Showing posts with label sculpture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sculpture. Show all posts
Sunday, 9 June 2019
Saturday, 18 May 2019
Wednesday, 9 January 2019
Top Five: Foxes
1. GOLD FOX PORCELAIN FIGURINE - CERAMIC PORCELAIN FIGURINE SCULPTURE WHITE BONE CHINA PORCELAIN REAL GOLD
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/238075539/gold-fox-porcelain-figurine-ceramic?ref=shop_home_active_6
2. FOX WALLET - SIMPLE LEATHER CARDHOLDER
3. STERLING SILVER FOX CHARM NECKLACE - PERSONALISED FOX NECKLACE - FOXY GIFT - FOX JEWELRY - SILVER FOX NECKLACE
4. BLACK OXFORD FLAT SHOES, BLACK WITH GOLD FOX CUSTOM MADE SHOES, POINTED TOE SHOES, WOMEN FLAT TIE SHOES, HANDMADE SHOES
5. CROCHET FOX RUG, HAND MADE RUG, CROCHET RUG, AREA RUG, CHILDREN RUG, BABY ROOM RUG, FOX RUG
Sunday, 18 February 2018
Wednesday, 15 November 2017
Wednesday, 3 August 2016
Thursday, 21 July 2016
Friday, 6 May 2016
Monday, 1 February 2016
Sunday, 24 January 2016
LADY DATE JANUARY 2016: ART, FEMINISM, A DETECTIVE AGENCY, COCKTAILS AND MUSIC
LADY DATE JANUARY 2016
ART, FEMINISM, A DETECTIVE AGENCY, COCKTAILS AND MUSIC
As is usual for our lady dates we
only had one destination in mind when we set out and that was to end up at The
Briton Academy for around 8 o’clock.
We decided our first location while
on the train into Liverpool Street. The Saatchi Gallery was displaying an exhibition
called Champagne Life. The show is
entirely formed of Women artists. Is this a sign that Saatchi is a Feminist?
No. It’s a sign that he’s not a feminist. He bought a bunch of work by women
artist, that’s true but then he separated them from the men and put them in a
show together. Why? There’s never going to be a men only show. It makes us read
into things so much more. When a man shows a sculpture of a body he is showing
the self, the human body, humans in general, we don’t think he is talking specifically
about the male self, it is always in reference to mankind, when a woman
displays a female body it is always seen to reference the woman’s role or female
body image, or even worse, women in perspective to men. Never seen as just a
human. This is why feminism needs to exist but even so feminists fail at this
role of equality, even in calling themselves feminists they are setting them
selves up for failure. For this reason I am not a feminist, I believe that
everyone should be equal, I’m not fighting for the rights of women or the
rights of the poor or social or racial minorities, I’m fighting for everyone,
no one should be prejudged for anything, on any level, everyone should be
judged on their thoughts and actions and artists should be judged on their
skills and merits.
Specifically looking at the exhibition
itself (and sorry about my feminist rant – a subject which I’m still not done
with by the way) my favourite piece was Maha Malluh’s Food for Thought – Al-Muallaqat. A huge expanse of cooking pots,
their tops stuck to the wall with their burnt bottoms creating a pattern of different sized circles. The extra element
added by the patina and patterns created by the use of these pans over the fire
gave the piece an even more interesting view. My thoughts looking at this was
marred by the fact that if a man created this then no thoughts would be
directed to the kitchen or cooking, primarily seen as the woman’s place and
being produced by a woman artist I heard a lot of reference to a woman cooking.
I liked the stories that these objects tell, the huge pots make you wonder what
meals were cooked in there and for how many people and your mind turns to the
amount of preparation required to fill a pot that big. Then it made me think of
how despite the fact that women are expected to be the ones that cook, there
are less profession female chefs than male.
Another favourite of mine was Jelena
Bulajic’s beautiful portraits. Large-scale paintings of aged faces with
intricately drawn wrinkles and sags immediately draw you in closer. These
paintings thankfully do not conjure up thoughts of gender but rather age, and
also skill. We are looking into human faces in these pieces and they are faces
with stories that you are interested to delve deeper into.
I don’t know if it is controversial
to say that the work of Seung Ah Paik could easily have been created by a man.
Her large large-scale intricate drawings of parts of her body gave me the
impression of someone as an observer of the flesh rather than the owner of it.
