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Behold the Parallel World
'China Design Now' at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Walking into the room dedicated to Beijing is like being ten years old
again and watching Star Wars for the first time. Extremely futuristic
and unrecognisable shapes float, stand, flash and surround you.
Katerina Zherebtsova
A
portrait of the artist as a tired pirate
Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008, National Portrait
Gallery, London
The photos in this exhibition provide degrees of insight about how the
false – the pose – can help to reveal the truth. And the
fact that they sometimes do so with a touch of glamour is an added bonus.
Nicky Charlish
Good
work, 007!
For
Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond, Imperial War Museum,
London
In recent films Bond’s patronising treatment of women has been
changed, whilst Dame Judi Dench has appeared as a formidable female
‘M’, but these changes have probably been done with an eye
more on the cultural critics than on the box office – few filmgoers,
one imagines, view Bond films as consciousness-raising exercises.
Nicky Charlish
Dialogue
or self-aggrandizement?
Jan Fabre at the Louvre, Paris
Apparently, the ‘universe of the artist’ is connected ‘with
the main themes running through the Louvre’s collections’
so the visitor can ‘rediscover celebrated works through the eyes
of this major artist of the contemporary scene’. On a closer look,
this comes down to a rather fortuitous juxtaposition on mostly superficial
grounds.
Stefan Beyst
The
colour of Heaven
Derek Jarman: Brutal Beauty, curated by Isaac Julien
Serpentine Gallery, London
In the first room we sense that this is an artist who explored death
as much as he did life. A selection of Jarman’s sculptural paintings,
which preserve found objects in tar, cover one wall. Aesthetically,
these intricate pieces are beautiful, but their unified message points
to the omnipresence of death and the passing of time.
Florence Mackenzie
Alexander
Rodchenko: Revolution in Photography
Hayward Gallery, London
'Photograph and be photographed,' Rodchenko once said. 'Record a person's
life not a single "synthetic" portrait, but in a mass of instantaneous
shots made at different times and in different conditions. Write the
truth. Value everything that is real and contemporary. And we will be
real people, not actors.'
Emily Hill
Border
Country
Photographs by Melanie Friend, UK tour
The absence of people in these photographs indicates the key way in
which the rooms portrayed here differ from the waiting spaces which
are familiar to us. These are Removal Centres. They exist to remove
people from public view. The people who are incarcerated here are removed
from the streets.
Chris Gilligan
A
Chinese Frequency
Vital 07 – The Essence of Performance, Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester,
20 and 21 November
Whether it is history, performativity, luck or energy, Vital offered
compelling evidence that such ‘essences’ of performance
are far from academic, non-material and ephemeral. The agency of this
work is raw, visceral and exists on a very distinct frequency. Could
this elemental aspect of performance be quintessentially Chinese?
Rachel Lois Clapham
The
Age of Enchantment: Beardsley, Dulac and their Contemporaries 1890-1930
Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
There are a few deliciously terrifying drawings in this show, almost
worth a trip in themselves. But go and see it just to admire how beautiful
a single line can be in the hands of masters. The best draughtsmen –
Beardsley himself, Rackham and Dulac – prove that art can make
the ugliest thing look beautiful.
Jan Bowman
There
is a Failing Man
Micheál
O'Connell
The work is as de-skilled, de-crafted and as fully automated as possible:
O'Connell practises 'art by rote' or printing by computerised numbers
in which technology serves as third party or mediator, distancing him,
his human artistic touch and any inherent intended (terroristic) meaning
away from the print.
Rachel Lois Clapham
Lyon
Biennial 2007 - Shilpa Gupta
La Sucri're - Confluent, Lyon
Siena’s civic art was inspired by religion and trade, mythology
and war. In comparison, today’s artistic presentation of civic
self-understanding art is rather different. Symbolism is limited, more
plate-glass than gold-leaf. The exhibition simultaneously enriches us
with beauty and heightens our sense of loss.
Micheál O'Connell
Renaissance
Siena: Art for a City
National Gallery, London
Siena’s civic art was inspired by religion and trade, mythology
and war. In comparison, today’s artistic presentation of civic
self-understanding art is rather different. Symbolism is limited, more
plate-glass than gold-leaf. The exhibition simultaneously enriches us
with beauty and heightens our sense of loss.
Nicky Charlish
The
Painting of Modern Life
Hayward Gallery, London
What emerges walking around the exhibition is the rather casual assumption
that modern life is a lonely and absent space. These Hopper-like qualities
are tragic and beautiful but at the same time, one can’t help
feel that they are surely only part of the story. Modern life is also
emotionally rich, dynamic, funny and engaging.
Munira Mirza
Ocultos
Fundación
Canal, Madrid
Marilyn Monroe (with her trademark ‘Oops, excuse me!’ glance
over the shoulder) appears half-draped in Eve Arnold’s photo,
her emergent behind illustrating Plato’s paradigm of the whole
that acquires a nominative identity in a manner ontologically distinct
from its parts.
Robert Latona
Sugar
Coated Tears
Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton
Given the subject matter of the exhibition it could be ponderous, harrowing,
cloying. But it is not. The exhibition space is still. Silent. It feels
light and airy. The chains and manacles hang suspended from the ceiling;
appearing weightless and ponderous simultaneously.
Chris Gilligan
The
Irresistible Force
Tate Modern, London
An unintended malfunction of ‘The Fountain’ unintentionally
reveals the weakness of the exhibition as a whole. Does the reality
of the breakdown of the piece reveal that when the replica of the model
of the economy fails then the system itself continues to function regardless
of its imagined failure?
