Oskar Peet & Sophie Mensen ,'Syzygy'

Why are things the way they are? This is the question which the twelve participating creatives tackled when producing their new work for ‘Objects Rescoped’ at the Galerie van de Water during this year’s Dutch Design Week. The meanings behind ordinary objects were challenged by the designers, making us re-think and re-appreciate things around us.

Exhibition goers were invited to walk around the space and observe the work through conical ‘viewers’, directing your gaze towards specific details.

‘Syzsygy’ by Oskar Peet and Sophie Mensen is a continuous light source which draws inspiration from the moon, sun and planets of our solar system. The light features three disks, two of which can be turned to produce solar eclipse effects.

Monique Habraken, 'Tapestry from a collection of feathers from one male duck'/Eefiene Bolhuis, 'Barley'

Monique Habraken’s tapestry made entirely from duck feathers was one of the highlights of the show. The rich colours and textures from the feathers, which Monique sourced from a slaughterhouse, are absolutely stunning. Nearby, Eefiene Bolhuis’ ‘Barley’ swayed carelessly in the breeze provided by a small fan. The beautiful moving jewellery looked surprisingly realistic.

Florian de Visser, 'Animatorium' / Eva Gevaert, 'Babushka'

Florian de Visser showcased ‘Animatorium’, a low-tech Florian developed to make scale models and videos which were combined together to create a surreal visual experience. We really liked Eva Gevaert’s wooden ‘Babushka’ vessels. Each vessel is made from several completely different parts which fit perfectly together even though they look as if they wont fit.

Dutch Design Week 2011 website.

Oskar Peet
Sophie Mensen
Monique Habraken
Eefiene Bolhuis
Florian de Visser
Eva Gavaert

Photography by Ruud Peijenburg

PAD London © Desmond O’Neill Features/ Patrick Caulfield Concrete Villa, Bruun (1963) Courtesy of Robin Katz Fine Art, London

A fortnight ago, the Pavilion of Art & Design (PAD) held its fifth arts fair in London’s Berkeley Square. 58 galleries from 11 countries brought a high standard of modern painting, photography, tribal art, design and decorative arts to the capital.

Artwork was not limited to contemporary works though, with some pieces dating as far back as 1860. The increasingly high profile show attracted some influential collectors, dealers and patrons on the arts scene including Lord Rothschild, Elle Macpherson, Marc Quinn, Max Wigram, Christie’s owner François Pinault, Tom Ford and Lady Henrietta Spencer Churchill.

Finn Juhl, NV-45 chair (1945), Courtesy of Dansk Møbelkunst/ Ado Chale 'Luna' table (1928), Courtesy of 88-Gallery

PAD is very much a high end arts event and prices here are not for the faint hearted. Dansk Møbelkunst sold a chair by Finn Juhl for €70,000 within hours of opening and Ado Chale’s ‘Luna’ Table (1928) sold to a collector for £50,000. Helio Oiticia’s Metaesquema No 191 (1958) sold for an asking price near to $300,000. Patrick Caulfield’s Concrete Villa, Bruun (1963), represented by Robin Katz Fine Art won the prize for best piece of fine art was sold for the asking price of £450,000. Galerie Vedovi had particular success, almost selling their whole collection of work by Italian artist Agostino Bonalumi. His Untitled (Nero) from 1967 went for €250,000.

Hélio Oiticica, Metaesquema Numero 191 (1958), Courtesy of Dickinson Gallery/ Agostino Bonalumi, Nero (1967), Courtesy of Galerie Vedovi

An interesting charitable addition to this year’s show was curated by Francis Sultana. Well known designers including Zaha Hadid, Amanda Levete, Max Lamb and Mattia Bonetti were asked to customise Vitra’s child-size edition of the iconic Panton chair. Seven of the eleven chairs were sold, with prices starting at £1500, raising over £25,000 for the NSPCC’s Rebuilding Childhoods Appeal.

Participating galleries agreed that this year’s fair turned out to be even more successful than previous years, proving that, despite fears of even more testing economic times ahead, there is still a huge appetite for exclusive artwork and seemingly plenty of money to be spent on it.

