ERIK VAN LIESHOUT – FREDDY’S

Posted on 2018-11-12

“The jury for the Dr A.H. Heineken Prize for Art has praised Erik van Lieshout’s work for its radical, personal and confrontational nature. In his unique, tragicomic style, Van Lieshout puts his finger on what ails society. His work never flags, continues to grow and is pure: he is not out to preach. He enters into dialogue with groups who others often give a wide berth: ghettodwellers, junkies, drifters, and right-wing or left-wing extremists. He raises questions about drugs, sex, violence and overregulation. There is no taboo or danger that Erik van Lieshout tries to avoid; on the contrary, he makes a beeline for them and tries to find a dialogue.” states the Jury Report of the Heineken Prize 2018.

As part of the grant, Erik van Lieshout decided to develop a new project that, in line with his practice, involves the production of a film encircled by collages of drawings and paintings and reflects on Heineken itself. The selection of works presented in The Bakery explores a more intimate, familiar side of the Heineken colossus. The many drawings realized during the film production often portrait Alfred Henry “Freddy” Heineken (1923-2002) himself, alone, with his daughter or with other family/colleagues, showing us the human face and relations behind the corporate façade.

Opposite – Untitled, 2018

Exhibition runs through to November 17th, 2018

Annet Gelink Gallery
Laurierstraat 187-189
NL-1016PL Amsterdam
Netherlands

www.annetgelink.com

  

MARIO SCHIFANO – COMPAGNI, COMPAGNI 1968

Posted on 2018-11-12

A radical and charismatic figure, Mario Schifano was in the centre of the avant-garde social life of Rome; mixing with aristocrats, actors, crooks, writers and Rock ‘n Roll musicians. Eschewing his earlier ‘Monochrome’ paintings in the early 1960s Schifano started to bring in iconic ‘Pop’ advertising logos and text such as his ‘Coca-Cola’ and ‘Esso’ works and in 1962 exhibited alongside Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Tom Wesselmann at Sidney Janis Gallery in ‘The New Realists’ exhibition.

Opposite – Compagni, compagni, 1968

Exhibition runs through to December 20th, 2018

The Mayor Gallery
21 Cork Street
First Floor
W1S 3LZ
London

www.petzel.com

  

ALEX KATZ – COCA-COLA GIRLS

Posted on 2018-11-05

The Coca-Cola Girls were an integral component of the company’s advertising from the 1890’s through to the 1960’s, emanating an ideal of the American woman. Initially, the Coca-Cola Girls were reserved and demure, evolving during WWI, and through the era of the pin-up, to images of empowered service women in uniform, and athletic, care-free, women at leisure. In the context of pre-televised advertising, the wall decals and large-scale billboards depicting these figures made a significant impact on the visual language of the American urban landscape.

For Katz, this optimistic figure also encapsulates a valuable notion of nostalgia; “That’s Coca-Cola red, from the company’s outdoor signs in the fifties… you know, the blond girl in the red convertible, laughing with unlimited happiness. It’s a romance image, and for me it has to do with Rembrandt’s ‘The Polish Rider.’ I could never understand that painting but my mother and Frank O’Hara both flipped over it, so I realized I was missing something. They saw it as a romantic figure, riding from the Black Sea to the Baltic.”

Opposite – Coca-Cola Girl 19, 2018

Exhibition runs through to December 21st, 2018

Timothy Taylor
15 Carlos Place
Mayfair
London
W1K 2EX

www.timothytaylor.com

  

RON ENGLISH – UNIVERSAL GRIN

Posted on 2018-11-05

Ron English is a contemporary pop artist who explores popular brand imagery and advertising. One aspect of his work involves ‘liberating’ commercial billboards with his own messages. Ron English can be considered the “celebrated prankster father of agit-pop”, who wrangles carefully created corporate iconographies so that they are turned upside down, and are used against the very corporation they are meant to represent. He takes inspiration from Andy Warhol and references him in his work. His many influences include Andy Warhol, KISS and various cartoons.

Opposite – “Melting Mona in Grin Bubbles” 2018

Exhibition runs through to November 18th, 2018

Galerie Matthew Namour
217 Boulevard Saint Laurent
Montréal (Québec)
H2Y 3T9

matthewnamour.com

  

THILO HEINZMANN – BIRD OF PREY SAYS NO GREY

Posted on 2018-11-05

The title’s play on words, which metaphorically alludes to birds of prey, raises some concepts related to the artist’s pictorial imagination, such as colour, speed, air and flight. Like the fluttering of a bird’s wings or their sonic and chromatic trail through the air, Heinzmann explores the juxtaposition of the relative nature of beauty and his conception of the universe.

Through the artist’s choices of material and colour –in this case pigments on canvas– in conjunction with composition and gesture, Heinzmann activates the coordinates of space and time in order that these become transformational keys of art. Matter is the fundamental tool both to initiating change and to offering a quality visible and latent in the works where space is concentration and expansion, while time is both eternal and transient, dynamic and static. The analytic-synthetic approach of Heinzmann’s work, its suspension and speed, allows us to discover a primary and collective language of colour and matter in motion, which echoes in these works with astounding resonance.

Opposite – O.T., 2017

Exhibition runs through to December 11th, 2018

Galería Heinrich Ehrhardt
San Lorenzo, 11
28004 Madrid
Spain

www.heinrichehrhardt.com

  

JAMIE REID XXXXX – FIFTY YEARS OF SUBVERSION AND THE SPIRIT

Posted on 2018-10-29

Through his art, music, performance and politics, British artist and anarchist Jamie Reid has become somewhat of a punk icon, rebelling against society’s social and cultural injustices. His signature newspaper-cutting graphics have become synonymous with the spirit of British punk, from his collaboration on the Suburban Press (1971-1975) to, most notably, his iconic album artwork for the Sex Pistols.

Humber Street Gallery presents Reid’s first major retrospective in the UK, “XXXXX: FIFTY YEARS OF SUBVERSION AND THE SPIRIT”. The exhibition will showcase a variety of material spanning several decades from the 1970’s to the present. Displaying collage work, drawings, paintings, prints, poster editions and photographs, demonstrating Reid’s witty delivery and continued dedication in making a statement through art. He returns to symbols such as Boudicca, the Oak Leaf, and Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People, presenting them in new contexts relating to current issues, whilst his recent paintings reflect his later embrace of spirituality and nature. 

Exhibition runs through to January 6th, 2019

Humber Street Gallery
64 Humber St
Hull
HU1 1TU

www.humberstreetgallery.co.uk