The spectacular Stuart Haygarth at Haunch of Venison

I forgot to mention that whilst visiting the GSK Contemporary exhibition last week I stumbled upon Stuart Haygarth's work at Haunch of Venison. In his work he uses found objects and creates new objects from them. There was a mirror disco ball made from broken car wing mirrors, chandeliers made from spectacle lenses and spectacle arms.

Haunch of Venison occupies the downstairs of the RA's Burlington Gardens and across the entrance hall (as well as outdoors under the Portico) there is a "pop-up" cafe by Sketch which provides another feast for the senses. Those opting for outside are treated to hot water bottles and blankets to ward of the cold.

Pop Life at Tate Modern - Risqué Business

Pop Life at Tate Modern was a real mix. It certainly had lots of energy and the curators were thinking outside of the box in who and how they put it together, however, it was a bit on the seedy side and I'm pretty sure there were a few spectators there who had not come for the art.

My highlights were Warhol's Gem's, Takashi Murakami's video with Kirsten Dunst with the soundtrack 'The Vapors - Turning Japanese', Damien Hirst's spot paintings with twins ('Ingo, Torsen' 1992, a set of identical twins stationed in front of two of Hirst's dot paintings), Gavin Turk's plaque (I never seem to tire of seeing this - probably because of the story which goes behind it) and Keith Haring's floor to ceiling embellished Pop Shop.

This is what artist/critic Matthew Collings had to say "What I thought after I came out of 'Pop Life'".

Exhibition Round Up - Kapoor, Kidner, GSK Contemporary and Hirst

I visited the Anish Kapoor exhibition at the Royal Academy yesterday. It finishes on Friday (at midnight) so I was cutting it a bit finer than I would have liked. There were a lot of people of all ages and huge queues outside the building. Luckily I am a 'Friend' and my pass let me straight in (a good Christmas present for someone if anyone is stuck for ideas).

The Kapoor exhibition is quite a spectacular and I think I probably did as much people watching as I did art viewing. I couldn't help but compare the experience at times to 'Waiting for Godot', the play by Samuel Beckett. Not just for the many ways of interpreting Kapoor's work like Beckett's play but also for the waiting element of the canon firing the red wax and the large slabs of red wax being pushed through the arches of the gallery, over and over but ever so slowly. During these moments of waiting there was time to contemplate the art - actually quite a clever strategy by Kapoor, as all too often we whizz round the galleries. These pieces enforced a waiting and contemplating, the artist imposing to an extent the time we spend with the work. In addition, strangers struck up conversation and shared the experience. Again this does not normally happen at galleries. A hush fell over the crowds when a gallery assistant came out to load the canon then the silence was interrupted with a loud bang and a huge cheer erupted as the mass of red wax splodge successfully onto the centre of the wall opposite; to start its slippery slow journey into the sea of red wax seeping over the floor of the Small Weston Room and then oozing out through the door frame onto the floor of the Large Weston Room

To learn more see the Education Guide from the Royal Academy.

While I was at the Royal Academy I took the opportunity to see Wild Thing: Epstein, Gaudier-Brzeska, Gill, GSK Contemporary, Michael Kidner and then Damien Hirst at the nearby White Cube.

To sum up the others....

Wild Thing - good to see Epstein's Rock Drill and discovered Gaudier-Brzeska (who died in the first world war at the age of 23 and despite only 4 years developing his art was influential in its development in the 20th century).

GSK Contemporary - was poetic and thought provoking. with the work of Sophie Calle, Cornelia Parker, Darren Almond, Yao Lu, Antony Gormley, Clare Twomey, Ackroyd & Harvey and Lemn Sissay particularly standing out.

Michael Kidner - I was really disappointed that the catalogue had been sold out because I like his subject matter and approach to art. The Royal Academy's website says the following "A pioneer of Optical Art, Michael Kidner RA has devoted much of his career to developing work of a constructive nature. His interest in mathematics, science and theories of chaos has determined an art that is both formal and playful. The curiosity of his mind is matched by his willingness to accept the unexpected outcome." In particular the use of mathematics, science and philosophy to inform work which is both formal and playful resonates with me.

Okay...now onto Damien Hirst. He is one of the most talked about artists of our time and one of the most interesting. He also does get his fair share of criticism. I really tried to view the work with an open mind even leaning towards the positive - hoping to link them - to rebel against his critics. Unfortunately, I found them to be very poor pastiches of Frances Bacon right down to the lines, the gold frames, the scale and the proliferation of triptychs. Hirst's application of paint, his 'daubing', was, however, different to Bacon, albeit inferior.

Turner Prize 2009 at Tate Britain

Wow. I didn't expect Richard Wright to bag the top prize. We went on a year 12 trip last week and included the Turner Prize 2009 in our itinerary. I loved Lucy Skaer's whale drawing and chair drawing/painting/prints and thought these or Roger Hiorns would win for 'Seizure'. I even preferred Enrico David's wacky rocking egghead over Wright's gold leaf wall piece. Seeing Wright was a fellow Glaswegian (okay - one who was born in London but moved to Glasgow at a young age) and who had graduated from Glasgow School of Art made me want to get it or like all the more. But I really tried and I didn't. What does this say about how I, or we view art today? Do we expect too much the unexpected and the spectacular? Overlooking the quiet and subversive or conservative yet brilliant?

Skaer's whale drawing engaged me as it is installed in an interesting way - from the floor and following a curve created in the same dimensions as the paper. Close up it looks like an abstract pattern of swirls but from a few feet away the skeleton of a whale emerges. 

The chair piece is a mixture of installation, drawing, painting and printing with the objects displayed alongside the 2-D images. This always appeals to me. The objects and the paintings or drawings installed together. I think its appeal stems from when I first consciously 'got' concept art with Joseph Kosuths 'One and three chairs', 1965. Her exhibition at Tate Britain also included some black stalagmite like structures installed in a space with a whale bone behind a wall with gaps.  I found this less appealing than her other work. It didn't feel particularly new or adventurous.

Hiorns pieces for the exhibition were less visually stimulating and all encompassing than 'Seizure'. It would have been great if even just a small space could have been sealed of to create a miniature "Seizure"

Apparently the art world was betting on Hiorns winning so Wright is a surprise to many. Now that Wright has one I can appreciate why he has and will try not to be so dismissive next time I see his work. 

See also the following links:

From The Daily Telegraph: Richard Wright: Turner Prize 2009 Winner

From the BBC: Turner Prize in Pictures

From The Evening Standard: Temporary Wall Painting Strikes Gold at Turner Prize

Richard Wright: A New Renaissance for the Turner Prize

Year 12 trip to National Portrait Gallery and Tate Britain

This week we are visiting the National Portrait Gallery and Tate Britain with the year 12's. There will be a mixture of photography and fine art students so on our must see's are:-

Tate Britain's 

http://www.tate.org.uk/tateetc/issue17/turner09.htm/

National Portrait Gallery's

Taylor Wessing's Photographic portrait prize

http://www.npg.org.uk:8080/photoprize/site09/index2.php