For more information on PAD London, visit the website.

The Windows of Everything at Selfridges/ Kenya Hanley window display

Oxford Street on a Saturday is usually somewhere to avoid like the plague, but last weekend ARTS THREAD was keen to tackle the mystery surrounding the latest offering from weird and wacky independent arts organisation, The Museum of Everything. This meant a visit to Selfridges, a prized venue for an organisation whose very aim is to gain wider recognition and understanding for the self-taught artists it promotes.

The Shop of Everything at Selfridges/ Ruby Bradford bags

As part of what seems to be a near complete takeover of Selfridges, vast interpretations of work from the exhibition can be found in ‘The Windows of Everything’ along Oxford Street. There is some interesting limited edition merchandise available to buy in the ‘The Shop of Everything’ on the ground floor, and in the ‘Café of Everything’ you can grab a coffee and mull it all over afterwards. And if you’re really pushed for time you can visit Exhibition #4 digitally via the website.

Digital Museum of Everything

The Museum of Everything champions work by ‘outsider artists’, that is, those with psychological, physical or learning disabilities, who create art as a means of expression. Exhibition #4 focuses on work from studios across the world, including Germany, Japan, Brazil and the USA, which support these artists. And what an impressive and thought-provoking body of work it is, presented in the extensive labyrinthine space of the Ultralounge Room, on the lower ground floor of London’s best known department store.

Dan Miller/ Harold Stoffers

Much of the work exposes the inner workings of the creator’s mind, sometimes complex and intricate as in the dense visual landscapes of Leonhard Fink, sometimes stripped back and simple, as in the sea creatures of Sabine Munch and the large scale characters by Birgit Gigler (below). There is often a sense of manic repetition, as found in the freehand typographic artwork of Shunji Yamagiwa, Harold Stoffers and Dan Miller (above), and the algorithmic explorations of Melvin Way.

Passions, concerns, desires, obsessions and frustrations are dealt with openly, be they personal or related to wider social issues. William Scott re-imagines an alternative life for himself following the reality of an impoverished childhood, and Dionne Canzano simply draws those things close to her heart, in this case Elvis Presley and tigers. Portraiture also plays a large part in the collection, mostly self portraiture, but also that of key figures such as politicians, authors, or fictional characters and superheroes.

Dionne Canzano/ Birgit Gigler/ William Scott

Whilst some of the work could be accused of being ‘childlike’, the important thing to remember about the work on show here is that it is produced not with the end user in mind, but for the simple sake of creating. It is art for expression’s sake, with no consideration given to cost, commercial opportunity or whether it will be liked or accepted by a public audience. Around the exhibition are printed ‘Conversations’ between curator James Brett and various figures from the art, museum and psychology worlds, which address these issues.

Artist Cindy Sherman, who has been involved with Creative Growth, one of the studios presenting its members work here, says: “So much art out there these days is full of irony and ‘tongue in cheek’ self-consciousness. These artists are more focussed and pure in their vision…they see the world through fresh eyes. The rest of us are immune as we are so hyper-aware of everything that goes on.”

The Museum of Everything is the only independent organisation in the UK dedicated to promoting the work of the ‘untrained, unknown and unintentional creators of our modern world’.

The exhibition runs at Selfridges, 400 Oxford Street, London until 25th October. A £2 donation is requested on entry.

Selfridges

The Museum of Everything

Digital Museum of Everything

The Shop of Everything

Art, robotics and computing collide in Patrick Tresset’s most recent work.

We at ARTS THREAD were completely gobsmacked when we saw Patrick Tresset’s latest innovation, the Aikon-II. Created in collaboration with Frederic Fol Leymarie and supported by the Leverhulme Trust grant, the artist and researcher at Goldsmiths, University of London has created a mechanical arm which has the uncanny ability to sketch anyone who sits before it.

“The main objective of our investigation is to implement a computational system capable of simulating the various important processes involved in face sketching,” explains Tresset. “It is evident that due to knowledge and technological limitations the implementation of each process will remain coarse and approximate. The system implemented is expected to draw in its own style.”

