October 29, 2011
Filed under: Art Books — Alan @ 11:20 am
Marc Leverton takes a look at BANKSY Myths & Legends
Mention the name Banksy to different people and you would get very different reactions. He is considered an artist, a prankster, artist or cultural icon. Marc Leverton has delved deftly into the iconic aura than surrounds this most renowned of all graffiti artists and between 2009 and 2011 he interviewed many residents of Bristol, Banksy’s home town. The result is a bookful of bite sized portions of the rumours, myths and sheer nonsense that surround this enigma; ‘BANKSY: Myths and Legends.
It is totally left up to reader to make their own mind up when they look through this snapshot of the man who has been called the cultural barometer of our times. He was expelled from school, marginalised by authority, arrested and then suddenly found his work being promoted by such as estate agents, tourist boards and hip art dealers.
One of the most fascinating facts that Leverton reveals about Banksy is that without his contribution to the economy of Bristol, its residents would have found themselves paying more council tax. There is also a story about a couple living in Easton who tried to sell a Banksy original with their house attached for an over inflated price. It is said that Banksy was so enraged by this blatant act of capitalism that he defaced his work to stop them cashing in. Whether this is fact or myth, Banksy’s influence is undeniable.
Some tales just seem way too far fetched to be fact, but they are still very entertaining. In 2010, it is said that 2 pieces of his street art in Bristol; Mild ,Mild West in Stokes Croft and Hanging man in Frogmore Street were defaced with blue paint. The story goes that Bristol Rover fans were to blame after they took umbrage at Banksy’s suggestion that they played a dire form of the beautiful game.
Another myth is told where the artist is apparently sighted at a Banksy show placing stickers on the backs of people queuing up. A contradictory story claims the great man did not set foot in Bristol during the show. Instead he masterminded the event from his secret London HQ using video and a live webcam. All these stories illustrate the audacity, originality and sheer bloody-mindedness of Banksy.
So who is Banksy? Footballer Nobby Stiles reckons he is nicknamed after goalkeeper Gordon Banks. Was he a former pork butcher? The Mail on Sunday claims he is a ginger rugger-bugger. Or is he is rival artist Robbo? Could he be not one single person but an arts collective? Leverton leaves it up to the reader to decide but some obscure facts are given. He was 36 years old in 2010. He doesn’t profit from sales of merchandise. He comes from one of Britain’s Top 50 Crap Towns (Yate, near Bristol).
The cultural impact of Banksy is very easy to overlook as his works have become so iconic and ubiquitous. Not many young artists have had their work appear on eight album covers. Not many contemporaries sell intellectual property for in excess of £280,000 before they reach middle age. And few are as politically motivated – although in Banksy’s case his attempt to bankroll Ken Livingstone’s mayor election was apparently denied, as anonymous political donations are banned under fundraising laws.
Leverton celebrates Banksy’s anarchic, rebellious spirit and explains the appeal of a man always willing to stick two fingers up at conformity. The artist’s identity is never compromised but nor are his stringent values which challenge the status quo, rampant capitalism and repressive regimes. The reader may not discover the face behind the “mask” but they certainly are left in no doubt as to his motivations, his impact on the cultural landscape and how much he deserves to be revered by the artworld.
This book draws together the stories surrounding the legendary Banksy. People are moving away from Bristol, from the stories, and this book is a way of making sure that the myriad Banksy myths and tales are never lost to us
BANKSY Myths & Legends by Marc Leverton
Published by CarpetBombingCulture
Price: £5.95
Softback, full colour. ISBN 9781908211019
Publication date: November 2011
Available from: www.carpetbombingculture.co.uk
October 28, 2011
Filed under: Art News — Alan @ 3:10 pm
Three modern artists have taken photography, painting, and video to a new level. William Sasnal, Jacob Kassay and Piplotti Rist are proving to be masters at adding new twists to these traditional art forms.
While painting and photography may seem to be competing forms of art, William Sasnal has skillfully combined the best of both forms. He takes his inspiration from newspaper photographs. But he adds his own take to the pictures.
A photo of a Palestinian woman holding apples becomes a woman who appears to be wearing the belt of a suicide bomber. A photo of farm buildings now looks like a painting of a death camp. A painting of a beautiful young woman was inspired by a photo of a person accused of being involved in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
Sasnal, born in 1972 in Tarnow, Poland, is a painter of contrasts. His works combine beauty with an underlying darkness, goodness with a sense of malignancy. His paintings are drawn from contemporary events, yet transcend those events to become universal.
A photo of a young woman, covered in a filthy blanket and standing in the midst of the debris left by the tidal wave that hit Japan this year, becomes a painting of the same woman now surrounded by a whirlpool of abstractions, suggesting that her plight is universal, one that has been experienced by many.
