Art News Galore

Latest production of Carousel is a real treat

Alan — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:28:41 +0000

Carousel is a production which has been perfectly managed by Jo Davies and the management is met very well with the stylish costumes and set pieces that have been designed by Anthony Ward. The score is also very impressive and has been organised by conductor James Holmes and all of these people work very well together to create a production which has a great deal of love and authority in it.

The production is based on the play Liliom, by Hammerstein. This is a book that has a great deal of tragedy and entertainment in it, while managing to remain very inspirational. The production involves many talented opera singers as well as specialists in musical theatre. The acting is also strong and all of these elements come together very nicely.

It is most amazing how Davies manages to bring all of the elements of the production together into one astounding piece. The way everything reaches a single dynamic is quite astounding and the way the dance works with the song and acting can only be described as remarkable. In many ways it is impossible to tell where the professional dancers end, and where the actors and chorus members begin.

The lead actors in the production or incredible. Claire Boulter brings just the right amount of daftness to her character of Carrie Pipperidge and the beautiful tones sung by Joseph Shovelton really bring a wonderful amount of depth to the production. The rest of the cast are also very well chosen and they complement the main actors very nicely.

They all have great acting ability and presence onstage and the audience will really become involved with their characters very quickly. The emotional charge of this production is quite noticeable and it is very easy to become emotionally invested in the story.

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Einstein on the Beach – A Review

Alan — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:19:33 +0000

Einstein on the Beach is a very long production of five hours, and even with its long length, you get the feeling that it is an opera that doesn’t really want to ever reach a conclusion What is quite noticeable about the production is that it doesn’t have an interval and the five hours run continuously, which can be quite demanding on the audience.

This production is the result of a collaboration that took place between the composer, Philip Glass, and Robert Wilson, a conceptualist designer, both of who were working in the 1970s. Many people regard this production is one of the highlights of the cultural Olympiad that is occurring because of the Olympic Games.

The title of this opera is somewhat misleading as the production has nothing to do with the beach, or indeed theoretical physics. There is not a great deal of narrative in the production and it doesn’t go very much into detail about science.

The production is very unusual and most of the scenes are set in a courtroom, but there is no one who seems to be on trial in the story. There is a child who throws paper darts from near the top of the quartering, and also a woman who waves a gun at the audience. None of these ideas seem to come together very coherently, but this is part of the charm of the opera. No one really has any idea what’s going on, but that doesn’t really seem to matter.

Lucinda Childs has done the staging for the production as well as the choreography and for those who know the style of Robert Wilson, it will seem very familiar. She creates a production that is very true to the original when it comes to dancing and this is something that audience members will welcome.

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FBI move closer to solving 1990 Boston art theft

Alan — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:53:58 +0000

In 1990 in Boston, one of the largest art thefts in history took place. Just recently, FBI agents in the United States have raided the home of a mobster in Connecticut who they believed was involved in the robbery and has information that could help in the apprehension of those responsible for the theft.

20 agents were involved in the raid and they have now been examining the home and car for evidence that the mobster, Robert Gentile was involved in the crime. He is now 75 years old and has been in detention already since February on weapons and drug charges. The art heist which took place at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum involved the theft of several of the world’s greatest pieces of art many of them damaged when they were cut out of their frames.

During the robbery the thieves wore the costumes of police officers in order to get into the building. They attacked two guards and then stole the artwork which is estimated to be worth over half $1 billion. The museum offered a reward of £5 million for the return of the art, but no one came forward. The police conducted numerous searches for the arts, but were unable to come up with any useful leads.

A lawyer for the detained man stated that the FBI have been searching the premises in order to see if they can find any weapons buried in the ground. His lawyer has stated that if the FBI believe that they will find any stolen paintings on his property, they are very mistaken. He stated that the police have already been through his home before and found nothing, and he maintains his client’s innocence in regard to this robbery. The US attorney’s office has not commented about the matter.