The robotic device was recently exhibited in London’s Tenderpixel gallery and its predecessor (Aikon-I) has received notable press coverage from the likes of the BBC and Wired magazine.

Tresset’s work has already caused a dialogue between artists who have been debating technology’s place within fine art. Could new inventions such as the Aikon mean that freehand sketching is now a thing of the past?

Learn more about the Aikon project here.

Bruno Brites/ Ju Hee Lee/ Huaijin Cao

47 MA students from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art will unveil the fruits of their labor at the 2011 Dundee Masters Show.

Opening on the 27th of August, the highly anticipated show will feature works from the Design, Fine Art, Animation & Visualisation, Forensic Art, Media Art and Medical Art Masters courses.

For those of you who plan on visiting, make sure to check out Bruno Brites’ (Design) unique Braille typography, Ju Hee Lee’s (Fine Art) contemplative images which deal with growing old in modern society and Huaijin Cao’s (Animation & Visualisation) fluorescent motion graphics.

Yi-Jing Chen/ Lydia Carline/ Jennifer Colquhoun

Other students to look out for are Yi-Jing Chen (Media Art), who will display a large projected installation which deals with the political differences between China and Taiwan, Lydia Carline (Forsensic Art) with her impressively detailed illustrations of syphilitic cells and Jennifer Colquhoun (Medical Art) who will showcase some interesting 3D animations of stem cells.

Several other events will take place during the week-long show including guided tours of the various departments, introductions to the courses and talks by Richard Scott, the Managing Director of Axis Animation and Julianne Pierce, Executive Producer at Blast Theory.

The Dundee Masters Show runs from 27 August – 3 September at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, 13 Perth Road, Dundee, DD1 4HT.

For further information, visit the Dundee Masters Show 2011 Website.

Another Level, Katie Louise Surridge; Walker, Shannah Bupp

We are excited to announce the opening of a fresh and vibrant new contemporary art space opening in the heart of Shoreditch: EB & Flow. Occupying an old printing workshop, the gallery aims to provides a platform to exhibit and support young artists during the early development of their professional careers.

The premier exhibition ‘Since Tomorrow’, curated by Attilia Fattori Franchini, celebrates the multi-disciplinary works on the gallery’s 11 resident artists and opened yesterday, April 02 2011. ARTS THREAD spoke to the founders Margherita Berloni and Nathan Engelbrecht to find out more.

St Peter's Seminary, Wilderness, Ross M Brown; EB&Flow, 77 Leonard Street

EB & Flow: What makes us unique is the commitment and dedication we have to all our artists. We have guaranteed all 11 artists a solo exhibition, we assist them with their professional development and we provide them with secure and stable representation throughout. We are also committed to supporting the scene and marketplace for emerging artists in general. We want to support artists and educate and encourage new collectors so have a series of educational events and talks, where informed professionals discuss a variety of topics with the public.

AT: What drew you to your choice of venue?

EB & Flow: The East London art scene much more is vibrant, avant garde and contemporary than the West End, so suits the type of artists we show. The venue is around 3000sq feet and as such many new exciting and interesting artists can be exhibited. Galleries in Shoreditch have coped with the recession reasonably well and this has meant the East London art world has refocused on Shoreditch wheareas before lots of galleries were around Bethnal Green and Vyner Street.

So Over, Katie Louise Surridge; A Beautiful Struggle, Katie Louise Surridge

EB & Flow: In order to nurture future generations of artists, commercial galleries have a responsibility to step in and provide support for emerging artists. Cuts have meant that the art world is going to have to look to new sources of funding and there will be a space and necessity for a new breed of benefactors to come through. We work closely with Acme studios who share our ethos of supporting emerging artists. Organizations like this who can provide artists with resources, affordable studios, living space, residencies and awards are going to become increasingly more important especially for artists at an early stages of their careers.

AT: How did you go about selecting the core artists for the opening exhibition?

EB & Flow: Through constant research. We spend all our time visiting degree shows and exhibitions. We also have relationships that allow us access to a lot of artists’ private studios. The artists we represent were generally amongst the most highly praised artists in their respective graduation shows and many have won or were nominated for prizes such as the Jerwood Prize, Catlin Prize, Future Map and Saatchi New Sensations. But first and foremost we choose our artists for aesthetic reasons. Our personal tastes are important as are our aspirations for the gallery but we have also taken in to account their achievements and level of study they have reached.

