Art London 2009

While I have experienced ArtChicago for many years, last week was a first for ArtLondon. A much smaller version than it's midwest sibling, it proved to be a lot more enjoyable and the gallery rep's were equally more receptive. Below are my top 6 favorites from the fair...

Luciano Ventrone oil on linen

Steven Nederveen mixed media

Yuko Moriyama-Wiffen graphite on paper

Pamela Stretton inkjet fragments

Anne Penman Sweet oil on canvas

Anish Kapoor

and 6 more that I just couldn't leave out...

Mack MacKinnon
John Monks
Steven Marshall
Sherry Karver
Emily Allchurch
Helen Sear

Bargain Basement

"The following is written after reading "In Poland, Style Comes Used and by the Pound" by NICHOLAS KULISH in The NYTimes."

In Chicago I had a plethora of secondhand stores to cherry pick: The Ark on Lincoln, The Brown Elephant in Wicker Park and The Salvation Army next to the tracks behind Grand, were my favorites. And if I was in the market for vintage or a unique gift, a quick trip to Milwaukee avenue between Damen and Ashland would give me more choice than necessary with Recycle, Lenny & Me and Uma Ma. Back in London the availability of quality, style and bargain price is not as accessible. While I have been lucky to find the odd treasure, a repeat visit to the same locale has proven fruitless. Vintage chic on the other hand is plentiful, however the price tag is not one I'm willing to pay. London's high sense of fashion and heavy pound is seemingly hindering this lady's healthy wardrobe and gifts for the holidays. Books I would pay 25cents for State side, start at $2 and go sharply up dependent on your postcode. The Brit's appear to have mistaken the penny wise shopper for the Kensington tractor and fleecing us all. So my advice to Poland is grab it before someone realizes there's money to be made in what's left behind.

For All To See

Selfridges in London is known for it's lavish window diplays, but this time they've out done themselves. The main windows on Oxford Street features vibrant and quirky scenes of fashion partaking in outdoor activities in some quite bizarre modes. These are courtesy of The White Wall Company Ltd and are most impressive with mannequins contorted into the most impossible of positions and flights of transportation. Although I press you to go and take a look at the cart-wheeling-connect-four playing dummies and their stylish head gear, you must walk to the most westerly window and around the corner for more artist flare.

There you will find the work of Haberdashery London, a collective of artists of many definitions and their simple yet beautiful sculptures and "no tech" scrolling windows into the unseen city you're breathing in standing there. The craftmanship and execution of each display of highly detail oriented simplicity is, can I use the word again, beautiful. Trek down to Oxford Street before 10am and experience these visual delights without the slew that is London's West End.

Visual Clues

With local elections taking place all over this little island and the May Day Demonstrations, my attention is drawn towards politics. Now I'm not going to tell you who to vote for. Anyone who has the right to vote, also has the responsibilty to research candidates and party policies before marking their all empowering check in the box. And I don't care for all the media hype and jovial jabs that are endemic of todays political environment. What intrigues me, is how the participants visually represent themselves on paper. I'm talking about the little guide I got in the mail just yesterday. It describes the elections, how to vote and includes the manifesto for everyone in line for seat at the head of the table for my local assembly, the Mayor of London. The guide itself is great, simple and well designed, giving clear instructions on process, how to use your 2nd vote correctly (don't mark your 1st choice twice) and who is standing for each of the 3 ballots. And all colour coded to avoid the slightest confusion between the 3.


As for the graphic representation of these ever so important individuals...I'm not sure if it's comforting or disappointing, but there were no surprises as to colour palette, layout, font and photo choice for any of the candidates. Rather than describe each one, I'll simply state what 4 of them were visually communicating:

A. Everyman, straight-up, welcoming diversity.
B. Hardworking, green, young urban professional.
C. Energetic, alternative, green, self driven.
D.Patriotic, stable, traditional, strong.

Throughout history we have had visual clues telling us someone's position in society or cultural roots. That identity and defintion continues to expand today defining our political opinion, sexuality and even our taste in music. We wear our most inner thoughts and emotional state on our sleeves for all to see. London is a great city for that very reason. You can be as brazen and outrageous as you like and feel comfortable doing so.

Whale Tails & Muffin tops

Like any major city and tourist attraction, London has it's fair share of photographers. From the school group at the museum to the agency photographer waiting for the models hair to set, they are everywhere. Street photography is benefiting from a boom in recent years and advances in technology point to it not fading any time soon. 2 street photographers I have recently discovered that deserve mentioning are both based in this fair city and have very distinctive styles from each other.

Nick Turpin's mind is racing as he releases the shutter, you can see it in every shot...what does this mean?..what am I trying to project about myself?..how can I blend in? He is looking for answers in the unsaid actions and appearances of strangers. His images where he is more concealed as a photographer are strong and have more success in this quest. Where as the images in which he uses a light to "interogate" the subject, although beautifully captured, miss the target and instead of honesty and truth we receive show off posers. This image taken at Oxford Circus is perfect, hitting the bulls eye in more ways than one.
Nick Turpin

Matt Stuart's style is very different, but equally entertaining and alluring. Here we don't care about the hidden message, instead the photographer's eye is finely tuned to the quirky images we obliviously construct with our surroundings. Patience and the ability to read the potential of an environment are rewarded with images of hilarity in cosmic symmetry. Slick and bright...a marketing genius should be so lucky.
Matt Stuart

All Cut Up

It is officially Art Fair season in London with Zoo, Bridge and Frieze all butting heads on the same weekend. I attended the opening of Zoo at it's new locations The Royal Academy of Art last night. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of interesting pieces on view, but questioned myself...was it interesting as Art or simply interesting as a new to me after my extended absence from the island. Artists I enjoyed include but not limited to: Edgar Martins, Oliver Clegg, Richard Learoyd, Jen Liu, Becky Beasley, Robin Cracknell, Peter Funch, Simon Roberts. The artists simply known as CutUp Collective were one of my favorites with their intriguing images of reconstructed billboard adverts. During the night they painstakingly remove the advert intact, take it to their studio, then using a grid cut the advert into squares. They then colour grade each square and reassemble the billboard creating a brand new image. The new image is then erected where the original was removed. With the success of Banksy London's walls have never been more prolific a canvas for street art. This unfortunately has led to a sprawling of poor tags and ugly comments making frequent appearances. The streets that we walk and it's community is what an artist reflects and draws inspiration from. With CutUp Collective we see the pot is still rich for the pickings.

CutUp Collective

Logo Fiasco

I heard about the up roar over the official logo for the London 2012 Olympic Games a number of days before I saw the design itself. By choice I decided to read, listen and observe the reactions to this unveiling and attempt not to see for myself until some dust had settled. Five days later I was ready for what some members of the British public were calling "nothing better than graffitti!" I was therefore more than surprised when I laid my eyes upon said logo. Edgey, youthful and urban may be, but graffitti, I think not. Tame and even uninspiring came to my mind. This design lacked energy, a reflection of the host city and more importantly the 5 Olympic rings or at least their colours. I'm sure the whole process was a very long and hard one for the London committee...with a little politics thrown in to boot. Another design however was very clever and striking incorporating the Union Jack and Big Ben's Tower with the Olympic rings included below. May be a little pretentious considering the games are a time for different nations to come together, but you knew exactly what the image was communicating. My personal favorite was the candidate city logo. A more simple and classic design which directly named the city, year and Olympic rings, but then illustrated the host city by using the colors of the 5 rings and drawing the River Thames weaving in and out of the letters. Sometimes the best idea is the most obvious.