BABAK GOLKAR – THE ELEPHANT (AN INTERMISSION)

Posted on 2019-12-09

“The Elephant (an intermission)” is a solo exhibition by Babak Golkar which is a chapter of “All the Blind Men”, the title chosen by artist Babak Golkar to frame his three year long ongoing research into the role and responsibility of images in the formation of a political climate. “All the Blind Men” can read as a reference to the mass—or rather the “swarm” —of people who blindly wander in the mediascape grabbing at bits and pieces of truth while failing to understand the bigger picture. In the time of fake news and Cambridge Analytica, the information we gather visually tends to be fabricated by algorithms, allowing images to serve political agendas and to manufacture consent through the manipulation of our emotions. Much like the history of art is entangled with that of propaganda, the role of the artist is intertwined with the power structures that filter what is made visible.

Opposite – Dead Feet – December 3, 2017

Exhibition runs through to December 21st, 2019

Sabrina Amrani
Madera, 23
28004 Madrid
Spain

www.sabrinaamrani.com

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CONGO THE CHIMPANZEE – THE BIRTH OF ART

Posted on 2019-12-09

Surrealist artist and zoologist Desmond Morris is selling his private collection of paintings and drawings by Congo the chimpanzee, with whom he famously worked from 1956-1959, observing and recording the ape’s interest in creating ‘art for art’s sake’ and sharing his findings with the public through books and television. The Mayor Gallery’s exhibition of some 55 paintings, pastels and by the chimp will be the last opportunity to acquire work by Congo, who made some 400 artworks during the experimental three-year period. Morris, whose research methods were extremely rigorous, worked with a number of other apes over the years, but none exhibited Congo’s ability to focus. “No other apes were controlling the mark making and varying the patterns as he was,” Morris recalls. “I originally picked Congo out as one of the more boisterous at the zoo and felt that his strong personality would respond well to focused periods of working together.”

Opposite – Fan Pattern 2 September 1957- MG 12900, 1957

Exhibition runs through to December 19th, 2020

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

www.mayorgallery.com

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DIKE BLAIR

Posted on 2019-12-02

Known for his photorealistic paintings and drawings, that although absent of human form, offer moments imparted with tangible physical presence. As if fragments of memory, Blair depicts the residue of familiar actions and habits – Styrofoam cups of coffee cooling, luridly coloured cocktails lit by a harsh flash or corners of non-descript paintings one would find decorating a diner. With no defined beginning, middle or end, these transient glimpses allude to a larger narrative we can to choose to imagine.

Blair’s scenes either lit by artificial flash, isolating the arrangements from its surroundings, or depicted in natural light, fragments of blue skies and light bouncing off slick tiles and table tops are arguably defined by the role light plays in them. The glare, sheen and reflection of his lens is expertly translated, the painterly rendering off his surfaces enhancing the lucidity of his observations – one can almost smell the smoke escaping an extinguished cigarette and feel the drops of condensation sliding down a chilled glass of beer.

Opposite – Untitled, 2019

Exhibition runs through to February 22nd, 2020

The Modern Institute
14-20 Osborne Street
G1 5QN
Glasgow

www.themoderninstitute.com

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MATT CONNORS

Posted on 2019-12-02

Abstracted by colour, Connors’ paintings and drawings are created through a process of layering and re-working forms extracted from his immediate environment. Overtime, these recognisable shapes are steadily obscured through the repetitive application of paint and line – the visual reduction and dilation of influence creating works imbued with an almost psychedelic presence.

Indebted to the physicality of their production – process, materiality and action exist as equivalent points of departure in Connors’ work. Details are seized upon, drafted and re-worked – either within one painting or simultaneously across several; accidental drips and marks accumulated through time spent in his studio become integral to the work, his surfaces registering each moment in their creation.

Opposite – Pieta, 2019

Exhibition runs through to January 18th, 2020

The Modern Institute
3 Aird’s Lane
G1 5HU
Glasgow

www.themoderninstitute.com

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DARREN ALMOND – IN TEMPLE GROUNDS

Posted on 2019-12-02

The new multi-panelled works titled ‘Counter Paintings’ are informed by geometry and mathematics, landscapes and constellations. Arranged in a grid format, these polychrome panelled paintings present fragments of numbers which pattern rhythmically across the paintings’ surfaces seemingly caught in a permanent state of becoming. The grid structure provides the invariant against which other elements appear to be in the process of transformation, both fragments of numbers, and colours seem to wax and wane, appearing in varying degrees of wholeness. Almond’s compositional lexicon employs its structure from the way ‘Seishi’, vertical wooden posts, are used in Japanese Gardens. These ‘Seishi’ support the long limbs of ancient pine trees, enabling them to occupy regions and spaces otherwise beyond their reach.

Opposite – Nanzenin Steps, 2019

Exhibition runs through to January 4th, 2020

Alfonso Artiaco
Piazzetta Nilo 7
80134 Napoli

www.alfonsoartiaco.com

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THE HOODIE

Posted on 2019-11-25

This unprecedented exhibition explores the role of a fashion garment as a socio-political carrier. The hoodie tells many stories – tales of social inequality, youth culture, subculture, police brutality, racism, privacy, fear and style. It is a garment that sparks a range of emotions, communicating all manner of social and cultural ideas and nuances depending on the gender, geography, age, conduct and ethnicity of the wearer and, in turn, the prejudices and politics of the viewer. Popularised by Champion in the 1930s, the hoodie was a practical solution for workmen; it is now, arguably, Western Fashion’s last truly political garment.

The hoodie is at the centre of contemporary dress, hyped as a trend and a must-have item, but elsewhere, is also a signifier of moral panic, banned by certain institutions and dissected by the media as an emblem of inequality, crime or deviancy.

Opposite – February II (2019), Devan Shimoyama

Exhibition runs through to April 12th, 2020

The New Institute
Museumpark 25
3015 CB Rotterdam

hetnieuweinstituut.nl

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