Tag Archives: London

London: PAD Art Fair

October 2, 2018 butterfly

The 12th edition of the Pavilion of Art and Design (PAD) fair kicks off on October 1 with a fine line-up of 58 returning exhibitors. Set in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, PAD focusses on masterpieces across design, art, antiquities, tribal art and collectible jewellery.

10 new exhibitors join the prestigious roster of returning galleries and include: Achille Salvagni (London), Veta Stefanidou Tsoukala (Athens), 18 Davies Street (London), Karen Swami (Paris), and Robert Zehil (Monaco) in the fields of design and decorative arts; Hélène Bailly (Paris) in the field of 20th century art; Walid Akkad (Paris), Lorenz Bäumer (Paris), Valery Demure (London) and G by Glenn Spiro (London) in the field of collectible jewellery. With the arrival of these new renowned exhibitors, the fair will have a focus on collectible jewellery this year with a dedicated alley.

With the recent launch of PAD Genève and the ever-growing success of PAD Paris, PAD reinforces its position as Europe’s leading cross-collecting fair group based in three prime locations.

Here are some selected highlights. Click on the images for more information.

MATHIAS BENGTSSON “Growth Table”, 2017 Photo : Martin Krupp / Copyright Mathias Bengtsson ©Galerie Maria Wettergren

Franck Evennou 3 Leaves ‘Lotus’ coffee Table in polished bronze Photo: Bruno Simon Courtesy of Avant-Scene

The Claudette Colbert Starfish: A Ruby and Amethyst Starfish Brooch Designed by Juliette Moutard for René Boivin, Paris, 1937 Courtesy of Siegelson

Amphora With An Episode From The Myth Of Medea Greek (Attic), 520 – 500 B.C. Ceramic Courtesy of Phoenix Ancient Art

Joan Miró Femme et oiseau V/X (1960) Oil on burlap 54 x 42 cm (21 1/4 x 16 1/2 in) Signed with the initial M (lower left); signed Miró, titled and dated 14/5/60 on the reverse Courtesy of Mayoral

LOUIS MAJORELLE (1859 – 1926) “POINCARE”, A RARE FLOOR LAMP, CIRCA 1900 Wrought iron; the shade in alabaster Courtesy of Robert Zehill

PAD Art + Design Fair
1-7 October 2018
Berkeley Square
Mayfair
London W1J 5AX

London

London: Conor Harrington ‘The Story of US and Them’

September 24, 2018 butterfly 3 Comments

Irish born painter Conor Harringtonreturns to London with a new solo exhibition “The Story of Us and Them” at HENI Gallery in London. Fascinated by art history, Renaissance and the Baroque era, Conor Harrington continues to explore patriotism and contemporary social political themes, combining classical oil painting techniques and graffiti influences.

The exhibition features 12 new large scale works featuring two fictional male figures dressed in ornate baroque uniforms fighting each other and brandishing their bright coloured flags as weapon.

The viewer is immediately transported in this semi fictional tale, through bold red and blue vibrant colours, while the energetic brushstrokes accentuate the feeling of drama and movement.
Duality is an omnipresent theme : realism vs onirism, a sense of political division occurs through the use of colours, flags.
Conor Harrington’s painting techniques have also evolved with more loose paint gestures, the use of solvent and extinguishers to create some blurring effects while some elements of the composition are in focus with intricate details such as the uniforms or expressions of the faces.

“The works are set against a background of a fictional nation state and feature two so-called ‘blind patriots’ engaged in combat,” the gallery says. “By using predominantly red and blue in their apparel and the flags they brandish, Harrington draws on the various political and cultural connotations associated with this pairing to make a comment on society today.”

View the full set of pics here

Conor Harrington: The Story of Us and Them
14th September — 13th October 2018

HENI Gallery
6-10 Lexington St, London W1F 0LB

London, Shows

London: Hope to Nope – Graphics and Politics 2008-2018

July 8, 2018 butterfly

We are pleased to be part of the latest exhibition at the London Design Museum ‘Hope to Nope – Graphics and Politics 2008-18′.

Design can influence public perception, but great design can change it. From campaign designs to protest symbols, ‘Hope to Nope: Graphics and Politics 2008-2018’ explores the impact of graphic design in political and social movements over the last ten years.

Alongside traditional posters and banners, the exhibition charts the rise of digital media and social networking, which have given graphic iconography an extraordinary new reach. The political events featured include: the 2008 financial crash; the Barack Obama presidency; the Arab Spring; the Occupy movement; the Deepwater Horizon oil spill; the Charlie Hebdo attacks; Brexit and Donald Trump’s presidency.

The exhibition is structured in three distinct sections: power, protest and personality – which explore how design is used in politics to change public perceptions.

‘Power‘ starts off with the Obama campaign’s unofficial, but hugely popular, ‘Hope’ poster by Shepard Fairey, which is later compared to the failings in the design of the Remain campaign’s materials. It also features examples of Brandalism subverts advertising posters from 2015 Brandalism ad takeover in Paris (covered) with VW spoof ad by Barnbrook and Curfew Zone by Dr.D.

Regarding UK politics, the Power section highlights the Union Jack flag made with fragile tape by Sarah Boris, which was featured during several marches against Brexit in 2016 as well as designs from the RemaIN campaign.

