Saatchi Gallery: The Shape of Things To Come: New Sculpture & Richard Wilson’s installation 20:50

Saatchi Gallery at King’s Road in London is one of these places that every art admirer has to visit. Currently the gallery shows an exhibition The Shape of Things To Come: New Sculpture, displaying work of 20 international artist who work with different kinds of materials. There is no any curatorial theme as such, visitor can simply appreciate the sculptures set in spacious and bright rooms of the Saatchi Gallery. This exhibition, fully devoted to contemporary sculpture, turns its attention to the process of the creation of art. Sculptures differ between each other, one can find anything from pieces of rocks, bodies made of clay or my favourite- Dirk Skreber’s Untilted (Crash 1) and Untilted (Crash 2) showing a car in the moment of a car crash which turns attention into the collision forces. Exhibition in the Saatchi Gallery made me reflect upon the contemporary sculpture and made me wonder whether exhibited work truly reflects the essence of a "new sculpture."

For pictures from the exhibition see:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13560207

Exhibition will be open till 16th of October 2011.

However, what mostly impressed me while visiting the Saatchi Gallery was Richard Wilson's permanent installation. It is the only permanent installation in the Saatchi Gallery. Richard Wilson is one of the most significant contemporary British sculptors. His art is largely inspired by engineering and construction work. He represented Britain in the Biennales in Sydney, Yokohma,a Sao Paulo and Venice. 

His installation exhibited in the Saatchi Gallery  was firstly created in 1987 and it is entitled 20:50, which is a name of the type of recycled engine oil. At first sight his installation looks like a large construction room, however after spotting a walkway in the middle of the room one starts to think whether the room is divided by the mirrors which reflect the upper part of the room altering the impression of the space. After a while a intense smell of petroleum makes us realise that the mirrors are in fact a lake of oil and it is this perfectly still liquid, which reflects the upper part of the room and symmetrically enlarges its perspective. This complex installation looks very simple and effortless and there is something which makes us stare and admire this weird illusion for as long as we can stand the strong smell of oil. The effect is incredible and makes us experience the space differently. One might say that the illusion is beautiful although paradoxically created by the substance of a very harmful nature. Although installation was created in 1987 its relevance is particularly important nowadays.

Toulouse-Lautrec and Jane Avril Beyond the Moulin Rouge, a must see exhibition

Wandering around London on a hot Saturday afternoon can always bring some surprises! Today after nice walk on the Waterloo bridge I noticed that The Courtlaud Gallery in the Somerset House currently shows a temporary exhibition of one of my favourite artists- Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, I could not miss a chance to see it. I admire Toulouse-Lautrec as an artists and most importantly as a person, since my very good friend gave me as a birthday present a moving biography of this artists, Moulin Rouge, which I recommend for everyone to read. Until 18th of September 2011, The Courtauld Gallery shows exhibition Toulouse Lautrec and Jane Avril Beyond the Moulin Rouge, free entrance for full-time students.

Courtland Gallery is a small museum, but one which exhibits one of the most astonishing artists such as Van Gogh, Renoir, Manet, Seurat, Rubens, Gaugin, Kandinsky and many others. In Courtland Gallery one can admire such famous paintings as The Luncheon on the Grass by Eduard Manet, Van Gogh‘s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear or Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergere.

Exhibition Toulouse Lautrec and Jane Avril Beyond the Moulin Rouge shows an artistic relationship between Toulouse Lautrec and Moulin Rouge dancer- Jane Avril. While most of us recognise Toulouse-Lautrec’s  avangarde posters and paintings, not many heard of  his muse, Jane Avril. Both artists met in Toulouse-Lautrec’s favourite night club in Montmarte, Paris- Moulin Rouge. Jane Avril was one of the stars in Moulin Rouge in 1890s, in fact her fame flourished thanks to series of posters featuring her by Tolouse-Lautrec. They were close friends in 19^th century Paris. Portraits by Toulouse-Lautrec are particularly interesting because they capture Jane Avril not only as a dancer in Moulin Rouge but also as a private person in a completely private settings. Moreover, exhibition reveals that Jane Avril eccentricity perhaps comes from the fact that she was a patient of a mental hospital, suffering from a strange illness which influenced her movements- therefore also her dance in the Moulin Rouge. It has to be remembered that also Toulouse-Lautrec was an extraordinary person, unfortunately suffering from a rare genetic disease. Therefore, both are quite peculiar characters who nevertheless represent the essence of artistic Paris in 1890s. It is a very first exhibition concerning their relationship and I found the theme of this small exhibition and a selection of few but wonderful posters and paintings extremely interesting.

