Icelandic conceptual artist and abstract painter Katrin Fridriks returns to Lazarides Rathbone in London for a new solo exhibition entitled ‘Macrocosm‘.
Alongside the 2014 installation Perception of the Stendhal Syndrome – Gene&Ethics Master Prism with a giant magnifying glass, the exhibition features a whole new body of works, with canvasses bursting with vibrant and swirling energetic coloured shapes of splashing paint.
The role of the magnifying glass is to enhance the intensity of the experience of being overwhelmed by the artwork, evoking a phenomenon that is called “beauty nausea”.
The two dichotomies contained within the gallery space represent the elusive philosophical idea of macrocosm with one canvas being a micro particle of the other. ‘Macrocosm’, originating from Ancient Greek philosophy, refers to everything that exists, an infinite, complex structure that can be regarded as a universe, or the cosmos. The microcosm, however, is just a small representative part of it. Since the time of Plato, human imagination has been drawn to an idea of an analogy between the macro and the microcosm. Thus ‘as above, so below’ was a leading motto in the doctrine of ‘correspondences’ between the two dimensions.
The spatial arrangement of this show invites viewers to participate, to adopt various viewpoints, and to discover new perspectives and hidden depths within the paint through the magnifying glass.
Sotheby’s Contemporary art gallery in London. S|2, is currently showing an exhibition of new works by Charming Baker (covered) entitled ‘Sweet Nothing’, featuring canvasses and a series of studies on paper, and large scale drawings.
Known to purposefully damage his work by drilling, cutting and even shooting it, Baker intentionally puts into question the preciousness of art and the definition of its beauty, adding to the emotive charge of the work he produces.
Working towards his new exhibition Sweet Nothing, Charming Baker hasdescribed his overriding influences as “…Schrödinger’s cat, Pavlov’s dog, bitter nostalgia, sex, joy, folly, loss, Don Quixote, tended gardens, gypsum foundations, concrete ideals, loose morals, nature, nurture, sweet nothing…”
Earlier this year when Angoulême, one of the world’s biggest comic-book festivals, failed to include a single woman on its 30-strong Grand Prix shortlist, it created a widespread of fury and several prominent artists and campaigners threatened to boycott it.
Women have always been present throughout the evolution of the comics medium and produced some of its defining works, but their contribution has been often overlooked. Debunking the myth that there are very few female creators in the industry, Olivia Ahmad has been working together with journalist and comics enthusiast Paul Gravett to curate a new exhibition called Comix Creatrix: 100 Women Making Comics at the House of Illustration in London.
Featuring original comic artworks, graphic novels, comics and zines from 100 pioneered female comic artists from 18th-century caricature to today’s graphic novels, it is the UK’s largest ever exhibition ever displayed, working across genres and generations, from observational comedy to surreal fantasy, challenging biography to subversive dissent.
Mary Darly’s 1775 portrait, Corporal Perpendicular, is the earliest work in the exhibition. She was among the first professional caricaturists in England. When working in the 1920s and 30s British cartoonist Anne Harriet Fish signed her work with the gender ambiguous ‘Fish’ to avoid discrimination, drawing cartoons satirising the ‘flapper’ lifestyle for the Tatler, American Vogue, Vanity Fair.
Other highlights include work from Jackie Ormes, the first African-American woman to create a syndicated comic strip in Torchy in Heartbeats (1954), as well as Miriam Katin’s We Are On Our Own, a moving account of her escape from the Nazi invasion of Budapest. No subject is taboo, art of protest or with hard hitting social themes also feature prominently at Comix Creatix: Una addresses the ocean of unreported sexual assault in Becoming / Unbecoming. Nina Bunjevac’s Fatherland traces the life of her father Peter, a Serbian nationalist who was killed in an explosion while preparing a bomb intended for supporters of Yugoslavian President Tito.
