Tag Archives: London

VNA launch party – 14th issue

February 12, 2011 Pierrick Senelaer Leave a comment

Another cracking launch party over at East gallery has just happened, this time for the launch of the 14th issue of the VNA magazine.

This issue is featuring artist Sickboy on the cover and is full of extras to enjoy- of 2 Sickboy x Edding marker pens, a Sickboy Kiss-cut vinyl sheet and the screen printed cover, signed by Sickboy. VNA has put together an awesome video specially for the event while Mitch at Chasing Ghost London has very kindly agreed to post the pictures he took that night – very much appreciated. Make sure to check Mitch’s awesomeness at www.chasinghosts.com

Photos by Chasing Shots

Related links
VNA magazine – verynearlyalmost.com
The Sick Boy website – www.thesickboy.com

REVIEWS

Brett Amory at The Outsiders: waiting on the line

February 11, 2011 Pierrick Senelaer Leave a comment

Intentional Abstractions is Brett Amory first UK solo show and first show of the year at The Outsiders

The works on display are part of the ‘Waiting’ series Brett Amory started back in 2001 in which he depicts morning commuters transiting via BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) stations around San Francisco.

Here is what he says about it –

“I started the ‘Waiting’ series in 2000. I was working in Emeryville and living in San Fran, so I was commuting via bart. I became really interested in how people looked in the morning especially on Monday after the weekend. I noticed how everyone seemed to be somewhere else, not at all in the present. I also started noticing a disconnect. The bart would be packed shoulder to shoulder but there would be no communication and minimal eye contact.”

In his latest series and in this one on particular, the composition is minimal, the environment seems to fade away. The artist is trying here to give some emphasize on the guy waiting, to hopefully make him come across as something more than a waiting guy

The minimum composition in Amory’s works certainly makes you focus on the character, on the commuter. Look at it 3 feet away from the wall and it is difficult to fully realise what is going on, get closer and find out loads of details you just missed earlier, see the commuter differently. Amory’s works appear like some sort of mirages or hazed slices of personal stories, stories of these people in the morning waiting for their mean of transport, our story for most of us.

The show runs until Saturday 12th February 2010

Related links
> Brett Amory’s website
> The Outsiders

PREVIEW

Markus Kiebel at Arch402 – Inside Complexity

February 8, 2011 Pierrick Senelaer Leave a comment

The first London solo exhibition by German artist Markus Keibel sees a continuation of his interactive site-specific installations, as featured in PORTIZMIR 2 (2010), the triennial of contemporary art held in Izmir, Turkey. Exploring semantic roots and the poetry of materials, Keibel’s work brings to surface enigmatic, abstract forms.

Markus Kiebel

Since 2005, the Berlin-based artist has not only developed conceptual site-specific installations, but also an abstract idiom using different forms of human traces. The perception of viewers is the issue addressed by Keibel, whose current work investigates how colour interacts with viewers. His sculptures, paintings and works on paper draw their elements from simple materials, often using pigmented glass and acrylic colours to modify their mode of operation.

Created on-site especially for the Arch 402 Gallery, Inside Complexity will reveal a large-scale floor sculpture, designed for viewers to walk over and leave traces as they move. Characterized as an ever-changing form, the four concentrated circles—created using different coloured pigment powders—shift and disperse throughout the exhibition venue, causing the colours to lose their intensity. As part of the exhibition, the transformation of Keibel’s ever-changing floor sculpture will be captured both in a time-lapsed video and on canvas.

In order to create these final works, the gallery space will be closed the day following the Private View (11th Feb) when Keibel will use the transformed pigment areas to create big canvases (170 x 280 cm), revealing the transcribed traces of human movement.

Keibel’s interactive installations are less focused on how interaction with the work evokes feelings in the public, but rather, with how these feelings act on given materials, as the pigments ultimately seem to reveal a sentimental beauty. Rendering the pigments in his own specific mode of representation, Keibel not only prefigures subjectivity in the abstract but also his own subjectivity, from a viewpoint that questions the prescriptive experience.

Words from Necmi Sonmez

Where – ARCH 402 GALLERY | Cremer Street, E2 8HD | Tue-Fri 11-6
When – 12 February – 18 March 2011 / Private View 10 February 6-9pm

PREVIEW

SAFEWALLS: Art Project by Cirque du Soleil

February 7, 2011 Pierrick Senelaer 1 Comment

To kick off the new year, High Roller Society teams up with Cirque du Soleil to launch a brand-new art project called SAFEWALLS.

On the first leg of a worldwide tour SAFEWALLS will stop over in London for 3 days ONLY, featuring original works and limited edition prints by British artists Sweet Toof, Jon Burgerman and Glenn Anderson.

The Safewalls project celebrates Cirque du Soleil’s roots—the street—as well as the creative freedom and raw energy associated with street arts by pairing up with artists all over the world to create art posters inspired by its shows. These art posters will be exhibited around the world on a 12-month tour, and limited edition prints of the works will be available for sale via High Roller Society and a dedicated website: www.safewalls.org

Safewalls at High Roller society

In this first video, in a series of three, Jon Burgerman, Sweet Toof and Glenn Anderson introduce themselves, talk about their art, about street art and a bit about breakdance! The next video will be unveiled next week and will present the artists’ vision of London.

SAFEWALLS: Art Project by Cirque du Soleil
When: 18 – 20 February 2011, Private View 17 February 7:00-10:00pm
Gallery hours Friday-Sunday 11-6pm (during exhibition) and by appointment
Where: 10 PALMERS ROAD | LONDON E2 0SY

Words from High Roller Society

CONTEMPORARY ART

London Art fair – in its 23rd year but still going strong, part3

January 27, 2011 Pierrick Senelaer Leave a comment

So there we had it – the 23rd London art fair, the biggest yet with a remarkable 24 ooo+ visitors this year. It has proven to me that this event is the place or one of the best places to discover, see or enjoy the best of modern and contemporary British art.

Over 120 galleries exhibited this year, a decent number but still lagging behind its big sister, the Frieze art fair, with its 170+ galleries but the two events should maybe not be compared as the Frieze fair is an international fair while the London art fair focusing on British art.

Another noticeable thing was that this year again, London based galleries made the bulk of the exhibitors with 80%. Painting and sculpture were also again the two main types of arts that could be seen but this is what the London Art Fair (LAF) has been about for a while now. The regular visitor will know this, the newbies not necessarily.

Selected works from the fair below.

William Martyr
Acrylics on canvas | Tag Fine Arts