WHO IS ISOYA?

London is not free of talent. 

One way to discover this is to visit graduation shows of art schools, like the one I've seen this July -  Goldsmiths MA-ers have exhibited their last  works while still students before plunging into the cruel reality of London (and international) art world.

Hirofumi Isoya, Installation View 2011

In the manner of Louis XV, I always have my favori. This time my favouritism could not but fell on the head of  one artist - Hirofumi Isoya, whose work I immediately found truly captivating.

Newly discovered Velasquez to be sold by Bonhams!

Bonhams claims to discover previously unknown portrait by Diego Rodriguez de Sylva y Velazquez (1599-1660).  The painting will be on sale in December with an estimate of  £2,000,000 - 3,000,000.

Understandably, the auction house is  highly excited. The painting, if it is by Velasquez, will be 99th picture known to us today as executed by this great Spanish master (with only 4 in private hands and 94 in the museums).

Frieze as it is (FRIEZE 2011 VIP Opening Pictures)

Jake and Dinos Chapman at White Cube, Frieze 2011 

Pavillion of Art&Design London. Day 0

Few pictures from the Pavillion of Art&Design London (PAD),  modern design and art fair occupying for 5 days (12-16 October 2011) the whole of Berkeley Square, Mayfair.

The fair's website http://www.padlondon.net/ claims that  "Once again Moët Hennessy sponsors the donation of a major piece of Design or Decorative Arts to the Victoria & Albert Museum as part of the Moët Hennessy-PAD London Prize". However,  as it appears the prize has not been awarded this year, due to V&A's  sudden decision to file for a divorce with PAD. Instead of accepting a piece chosen by PAD's judging panel, the museum preferred to receive plain cash (£20, 000) from the Outset Design Fund to make its own choice and purchase a new object.

 Patrick Perrin, co-director of PAD, reported the judging committee  of the prize chaired by architect and designer Nigel Coates to be "very upset". 


(see the front page of  the Arts Newspaper, 12 October 2011)




See more pictures inside

Art in Movement (at the RA and the V&A)

Curious, how two exhibitions which seemingly have nothing to do with each other are  creating a beautiful mosaic in my spotless mind (spotless due to a month break from any exhibitions and museums). 

The first one - a modern wunderkammer "Power of Making"  in the V&A   (on until 2 January 2012),  the second  -  "Degas and the Ballet. Picturing movement" in the Royal Academy (on until 11 December 2011). 

Degas  exhibition is arguably the most gracious pas the RA has performed recently. It presents  an impressive load of stretching, resting, swirling,  'arabesque-ing'  figures drawn, painted and even photographed by the french artist  along  his  life.  Private and state Institutions from all over the world have contributed to the show - ranging from the Pushkin Museum  to the MOMA,  from Jasper  Johns's to University of Oklahoma's collections.   

cries of children cries of women cries of birds in paint

Guernica, 1937

In April 1937, at the height of the Spanish Civil war, a terrible disaster befell the ancient city  of Guernica. As reported by George Steer, the London Times journalist, three quarters of the city was razed to the ground as a result of the bombing by allied German Luftwaffe "Condor Legion" and the Italian Fascist “Aviazione Legionaria”.

At that moment Picasso was working on a mural for the Paris International Exhibition to be held in the summer of 1937, commissioned by the Spanish Republican government. Or rather not working, since he could not find his creative inspiration, hardly overwhelmed by any patriotic feeling; however learning of Guernica massacre, on 1 May 1937 the artist  set off working fiercely. In 3 months he presented his Guernica to the world, a painting that would become iconic symbol of the war and its destructive power on innocent lives, as well as one of Picasso's most prominent works.  

Some Material Art in Very Material World

Contemporary art is often blamed for being too easy on the eye and easy on the mind, in a sense that what if often does to the audience is that it SHOCKS. Shock being an instrument to reach the viewer  and transfer the artist's message to his astonished public.

Quite often contemporary art  entertains the public,  better than the Paris Disneyland does. In Disney it is the eery "Hollywood Tower Hotel"  that brings adrenaline all the way down to your toes;  nowadays an art gallery  can encourage the synthesis  of the  stress hormone  with an equal success. 

Jake or Dinos Chapman, White Cube, July 2011http://www.independent.co.uk

Surprise, amusement and even disgust  - these are  the kind of feelings quite often evoked by l'art contemporain.  Shock is a fast and effective way to penetrate the brain of a viewer - not always kind, and almost never elegant.

Jake or Dinos Chapman,
 White Cube, July2011
http://www.eastnews.pl/

YBA, in general, and a new Chapman Brothers' show in the White Cube, in particular,  is clearly a vivid illustration  of a thought  above.In the latter Jay Jopling  reveals  unhesitantly why contemporary art exhibition is called a show: "Jake or Dinos Chapman"  is a SHOW  where the first thing I encountered on entering the gallery  was an indignant looking 35-year old woman who was dragging out her daughter and telling her with  outrage, nearly bursting into tears: "Honey, don't look, it is horrible!!!"

(see  Jake Chapman in  Hoxton if you are not that sensitive).