For an introduction to the exhibition see:

http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/vodcasts/2011/toulouse-lautrec.shtml

The Place, review of Touch Wood and Animal Lost performances

Yesterday I had a chance to view two wonderful contemporary dance performances at The Place in London. The Place is a leading venue for contemporary dance in the UK and it is located nearby Euston Station in London. It offers range of different activities such as dance training, performances in the country‘s busiest dance theatre, and initiatives supporting artists development in their careers.

TOUCH WOOD

I visited The Place to see two performances. First of them,  Touch Wood was a presentation of rough ideas by four different dance groups: Company Chameleon, Shelley Maxwell, Katie Green, Amy Green and Velantina Golfieri. Artists presented fragments of their performances using a space of simple wooden floor and audience as critics, in order to get a feedback as to their evolving performances. I was very impressed by Company Chameleon‘s beautiful and utterly seductive ‘dance with the devil.‘ Artists have proven that additional details and fancy costumes are of no importance compared to great idea, choreography and technique.

ANIMAL LOST

After the tasting of a bit of contemporary dance during Touch Wood performance, the audience went to the Theatre for the performance Animal Lost created in 2010 by Yossi Berg and Oded Graf dance company from Israel, which performs around the world. Company’s tours in 2011 include: France (Montpellier), the U.K. (London), the U.S. (New York, Portland, North Carolina), Sweden (Stockholm), Switzerland (Lausanne, Basel, Chur, St. Gallen), Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo), Peru (Lima), Slovenia (Ljubljana), Croatia (Zagreb), Turkey (Ankara), Lithuania (Kaunas), Poland (Warsaw), Canada (Vancouver), Italy (Rome, Bari)

For more information about the company visit:

http://yossioded.com/

Animal Lost begins with a strange and powerful poem spelled out to the microphone by a seductive woman who afterwards puts on a horse mask trying to entertain the audience with trivial jokes. She is soon joined by other dancers wearing animal masks who start a pop like, sexual dance to traditional music. The performance unfolds in a very fast pace form this point on- animals undress, get rid of their masks, dress up again and start dancing with duets and trios reflecting animal desires and complicated relationships. Here, when they stop, dancers start to announce their multiple, random identities with a very confessional tone: 'I am Danish dentist and I make lots of mistakes’, ‘I am British I like tea and cake’ , ‘I am gay’, ‘I am a Venezuelan model’… the rest of the performance is full of astonishing dance technique, pop music mixed with sad longing songs, sadness mixed with happiness, screams with laughter, all joined by masks, guitar, water gun, random slogans and most of all coupled with powerful dance. This mixture is hard to describe, surely has to be seen and experienced.

The performance was followed by short interview with the choreographers conducted by the Director of the Theatre, Eddie Nixon.

Asked about the main theme of the performance, Oded Graf revealed that the preparation for Animal Lost started with the question for the artists ‘How would you define yourselves in just three sentences?’ It turned out that while numerous attempts to do that, artists could not get rid of some social cliches and stereotypes. Therefore, the performance rises questions about social and cultural differences, defining and redefining ourselves, stereotyping and the fact that how we describe ourselves does not necessarily show the whole story. It also tries to show how people put masks while interacting with each other. Yossi Berg explained that performance tried to show that even irrelevant, small things can grow to be significant, they can make you feel happy in the particular place and time, which poses a question of how much happiness particular things bring to us. He also related to the animal theme as the one which is suppose to show how people tend to get into someone else's skins and eventually become different people, all connected to the recurring question in the performance of finding ourselves.

Another question asked about why this particular animals have been chosen in the performance. Yossi Berg replied that animals were chosen randomly but it was the ones that do not impose particular stereotypical characteristics which allowed to explore bigger range of the emotions in the performance.

Asked about if the performance is a dark work, Yossi Berg replied that the performance shows the blurring line between the opposites, it shows that human feelings are very close to each other and can change really fast, reaching extreme points and revealing inner conflicts. Oded Graf agreed, saying that the performance shows the whole spectrum of feelings, darkness being only one aspect of them, which shows how hard it is to reach the truth about ourselves.