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Images courtesy of the House of Illustration
The 100 artists are: Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Alison Bechdel, Alison Sampson, Angie Hofmeister, Angie Mills, Anke Feuchtenberger, Anne Harriet Fish, Annie Goetzinger, Art is a Lie, Asia Alfasi, Audrey Niffenegger, Aurélie William-Levaux, Aya Morton, Barbara ‘Willie’ Mendes, Barbara Yelin, Blackjack, Brigid Deacon, Carla Speed McNeil, Carol Swain, Cat O’Neil, Catherine Anyango, Chantal Montellier, Charlotte Salomon, Chie Kutsuwada, Claire Bretecher, Claudia Davila, Corinne Pearlman, Dale Messick, Denny Derbyshire, Donya Todd, Eleni Kalorkoti, Ellen Lindner, Emma Vieceli, Evelyn Flinders, Fay Dalton, Florence Cestac , Francesca Ghermandi, Hannah Berry, Hwei Lim, Isabel Greenberg, Jackie Ormes, Jacky Fleming, Joana Estrela, Josceline Fenton, Julie Doucet, Karrie Fransman, Kate Beaton, Kate Brown, Kate Charlesworth, Kate Evans, Katie Green, Kaveri Gopalakrishnan, Kripa Joshi, Laura Callaghan, Laura Howell, Leela Corman, Leila Abdul Razzaq, Lily Renee, Lizz Lunney, Lorna Miller, Lynda Barry, Lynn Paula Russell, Manjula Padmanabhan, Marcia Snyder, Maria Stoian, Marie Duval, Marion Fayolle, Mary Darly, Maya Wilson, Miriam Katin, Nadine Redlich, Naniiebim, Nell Brinkley, Nicola Lane, Nicola Streeten, Nina Bunjevac, Pat Tourett, Patrice Aggs, Philippa Rice, Posy Simmonds, Rachael Ball, Rachael House, Ramona Fradon, Reina Bull, Reshu Singh, Roz Chast, Rutu Modan, Sarah Lightman, Shirley Bellwood, Simone Lia, Sophie Standing, Suzy Varty, Tarpe Mills, Tijuana Bibles by Horizontal Press, Tillie Walden, Tove Jansson, Trina Robbins, Tula Lotay, and Una.
So do not miss this fantastic exhibition as it is running until 15 May.
Until 15 May 2016 House of Illustration 2 Granary Square King’s Cross London N1C 4BH
French graffiti artist Tilt has been selected for the OFF of the 6th Marrakech Biennale.
During his artistic residency at Jardin Rouge, in collaboration with the Montresso* Art Foundation, Tilt has created an installation entitled ‘Voyage Aller’ (Inbound Trip) featuring a vehicule overloaded with graffiti, composed of half of 404 Peugeot and his roof rack loaded with objects brought back from the Occident to the Orient.
Having traveled the world since 1988, Tilt has questioned the viewer about the expectations and prejudices, about our habits and ‘mind sets’, he tracks down the resistance to certain art concepts and proclaims loud and clear his graffiti artist status.
In his thoughts about his participation to the Marrakech Biennale, Tilt continues his questioning about the consequences of the practices and the experimentation in graffiti art, by fetishizing an object, the Peugeot 404 car, out of time, appreciated for its properties regardless of its practical, socials and cultural interests. Tilt sanctifies the object by vandalizing it; he breaks down the unstable and fluctuating barriers of the work of art.
From this, the artist reinterprets and mounts the images of those big summer migration flows on the Maghreb roads and of the meeting between two cultures through the round trip of these migrants, with his own language, graffiti.
Here is a video of the creative process for the “Voyage Aller’ installation
The ‘Voyage Aller‘ installation is currently exhibited at L’Blassa, Yougoslavie road, Marrakech until 8 May 2016.
View the full set of pics from the Marrakech Biennale here
The other half of the installation ‘Voyage Retour‘ will be presented at the museum Les Abattoirs in Toulouse in June 2016, the other side of the same car will be revealed to the public on his return version, with a roof rack loaded with objects brought back from Orient to Occident.
Tilt – Voyage Aller Until 8 May Marrakech Biennale 2016 L’Blassa, Yougoslavie road Marrakech
British artist Antony Micallef (covered) will be opening his first solo show in Asia next week at Pearl Lam Galleries in Hong Kong.
The artist will exhibit a new series of paintings and studies that explore the relationships of the mechanics of artistic intent,
representation, and the use of paint as a material for expressing emotions.
The title of the exhibition, Raw Intent, refers to a seemingly unmediated yet highly conscious process of manipulating the material during the act of painting. By presenting an unidentifiable figure in the painting, the artist intends to trigger the audience’s sympathy. Micallef states his intention: ‘I am interested in that space where the figure almost disintegrates but somehow stays intact, leaving a sense of friction and raw distortion. The medium is celebrated and used in full force in many different ways with many different tools to render life that echoes traces of our emotional field.’
Antony Micallef – Raw Intent 13 May – 30 June 2016 Pearl Lam Galleries Hong Kong
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