Jacob Kassay combines painting with chemistry. He primes his canvases, then electroplates them. The process gives his monochromatic paintings a silvery sheen which allows the viewer to almost see themselves in the painting. His work is on display at the ICA until November 13.
Pipilotti Rist takes video art and turns it on its head by adding psychedelic colours and unusual effects. One video features a chandelier made out of women’s underwear. Another video depicts a woman swallowing a camera, which immediately appears out of her backside, only to come around to her mouth again. Rist is currently displaying over 30 works at the Hayward Gallery until January 8.
Filed under: Art events — Alan @ 1:17 pm
Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead
Gabriele Koch and the Henry Rothschild Memorial Lecture
Gabriele Koch, the world renowned potter is to give a one off lecture on Wednesday November 2nd at Gateshead’s Shipley Art Gallery. This special night is a tribute to the late Henry Rothschild, who was one of the most influential UK collectors of ceramics.
Koch is best known for her ceramic pieces, and these have been exhibited throughout the world in many of the leading private and public collections. Koch’s work has recently beem exhibited in London at the Saatchi Gallery, at Liverpool’s Bluecoat Display Centre as well as having displays in German, American and Israeli galleries.
This landmark event is being jointly presented by the Tyne and Wear Archives & Museums and the Friends of the Shipley Art Gallery. Koch will be talking about her influences and the processes and ideas she goes through to create her distinctive style of hand made ceramic vessels.
Gabriele Koch says:
“It is a great honour and pleasure to be the inaugural speaker for the Henry Rothschild lecture. It is very important to remember Henry who has made such an enormous contribution to the appreciation of Ceramics in general and has been a great supporter of many of the most innovative ceramicists of the 20th century on an individual basis.”
Koch’s work features in the Rothschild Study Centre at the Shipley Art Gallery, which was opened in 2010 and houses a superb collection of 20th century ceramics amassed by Henry Rothschild, founder of the shop Primavera.
The Study Centre includes work by leading ceramicists working in Britain and internationally and offers visitors access to a unique database containing information about the collector, the objects and the makers and a reference library of books on studio ceramics donated by Henry Rothschild.
Amy Barker, Curator of the Shipley Art Gallery, says:
“Gabriele Koch is a remarkable ceramicist and we are thrilled to welcome her to the Gallery for the first lecture in memory of Henry Rothschild.
“Henry Rothschild was an extremely significant figure in the field of contemporary crafts in Britain and the Shipley Art Gallery is privileged to have worked closely with him during the latter years of his life. We hope that many people will join us at this event to hear from Gabriele and celebrate her work and the legacy of Henry Rothschild.”
The event starts at 7.30pm (light refreshments from 7pm) and costs £3 for non-members and £1.50 for the Friends of the Shipley. For further information, visit www.twmuseumsorg.uk/shipley.
October 21, 2011
Filed under: Exhibitions — Alan @ 1:07 pm
Gordon House exclusive art collection with Muralto
The London Muralto showroom has added to its art collection in an effort to offer more bespoke furniture designs to visitors by featuring a new posthumous exhibition taken from Gordon House who is renowned as an artist and known for his work as the typographer for Sgt. Pepper’s.
When viewed together as one collection the works in the Muralto showroom are able to showcase the most essential pieces of Houses’s collection with a particular focus on colour, shape, and texture as you can see firsthand how Gordon combined the elements. Among the pieces chosen for the exhibition are watercolour paintings, etchings, screen prints, and lithographs. Given House’s tendency to be very modest, he did not receive much popularity during his lifetime but is still known among peers to be an accomplished artist.
Sir Peter Blake spoke fondly of House in an interview in the Independent stating that there are not many artists that are comfortable with the title of both graphic designer and painter, but House always seemed at home in both roles. He also mentioned House’s work on several Beatles albums and then later on many of Paul McCartney’s solo records.
With House’s work hanging in the Muralto showroom collectors can engage with the art in a contemporary space and see how these unique pieces fit within a design scheme. Removed from the confines of a gallery the paintings take on a new, reinvigorated life. The exhibition is a marriage ofBritain’s rich art history and a modern take on classic interior design for the future.
Gordon House (1932-2004)
A painter, print-maker and graphic designer, House first emerged on the British art scene during the fertile period of the late 50s and early 60s. This was a pivotal moment of change for young artists – who were responding to new attitudes and influences both at home and inAmericaandEurope.
In 1960, House and his contemporaries, frustrated by the lack of exposure given to large-scale abstract works in commercial galleries, organized their own show ‘Situation’ – which proved to be one of the key abstract exhibitions of the decade. House was also an influential figure in the printmaking revolution of the sixties, being the very first artist to create a fine art screen print inBritain.
In addition to these activities, House was also an accomplished graphic designer – working for many of the majorLondongalleries and music labels. He was regularly employed by Apple Records and famously worked as the typographer for both ‘Sgt Peppers’ and ‘The White Album’ by the Beatles.
