contemporary – Page 2 – criticismism ii

July 12, 2010July 27, 2010

Oliver Beer, Deep and Meaningful (2009)

Three locations are evoked by the film Deep and Meaningful by Oliver Beer: the sewer in which the original choral performance was filmed; the type of church where you might expect to hear such a thing; and the gallery environment in which it might end up. The correspondence between church…

July 11, 2010

Diane Arbus/Chicks on Speed/Arabicity/July must-sees

Here’s another round up of stories written in the past week for Culture24: Preview: Diane Arbus – Artist Rooms, Nottingham Contemporary Preview: Chicks on Speed – Don’t Art, Fashion, Music, Dundee Contemporary Arts Preview: Arabicity: Such a Near East, the Bluecoat Culture24’s art must sees for July

July 4, 2010July 27, 2010

Tabaimo, yudangami (2009) at Parasol Unit

Tabaimo’s animations are without doubt unsettling. But the more you watch yudangami (2009) the more you want to watch and the same can be said for her entire show at Parasol Unit. It would be rational to look away, but the films deal in revealing the hidden. No wonder they…

July 4, 2010

Howard Hodgkin/Ice Traffic/Fiona Banner/Nothing is Forever/Profusion/The Papered Parlour/Prop

Here’s a belated round up of last week’s stories for Culture24. Click below on any that interest… Preview: Howard Hodgkin – Time and Place, at Modern Art Oxford Review: Ice Traffic in See Further: The Festival of Science and Arts at Royal Festival Hall Preview: Fiona Banner – Harrier and…

June 29, 2010

Fiona Banner – Harrier and Jaguar (The 2010 Duveens Commission at Tate Britain)

Perhaps all art has ever done is provide visual enjoyment, depsite the questionable values inherent in traditional, modern or contemporary subject matter. Fiona Banner’s latest commission at Tate Britain is indeed problematic, but without questionÂ it is still enjoyable. The London-based artist has installed two decommissioned fighter planes in the neoclassical…

June 26, 2010

Whitstable Biennale/Persistence of Vision/Wolfgang Tillmans

Here’s another round up of my week’s output for Culture24. Happy reading… Review: Lucienne Cole, Karen Mirza & Ruth Beale, Phil Coy and Alex Pearl at Whitstable Biennale Preview: Persistence of Vision at FACT, Liverpool Preview: Wolfgang Tillmans at Serpentine, London

June 20, 2010

Francis AlÃ¿s/James White/Clare Twomey/Surreal Friends

Here’s a round up of the pieces I wrote for Culture24 last week. Enjoy! Review: Surreal Friends: Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo and Kati Horne at Pallant House Review: James White: New Paintings, Max Wigram Gallery Review: Clare Twomey: A Dark Day in Paradise, Brighton Pavilion Review: Francis AlÃ¿s: A Story…

June 16, 2010

James White, Burgerbox (2010)

Like many a great still life, this one by James White is a dazzling piece of representation. But the scene represented is at one remove, painted from a photograph. His use of black and white draws attention this fact, as skilful as the reproduction may be. The result is a…

June 14, 2010July 27, 2010

Francis AlÃ¿s: Paradox of Praxis I (Sometimes Doing Something Leads to Nothing)

The art of Francis AlÃ¿s is a reflection of political realities. In this film he pushes a block of ice around the streets of Mexico City for six or seven hours until it melts. On the same streets, thousands of locals spend their days pushing, carrying or towing wares or…

June 11, 2010

Preview: Cage Mix – Sound and Sculpture at BALTIC

Exhibition: Cage Mix – Sound and Sculpture, BALTIC, Gateshead, until September 19 2010 If ever a course sounded challenging, it was this one: Experimental Composition at the New School for Social Research; tutor: John Cage. Cage taught the classes towards the end of the 1950s and his students were by…