Eddie Nixon also asked about what is mostly important in the theatre for the choreographers. Oded Graf revealed that what fascinates him the most is exploring something new within the bodies and exploring changing relationships between different people. Yossi Berg answered that he likes to explore the conflicts within a person and appreciates the interaction between actors, space and the audience.

Asked about how is it for them to work together, Oded Graf said that choreographers’ cooperation started when they invited each other for their performances to dance, which made them get to know each other in different roles. It turned into fruitful partnership where both choreographers give each other the confidence to create. He added that the dance company works together as a group, exchanging ideas and going together through the creation process.

Eddie Nixon also asked if they are influenced by the Israeli contemporary dance style. Yossi Berg answered that their work surely is influenced ,but more by what Israel means to them and by their travels, rather than by Israeli contemporary dance style per se.

For me Animal Lost turned out to be a powerful and provocative performance, which by mixing nonesene and truth challenges the way we look at our identity and sexuality. It made me think about universality of human repression, fantasies and most of all human needs, one of them being longing for love.

Asked about future plans Oded Graf revealed that the company prepares a new work in Switzerland, which is going to reflect different perception about change, inspired by choreogrpaher’s attitude towards change in their country as compared to perception by citizens in Switzerland. If the next performance is going to be as excellent as Animal Lost I would surely recommend to see it.

For the rehearsals video of Animal Lost see

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCe68anHm20&feature=player_embedded#

Joan Miro in Tate Modern

I have been fascinated by Joan Miro's art since first seeing his work in Maeght Foundation in St. Paul de Vence in France. His unique style, resembling child’s drawings, made a big impression on me at the time. Also, his colourful and surreal sculptures left a mark in my memory. Some time after, I had a chance to engage with his art in Foundation Joan Miro in Barcelona, based in the picturesque Park Montjuic. Being a great admirer of Miro’s art since then I couldn't wait to see Joan Miro exhibition in Tate Modern in London. I had a chance to do that last week on the rainy Saturday afternoon. Starting with a cup of coffee in the cafe on top of Tate’s Modern building, with a beautiful view for St. Paul's cathedral, me and my good friend got ready for our visit.

Joan Miro’s was born in Catalonia 118 years ago. His art was at first influenced by Fauvism and later developed in the direction of Surrealism. Exhibition in Tate Modern shows a remarkable number of more than 150 works by the artist and is a first big retrospective exhibition in the UK since 1964. Exhibition in Tate Modern shows the evolution of Miro’s style from Fauvism to his own, unique form of expression, as suggested by exhibition’s curators being nevertheless detached from surrealism, which are simple forms, lively colours and ‘child-like’ drawings, expressing a childhood subconsciousness.

Exhibition in Tate Modern takes us through 60 years of Miro’s life, reflecting his personality, sense of national identity and turbulent political situation in 20th century Europe. It is the biggest strength of this exhibitions that a visitor has a chance to fully engage with Miro’s life by having a possibility to read short biographic notes in each of the rooms of the exhibition, to be able to fully grasp his art from the particular period of his life afterwards.

Miro’s art is rich in Catalan folklore, reflecting artists’ sense of nationality. Exhibition is also full of political symbolism- Miro lived in Spain during Spanish Civil War and experienced living in France during World War II. Creating in Franco’s Spain, Miro’s abstract paintings became a symbol of resistance, surpassing dark days of Franco’s rule. Personally, the room which mostly influenced my imagination and sense of esthetics, was the round room with the series of blue paintings, which took me into a completely different, imaginary world created by the artist. What mostly appeals to me in Miro’s art exhibited in Tate Modern is the persistence, energy and mystery emanating from the paintings and sculptures, revealing artists determination, self-control and commitment to his work, which makes the exhibition truly authentic.

Miro himself said “I try to apply colors like words that shape poems, like notes that shape music,” and for me his art is indeed like poetry, everyone can understand it and experience it in their own way, that is why I truly recommend to visit Miro’s exhibition in Tate Modern.

Exhibition is open until 11th of September 2011, for more information visit:

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/joanmiro/

Welcoming note

Hi everyone,

This blog is going to be dedicated to culture in its broad sense. It is going to touch upon the passions which I have developed during my time out- main focus will be on art, especially modern and contemporary art, including reviews of latest exhibitions, notes about interesting artists and art events.

Also, I will share my thoughts on literature, travel, dance (classical and contemporary), films and any other aspects of culture which are worth writing about and which I had a chance to experience during my time out in different places. Hope you are going to enjoy it and I am looking forward to share my experiences, observations and opinions on culture & art.