about a momentous event. The ensuing imagery is then developed with oil on ‘Lubugo’, a traditional bark cloth from Uganda, which is beaten over a period of days creating a natural material which when stretched taut has occasional holes and bristly indents. In one of his paintings, Accident (2015), is a snapshot of a bus crash. He returned to a scene of personal pain: an airplane crash he experienced as a teenager, with his father and uncle, deep in the Kenyan bush.
Michael Armitage, #mydressmychoice 2015
Oil on Lubugo bark cloth. 59 x 77 in. (149.9 x 195.6 cm) © Michael Armitage. Photo © White Cube (George Darrell)
In another painting, Hornbill (2014), Armitage depicts one of the four terrorists who carried out the Westgate Shopping Mall attack in Nairobi, in which 67 people were killed including a group of children who were filming a cookery programme in the mall at the time. Michael Armitage was born in Nairobi, Kenya, now a resident of the UK for the last fifteen years, he still works between London and Nairobi. In a conversation with Armitage at the White Cube he said “I can understand if some people find my art controversial, however I am only exposing the daily realities of society’s political problems, male-dominated society, and total disrespect for women’s rights in many parts of the world and extreme disparities in wealth. The gap between the rich and the poor is on the increase both in the Western world and in sub-Saharan Africa”.
Michael Armitage, In the garden 2015
Oil on Lubugo bark cloth. 76 15/16 x 58 7/8 in. (195.5 x 149.5 cm) © Michael Armitage. Photo © White Cube (George Darrell)
Michael Armitage, Kariakor 2015
Oil on Lubugo bark cloth. 66 15/16 x 59 1/16 in. (170 x 150 cm) © Michael Armitage. Photo © White Cube (George Darrell)
Now, for an artist crusader who wants to show the world its ills and atrocities and inequalities via figurative paintings; to exhibit in an avant-garde, posh, experimental and high-profile gallery has raised an eyebrow or two. Why exhibit at the White Cube?
Absolutely I agree with you. Avant-garde and the rest of it. However, it is an opportunity to have my work exposed and to be looked at on a global stage And I would like the subject of the work to be considered as a global thing on the same level as other global messages out there. It is a platform that was granted to me and I took it because it will reach a lot of people and let the debate begin. The narrative of the paintings are mostly about Kenya. It’s about specific things that happened across east Africa – but it can happen anywhere in the world too. The suicide bombings in Nairobi, Kenya can affect us all in the UK or the US. No one thing is now specific to one country. So showing in this gallery will help propel my work to the world stage and that’s what any artists in my position would want. Get world-wide recognition and get the people talking – that is important to me.
Your art work is a tad bit macabre, if I may say so. Violence, suicide-bombings, prostitution and limbs flying about. One hell of a dark and sad world you portray here. From the sensible to the ridiculous. There’s no in-between. These paintings aren't like anything I have seen before. What would you like your viewing public to take away from this?
Sure. Absolutely macabre. But that is life for you in all its entreaty. Make of it what you wish. I did not want to do an uplifting pussy-fussy, tip-toe around works of art for art sake. I know I have very serious issues and messages to deal with. There are lots of dark things going on right now in this world. I portray rape – there’s rape every day. I portray child and adult prostitution – these are happening right now with no sign of abating. No offence to anyone, but I will tell those people who say my work is too dark to look around their communities or far away communities – somewhere, somehow evil is going on. We should not let these things happen. We must talk about it now. I want hard hitting, in your face works-of-art. However, I will also add, they can make of the paintings whatever they wish. If there’s a sort of miss reading at first I would quite like that. If there’s conflict, that is kind of good too.
But do you have to ill-use the current dreadful state of affairs by turning it on its head as art? This is provocative work right here. Would you concur?
Categorically yes. I hope it’s provocative in a sense that it makes the wider audience ask questions about what they are looking at. Question their attitudes. Question why some things are easy and some are not, for as I mentioned earlier in this conversation, art is an agent of social change. I don’t think anyone should underestimate the impact of art on any society. There are a lot of crazy things going on in the world that people are not willing to talk about and have a proper intelligent debate about. As artists and journalists these atrocities should be a lot higher on our agenda than they are now. For me my work is entirely necessary and justified.
Born 1984, Kenya. At that time, in a typical Kenyan family you are encouraged to either be an accountant, a doctor or a lawyer or something they call a real job. How did you become as passionate about art and art as a process for change?