You are aware of the great amount of time taken to create the individual lines
of the skin, it seems like in a few cases in this exhibition time and patience
is an overarching theme (especially seen in the thread sculptures of Alice
Anderson.) Could one say that this is a talent possessed by the majority of
women, or have women developed a knack for tedious and repetitive work or have
proved persistent in the pursuit of their causes? One could read these feminist
arguments into much of this exhibition but I think they would only be doing
this because it’s a female only show. This debate, the feminist cause, and the
minefield that surrounds it is evident in the review featured on Time Out’s website. This reviewer, being
male, decided it was best to stay out of the discussion altogether, ‘In fact, a
beautifully underplayed bolshiness can be found in the best work on display.
But to buy into the idea that, collectively, ‘Champagne Life’ has much to say
about gender in 2016 is to fall for the idea that these artists, aged from
their twenties to their fifties, working across continents and media as diverse
as painting, taxidermy and clay, should have anything in common with each
other. Because they are women. And this (male) critic ain’t going there.’ This
is a trap that many people fall into, of course artists working across
continents and in different medias have something in common, they are all
human, they are all creators and creating, they are all thinkers, they all have
emotions, they are all artists. The fact is, that if this was a mixed
exhibition or both male and female artists this comment of them having things
in common would not come up, unless maybe they were all from the same part of
the world, but people don’t even mention this phrase when talking about people
working in the same movement. Not that many of the movements from the past
actually included that many women. I think we’re starting to correct that now. I
mean in the YBAs, one of my favourite art detachments despite the fact that
women were still the minority (and this will possibly always be the case) I believe
they were on equal footing with the men and afforded the same opportunities.
Ok, enough about art and feminism.
Let’s get back to the Lady Date.
For the next stop we needed food,
and as per tradition we were looking for a pizza. I had seen online that there
was a nice little pub reasonably close by that did pizza and cocktails so we
headed that way going to Victoria station to look in HEMA (http://www.hemashop.com) on the way.
The Chelsea Pensioner was the name
of the pub, a quirky quiet little place a long walk down Fulham Road. The football
was on the TV, there were a couple playing pool in the corner, the heating was
cranked up and there were unusual décor all around. The pizza was almost
certainly a frozen one and so not remarkable in any way, plus we asked for the
meat one but they had apparently run out so we had to have the plain margherita.
The cheesy chips saved the day. The cocktails on the menu were the standard Mojitos
and things so we skipped those but they were cheap so if you’re looking for somewhere
cozy and inexpensive I would recommend it, the food was reasonably priced too.
Next we wanted to go for a real
cocktail, something unique and we got exactly what we wanted at Evans and Peel
Detective Agency.
It would be impossible to find this
place if you didn’t know what you were looking for, the only entrance to the place
is a door (see photo) with the name of the detective agency on. I’m sure there
are people who walk by this everyday without knowing what this place is, or
possibly even thinking it really is a detective agency. There is a buzzer to press
outside, I said we hadn’t booked but if
it was possible to come in. He said he was with a client at the moment and to
give him a minute. We stood outside with people looking at us suspiciously. Then
the door opened which lead down some stairs into a single room. The room was
decked out like a 1920s detective agency with notes on the walls and a desk
that the man in the cardigan and bow tie sat behind. He asked what he could
help us with and took our name and number. Having no idea this would happen I
was a little dumbstruck but whatever you do *DO NOT say you’re there for cocktails*
(despite the fact that you can hear cocktails being shaken and music playing
somewhere behind the walls) you have to conduct a story for a detective agency
to help with – Rebecca as ever quick thinking said I had lost my little boy
Frank (the name of my cat) and we needed help finding him, that I had split
with the boy’s father and he may have taken him. Once we had made up sufficient
details the detective said that he could help us and opened a bookcase which
lead into the speakeasy. It was so much fun and that’s before you even get
inside!. I had The Yuzual Suspect which
was a mix of vodka, lychee, hibiscus, almond, egg white and yuzu (which I have
since found out is a Japanese citrus fruit) it was as light and fluffy as it suggested
and was a delicious delicious cocktail. Rebecca had a Cherry Poppin’ which was, despite the fact that I’m not a huge
cherry fan, really very tasty and refreshing, but also quite alcoholic. The
atmosphere is friendly and the décor is spot on, they even play jazz/swing
versions of modern songs like Barbie Girl and Stacey’s Mom. Find their website
here http://www.evansandpeel.com)
Drinks drunk we then made our way
to Brixton to see the Maccabees at the Brixton Academy. We got there in time to
see the end of the Support act’s set. The act supporting The Maccabees for the
last time on this tour was called The Big Moon. The Big Moon are a London-based all-girl four-piece. They have a
brilliant sense of humour. I had only heard one of their songs before (find it
here – it’s really good and the video has a really sweet quality about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQCY-7_SY6Y)
They played a heavier version of Madonna’s Beautiful
Stranger which was a lot of fun but some of their other songs although very
skilled musically was a little bland for me.
