Materialism, consumerism and the wealth of post-WW2 USA.
Jasper Johns, influenced by the psychological writings of Witgenstein, and according to himself he was ‘interested in things which represent the world’.
Through using the encaustic technique he could create an elabroate and expressive surface. Three Flags is the ultimate Dadaist gesture and shows influences of Duchamp’s Large Glass along with the gestural marks of Abstract Expressionism.
The choice of representing flags indicates a stereotypical Pop Art attempt: representing the most banal and easily recognisable subject matter possible.
Alex Katz, Round Hill 1977
Current exhbition of works at Turner Contemporary, Margate (Alex Katz: Give Me Tomorrow, 6 October 2012 - 13 January 2013).
Bold paintings combining pop art forms, flatness of the canvas, bright, block and saturdated colours
2013; a year the Mayans never intended for us to see, but art continues to dominate the capital.
The Barbican continues its collection of 60s and 70s photography along with Tate Britain’s display of 2012 Turner Prize winners and the RA’s collection of Japanese intallation artist Mariko Mori’s work.
But what is there that’s not to be missed? Jeurgen Teller at the ICA, Karl Schwitters at Tate Britain, or wait a little longer and catch Man Ray at the National Portrait Gallery and Tate Modern’s Litchenstein retrospective… but will it be as much of a success as Hirst!?
White Cube, Burmondsey
Anthony Gormley: Model (until 10th February 2013)
Barbican
Everything was moving: Photography from the 60s and 70s (until 13th January 2013)
Royal Academy
Mariko Mori: Rebirth
National Portrait Gallery
Man Ray (7th February- 26th May 2013)
Tate Modern
Litchenstein Retrospective (21st February- 26th May 2013)
Tate Britain
Turner Prize 2012 (until 6th January)
Schwitters in Britain (30th January- 12th May 2013)
ICA
Jeurgen Teller (23rd January- 17th March 2013)
Kopparberg pop-up event ‘Kopparberg un-establishment’ at the Nicholls and Clarke Building, Shoreditch.
Combining art, fashion, photography, drink and food. With a polariod boothe from The Impossible Project.
20th - 25th October 3-10 Shoreditch High Street, Spitalfields London E1
Andy Warhol, Campbell’s Soup Can, 1962
“Warhol’s Campbell Soup portraits are is way of expressing ultimate realism- think of those old pictures od supermarket shelves stacked high with pyramids of cans. That was his era and he was recreating it for everyone to see. Without him, modern art would be completely different”, Patrick Elliot, senior curator Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.
…he’s the king of pop art for a reason.
To the narrow-minded, yes, this is a crude and vulgar representation of Emin’s own body. Blue or black watercolour, ink or stitching to create the outline of the artist’s body in a limited variety of reclining poses.
These works may seem unnecessary, and just another example of works that give Emin her media notoriety and her attention seeking thrill. However, once understood there is a lot more to these works- a solid representation of her emotional turbulence of eroticism and troubled relationships, with themes of love and sex.
Art movements can’t be the same, and repeat themselves or else there would be nothing to talk about. Bearing this in mind, this is simply another representation of the female form - one of art’s most historic and classical, repeated subject matters both in sculpture and painting - but by a contemporary artist. Other aspects of the art resonate artistic motifs, the use of the colour blue- the same shade used by Renaissance artists (lapis lazuli) and Yves Klein in his unforgettable Anthropometries, 1960 (Yves Klein Bleu). Finally, the use of embroidery (c.f. ‘Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995, 1995 ) in the stitched canvases and large tapestries is a traditional form of media (Bayeux Tapestry??).
In the final room- the North Gallery- the paint on the canvases has changed from blue to black- representing a more sombre mood, and her pose has opened up with stretched arms (as supposed to the earlier closed form) representing a sense of personal freedom.
Within the Irene Willett Gallery there are a collection of small watercolours and sketches by Rodin and Turner. These works follow a similar subject- nude figures reclining in uncomfortable poses. These are important to the exhibition in signifying how Emin’s subject matter is nothing new and these well-respected artists have a past of deep eroticism too.
The curator has brought together a strong collection of works, and the contrast with the classical pieces succeeds in a strong complimentary. However, the exhibition is slightly repetitive and narrow in Emin’s style, with a limited number of pieces not of the female form and only a few sculptures. What must be remembered is that she has succeeded on a 21st century take on a classical subject matter in a deeply emotional style.
‘Emin: She Lay Down Deep Beneath The Sea’, 26th May- 23rd September 2012, Turner Contemporary, Margate (http://www.turnercontemporary.org/exhibitions/tracey-emin-she-lay-down-deep-beneath-the-sea)
Mr Brainwash- LA based graffitti artist
Simon Evans ‘Everything I have’ (2008)
BT ArtBox
A celebration of Sir Gilbert-Scott’s 1920s iconic design, this is BTs means of celebrating Britain, in perfect timing for the Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee. Following the campaign, they will be auctioned publically for Childline’s 25th Anniversary.
With 82 boxes in total, consisting of designs by leading artists, designers and creatives including Ted Baker, Giles Deacon and Zandra Rhodes.
These are set to fetch a fortune, as well as adding character to the streets of London and bringing to the capital the nations artistic talen.
Hyper-realism. Photo-realism. Super-realism.
High levels of realism, prompting tromp l’oiel.
(Chuck Close, John de Andrea, Duane Hanson)
