MADGE GILL RETROSPECTIVE

Posted on 2012-06-25

Gill’s work has never been shown before in this way. She is presented not only as a defining member of the “Outsider art” movement (which denoted Gill’s status as a non-professional) but also as an important 20th Century artist whose work holds a modern audience captivated and intrigued.This exhibition uncovers many patterns in her work which indicate her fragile mental state following a traumatic childhood (growing up an orphan, being sent to Canada as a child worker before returning to East London and marrying her cousin). Gill started to produce drawings and embroidery on paper and calico, but her adulthood was beset by the grief which it is believed inspired her work. After the death of her son from a bout Spanish ‘flu which lost her the sight in one eye, a stillborn daughter and finally the death of her husband, Gill was prolific in her production of sketches and drawings right up until the late 1950s. She died in East Ham in 1961.

Exhibition runs through to August 23rd, 2012

Bow Arts Trust
183 Bow Road
London
E3 2SJ.

www.bowarts.org

  

EMER O’BRIEN – RETURN TO NORMAL

Posted on 2012-06-25

The exhibition consists of Barbara, an interactive sculptural piece, which visualises the relationship between sound waves and sound pressure, a series of live performance events and the accompanying documentation: film and sound recordings.

Based on the construction of a votive table, Barbara sends the vital spark, as flame and message into the ether; transmitting the ritual of votive offerings as sound. As a concept, Barbara offers a contemplative spectacle of fire and sound by enabling direct expression through simultaneous messaging between musician, instrument and audience. Like Hermes who was the mediator between the gods, and in whom hermeneutics’ etymological roots lay, Barbara is also a mediator; she is a listener and a messenger; she receives and she projects, otherwise put, she translates.

Where past work detailed the recent passing of time through documentation, the primary work in this case is the performance and the projection of time through the form of an event. By asking people to gather in the form of a ritual for the performance, the work questions the role of the audience in the production of meaning. By entering into the spirit of the piece, viewers contribute to the harmony and order of the piece, and through this semblance, make contact with the ultimate source of life: energy.

Opposite – Barbara, 2011

Exhibition runs through to August 18th, 2012

Christian Ferreira at the Wapping Project
Wapping Hydraulic Power Station
Wapping Wall
London
E1W 3SG

www.christianferreira.com

  

JEFF KOONS

Posted on 2012-06-18

This exhibition focuses on three central series of works – The New, Banality and Celebration – which represent crucial stages in Koons’s development and lead to the nucleus of his thinking and creative activity.The New comprises the ready-made-like cleaning appliances of his early period, symbols of newness and purity. Banality includes those traditionally crafted sculptures in porcelain and wood which have since become (post-)modern icons. Finally, in the Celebration series, on which Koons has been working for almost twenty years, appear high-gloss steel sculptures of unique material perfection, and large-format paintings in which the artist celebrates childhood in a veritably baroque way. Koons’s equally spectacular and subtle works are repeatedly concerned with themes such as innocence, beauty, sexuality and happiness.

Opposite – Stacked, 1988

Exhibition runs through to September 2nd, 2012

Fondation Beyeler
Baselstrasse 101
CH-4125 Riehen / Basel
Switzerland

www.fondationbeyeler.ch

  

THE CHROME ANGELZ

Posted on 2012-06-18

Showcasing new and unseen work from arguably, Europe’s most influential graffiti crew. In addition, photography and archival work
will be exhibited, providing audiences a rare insight into their unique history.

Member artists Mode 2, Scribla, Zaki Dee, Pride and Bando, will regroup for their debut exhibition to present new works, that epitomise their long-held commitment to creating a distinctly European aesthetic by way of the style, and enduring spirit of graffiti culture. Paintings, drawings and sculptural works will be on display as part of the new series of works, alongside selected pieces from their archives that reveal the influence, and boundary-pushing impact of their early output.
As the creative, yet provocative cultural phenomenon of graffiti art forced its way onto an unsuspected public in the early 1980’s, The Chrome Angelz (TCA) chose to draw upon their own experiences and creative influences, whilst proudly to acknowledging the culture’s rich and important history. As a collective, their shared interests in the visual arts resulted in a determined and singular commitment to creative expression, allowing them to freely determine a style and approach that was both personal and collaborative. The result was the creation of a number of high profile works that have earned TCA a place in the history of British graffiti art.

Exhibition runs through to July 14th, 2012

The Outsiders London
8 Greek Street
W1D 4DG
London

www.theoutsiders.net

  

LIAM SPENCER PAINTING FROM LIFE

Posted on 2012-06-18

Liam Spencer is one of the North West’s most popular and successful artists.This is the largest retrospective of his work to date, but also includes significant new paintings of Salford, Rochdale, Oldham and Saddleworth.
Spencer was a key figure in the Manchester art scene of the 1980s and 90s and became well known for his urban panoramas, with their rich treatment of light and colour. Now based in Rossendale, his subject matter extends from the North West to as far afield as New York and Beijing.The exhibition gives an insight into how
Spencer’s work has developed throughout his career, including early studies and experimental paintings, as well as preparatory sketches and photographs for current work.

Exhibition runs through to October 6th, 2012

Gallery Oldham
Oldham Cultural Quarter
Greaves Street
Oldham
OL1 1AL

www.galleryoldham.org.uk

  

NICOLE WITTENBERG – THE MALINGERERS

Posted on 2012-06-11

In an age of sound bites sandwiched by social media excess and information overload, Nicole Wittenberg’s paintings are a refreshing antidote. Distilled down to their essentials, Wittenberg’s work – whether her “Skype” portraits, her architectural interiors, or her landscapes, offers up a complicated contemporary universe reduced to a skeletal framework. Its elegant brevity is not dissimilar to symphonic variations on a theme: one frame, presented in a multitude of ways, a sure and pared-down message conveyed as directly and with as much brevity as possible.

Wittenberg’s subject reflects her fascination with, and personal experience of bohemia and high society. In works such as Countess (London on March 19th, 2011) , we are confronted by a decadent mask of aristocracy, gone awry – at once chilling and certainly enigmatic. Her version, as it were, of the classic Bunuel film The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie resonates well with viewers familiar with pulped news coverage of Lady Di’s final days; royalty obscured by the paparazzi’s repetitive and blinding flash. Ironic for a figurative painter there is a kind of facelessness here, a distinct remove and distancing from emotion which Wittenberg expertly captures; we cannot read the inner turmoil of her subjects, we can only conjecture.

Opposite – Interior 2 (Rear View), 2010

Exhibition runs through to July 14th, 2012

Freight + Volume
530 W. 24th Street
New York
10011

www.freightandvolume.com