Moon True, Gemma Anderson; Fernandina, Gemma Anderson

EB & Flow:The opening show will be a presentation of the 11 artists we represent working across disciplines from installation and painting, to sculpture and photography. With our curator, Attilia Fattori Franchini, we have developed a show that conveys our artists’ reaction to space, be it urban space, natural space or personal space. On the opening night, Alessandro Librio, an Italian sound artist who is at the Venice Biennale this year, will be doing a live performance.

AT Imagine the gallery 10 years from now, what do you hope to have accomplished?

EB & Flow: We hope we would have created more awareness of the emerging art scene and put on numerous shows that have been enjoyed and ultimately have encouraged people to be genuinely excited by art rather than alienated by it. We also want all of our 11 artists to have advanced their careers to be critically acclaimed professionals with work present in public collections making a living through their art.

Since Tomorrow continues at EB & Flow gallery, Shoreditch from April 02– May 26 2011.

Image credits left to right, top to bottom: Katie Louise Surridge, Another Level, 4x4x3m, mixed media including reclaimed wood, glass flowers,; Shannah Bupp, Walker, ink on paper, courtesy the artist and EB&Flow; Ross M Brown, St Peter’s Seminary, Wilderness, 145×120 cm, oil on canvas, 2010 courtesy the artist and EB&Flow; Katie Louise Surridge, So Over, Mixed Media ( including fence posting, skins, straw, bunting, roofing felt); Katie Louise Surridge, A Beautiful Struggle, 2011, 25x11x11cm, Mixed Media (crocodile teeth, tomato plant; Gemma Anderson, Moon True, 2010, etching on copper, courtesy the artist and EB&Flow; Gemma Anderson, Fernandina courtesy the artist and EB&Flow

Wafrica, Serge Mouangue, 2008; BMW Art Car, Esther Mahlango, 1991

If you are lucky enough to be in in New York before the 15th May, don’t miss the truly inspiring exhibition on at the Museum of Art and Design, The Global Africa Project. If you can’t head out to the Big Apple, then check out their website for comprehensive images and information.

A short video on the website introduces passionate co-curators, Lowery Stokes Sims from the Museum of Arts and Design and Leslie King Hammond, Founding Director, the Center for Race and Culture at the Maryland Institute College of Art. They describe their collaboration in the creation of this exhibition as their mission for visitors to “see Africa differently”. They certainly achieve that aim with the wonderful breadth of creative pieces they have gathered and exhibited over two floors of the Museum.

Mercedes Benz SA Award installation 2009; Olu Amoda, 2010; Patchwork Vase, Stephen Burks, 2004

Portrait of Qusuquzah Mickalene Thomas, 2008; Harlem Toile de Jouy (Detail), Sheila Bridges, 2010

Other famous exhibitors include Kehinde Wiley, Fred Wilson, London-based fashion designer Duro Olowu and Paris-based Togolese/Brazilian designer Kossi Aguessy, who has collaborated with the likes of Yves Saint Laurent and Cartier. Works by these recognised talents are displayed alongside lesser known, but equally inventive artists of African heritage.



Willowlamp, Adam Hoets and Sian Eliot; Ousmane M'Baye, 2009; The Hope Throne, Goncala Mabunda, 2008

The Global Africa Project continues at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York until May 15 2011.

Image credits: Wafrica, Serge Mouangue, 2008. Cotton, silk, wax print, courtesy of the artist, photography by Yuji Zendou; BMW Art Car, Esther Mahlango, 1991; Portrait of Qusuquzah, Mickalene Thomas, 2008. C-print, photography courtesy of the artist; Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York; all other images photography by Joyce Thornton.

Human Evolution, Eliana Dimitrakopoulou; Chandelier: Hair Filament, Dari Bae

The Zabludowicz Collection art space is a converted 19th century Methodist chapel and the geometric stained glass and wood panelling give a slightly eerie atmosphere to the works.

