GROUP A Friday Oct. 31
victoria-miro
http://www.victoria-miro.com/nowshowing/
Elmgreen&Dragset
Too Late
14 October - 15 November 2008
Philip Pearlstein
Up Close and Impersonal
15 October - 15 November 2008
Hales Gallery
http://www.halesgallery.com
The Freedom Centre 'This show will change your life!'
10 Oct - 15 Nov 2008
Artists included in the show:
Trevor Appleson, Adam Dant, Ian Davis, Katy Dove, Peter Joslyn, Richard Klein, Hew Locke, Laura Oldfield Ford, Tom Price, Ross Sinclair, Bob and Roberta Smith, Tomoko Takahashi, Jim Torok, Julie Verhoeven, Jane Wilbraham, Martin Wilner.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
GROUP A Friday Oct. 24 :Saatchi Gallery: The Revolution Continues: New Art from China
GROUP A Friday Oct. 24
Saatchi Gallery: The Revolution Continues: New Art from China
Serpentine Gallery: Gerhard Richter
It comes as no surprise that the newly opened Saatchi Gallery is a seductive blend of outstanding architecture, design and lighting. (Yes, there’s some art, too, but we’ll get to that later). The only surprise here is how simple the overall design of the building is. This is architectural design that is all about focusing our attention on the art and not on the surroundings. This might sound like a straight forward proposition, but in this age of “architourism” where superstar architects such as Daniel Liebeskind and Frank Gehry are drawing huge crowds to new museums where the walls easily overshadow anything that might be hanging on them, it’s a relief to enter a calm, well-lit space where the art is clearly centre stage.
As the title implies, new work from China is the main focus of this exhibition, but one can’t help seeing Saatchi’s imprint on the selection of works. With the exception of one small sculpture on the first floor (Mao as the Quaker Oats Man), everything on display here is big, big, big. If this is a cross section of current Chinese art then one would have to conclude that there are no small canvases in China, nor are there any small sculptures. And there are no video works, films or photographs in China, either. One would also have to conclude that for every 20 male artists there is only one female artist.
The abundance of references to Mao, Capitalism and Revolution in this show seem to point more to western clichés of what might be expected of Chinese art than what contemporary Chinese artists are actually engaged in.
That being said, once you can get your head around the fact that this is not a show that represents China as a whole, but rather is a representation of one man’s collecting interests in a single geographic region of the world, then it’s quite an enjoyable show. Saatchi is clearly interested in work of outstanding technical virtuosity and this can be seen in the revisionist history paintings of Shi Xinning and the haunting family portraits of Zhang Xiaogang. Even Liu Wei’s fantastical city built entirely from edible dog chews shows Wei to be a master of his chosen medium.
Gerhard Richters colour square paintings in Serpentine gallery was a much more quiet and purely aesthetic experience.
The various colour combinations, the squares, the grids, the shiny surfaces reflecting the light, the squares and the grids from the windows, shadows and shapes from the gallery space.
Quite enjoyable to look at just like that, - but when you look closely you can see that they are not made in one piece. Each piece is mounted together by smaller squares, which, - as we are told by a text on the wall, - can be put together in 11 different combinations.
You can chose to see this exhibition as one piece made for this space, and at the same time you can imagine all the 10 other variations, - or more, as the space they are put into will always add something, - if you chose to see it that way.
Or you can see each piece as an individual painting on a gallery-wall. Enjoy the colours, notice the dust in the shiny paint and the slightly uneven straight lines.
Saatchi Gallery: The Revolution Continues: New Art from China
Serpentine Gallery: Gerhard Richter
It comes as no surprise that the newly opened Saatchi Gallery is a seductive blend of outstanding architecture, design and lighting. (Yes, there’s some art, too, but we’ll get to that later). The only surprise here is how simple the overall design of the building is. This is architectural design that is all about focusing our attention on the art and not on the surroundings. This might sound like a straight forward proposition, but in this age of “architourism” where superstar architects such as Daniel Liebeskind and Frank Gehry are drawing huge crowds to new museums where the walls easily overshadow anything that might be hanging on them, it’s a relief to enter a calm, well-lit space where the art is clearly centre stage.
As the title implies, new work from China is the main focus of this exhibition, but one can’t help seeing Saatchi’s imprint on the selection of works. With the exception of one small sculpture on the first floor (Mao as the Quaker Oats Man), everything on display here is big, big, big. If this is a cross section of current Chinese art then one would have to conclude that there are no small canvases in China, nor are there any small sculptures. And there are no video works, films or photographs in China, either. One would also have to conclude that for every 20 male artists there is only one female artist.
The abundance of references to Mao, Capitalism and Revolution in this show seem to point more to western clichés of what might be expected of Chinese art than what contemporary Chinese artists are actually engaged in.
That being said, once you can get your head around the fact that this is not a show that represents China as a whole, but rather is a representation of one man’s collecting interests in a single geographic region of the world, then it’s quite an enjoyable show. Saatchi is clearly interested in work of outstanding technical virtuosity and this can be seen in the revisionist history paintings of Shi Xinning and the haunting family portraits of Zhang Xiaogang. Even Liu Wei’s fantastical city built entirely from edible dog chews shows Wei to be a master of his chosen medium.
Gerhard Richters colour square paintings in Serpentine gallery was a much more quiet and purely aesthetic experience.
The various colour combinations, the squares, the grids, the shiny surfaces reflecting the light, the squares and the grids from the windows, shadows and shapes from the gallery space.
Quite enjoyable to look at just like that, - but when you look closely you can see that they are not made in one piece. Each piece is mounted together by smaller squares, which, - as we are told by a text on the wall, - can be put together in 11 different combinations.
You can chose to see this exhibition as one piece made for this space, and at the same time you can imagine all the 10 other variations, - or more, as the space they are put into will always add something, - if you chose to see it that way.
Or you can see each piece as an individual painting on a gallery-wall. Enjoy the colours, notice the dust in the shiny paint and the slightly uneven straight lines.
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