Click to enlargeKathrina was born in Mexico City and studied visual arts and photography at the University of Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Her native country means that her work is infused with a rich vitality and a colourful exuberance. As an Urban artist, she produces work which is perhaps softer and more lyrical than her male contemporaries. She has a deep admiration for iconic female figures, especially her compatriot Frida Kahlo.
Over the last couple of years Kathrina has lived and worked in Dublin, Ireland and has become a vital fixture of the vibrant street art scene there.
Kathrina uses an array of mediums to achieve an extraordinary effect – From spray paints, newspaper collage and urban markers to assemblage of cardboard, door parts and even Popsicle sticks. She is constantly challenging the means of urban representation, reinventing the genre in a feminist context.
Her work is deeply tied to her Mexican roots, addressing social issues such as racial discrimination and embracing a culture without the curse of violence and gangs.
She is the voice of a new generation, producing artwork that is bold and seductive. Like Frida before her, she is conscious of the innate power of her gender. She excites the male gaze with her portraits being alive with a raw sexual energy. They are alluring and even provocative.
Kathrina’s technical ability and artistic representational skill are first rate, creating both an awareness of environmental issues and tapping into the Mexican concept of the cycle of life, seen in the celebration of ‘Dia de los Muertos’.
The physicality of life in Kathrina’s work is seen in her numerous performances and live events, which is a crucial aspect of her practice. She wants the work to be alive, she wants the audience to see the process in action and feel the creative energy as it happens.
I must admit when I heard that this crew, originally from France, were heading down under I completely geeked out.
We have been big fans of DMV, seeing pieces from them go up in Paris, Barcelona and their epic wall at London’s Meeting Of Styles.
Even though the show at Rtist gallery is a great way to see each artists individual style, the true abilities of this crew shine when they collaborate on big walls.
It seems that everything came together for them here in Melbourne, the weather was great and the wall they were given was in China Town a unique and oddly appropriate setting.
Once again I was on my way to the Elms Lesters Painting rooms to go and check out the latest dimensional paintings from Adam Neate. I still had so many good memories from Adam Neate’s last year’s show, also held at this venue, that I could not wait to see what this new show had to offer.
The layout and feel of the Elms Lesters painting rooms is as I remembered it – high ceilings, wooden floors and a relative darkness only interrupted by spots of lights giving the artist’s pieces all the shine and attention they deserve. But Adam Neate’s works would not even need all that for the visitor to quickly realise that what they are looking at is something quite special, something you also need to look at for a little moment to get what it actually is.
Acrylic, perspex, metal and aerosol on board : there you have what makes up Adam Neate’s works. But these mediums need some solid imagination as well as some advanced manual dexterity to transform and assemble some elaborate and intricate pieces of dimensional art – Adam Neate has just done that.
The palette used is flamboyant with a preference for red, the shapes are rounded, the end result is astonishing. Adam Neate’s art is very evocative, his job is to put shapes and colors together, your job is to see through these and come back out with a vision of the piece, your own vision of what you are actually looking at. I found his series of “Red Dimnesional Portraits” very powerful, I could almost hear them shouting at me as I walk past them. The flamboyant colors and defaced visages have certainly something to do with it.
Adam Neate
This review will not be complete without mentioning his “Canvas Crucifix”. The Elms Lesters Painting rooms have been accommodated to give even more emphasis to this amazing piece of art. A wall was especially made so the piece could be hang on and with a clever setting of light and shadow, isolate the piece from everything else and draw people’s attention. I found myself very intrigued, slightly apprehensive and thinking “What the hell is that? Adam Neate torn the whole canvas, while still attached the frame, in a such way that he managed to produce what looks like a character on a crucifix. No painting here just a very original use of the canvas as such – a dimensional approach again.
The show at Elms Lesters Painting Rooms is now over. You will find more pictures of the show by scrolling down.
Adam Neate – Blue Reclining NudeAdam Neate – Red Dimensional Portrait
On my way to BRP (Black Rat Press), I knew I was up for a treat. I knew I would hang out for a while and enjoy ROA’s installation.
What makes ROA so popular is definitely his unique style – (very often) large black and white scale wildlife animals made of spray paint but also his ability in putting together quite clever installation integrating his wildlife characters. Flip out/ flip in some wood panels or just walk round and get a new angle on the installation and you can now see something completely different, the inside of the animals or the outside in this case.