Michael Armitage, Lucy 2015
Oil on Lubugo bark cloth. 66 15/16 x 58 7/8 in. (170 x 149.5 cm) © Michael Armitage. Photo © White Cube (George Darrell)
[Laughs] Art has been very present in my life since I was a six year old growing up in Kenya. It’s not a passion I acquired when I located to Britain. I came to Britain to further my education and attend higher education. My mother is Kenyan and my father is English. Both have always said – go for it. Take it as far as you can go. They have been incredibly supportive although neither of them are artists. And I had a school teacher that encouraged and thought me the ropes and discipline to be a good artist.
Michael Armitage, Sun Wukong in Gachie 2015
Oil on Lubugo bark cloth. 77 x 59 1/16 in. (195.6 x 150 cm) © Michael Armitage. Photo © Stephen White Courtesy White Cube
Is it reasonable to conclude that Michael Armitage is an angry man or just an angry artist who is expressing himself with paintbrushes?
I would not say that I am an angry artist or that my work is angry. In the painting #mydressmychoice the events were horrific - women wearing miniskirts were taken off minibuses stripped and molested by the drivers, touts and some passengers; this was filmed and circulated on the Internet. After watching it I felt complicit in the abuse, it was my culture that was twisted to say that a woman in a mini skirt is morally wrong and that the attackers were using to justify the abuse. I was implicated in the attack through watching and I wanted to question my position, and question this attitude within my culture - in the painting the most important character is you as the viewer. Of course the attack makes me angry, but that is not why I make the paintings.
You have exhibited as part of a group, and now gone solo in a posh gallery and you will be featured in roomsmagazine.com. What more would you like to achieve?
[Laughs hysterically] Thank you very much for this interview. I appreciate that. At this stage I can say there’s a lot to come and a lot to come afterwards. So it’s hard for me to be specific about something right now. There’s a lot of stuff that we have to deal with. There’s a lot of violence that we have to deal with. So watch this space...
What is an activity or activities that you do regularly in your leisure time for pleasure or just to wind away downtime – that does not include a paint brush?
I play squash. I listen to music by artists like Cyndi Lauper, Franco and TPOK Jazz, Tallis, Toumani Diabate, Cluster, Beyoncé, Sauti Sole...etc
White Cube Bermondsey, 144–152 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3TQ
Theaster Gates: Freedom of Assembly
Michael Armitage: Inside the White Cube
28 April – 15 July 2015
Herbert Golser channels mother nature in a quivering solidity
Golser’s latest exhibition at Rosenfeld Porcini Gallery showcases a tightly sculpted juxtaposition between fragility and structural durability – a combination that leaves you questioning whether these sculptures were crafted by the artist or Mother Nature herself.
Golser’s latest exhibition at Rosenfeld Porcini Gallery showcases a tightly sculpted juxtaposition between fragility and structural durability – a combination that leaves you questioning whether these sculptures were crafted by the artist or Mother Nature herself.
As one enters the unassuming Rosenfeld Porcini Gallery on London’s Rathbone Street, the space’s white-washed walls cite Michelangelo in describing the exhibition: “the figure already existed inside the slab of marble”. Indeed, Herbert Golser’s sculptures, which reveal waves, sweeping strokes and pointillist landscapes from within masses of wood, embody Michelangelo’s view in this regard.
Golser hails from Austria with lengthy experience in sculpting, particularly with wood as his medium, graduating from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and the Technical School for Wood and Stone Sculpture. A great deal of tradition and time is felt from behind the works displayed in this particular exhibition; one cannot help but imagine the painstaking patience required to forge such detailed and fragile works.
Fragility feels important in this collection. At times as you wander between these monuments you dare not breathe at risk of disturbing the resting flakes and strands of wood sculpted by Golser. This grants the space an inherent stillness and calm that underpins the pieces displayed. A tight relationship between the sculptures and the space grants Golser’s work further dimension; shadows cast by towers of wood protruding from the walls and between the floorboards cast warped geometries, wall-mounted lattices reveal white from the walls in the grates of wood toying with the eye, rows and columns of miniature blocks laying perpendicular to the wall shift the sense of perspective as you pass a piece enabling a sense of movement. What originally seem like still natural creations, upon closer inspection, contain great amounts of life and vitality.
Each sculpted piece conforms to a series of repeated patterns which applies a mathematical quality to the works and yet the pieces which contribute to an individual work retain a sense of individuality – much akin to mathematics found in nature. This parallel exists to the extent where at times the viewer begins to question whether an artist exists at all: perhaps through a series of natural erosive processes these artefacts themselves in a gallery.
Herbert Golser’s exhibition, A Quivering Solidity, is open at Rosenfeld Porcini Gallery until 11th July 2015.
IT’S THE LEAST I COULD DO – A forthcoming exhibition from Ben Oakley
Savvy gallery owner, businessman and artist Ben Oakley brings us an electrifying and ingenious exhibition at the Ben Oakley gallery. And this time it’s his own.