Examples show how graphic design is used by the establishment to assert national and political authority like the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, or used by its opponents like Soviet posters which were turned into a gay rights campaign and Dread Scott’s flag in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

A large graphic timeline dissects the gallery, charting the role of new communication technologies such as Facebook and Twitter in global events of the last decade.

Protest displays graphic design by activists and demonstrators. The largest section in the exhibition, it includes newspapers from the 2011-12 Occupy London camp, an umbrella used during the 2014 Hong Kong ‘Umbrella Revolution’ and a 2m-high replica of the inflatable duck from the 2016 protests against Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff. This section also looks at the 2015 Je Suis Charlie and Peace for Paris marches, as well as responses to the 2017 Grenfell Tower disaster with the 24 hearts initiative by Sophie Lodge, demonstrating the important role played by graphic design in channelling anger and creating solidarity.

An installation film by Paul Plowman evokes the experience of public protest, combining hastags, forage and images from five protests : #womensmarch, #grenfell, #turkey, #catalonia, and #southafrica. These demonstrations cover diverse political viewpoints, from fighting for democracy to calling for justice, and emotions ranging from solidarity to fierce anger.

The final section, Personality, examines the graphic representation of leading political figures. Donald Trump’s trademark features are caricatured across the covers of more than 50 international magazines, including The Economist, TIME and Der Spiegel.

As we approach the ‘Nope’ of the exhibition we are faced with a scary and entertaining animation: an animatronic (mis)fortune telling machine tells and distributes messages by the new US President. This is the work by Nathaniel Lawlor, Andy Dao, Jon Barco and Bryan Denman.
‘With the over-saturation and bombardment of Trump in the news cycle, we saw how easy it was becoming for people to tune out the banter of these soundbites and Facebook headlines, so we thought—what better way to remind people of their gravitas than by showing them this could be their actual future?”

View the full set of pics here

Hope to Nope: Graphics and Politics 2008–18
Until 12 August 2018
Design Museum London

London

London: Banksy Vote Love

June 26, 2018 butterfly 2 Comments

For the 250th Anniversary of the Summer Exhibiton at the Royal Academy in London, Banksy submitted an artwork under the pseudonym Bryan S Gaakman, anagram of ‘banksy anagram’ and it was refused. However when curator Grayson Perry contacted him to submit something, Banksy did it again and it is now displayed in the gallery 3.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Banksy (@banksy)

The artwork features a heart shaped balloon with plaster over a political board that was used for the Brexit referendum vote. The initial board favoured the ‘Leave’ campaign.
With his humorous style, the ‘Leave’ campaign has been replaced by a ‘Love’ statement. To add further irony, the price tag on the artwork is £350 millions, a nod to the infamous ‘Leave bus’ claiming that Britain would save £350m a week after Brexit.

The heart shaped balloon is an image close to Banksy, starting with his iconic Girl with Balloon (2002) who was also used worldwide for the #withSyria campaign in 2014

The first Love Heart Balloon with plaster appeared at the MOCA exhibition ‘Arts in the Streets’ in Los Angeles in 2011.

Pic by BirdMan

A Heart Balloon mural was painted in the streets of New York in 2013 during his artistic residency Better Out than In.

And a painted canvas with the Heart Balloon was then sold in 2014 to support the Haitian Charity Auction for $650K.

Pic by Banksy

Throughout the years, Banksy expressed his views on political issues, and specially the Brexit. We recall the mural in Dover in May 2017 featuring a worker chiselling away a star from the European Flag (see our previous coverage here).

This was followed by the release of a revisited version of the Girl With Balloon featuring a heart with the Union Jack flag for the UK Elections in June 2017, which was later recalled due to criminal offence (covered)

Pic by Banksy

The 250th Summer Exhibition of the Royal Academy features 1300 artworks from internationally renowned artists and exciting new talents.

Come back again soon for our full coverage on the exhibition.

250th Summer Exhibition
Royal Academy
Until 19 August 2018
Burlington House, Piccadilly,
London, W1J 0BD

London, Shows

London: Mark Jenkins – BRD SHT

June 11, 2018 butterfly

American artist Mark Jenkins returns to London for his third solo exhibition with Lazinc Gallery.
The show follows Jenkins’ success of his recent art installation, Project84, atop of London’s ITV building, raising awareness of male suicide.

Together with his collaborator, Sandra Fernandez, Mark Jenkins creates sculptural street installations that take the form of life-sized bodies, often interacting with the surrounding environment.
The physical casting process ordinarily uses either Mark or Sandra’s own bodies, essentially cloning themselves out of many layers of sellotape to create dark humoured and often sinister sculptures and place them within the public space. The work is intended to explore the conventional process in which we experience and view artwork and the pedestrian boundaries between art and life.

“BRD SHT, the show’s title, nods to a license plate in the film Brewster McCloud. In the film, it was a murderous substance and while I understand here in the UK it’s good luck, for me I’ve always thought about the frequency birds do it as a condition for reducing weight to allow flight. It’s a useful metaphor to understand that our own ability to sustain flight mentally is a matter of reducing our own emotional baggage, or shit if you will.” – Mark Jenkins

The exhibition features nine sculptures, three canvases and works on paper, as well as an installation on the gallery front of a fisherman figure hanging from the balcony.