Highlights include Dari Bae’s Chandelier: Hair Filament. The work attempts to expose and critique capitalist structures by re-pressing the chandelier and its associations with power and light. Instead of electrical filaments, the glass bottles contain human hair. In many cultural traditions, hair represents power.

London College of Fashion MA Fashion Design and Technology graduate Eliana Dimitrakopoulou takes real fur and dyes it as though stained in blood for her collection Human Evolution.

Instrument for Observing Water Bounce, Josh Baum; Found Knife Blade with Ceramic Horn Handle, Laura Plant

Josh Baum’s Instrument for Observing Water Bounce was another highlight. A glass ornament contains water and slowly a single droplet trickles down a spout, which then bounces off a circular pad and lands delicately and perfectly in a beautiful china cup, rippling the surface and creating a melodic pattern in the water. Josh Baum, an MA Fine Art graduate from Central Saint Martins, won the Zabludowicz Collection Future Map Prize of £3000 and the opportunity to make a commercial edition with the Zabludowicz Collection.

Laura Plant, who studied Ceramics at Camberwell College of Arts, has created a series of ornamental knives. Laura says: ‘My Dad is a butcher and my friend Sarah is afraid of being stabbed. I am interested in the contradictions in how knives are viewed. An everyday tool with the potential to become a dangerous weapon.’

Wrapper Corners, Hollie Paxton; Urban Landscape (triptych), Maryrose Watson

Textile Design BA (Hons) graduate Maryrose Watson from Chelsea College of Art & Design has produced wall pieces inspired by the urban landscape. Maryrose describes her work as ‘a collection of custom-made oak frames wrapped in overlapping and intersecting layers of viscose rayon yarn, chosen for its highly reflective properties. The effect of light upon the work creates a constantly changing visual experience, encouraging viewers to look at each piece from numerous angles and distances.’

Central Saint Martins’ Jewellery Design BA (Hons) graduate Hollie Paxton reinvents unwanted wrappers as precious objects. Hollie says: ‘By replicating fragments of discarded packaging, using precious materials and labour-intensive processes, this collection questions notions of what can be precious, and highlights the transition from useful to useless and vice-versa.’

The Collection of the Odysseys ‘THE BODY’ in ‘EVERYDAY', Chantinee Premprabha; Confinement Jewellery, Jin Kim

Graduating from the MA Interior and Spatial Design course at Chelsea College of Art & Design, Chantinee Premprabha has created an installation piece that is halfway between architecture and furniture, allowing people to climb up to change a light bulb or open/close a window, but at the same time allowing the user ‘to notice things you would otherwise overlook and to see the architecture in an unexpected way’.

The Best A Man Can Get, Maximillian Boden; Hourglass, Youssef Daoud

On the same course at Chelsea, Youssef Daoud’s Hourglass takes a bespoke approach to functional furniture and involve material combinations such as wood, metal and glass. Youssef explains: ‘Most of the materials I have obtained to use are by their nature modular, as by-products of industry that are produced in large quantities. Through this, I aim to demonstrate the potential of transformation and presentation of materials and objects to change our perspective on what we use/re-use and the effects of our consumption in every sense.’

Central Saint Martin’s Jewellery Design BA (Hons) graduate Maximillian Boden explores ‘the concept of masculinity. I wanted to challenge and question society’s ideas of what is perceived to be masculine. To do this I looked at objects one would normally associate with men.’

Paul, Eun Jung Ha; Sway, Lucia Rivero

Eun Jung Ha’s Paul explored the characteristically human juxtaposition of masculinity and femininity. Eun Jung draws inspiration from sculptures such as Ron Muek to create her life–sized waxwork based on a caretaker from her college, Wimbledon College of Art, where she studied Technical Arts and Special Effects BA (Hons). Placed at the entrance to the gallery, the sculpture was so lifelike, I found myself foolishly staring at Paul for minutes, bemused as to why he was holding a baby chick!

Future Map is running until February 06 at Zabludowicz Collection, Chalk Farm, London

Image credits: photography in the Zabludowicz Collection by Tiffany Kyte.