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Hampton Court has plenty to offer adults as well as children

Alan — Tue, 08 May 2012 08:49:41 +0000

For a long time Hampton Court has been marketed as a place which is very appealing to children, but the organisation behind the marketing have recently decided that they want the venue to appear more to adults. The Palace has also been trying to move interest away from Henry VIII towards more peaceful monarch such as Charles II.

A new exhibition which is going to appeal more to adults is called the Wild, the Beautiful and the Damned. This exhibition is a focus on the mistresses and court ladies of Charles II, and there are many portraits featured in the exhibition which are quite revealing.

The exhibition has been cleverly created so that it is also appropriate for children. There are clever captions which will mean something to adults, but children will remain oblivious. Unfortunately however, the exhibition is clearly had quite a strong focus on creating something a bit controversial, which is a pity because if they had had spent less time working on this, and instead focused on the information itself, this could have been an informative and interesting exhibition.

What is interesting is to see how the portraits that have been created through the times of the various monarchs change. For example we are presented with pictures from both the Tudor and Stuart periods, and it is clear how the Stuarts had a very different attitude towards sex, than the Tudors did.

The exhibition is in many ways quite erotic. But this is a fairly accurate presentation of how things were at the time. The exhibition tells of how young women would come to the palace in order to be chosen for marriage and in many ways the portraits here provide an accurate, and fascinating, representation of how this process took place in the Palace

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Lomondgate business park unveils new sculpture

Alan — Thu, 03 May 2012 11:00:19 +0000

This week, a sculpture in front of the Lomondgate development was unveiled to the public. The sculpture sits in front of the business park entrance and was designed by Andy Scott, the international sculptor.

The stag stands at roundabout now after months of work that was put into building and designing it. All and all it weighs a total of two tons and stands at six metres. The only thing that makes it more magnificent is the fact that it is lit up by spotlights that allow it to shine well into the night hours.

The stag is actually made up of about 2km worth of steel that have been chopped into tiny pieces and then welded back together again to form the sculpture. Scott is best known for the M8 Heavy Horse and the Cumbernauld Arria.

The Lomondgate Business Park is a portion of the £100m development which is composed of a Dumbarton community that is home to 338 private residences, a Premier Inn, Costa Coffee drive-thru, and the Brewers’ Fayre family restaurant. It is also the location of the £22m Aggreko manufacturing plant and the BBC River City studios.

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The life of Rolf Harris is told in a display at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

Alan — Wed, 02 May 2012 10:49:30 +0000

Rolf Harris is known to the public as a composer, inventor, animal enthusiast, musician, artist, champion swimmer, and plenty of other things, but when asked how he would describe himself he simply stated that he has no idea.

While he may not know, the rest of the British public are aware that he is nearly the Commander of the British Empire with all that the entertainer has managed to accomplish and now his life is on display for all to see at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.

The Gallery is expected to display dozens of artworks from Harris that range from over the last six decades as well as plenty of television footage, awards, papers, jeans, and even some of his old papers. Charlotte Keenan the curator for the exhibition stated that it will show his passion for self-expression in just about every way that is possible.

It also will feature six scenes of Liverpool that have not been seen previously that were created just for the Walker show. Harris is apparently still on a roll and believes that he will be painting up until the end of his life as he moves from one painting to the next.

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Unique way of owning art comes to the artrepublic website for the first time

Alan — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:30:15 +0000

A ground breaking new way of owning art has been launched by artrepublic. With their new online facility called Own Art, once you get to the checkout at the artrepublic.com website you can apply there and then for a interest free loan to pay for your purchase. The interest free loans are for between £100-£2000 and the payments can be spread over 10 months through the Own Art scheme run by the Art Council England.

Artrepublic.com is the perfect place to get your hands on signed and limited edition prints from such internationally acclaimed artists as Sir Peter Blake, Mark Quinn and Damien Hirst, as well as new works for such talents in the world of street art as Static, Pure Evil and Speedy Graphito. The artrepublic.com website is one of the first in the UK to offer Own Art, and you can apply directly for the 0% APR loan at the online checkout on the website.

