All Visual Arts: Jonathan Wateridge

During Frieze Week 2012, I spent a few days with Kings Cross gallery, All Visual Arts; their satellite show Metamorphosis blew me away and I’ve been hooked on their shows since. Every exhibition carries an air of mystery, from the morbid ceramics of Bertozzi e Casoni to their contemporary drawing show Between The Lines, for some reason this gallery’s exhibitions always hit a nerve.

Currently on show is a collection of Jonathan Wateridge’s work, having moved back to All Visual Arts – the artist’s representing gallery – from L&M Arts in LA. The collection is only viewable by appointment for a short period, and like the artist this show is modest – but absolutely worth visiting. Wateridge’s style has developed from his slightly brash, artificially-lit scenes into a softer style – almost like a photographer whose camera has lost focus, or discovered a new medium in switching from the clean shapes of digital to the evocative tactility of analogue film.

Wateridge’s new works are mesmerizing in their simplicity: a triptych of a man’s suited shoulders so rich that you can almost feel the fine threads of the jacket; the wire mesh of a tennis court scored in sharp white dashes, pulled tight and hot in the blazing sunlight.

The show is comprised of cropped, almost abstract pieces, as well as the portraits and larger pieces which characterize Wateridge’s career. A young artist, this show evidences the way that his style is developing – his most recent work displaying a more sombre tone and velveteen finish. 

Although Wateridge only began exhibiting nine years ago, having rejected painting for almost fifteen years, his work shows no sign of being underdeveloped or amateur. Instead it is self-assured, unapologetic and sublimely crafted. A true modern master.

Jonathan Wateridge is at AVA until the 15th June. 

Images courtesy of L&M Arts

 

Miles Aldridge: Carousel

Film-maker turned fashion designer Miles Aldridge has delivered seductive sirens silk-screened in an electrifying palette to the forefront of the fashion world for 15 years. In a whirlwind three-day show, Mayfair gallery Brancolini Grimaldi presents 32 lithographic and silkscreen prints. Entitled Carousel, this show utterly submerges its audience into the compellingly false and alluringly flawless, dreamlike world of Miles Aldridge. His works are uncanny cinematic fabrications saturated in grotesque decadence, ever masked by a deceptive curtain of kitsch femininity.

   See the full review here…

The River Magazine

So, after months of endlessly complaining that I still don’t have a job… I do! I’ve been working for The River Magazine for a couple of moths now, and I can honestly say that this slim book of glossy A4 pages  has grown rather close to my heart.

The magazine is a complimentary quarterly publication which promotes the most interesting people, events and businesses in SE1, but we’re soon to be expanding to include much more of London.

With sections on Culture, Food & Drink, Property, Business, Style and one just For The Soul, there’s always plenty to do!

The April – June issue is currently available in cafes, hotels, bars, salons and a range of businesses in SE1 and articles include afternoon tea London Bridge Hotel, an interview with the Shard’s choice florist Igloo Flowers, the BFI British film season, the fascinating life of Royal Academician Norman Ackroyd and a chat with Globe actor, James Garnon – oh and not forgetting our token celebrity David Cameron, joining Brigade bar on Tooley Street.

Working with The River has allowed me to meet all sorts of people I wouldn’t have otherwise, and I think that after a dismal spell of monotonous job hunting had slightly destroyed me, it’s given my confidence levels a bit of a kick. It’s just nice to feel useful, isn’t it?

Norman Ackroyd and James Garnon were two of the people I interviewed for this issue, and both showed such boundless passion for their work it really was contagious. Norman may live in central London but is preoccupied with the most extreme edges of Britain – always seeking the highest, furthest, oldest point…

James, or Jimmy, is a well seasoned Globe actor and for his ninth season at the Globe is taking on The Tempest’s Caliban. He is enthralled by the role, and I can’t wait for the play to open on the 2nd May. He’s a powerful actor famed for bold performances, interspersed with quirky subtleties to create truly captivating characters.

Our Cover image is from photographer Rebecca Parker, who uses locations in the West Midlands for touching wedding fashion photography. Her works bears more similarity to fine art photography than fashion – filled with emotion and utterly evocative.

If you’d like a copy, then take a stroll around London Bridge and you should be able to find yourself a copy to skim over with a coffee. We’ll be putting the most recent edition online very soon, but for now you can see our previous two editions here: http://www.therivermagazine.co.uk/

If you’d like to advertise with us then contact us via the website; or if you’re an artist looking for publicity then we do have a page titled The Gallery on which we feature artists, drop us an email if you’d like to know more.

WHAM! …Lichtenstein: A Retrospective.

As with all of Tate’s retrospectives, a ticket for this mammoth show should definitely cover two days. 125 examples of his most definitive and often  infamous works recount his career from the early ‘60s until the late 1990s; it’s a blast of colour from every corner, fairly unknown pieces interspersed with those which dominated the Pop Art movement.

For me, it was Lichtenstein’s monochromes and vast interiors which were most interesting; however having studied Pop Art through the “oh, Brad!” and “WHAM!”s of Lichtenstein’s romance and war period, it was thrilling to also see these huge polkadot canvases in person.

Lichtenstein’s work never appears particularly profound but perhaps this is where its success lies: the artist explores emotive situations in a flat, comic-bookish way to mirror our own de-sensitivity to sex, violence, power.

Meaningful or not, Lichtenstein’s work can simply be enjoyed for his bold use of garish primary colours and blatant commercialism. His interiors even include previous works of his hung on the walls –  twenty years after his career kicked off, already viewing his own work as an essential asset for the home. Slightly egotistical, but humorous all the same.