The Maccabees arrived on stage a
little after 9. They were so full of energy and the lead singer (Orlando Weeks)
was so full of passion and love for the fans. They played a couple of songs
from each of their four albums, which I think shows true appreciation of the
fans that have stuck with them for so long. I was there at the start at the
super-packed Café de Paris gig just at the time of their first album around ten
years ago. Latchmere was my favourite then and a highlight of the night and I
can say the same for last night too. They also played X-ray from their first album,
which was also touching for the fans. They ended with an encore of Toothpaste
Kisses followed by Pelican, which delighted everyone. The Maccabees have
continued their high quality, moving, expressive, guitar heavy, energetic style
enduring through all these years and their four albums, improving musically and
as a band and becoming more grown up, almost growing with the fans. You could
tell the ones, the younger ones who had not experienced the first album but
rejoiced at songs from the second and some younger fans who came in at the
third and fourth but the same is true of them all, The Maccabees bring them joy,
emotion and some great music to jump up and down to. Here’s another review of
this most recent tour. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/what-to-listen-to/the-maccabees-brixton-academy-review-time-they-headlined-glaston/)
Friday, 13 November 2015
Friday, 16 October 2015
Thursday, 15 October 2015
Review: The Line
THE LINE: VARIOUS LONDON LOCATIONS
On the Time Out description this
sculpture trail runs from the O2 to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. We did it the other way round but it was a
little misleading. There isn’t actually
a sculpture in the Olympic Park as the description suggests.
The walk though the park is lovely, and
something we’d never done before, but the first sculpture can’t be seen for a
long while into the walk if you start here. It may be possible that there might
be more added in the future.
The first artwork, called Network by Thomas J Price, is a sculpture of a young man standing casually
looking at his phone. A pretty normal
thing to see in London but this guy is an impressive 9ft tall and cast in
bronze.
The next part of The Line we apparently missed and I didn’t realize it until now and
I will tell you why; The only place we could find that lists the artworks and
has any form of map is the Line website. http://the-line.org/
This website is very difficult to use on
your phone – a mobile friendly platform would be the first thing you would
expect from an interactive accompaniment to a trail. The website didn’t work at
all on my phone and was temperamental on my friend’s phone. If it hadn’t worked then we wouldn’t have
been able to follow the line at all as there are very few signs along the
course of the walk and no maps or directions along the way. So we missed the video
installation that is around this area.
However the park, in which Network is located, is a hidden gem,
there are things to climb and jump on, trails, a tightrope and a rather
ingenious trampoline. A group had left
the remnants of a game of beer pong (apparently played with cranberry juice) on
their ping pong tables.
Next was a scenic route though Tesco’s
and to one of the more dramatic sculptures on the line. DNA
DL90 by Abigail Fallis incorporates shopping trolleys into the shape of a
double helix. The fact that this artwork
is in such close proximity to the Tesco’s and the canal is perfect as it conjures
up images of someone trawling these straight from the water and constructing
them where they stand. A child was
trying to climb up it when we got there (a feat he felt proud of considering he
was wearing skinny jeans, or so he kept telling his parents.) This sculpture
was commissioned by a supermarket chain but it doesn’t say which one and apart
from one handle apparently from Kwiksave all the other handles had the words
Muscular Dystrophy on them, the understanding of which was aided by the discovery
and interpreting of DNA.
The next piece was easily recognizable
as the work of Damien Hirst. Entitled Sensation, this piece is another one of
Hirst’s blown up anatomical models, this time, depicting skin. Compared to the other sculptures so far on
the walk this one is much more playful and colourful, it stands out of its
rather bland and empty surroundings.
The next stage of the walk is though
Cody Dock, a creative community that had a feel of a cult to it (according to
my friend), walking though you did feel like an outsider but they were at least
attempting to be welcoming with their little blackboard explaining what things
were for and the names of the chickens.
I would think the floating dome would be an amazing place to see a live
band. After this scenic walk the next
section is just a sad walk through an industrial estate that takes you to your
next location, which is Star Lane.