We appreciated also ROA’s effort to push its creativity further by integrating x-rays light effect in one of his work. Close the flap and you see the fur of the animal, open it and the inside of the animal is revealed with an X-ray effect (see below)
ROA’s wildlife is powerful and definitely worth seeing with your own eyes. More pictures of the installation below.
In the centre of Grunwald Forest in the former West Berlin is an artificial mountain, Teufelsberg, made by man using the rubble from approximately 400,000 buildings that were destroyed in WWII. The structure that sits on top is ‘The Listening Station’ built by the US National Security Agency to spy on the Soviet’s. .
The listening station was decommissioned at the end of the cold war. There were many plans for it’s use in the future, all of which fell through. With that, over the years it has attracted the likes of vandals, youths, graffers and urban explorers. Amongst the broken glass from all the smashed windows and beer bottles, the collapsing stairwells, the gaping holes from the dilapidated flooring and the pitch black hallways, a diverse collection of pieces, dubs, tags, paste ups and stencils can be found.
Andy Warhol’s famous dictum that “Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.” in an age of media and internet saturation sounds less like an off hand quip and more a prescient statement of fact.. It is fitting then that the inspiration for the series of darkly reductive artworks created by artist Pure Evil that make up the core of the Last Good Time show was an email full of thumbnail images received from a Chinese company specializing in the reproduction of the classic canon of western artwork, produced by an entire copy village indifferently mass producing Rembrandts and Warhols .
From this spark came further artworks in a series built on the idea of the tragic muse, the ‘POP’ combustibility of creative relationships and the dark side of the classic glamour of the age prior to tabloid overload, seen through the ghostly tear filled eyes of Elizabeth Taylor, Li Tobler, Sylvette Davide or Brigitte Bardot.
When – 5/8 till 8/9/11 (Preview this thursday 4/8/11, 6pm) Where – XOYO | Cowper Street | London — EC2A 4AP
The much hyped Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition opens at the National Gallery from today with a seven room exhibition. The display is ideal for those who adore the technicality of the line and the workings of an artist , with many drawings and paintings by Leonardo and his pupils on display.
Its build up has been felt for many months, ever since its advance booking opened in May 2011 – a long seven months before its actual opening day.
With its future opening date released then came the capped visitor numbers announcement, with the gallery saying it would restrict visitors due to an, ‘unprecedented demand’. Today (9 November) The Evening Standard has reported how the tickets have sold out until mid-December. The pressure for this display to deliver to its global audience is immense.
The exhibition brings together an impressive collection of international loans never before seen in the UK, from the Queen, America, Poland, France, Scotland and from Art Fund acquisitions.
One difference with this exhibition from others is it the first to be dedicated to Leonardo’s aims and techniques as a painter. Don’t expect reams of glorious huge paintings, though there are a few pretty ladies, curly haired men and angels.
The whole display focuses on Leonardo as an artist, his technical skills and his teaching skills, showing how his works were often finished or copied by his pupils, and in some cases edited. In particular it concentrates on the work he produced as court painter to Duke Lodovico Sforza, in Milan in the late 1480s and 1490s.
As well as finished pieces, each room is peppered with Leonardo’s preparatory and experimental sketches.
The final part of the exhibition, a few mintues walk away in the Sunley Room features a near-contemporary, full-scale copy of Leonardo’s famous ‘Last Supper’, on loan from the Royal Academy. Seen alongside all the surviving preparatory drawings made by Leonardo for the ‘Last Supper’ it makes for an interesting viewing, but seems rather ‘tagged’ on to the exhibition.
Pieces to stop by:
The Musician (1486-7) Room 1 – An unfinished portrait demonstrating Leonardo’s skill in positioning of the face creating a life like portrait with depth.
Portrait of Bianca Maria Sforza (1493) Room 2 – Get your fill of opulence with this lavish picture showing a traditional Milanese style dress, with Leonardo’s profile technique on full view.
The Lady with an Ermine (1498-90) Room 2 – This piece is centre stage of the room and shows off Leonardo’s portraiture and colour skills. The lady almost leaps out of the canvas due to her 3/4 turned pose and the black back background, giving her a 3D quality that soon become sort after by Leonardo’s pupils.