Savvy gallery owner, businessman and artist Ben Oakley brings us an electrifying and ingenious exhibition at the Ben Oakley gallery. And this time it’s his own.
IT’S THE LEAST I COULD DO, is the upcoming exhibition from Ben Oakley, the man who hosts regular exhibitions by local artists at his gallery. And with his more-than-generous contribution to contemporary art, providing us with his own work certainly is the least he could do.
With a background in antiques, he has developed a keen eye for (in his own words), ‘quality and craftsmanship.’ So expect an emphasis on textures, bold, unique compositions and a diverse range of mediums as well as themes.
The exhibition is formed of several different pieces that Ben Oakley has composed over the years from his own experiences. You’ll find wood beside enamel, beside concrete, beside prints – and no less than a medley of varied materials. You can assemble around the assemblage, ponder at the portholes or find yourself beside the figurines.
For those of you looking for something truly unique and truly personal, then just head on over to the Ben Oakley gallery in Greenwich – you will be pleasantly stunned.
June 20th – July 5th 2015
Preview Evening:
Friday, June 19th 2015
6:30 – 9:30pm
9 Turnpin Lane, Greenwich Market London SE10
Anish Kapoor at Lisson Gallery London: What we saw
Artworks that resemble the intimate recesses of the human bodies grow from the walls of the Lisson Gallery, in an exhibition that both disgusts and compels.
Artworks that resemble the intimate recesses of the human bodies grow from the walls of the Lisson Gallery, in an exhibition that both disgusts and compels.
Anish Kapoor
Born in Bombay in 1954, Kapoor is one of the forerunners of British abstract sculpture and has been awarded both the Turner Prize (1991) and a Knighthood for services to the Visual Arts (2013).
Kapoor’s new show at the Lisson is as gruesome as it is beautiful. Dense undulating landscapes of thick reddish silicone are personified to resemble imagined bodily matter, smeared upon the walls.
The first work in the main gallery “Internal Objects in Three Parts” is a floor-to-ceiling triptych that is spread over three walls of the room. Large in height, width, and depth, these paintings are large enough to encompass real human bodies, a feeling that is increased by the imagined faces pushing their way through the paint in a haunting case of pareidolia.
These works seem to contain the whole spectrum of reds, offset against a brilliant white that raises itself to the surface occasionally. The sinewy red silicone resembles all kinds of bodily matter, including muscles, veins, and blood. Occasional bursts of yellow suggest fat, and thin black layers give the work the appearance of charred flesh.
The work is incredibly inviting to the touch (I did, I apologise Anish), and it is as spongy and firm as one would imagine. It is impossible when viewing these works to avoid imagining them as inside your own body, as part of yourself.
Like expectorated mounds of blood upon white tissue, or coagulated clumps on dirty bandages, the work is almost sickening. Despite this, it is impossible to look away. One is transported to the very depths of hell, with its volcanous landscape and inescapable voids. I stood transfixed below the first painting until I felt the compulsion to walk straight into it, and at that point I had to tear myself away.
These works, a new direction for Kapoor, bridge the gap between his smooth, shiny works (Cloud Gate - 2006), and his matte, colourful works (Mother as Mountain - 1985). Both the shiny and the matte appear together in these works, fighting for prominence.
As well as the visceral bloodlike paintings, Kapoor has included two prostrate pink onyx sculptures that at the same time resemble both orifices and protrusions. The smoothness of the surface and the sugary-pink hues are reminiscent of tongues and vulvas, and contrast brilliantly against the darker landscapes of the paintings.
As well as these there are a few polished reflective works that don’t seem to sit so well with the intentionally rough and perfectly flawed pieces, something that I’m sure Kapoor has intended, as displacement is something that he does very well. The contrast between these works and his paintings seems to exemplify and exaggerate the qualities of each. The mirrored pieces make the paintings all the more textured, and the paintings make these works all the more flawless. There is still a bodily quality to the mirrored pieces, one of which resembles a gold mouth, or another vulva, gilded and hung in the corner.
The main body of the work (excuse the pun) is the paintings, and it is these that are the most alluring. One could get lost for hours in amongst these visceral topological maps of the internal human landscape. These artworks represent what is in all of us, and in this they are universal. What are we all but bags of gore.
As with all great works by Anish Kapoor, you are transported from the gallery into a personal space for contemplation. You lose yourself in his epic works and are able to ponder quietly for a few minutes, free from all of your real-world worries. Worries like death, disease, and coughing up blood.
All images via © Lisson Gallery website
The show runs until the 9th of May 2015
Lisson Gallery 52-54 Bell Street, London NW1 5DA