My sheltered boyfriend (who didn’t join
us on this trip) was suitably impressed with the name of this station, the DLR
are known for some awesome sounding names. For some reason there were no trains
straight to Royal Victoria, we had to go to Canning Town (otherwise known as
the most confusing multilayered DLR station in the world) and then on from
there.
I am pretty sure that this was the
location of an artwork that has since been removed, I can only assume because a
child climbed on it and then fell off, this was disappointing as there is no
mention of this on the website and you could in theory wander (considering the
awful map) round and round looking for it. From the website I can see this
missing piece is meant to be Consolidator
by Sterling Ruby which looks a bit like a geometric cannon.
However after giving up with this one we
found the huge and impressive bronze sculpture by the river called Vulcan by Eduardo Paolozzi. This is a
brilliant cubist representation of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and
metalworking. He is part machine and
part man with a strange pair of mismatched feet.
Not mentioned at this point on The Line
Website is the Martin Creed ‘sculpture’ which is probably the worst of all the
pieces of modern art. Work 700 is an iron girder of some
kind. Unfortunately the sign that
accompanies this artwork was missing so I have no way of knowing what this is
meant to mean, needless to say I am not a fan.
It’s not that I am contemptuous of Creed’s work in general, I studied
some of his pieces for my dissertation, I admire his continuous questioning of
what art can be but this piece feels out of place and disappointing.
Another point which I’d like to make
about every one of the photographs on the website and press regarding The Line; not one of the photographs are
taken in their current location. This makes it a little confusing when trying
to find them and is frankly a little baffling.
Someone must have put them there; you would have thought they would have
photographed them at the time?!
Rant over, for the next part of the
journey was the most fun. We took the
Emirates Air Line to the other side of the river to Greenwich. The Air Line for those who don’t know is a
cable car that links one side of the river with the other. You get amazing views of the Thames and The
O2 (which I still refer to as the Millennium Dome.) It was great value at only
£3.30 on my Oyster card. There’s also a nifty
little video about all that you can see from way up there.
While crossing on the cable car you’ll
be able to see the next artwork, again missing from the website and without an
accompanying sign this is Antony Gormley’s Quantum
Cloud. A wire sculpture which is,
according to Wikipedia, a collection of tetrahedral units. If you look at it
from the right angle you can see the ubiquitous figure of Gormley in the
middle.
We are now at the last section of The Line, this takes us on a walk around
the Thames and the O2. The next artwork
is Liberty Grip by Gary Hume. This is a sculpture made of patinated and
painted bronze, based on the arm of a mannequin, the type that model clothes in
shops but it has been abstracted. This
is one of my favourite pieces of the walk, the most interesting thing about
this is the use of the pink, an artificially bright colour in contrast to the
dull bronze. Hume has taken something which is quite common and alludes to the
human form but represented it as a synthetic and man-made creation on the scale
of a celebratory piece of art.
At first sight the next piece seems to
be an old boat/ship left on the side of the river. At closer inspection A Slice of Reality by Richard Wilson is only a part of a ship
expertly sliced all the way through on both sides it makes you wonder how such
a large undertaking was completed with such precision.
The next sculpture is the Here by Thomson & Craighead, a sign post
which is meant to show the distance all the way around the world and back to the
same point. There does appear to be something at this point but I did not see
this signpost. Maybe we missed it and walked straight past it as it similar to
a normal road sign or maybe it was removed?
There are mysteries in this art trail
that maybe were not planned for – it doesn’t seem like anyone has walked the
whole thing before and certainly not much information is available.
And this takes us to the end of The Line. A seemingly ill thought out
and badly planned, hard to follow tour of modern art. This actually seems quite
fitting as modern art can sometimes be as infuriating as this walk and arty
types are not known for their logistical qualities. It seems that the main
reason that this is not a cohesive walk along a continuous line along the
canals or thorough parks is that it follows the Meridian Line, plus London is
not known for having enough walkways that are not bisected by building sites,
private land or large roads.
Having said that it was a decent way to
spend a few hours, a good excuse for some exercise on a mild autumnal day and
the chance to see some art and parts of London I don’t usually explore. And as they add more sculptures along the way
I shall probably pop along and have a look.
For more information see:
I found this after the walk – it appears
we missed another artwork from this map however this is not mentioned on the
official website (James Balmforth - Inhibition
Point: Possibly may have been removed?)
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