Chris Gilligan
The
First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army
British Museum, London
Given that the figures were assembled in parts by teams of slaves one
would expect there to be subtle differences in each one – so used
have we gotten to the notion of ‘mass-produced homogeneity’
we forget that before the latter half of the twentieth century it was
something to aspire to, not disdain.
David Bowden
Auras
of War
Arsenale, Venice Biennale
This artist's documentary describes a phenomenal trip, providing explanations
for the presence of the truck and the slab of wall in Venice. Without
this background information though the solid three dimensional artefacts
vibrate in a different way which has validity in its own right.
Micheál O'Connell
Some
Things Happen More Often Than All of the Time
Palazzo Van Axel, Venice Biennale
The phrase ‘Relational Aesthetics’ gets a few mentions in
documentation of the artist's public work, but perhaps impact really
comes from a different source: conceptual beauty and purity. This artist's
work goes way beyond some heavy handed attempt at propaganda or political
art.
Micheál O'Connell
Discussion
(Property)
Arsenale, Venice Biennale
The main text ends with the ironic comment ‘I feel personally
satisfied that, at least in the assault rifle sector of the international
arms trade, there will finally be relative peace'. Solokov's work exudes
messages and pertinent questions, but the form and makeup of the installation
are what really matter.
Micheál O'Connell
Martin
Creed
Hauser and Wirth COPPERMILL, London
The nails bring a surprising touch of delicacy, the film connects with
our human essence, and the neon reflects the seductive falseness of
contemporary life, although the significance of the green-haired woman
is less clear.
Neil Stoker
The
End Begins
The Hospital, London
Many of the works show an obsessive quality, having been made using
techniques that seem almost insanely painstaking. It would be possible
to achieve very similar effects using much easier means, so why do they
bother? It’s a question that goes to the heart of what art is
about.
Dolan Cummings
In
Defense of Ardor
Bellwether Gallery, New York
The exhibition brought together a group of young artists whose work
the curators - João Ribas and Becky Smith - felt attempted to
comment on or reference current political issues as well as being relatively
free from irony or emotional distancing that characterises so much contemporary
art.
Ed Beaugard
Global
Cities
Tate Modern, London
Burdett and Wagstaff have explicitly chosen to make this a very socially
oriented exhibition. At the same time, they have done an impressive
job making this exhibition fit into the Tate Modern’s artistic
mission. The video work specifically has added artistic currency to
an exhibition that was, at the outset, wholly architectural.
Sarah Snider
Surreal
Things: Surrealism and Design
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The Surrealists helped to publicise Freud and the whole disturbing idea
of subconscious human drives, whose implications have yet to be comprehended
by religious, political and legal establishments as well as those who
would prefer human nature to be a simple matter of neatly-controllable
nurture.
Nicky Charlish
Intelligent
Art
Art and Design degree show, Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh
Each female icon is accompanied with a slogan alluding both to historical
achievement and the seamy language of erotic fantasy. The representation
of Margaret Thatcher is overlaid thus: ‘With a string of pearls
and an iron fist she's not so conservative in the bedroom. 'Bollocks!'
thinks this Lady IS for turning!’.
Shaun Hadnett
Don't
Panic: emergent critical design
The Yard Gallery, London
The designers choose not to escape from these ideas of fear and danger,
but to embrace them to the bitter end. They are motivated by the everyday
and, conversely, act upon it, catapulting the everyday itself into a
narrative of repetition and eternal presence.
Sarah Snider
Recent
photography in Spain
various galleries
Drop into the Prado to check out the 'Blind Hurdy-Gurdy Player'. Then
come back to the Juana de Aizpuru gallery to meet 'Abel' with his one
empty eye socket, the other buried under a thick carapace of oozing
cataract, and an upraised hand whose gnarled fingers are deformed by
calluses, cuts and filth. Same deal, right?
Robert Latona
Shotgun
Wedding: Scots and The Union of 1707
Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh
The fragmentary technique used by the artists forces the viewer to think
about the reality of Scotland in the present day, but the viewer has
to think hard. The exhibition makes a nice show of the Union’s
origins and early decades, and depicts a constitutional monarchy that
is presently and irreversibly weak.
Shaun Hadnett
Dada
Reviews
Dean Gallery, Edinburgh
Wider society provoked Dada artists to make their art more complete
despite the backdrop of war. To these experimentalists art could no
longer be understood in isolation from society, so a new idea of performance
art was being tested.
Shaun Hadnett
Gilbert
and George
Tate Modern, London
The duo's work is powerful but, when dealing with sex, have the artists
partly dreamed - or watered-down - their talents away? The urban gay
world should receive the same tough focus and examination that the artists
give to other aspects of the life of the city. Immature graffiti won't
do.
Nicky Charlish
Humanism
in China
Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart
No surprise that many photos evoke China's embrace of capitalism without
irony, subtlety or even commentary. The one of the beaming fellow carrying
an armful of money fresh from the mint made for a great poster.
Robert Latona
David
Hockney Portraits: Life, Love, Art
National Portrait Gallery, London
He's revealing the guts of each subject, the feelings behind the forms,
without any fancy stuff. Yorkshiremen pride themselves on common sense,
a commodity that can often be a camouflage for the commonplace. With
Hockney, it's sensual and disturbing.
Nicky Charlish
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