Studies of the Nervous System (1485-8) and Studies of the Human Skull (1489) Room 3 – This is one of many anatomical studies in this room, and they took my breath away. He’s used hints of shadow and light to depict tiny features of the human body. The skull looks perfect in minature form and these observations were no doubt the ground work for his future paintings, making figures seem as real as possible. It astounds me how these delicate sketches are over 500 years old.
The Virgin of the Rocks (1493) Louvre and Virgin of the Rocks (1491/2-9 and 1506-9) National Gallery Room 4 – These pieces are obviously the focal point for this room and essentially a key point for the exhibition. They are on show together for the first time and are intended to show Leonardo’s difference in style and views of painting and art. The earlier piece is very rich in colour and could easily fit into a church altar piece. The second is restrictive in its colour palette and the figures are more sculptural with a porcelain quality.
The Burlington Cartoon ( 1499-1500) Room 6 – This lively large piece in charcoal seems to move as you move around it. The unfinished aspect of the piece almost makes it work more, it stands out in this room. The figures are fluid and contemporary, it’s a break away and step up from Leonardo’s meticulous anatomical studies.
Room 7 in the Sunley room has a handy time line of Leonardo’s artistic career, with significant events and works. This would of been suited to have at the beginning of the exhibition, putting this display into context even more, especially for those less familiar with his pieces. The room feels tagged on, an afterthought. It’s interesting to see the workings that may have gone into this work, and then the copy of the Last Supper is astonishing to see in its grand scale.
Head along to this exhibition for a peek into Leonardo Da Vinci’s undoubted skill as a technical drawer and creater of astonishing life like works, which capture humanity and idealised beauty in all its forms. He perhaps saw himself as a creator and observer of humanity, what’s key from the exhibition is that he was always striving for improving his skills and thankfully we get to see these still today in this exhibition.
‘If the painter wishes to see beauties that enamour him, he is the master of their production, and if he wishes to see monsterous things.. he is their lord and god.’
The exhibition is open now: 09 Nov 2011 – 05 Feb 2012 Mon – Thu, Sat, Sun 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM; Fri 10:00 AM – 9:00 PM Closed Christmas Eve, Boxing Day, Christmas Day.
ROA is an artist that we are very familiar with being that he was one of the first artists we followed while in the UK. We lived around his street works and would see some of his iconic pieces on a day to day basis. We even attended his first ever solo show at Pure Evil Gallery in London. So we were extremely excited to hear that he would be extending his tour to Australia.
The focus of ROA’s work of course is monochromatic animals of epic proportions that are typically inspired by the wildlife in the regions that he visits. Australia is home to an enormous amount of native animals that cannot be found anywhere else in the world, so you could imagine that there was plenty to inspire a unique body of work.
The show was hosted by Form Gallery, a large space in Perth CBD. The installations were designed to lead you through a specific path so that you could view and interact with all of the larger pieces. At the entrance to the gallery was a ten foot high Kangaroo with two rotating doors mounted in the piece that lead you into the main room where there was a series of smaller yet still impressively interactive works on offer.
Something that was unexpected was the second large installation at the rear of the gallery, a desert bone yard of sorts, featuring walls of and a floor of red dirt synonymous with Western Australia.
ROA must have been under an incredible amount of pressure putting together this show in only 3 weeks and creating all the original pieces of art on location in Perth. The collection of recycled materials used for the pieces was just another beautiful part of the show which we later found out were mostly harvested from old warehouses in the Midlands. Yes, this Belgian artist really connected with this space and Australian culture.
This show runs all the way through to January next year, so if you find yourself on the other side of Australia, go check it out.
We happened to be in the Camden area today for shopping related reason but stumbled upon some great street art pieces and no long past before we were snapping these away.
We were very pleased to see one of Dan Kitchener‘s (aka DANK) piece flanked on a wall just by the Stables Market entrance in Camden. Its size is pretty impressive and the subject, a banal street scene, becomes a fireworks of colors under Dan’s spray cans.
A few more yards down and we walked the mighty Bar Fly and its giant see monsters – Pics after the fold
The much hyped Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition opens at the 
ROA is an artist that we are very familiar with being that he was one of the first artists we followed while in the UK. We lived around his street works and would see some of his iconic pieces on a day to day basis. We even attended his first ever solo show at Pure Evil Gallery in London. So we were extremely excited to hear that he would be extending his tour to Australia.