The Tate Gallery in London has a large holding of original prints by House from the sixties and seventies. His works have been included in exhibitions across the world and can be found in the permanent collections of a number of key European and American institutions and collectors.
The Gordon House collection at Muralto is sold in partnership with Gerrish Fine Art. For full details on House’s exhibition history please visit:
http://www.gerrishfineart.com/browse.asp?types=House%2C+Gordon+%281932-2004%29&reset=1
The Muralto showroom is available by appointment only at weekends and from 10am to 6pm Monday to Friday. To explore the Muralto range online, please visit www.muralto.co.uk
October 17, 2011
Filed under: Exhibitions — Alan @ 8:42 am
It takes something very big to fill the immense space of Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. Only eleven artists have done so in the past, and the twelfth is Tacita Dean. The last artist to fill the space was Ai Weiwei with his awesome display of porcelain sunflower seeds. This time it’s a 35mm film strip turned on its side and projected on the wall of the Hall from the back of the building.
The artist said, “I’ve turned the Turbine Hall into a strip of film.” Her presentation is 11 minutes long and its images are utterly compelling even if the viewer knows nothing at all about this aspect of photography. Dean titled her work, “Film” and it is both a tribute and a eulogy to the fading art of film making as it was in its beginning.
Due to the advance of digital technology, there are only a handful of people left who use, make or develop the old 16mm and 35mm film. Dean has worked with this medium during her entire career, and says she’s sad to see it disappearing like the dinosaurs, only faster.
Visitors to Turbine Hall can see her exhibit as a film loop that runs like a montage of flickering images. Don’t look for a plot; the images segue from clock to snail to empty house to birds in a tree . . .far too many and diverse for description in words. The ‘movie’ is not in the usual landscape format but rather more like portrait form – much taller than it is wide.
Tacita Dean is a superlative artist in her own medium; no wonder she has created such a work to commemorate the best aspects of film making in the ‘golden age’ of film as she sees it. She used studio techniques like double exposure and glass-matte painting, in fact adding some of the images with her own hand. The silent film that resulted is an eleven-minute stroll in the magical world of her imagination, and it really does feel like magic.
Dean is certainly not alone in her admiration and affection for the 35mm medium. The book that accompanies her “Film” boasts contributors such as Martin Scorsese and Stephen Spielberg as well as Keanu Reeves and Neil Young in a discussion of analogue films. Dean’s installation was commissioned for the Unilever Series, and she is the third British artist to fill up Turbine Hall.
The term ‘antiquated’ applies, in its best sense, to the art and technique of analogue films. Out-dated it surely is, but Tacita Dean, like many others, does not want to see it die. “Film” is her statement that the art form she knows best is worth preserving, and if you doubt that, go see the movie.
October 13, 2011
Filed under: Exhibitions — Alan @ 5:55 am
Through the 1960s and 1970s one of the greatest names in the British art scene with Barry Flanagan. His sculpting moved away from the norm and during the 1960s his work was reduced to only process and material. Much of his work made viewers of it wonder why he was doing such strange sculptures, for example, he would have a pile of sticks supported by nothing but gravity.
One of his most notable sculptures was a sack that contained only sand. At the time these works were regarded as exciting because they were taking sculpting to a whole new area. Today however these sculptures look out of date, to the modern art fan they are experiments and little more.
Flanagan’s work at the time was something that curators and critics loved but the public simply found boring, Flanagan is a perfect example of how experimental art doesn’t last.
The Tate Britain is holding an exhibition dedicated to some of his works. Bronze hares are on display at the end of the exhibition and it shows how the subject matter evolved from initial carvings made from stone, to his final works of art.
Many people who remember the first time these bronze hares were shown might have forgotten how strange they were, this exhibition is a good reminder. These bronze hares were created at a time when animal sculptures were not often done and bronze was a material not often used.
Today David Tremlett seems to be taking the place which Flanagan held all those decades ago. His work today seems to be breaking the same ground that Flanagan’s used to. What is different about the work of Tremlett is that he is making his work more visually appealing. Generally, it is unusual to see his work in the UK so while it is on display at the Tate Britain make sure you take the time to see the exhibition.
That said, there is no real hurry, the exhibition is set to go on for five years. The work on display is interesting and involves a wide range of colours and makes good use of the space the exhibition has been allocated at the gallery.
October 5, 2011
Filed under: Exhibitions — Alan @ 10:13 am
The National Portrait Gallery has recently announced that it will displaying the final painting that Lucian Freud failed to finish before his death. This is the first time that the work will be shown in public and it remains incomplete. The painting is a nude of the artists long time assistant, David Dawson.
