Posts Tagged ‘London’

Louise Bourgeois: A Dangerous Obsession

Louise Bourgeois’ life is not just any open book – it more resembles a multi-volume anthology with pages torn out, chapters re-written, and notes cryptically hidden in the margins. While Bourgeois spoke openly about many of the subjects which infiltrate in her work, including the difficult relationship she had with her adulterous father and her traumatising childhood, she did not share unconditionally, and as we[.....]

Gillian Wearing Wearing a Mask of Gillian Wearing

British-born photo, video and performance-based artist Gillian Wearing is best known for bringing home the 1997 Turner prize and her series of direct street portraits, Signs that say what you want them to say and not Signs that say what someone else wants you to say (1992-3). At London’s Whitechapel Gallery, the artist presents a fascinating collection of honest, if not creepy, portraits in an[.....]

Katie Paterson: 100 Billion Suns

Surrounded by 100 billion suns, it is nearly impossibility to not let feelings of insignificance take over – simply a minute speck standing within a vast universe. The macrocosmic nature of Scottish artist Katie Paterson’s work cultivates these diminutive impressions – whether we are listening to the sounds of silence reflected off the moon, or looking far back into the universe to a place where[.....]

My dog is dead, my pigeon is lost, and I fell down a rabbit hole

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When I first saw David Shrigley, I was taken aback by his calm aura and semblance of complete normalcy. A man known for his searing dead-pan humour, I half-expected to see a crazed post-punk artist living on the fringes of society. But here was a charming, clean-cut gentleman, tranquilly tattooing ink drawings onto willing participants in the middle of London’s most extravagant art fair. Calm,[.....]

EWX: Material Matters at the Courtauld Institute of Art

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    There is a specific joy that flares when a familiar space is reanimated by art—whether it’s public sculpture appearing at a junction travelled through often, like the new fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, or something as quiet as a different postcard image on an office bulletin board—it’s a little visual jolt for a view that’s become tired. When I first arrived at the[.....]

Saskia Olde Wolbers: Visions of Desire and Pathological Lies

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‘We all know that art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realise the truth, at least the truth that is given us to understand. The artist must know how to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies.’ – Pablo Picasso Saskia Olde Wolbers’ works are full of lies, half-truths and fabrications. What may at first glance appear to be a[.....]

Blinded by the Hype: A Spotty Affair

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From the very beginning, Damien Hirst: The Complete Spot Paintings 1986-2011, was always going to be the target of much contempt. An embodiment of savvy self-promotion, Damien Hirst has become the world’s richest living artist, and with that, a scapegoat for the pompous market and inflated celebrity status representing all that is wrong with contemporary art today. This latest publicity stunt – a gargantuan worldwide[.....]