Bálint Bori, Budapest Arts Fair

As I trudged my snowy boots through the Mücsarnok Art Hall, I was drawn to the strange whir and clank of Bálint Bori’s unusual work. Using everyday household objects such as dustpans, sunglasses, wire and coffee tins, the 2B Gallery artist constructs strange animal-like mechanical objects.

Equation, Zsuzsi Csiszér, Budapest Arts Fair

Zsuzsi’s pop-art inspired ‘destructed’ portraits are created using a myriad of old tv magazines and movie posters which she re-produces using oil on canvas. The two portraits which create Equation show a barrage of images of women which appear to have been persistently slashed and re-assembled, representing the aggressive nature of marketing in mass media and the effect it has on the everyday woman.

Wolf On the Ice , Hella Mayer, Budapest Arts Fair

Réka Jahoda, Budapest Arts Fair

Budapest Arts Fair
Zsuzsi Csiszér
Réka Jahoda

The Creative Enterprise Awards is an initiative of The Enterprise Centre for the Creative Arts (ECCA), which offers free creative business services and advice to students and graduates of the University of the Arts London who have either set up their own business within the last 3 years, or are thinking about starting one or going freelance.

The Awards took place in November at Candid Arts, Islington and the space was also filled with a variety of stalls manned by UAL students and graduates, with festive pressie ideas, cards etc, all for under £10. In fact, there was a prize given to the Best Stand at the Creative Fair which was won by Louise Salmon for her label Just for the Halibut, selling colourful screen printed cushions, bags, scarves and t-shirts. A special mention went to Cabinet of Curiosity by Caroline Collinge, who is currently studying for a PhD at LCF and creates beautiful pieces from pleated and folded newsprint.

Louise Salmon & Just for the Halibut; Cabinet of Curiosity

The prize for the Most Successful Freelancer went to Elizabeth Hepworth, who also won the prize last year as well. Elizabeth is now in her 3rd year at Wimbledon College of Art and has gathered studio exhibitions and plenty of press; in September she appeared in the Evening Standard in a tube train with her easel and tubes of oil ‘feverishly painting passengers between stops.’ A determined character, Elizabeth says’I knew I wanted to paint since I was little, and I have been very certain this is what I’m doing to do for life; I have no plan B. There are empty spaces out there, and I am going to fill them with paint. This really is what I wanted to do since I was born.’

Booshie Bags, Toni Stacey-Blake

Toni Stacey-Blake won the Best Social Enterprise or Ethical Business for her Booshie Bags label. Stacey studied at Cordwainers, part of LCF and her Booshie studio is a community youth project to teach young people skills through creative apprenticeships. ‘I think every young person deserves a chance in this world and they should have the opportunity to do it. Instead of some people attacking each other at the train stations, wouldn’t it be better to take them to my studio, so they can tag the bags and make money from it?’

Prickly Pair Chair, Erotica Cutouts, Gonzalez Wohlers

Valentina Gonzalez Wohlers took the prize for Outstanding New Business. Valentina is from Mexico and came to London to take a Master’s Degree in Contemporary Furniture at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design. Valentina’s furniture is bright and bold and appeals to high-end stores from around the world.

Key designs include the Prickly Pair Chair and Erotica Cutouts. Valentina is also keen to work on collaborations, her Erotica Cutouts took their design from London illustrator Miss Led. ‘In this art and design industry, instead of going solo, we come together and have a common aim and work together. It can bring something interesting to your products, and it can give something interesting to others because we are different.’

Q-Art exhibition Q-Art London Presents II (work in progress), APT Gallery, Deptford

Most Enterprising Project Award went to Sarah Rowles for Q-Art. Sarah set up Q-Art while studying at Goldsmiths and organises workshops and hosts gallery visits for fine art students in London, acting as an additional and alternative learning environment to the HE institution. ‘It’s really important to do things that you believe in and it’s very important to tie your business to your personal view of how things should be. For me, arts education should be open to all, successful for all, and that’s what I am doing with Q-Art.’

ECCA
Just for the Halibut
Cabinet of Curiosity
Elizabeth Hepworth
Booshie Bags
Valentina Gonzalez Wohlers
Q-Art