The Own Art scheme has, since its launch, issued loans with a total value of over £20m and in 2011 alone, 4400 artworks were purchased this way. You can choose from hundreds of limited edition prints from established and new artists, and thanks to Own Art online, its never been easier to expand your art collection.

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London will be alive with street art exhibitions this Spring

Alan — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:15:04 +0000

Spring of 2012 will see some fantastic exhibitions of street art opening in London. Although showing street art in a gallery may be a complete contradiction in terms, some street artists believe this is the way forward to make their work even more acceptable to the viewing public.

Since it’s rather basic concept street art has become quite popular with people, especially in the capital. Although, strictly speaking, still illegal it is now thought by many people to brighten up the sometimes drab streets of the city and no-one can deny the talent sometimes on display. Indeed it is now definitely an important part of modern urban culture.

One of the more well-known street artists, Stik began his career of urban art while living rough in Hackney. Now no longer homeless he can count the Duke of Kent and Elton John as big fans of his work and he has also done work for Queen guitarist Brian May.

His exhibition will show to full advantage his excruciating attention to detail and the dourness for which he is renowned. As well as launching his new print, ‘Walk’ the exhibition will include sculptures, large canvasses and light boxes.

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The Tate aims to get the Pre-Raphaelites greater appreciation

Alan — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:31:28 +0000

The Tate has recently said that for the most part most people think that the work of Pre-Raphaelites is often greatly under appreciated. The Tate Britain has stated that these are revolutionary paintings and they have recently announced a show which is going to display some of this work in a whole new light. The gallery is going to be showing the works off as a revolution that took place in the art world.

The gallery has stated that this exhibition is something they have been planning for half a decade and it is going to be the first exhibition of its type, one celebrating the 19th-century movements, that has taken place in around 30 years.

Since 1984 there has not been a great deal of interest in the Pre-Raphaelites and the largest exhibition that took place exhibiting their work was back in the late 1940s, in celebration of the movements 100 year anniversary.

The gallery is claiming that the artists painting in this period were radicals in terms of the subject matter, technique and composition of their paintings. They say that they have a unique way of engaging the viewer and also explore various moral, social and political issues. This was something that was not really done at the time and for this reason it can really be seen as revolutionary.

The artists had a way of entrancing those who came to see their paintings but they were generally met with hostility by many art critics. In some cases the artists stop displaying their works in public simply because the press was so critical of them.

However, once the work gained wide acceptance, many of these artists achieved a huge amount of fame, most of this coming before the turn of the 20th century. The exhibition is going to begin in September.

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The fall and rise of top graffiti artist Stik

Alan — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 08:29:20 +0000

Stik is a graffiti artist in the UK who has certainly had a very varied career, there are been times when he has been very successful, even managing to sell work to Elton John, and times when things have not been going so well and he has had to sleep on the streets.

In the last 18 months he has gone from a homeless man, to being one of the most influential street artists in the UK. His graffiti always contains stick figures and since being discovered his work has started selling for thousands of pounds a time. Some of his most famous clients include Bono, Elton John, and the Duke of Kent.

He is currently seen as the most influential street artist in London and he first started drawing his distinctive stick figures over five years ago. Obviously, it was quite a time before people started taking note of his work.

He is very private about his identity and reveals very few details about his personal life. In the near future he is going to be having an exhibition in Marylebone at the Intimate Modern gallery. He has commented, “For a long time I was homeless and once you have hit this low it is very easy to get stuck there. Once you have fallen down, it is very hard to pick yourself back up again and I struggled to find permanent employment.”

His big break began last year and since that time he has developed something of a cult following. He was recently asked to provide the artwork for the award ceremony held by Q magazine. This led him to get interest from major clients such as Bono and has opened doors for him to start featuring his work at other major exhibitions.

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