One huge influence which I hadn’t previously been aware of was Picasso, and in this show Lichtenstein’s reinterpretations of his work are not numerous but are extremely successful: a Pop Artist’s simple linear style combined with the complex acute angles of a Spanish master.

This exhibition certainly recognises an afore unappreciated depth to Lichtenstein’s work – it’s by no means moving, but it remains the product of a great deal of thought, research and careful drawing. Lichtenstein’s draughtsmanship reveals itself to be both accomplished and stylised, and his painting style punchy and unapologetic.

We’ve all seen a Lichtenstein reproduced in book or poster form – or currently pasted all over every London tube line – but these vast paintings must be seen in person for the full comic-book to canvas concept to take effect: postage-stamp sized cells blown up to  shout in electric colours and the dizzying pinpricks the man became famous for.

Reid Peppard: Roadkill Cats & Dead Rats

I’ve been writing for Aesthetica for a while and have to come up with entries on a twice-monthly basis, so when the manfriend told me about Reid Peppard (one of his CSM contemporaries) I just had to get in touch!

Reid makes ethically sound taxidermy artworks and jewellery: producing uncanny pieces featuring real creatures under her own name, and intricate metal castings for her jewellery label, RP/Encore.

I was most interested in her work as she is not just a sheep, one of the fashionistas who cottoned onto this sort of morbid movement, but has actually been reworking little lifeless bodies for six years – with stuffed animals at university before learning the craft under a master taxidermist in Yorkshire.

Her work includes crow clutches, squirrel jaw bracelets, rabbit heart pendants and double rat headdresses (one of which you can see atop the head of Lady Gaga in her Bad Romance video, couldn’t resist the name-drop).

Reid has recently moved to LA, and moved on to a whole new menagerie of animals; my interview with the artist explores the motivation for her practice and plans for the future.

Designs of the Year 2013 & The Sea Chair Project: Sublime Design, Simultaneously Technical and Ethical.

Yesterday morning I attended the early breakfast press view (the first ‘breakfast’ view I’ve ever attended where there was no breakfast! hmph) of The Design Museum’s Designs Of The Year. Luckily, the show was so fantastic that I didn’t even notice my grumbling tum: 99 designs chosen by a panel of artists, architects, curators, designers, journalists and other experts, tidily packed into the first floor of The Design Museum.

This year the majority of pieces were either heavily technically or ethically focused, with a  strong emphasis on 3D printing and aid in third world countries. The winners will be announced in due course, the jury hoping to pick category winners by the end of this week, but top of my list are The Sea Chair, Little Sun and Kit Yamoyo; three stunning examples of intelligent, and potentially life changing, design.

My review of the entire show is on One Stop Arts, but I’d like to to also tell you all about The Sea Chair, which the very lovely Kieren Jones also took a minute to tell me about.

I had no idea about the effect that the dumping of plastic had on our world environment before 10am on Tuesday morning, but it turns out, it’s pretty huge. Simply put, there are gyres in our sea which act as whirlpools which collect debris; this has now resulted in three enormous plastic islands sitting just below the surface – all ‘out of sight and out of mind’ until now. These islands, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the Indian Ocean Garbage Patch and North Atlantic Garbage Patch are breaking up and the light plastics they contain are beginning to wash up on British beaches.

The project begun when Kieren and a few friends heard a radio piece about an enormous bundle of debris which had arrived on a beach in the Southwest, and decided on a whim (in hindsight a pretty profitable whim) to drive down and have a look for themselves.

Arriving on the white sands of a postcard-perfect beach, the group thought it had been a wasted trip, but after a closer look begun to notice fine grains which floated where others did not: ground down plastic, the waves a ‘plastic soup.’

Chatting to the local fishermen who, like many tradesmen are suffering due to supermarket exploitation, the group came up with an idea: why not trawl for plastic instead?

The collaboration between Kieren Jones, Studio Swine and the seamen of Hastings has now resulted in a line of unique three-legged stools, all made entirely from discarded plastic, melted and formed at sea, upon the boat. The stools are crude and heavy and the process messy and smelly, but they have an identifiable charm as clunky symbols of a small plight to help save our seas, our jobs and our livelihood as a whole.

The finishing touch to these stools acts as a nod to the fishermen who brought this project to life, and for me completes the story: tied by a ragged rope to each stool is a small tag noting the coordinates of where its plastic body was harvested, melted down and reinvented.

The Sea Chair Project is in its infancy, but I hope that it continues to be nurtured and to grow into something which really makes a substantial difference to our great British seaside.

Here’s an amazing film featuring stunning shots detailing The Sea Chair process – a must-see, and I hope you also enjoyed the full review of Designs of the Year.

Open Source Sea Chair by Studio Swine from Dezeen on Vimeo.

Between The Lines: Surrealist Sketches, Uncanny Inks and Impossibly Detailed Drawings

All Visual Arts, King’s Cross is a gallery with a unique taste: their shows heavy with the dark, the bizarre and the mysterious, the works always fresh, unique and sublimely crafted.

This spring AVA is saturated with surrealist sketches, uncanny inks and impossibly detailed drawings. Not just limited to the eight AVA represents, over 21 artists feature in this vast show – ranging from the sublimely grotesque erasure of contemporary German artist Dennis Scholl, to the carefully contoured illustrations of the infamous Salvador Dali. For a show entirely based upon a single medium, the variety is astonishing; as we see here, drawing does not only refer to graphite doodles but instead stands for anything put on a page by expert craftsmanship and the cultivated imagination. AVA’s shows often display a penchant for the bizarre and Between the Lines is no different, with artists from across the globe and centuries brought together by a common theme….

See the full review on Aesthetica, here:

http://www.aestheticamagazine.com/blog/between-the-lines-all-visual-arts-london/