The show will be taking place in 2012 and is regarded to be the biggest showing of his art since 2002. The gallery will be showing an extensive collection of his work, all the way from the 1940′s to the painting he was working on earlier this year. Freud died, aged 88, in July this year.
There will be over 100 works of art on show and these have been borrowed from many galleries from all around the world. In the collection that will be on display there are a great many portraits of some of the people that Freud was close to as well as some important people in society.
Sandy Nairne is the director of the National Portrait Gallery and has said of the exhibition, “This show is one of the countdown events that will lead to the London 2012 Festival, the cultural highlight of the Games.”
Filed under: Exhibitions — Alan @ 7:33 am
Rare opportunity to view the work of Lowry’s instructor
It is expected that many people who love art are going to come to Manchester to see a new exhibition that is going to be displaying some art by some of the country’s most successful contemporary artists. There will also be work at the exhibition by Valette, who is famous for being the instructor of L.S. Lowry.
The art exhibition is going to be showing what is the largest collection of Valette pieces. There are over twenty items in total by the artist that are for sale including one of his largest oil paintings that is on the market: Factories and Warehouses, which was painted in 1908.
The auction will be taking place next month and many pieces of art are expected to sell for many millions of pounds. His famous painting of Piccadilly Circus is expect to be sold for over £6 million. It is expected that the sale of the painting at the auction will increase the value of his art all over the world. The artist has had a great influence on many people who paint urban settings; this can be seen in the modern day works of Liam Spencer.
The event is being held in Clark Art which is located in Cheshire and primary features works from Vallete as well as the Liam Spencer. The event opens on October 20th and will run until November 19th. :
Liam Spencer was born in Burnley and has become famous for his paintings of the urban scenes in Salford and Manchester. He paints in a very vivid style and this has become easily recognisable. The new exhibition will be featuring over fifty of his new works.
Spencer who is 47 years old is one of the new artists his age who has managed to get a permanent exhibition at Manchester City Gallery. He is also one of the youngest people to have had a retrospective exhibition. His art first came to prominence when he was asked to design the art to be used at the City of Manchester Stadium to celebrate the UEFA Cup Final. He has a strong following and his work has often sold out.
Bill Clark, owner of Clark Art which is hosting the exhibition, said:
“This is one of the most exciting exhibitions we’ve ever held at the gallery. It will feature the work of two of the greatest Northern artists. Although Valette and Spencer were born 88 years apart, there are similarities in their painting styles and subject matter. Whilst Valette is best known as the teacher of L.S. Lowry and the creator of a series of impressionist paintings of Edwardian Manchester, Spencer is one of the most important northern artists of his generation and paints Manchester as it is today. The two artists complement each other beautifully and the exhibition will be a unique opportunity to see and purchase work never previously displayed.”
French impressionist Valette (1876-1942) arrived in Manchester in 1905 where he studied and then taught at the Manchester School of Art, famously teaching L.S. Lowry, who went on to achieve worldwide fame.
The exhibition will coincide with a major retrospective exhibition of the work of Valette at The Lowry Centre Salford which opens on 15th October.
Liam Spencer graduated with a degree in Fine Art from Manchester Polytechnic in 1986. He now runs his own studio in Rossendale.
October 4, 2011
Filed under: Art events — Alan @ 9:19 am
The Sage Gateshead is the location of the Newcastle Gateshead Art Fair which is taking place this weekend. The event is going to see a great deal of art being sold, but it will also be an opportunity for people to see those in the creative field in action.
There are several artists at the event who are representing themselves but there are also galleries that are responsible for representing several artists. Some of the galleries attending include the Tallantyre Gallery and the Balman Gallery. There are also some galleries who have come right form the outskirts of Newcastle.
Some of the exhibitors are very commercial, such as Castle Galleries and Whitewalls Galleries. There galleries add a splash of colour to city centres. There is also the Globe Gallery which is known for its community involvement as much as its contemporary art. The Globe Gallery has recently moved from its old location to a building which was once a bank on Blandford Square. Just because this art fair is one that is on the street this does not mean that it is not present online. Those who do business on the internet will also be able to be a part of this fair.
Gallereo is a business that has been started by Emma McMillan who has recently completed a Master qualification in New York, she was doing this with Christie’s. Part of her coursework while studying was to discover what was going to be the next big thing in the art world. While doing this she found the work of Hans Meertens a Dutch artist and after writing an article about his work, he has asked her to write a book about it.
Mention the name Banksy to different people and you would get very different reactions. He is considered an artist, a prankster, artist or cultural icon. Marc Leverton has delved deftly into the iconic aura than surrounds this most renowned of all graffiti artists and between 2009 and 2011 he interviewed many residents of Bristol, Banksy’s home town. The result is a bookful of bite sized portions of the rumours, myths and sheer nonsense that surround this enigma; ‘BANKSY: Myths and Legends.
