A Beautiful Disorder – sculptures from Chinese artists

A major exhibition of new outdoor sculptures created by 18 contemporary Greater Chinese artists is about to open at Cass Sculpture Foundation.

A leading sculpture foundation in England will display the first major exhibition of outdoor sculpture by contemporary Greater Chinese artists to be shown in the UK.

The exhibition invites the viewer to reflect on China’s past, present and future relationship with the world at large, and provides valuable insight into the state of Chinese culture, politics and society today from the perspective of some of its most dynamic and engaging artists.

C 2016 Cass Sculpture Foundation, Wang Yuyang, Rendering of Identity, 2015 | Art-Pie
C 2016 Cass Sculpture Foundation, Wang Yuyang, Rendering of Identity, 2015

 

From July 2016, eighteen monumental outdoor sculptures will be on display throughout the grounds of CASS. These artists employ a variety of ambitious sculptural techniques across a range of materials including bronze, stone, steel and wood. The historical relationship between English and Chinese landscape aesthetics is the starting point and inspiration for these contemporary artists. The title of the exhibition, A Beautiful Disorder , is a quote from an influential letter written by the Jesuit missionary and artist Jean Denis Attiret in 1743 that had a tremendous effect on English garden culture.

Attiret used the term to describe the ability of the Chinese garden to provoke violent and often opposing sensations in the viewer through a series of theatrical framing devices. Cass Sculpture Foundation’s Executive Director, Clare Hindle, says: “To date, Cass Sculpture Foundation has commissioned over 400 works – A Beautiful Disorder is a landmark moment for the Foundation as it is the first time we are commissioning works for a major exhibition by international artists. The exhibition will showcasecontemporary sculpture by some of the leading Greater Chinese artists.”

C 2016 Cass Sculpture Foundation, Zhao Yao, Rendering of A Sculpture of Thought I-192 , 2015 | Art-Pie
C 2016 Cass Sculpture Foundation, Zhao Yao, Rendering of A Sculpture of Thought I-192 , 2015

 

Participating artists for A Beautiful Disorder include: Bi Rongrong, Cao Dan, Cao Fei, Cheng Ran, Cui Jie, Jennifer Ma Wen, Li Jinghu, Lu Pingyuan, Xu Zhen (Produced by MadeIn Company), Rania Ho, Song Ta, Tu Wei-Cheng, Wang Sishun, Wang Wei, Wang Yuyang, Zhang Ruyi, Zheng Bo and Zhao Yao.

More details: http://www.sculpture.org.uk/event/a-beautiful-disorder

Group show at Signal gallery – Mixed doubles

In our first group show in the new Paul Street space, we are presenting four very interesting artists whose work links and entwines in very winning ways. It’s a fine match between the abstract and figurative ends of the painting spectrum.

However, this is not a one sided game, but an exploration of overlapping skills and techniques, that will make excellent viewing, if not producing any obvious winners.

Dan Baldwin
Of the two strongly figurative artists in the show, Dan Baldwin is best known to the UK. His dynamic and intricately subtle paintings are a familiar and respected part of the contemporary/urban art scene.

Joram Roukes
Joram Roukes is a new name to the UK. Roukes large-scale oil paintings have a sense of fantasy and humour that is superficially akin to Baldwin’s work. However, there is a more robust and serious purpose to these works, which gives them a powerful and dark effect.

Joram Rouke

Andrew McAttee
The absence of any familiar figurative imagery seems to create an unnerving sense of emptiness. This is indeed joyous and decorative work (Power Pop Art as the artist calls it), with a childlike directness, but somehow there is still a sense of a void, giving the work an edge.

John Squire
His artwork first came to public notice with the very popular Pollockesque album cover designs for his band. Since then, his work has been paired down and has become generally abstract in form.

When
10th February Private View.
11th February – 5th March open to public.

Where
Signal gallery – 32 Paul Street London, EC2A 4LB

Words by Signal gallery

This is England 2010: quirkiness on Bayswater road

this-is-england-2010-takeshi-mazdakes-9

Creativity is something to promote whenever you can, quirkiness is always something that will please the eye and mind of someone looking for something different. Takeshi Mazdakes is certainly one of these artists pushing the boundaries and being after something unique. He might just be achieving this with his exhibition ‘This is England 2010’. Continue reading This is England 2010: quirkiness on Bayswater road

Mexican city giant mural by artists’ collective known as the German Crew

We are always happy to see people dedicated to bringing art into communities that typically remain miles away from it for various reasons, such as poverty.

So when we heard about this project, called “Pachuca Paints Itself”, in central Mexico by an artists’ collective known as the German Crew, we had to feature it on Art-Pie.

Click on the pictures to enlarge

Pachuca Paints Itself | Art-Pie

Hundreds of houses painted

The collective spent 14 months turning the steep hillside area of Las Palmitas into something a colossal and very much alive mural.  It was an incredible effort to change people’s perception of a neighbourhood previously seen as rather gloomy and rough – art at its best, art to its best use.

“We have painted 209 houses. Every color represents the soul of the neighborhood. It has been a community effort as each household has participated in some way,” said project director Enrique Gomez, who goes by MYBE.

MYBE is a reformed and tattooed gang member who is now focusing all his attention on graffiti art and muralism.

Pachuca Paints Itself | Art-Pie

The project in numbers –

– 209 house painted
– 5,000 gallons (20,000 litres) of paint used
– More than 16,000 square feet (1,500 square meters) of murals covered

Even better, we hear that thanks to the huge success of this project, another impoverished area called Cubitos, is next to be painted happy.

Pachuca Paints Itself |Art-Pie Pachuca Paints Itself | Art-Pie Pachuca Paints Itself | Art-Pie Pachuca Paints Itself | Art-Pie

5 animated GIFs you cannot miss

Animated GIFs have been around for ages, they really have. Who has not seen those crazy ones of animals or people where a short action is captured and play in loop… forever. This was before.

Today there are many artists that are taking animated GIFs to the next level. There are even contests and awards for it. One of those is the 2014 Saatchi Art’s Motion Photography Prize.

We included below those who caught our attention.

 

Gerardo Juarez
Animated GIFs | Art-Pie Animated GIFs | Art-Pie

Jon Jacobsen
Animated GIFs | Art-Pie

Marius Krivicius
Animated GIFs | Art-Pie

Nikola Silic
Animated GIFs | Art-Pie

This Me Of Mine moves to Strange Cargo| Georges House Gallery

By David Riley
By David Riley

After a successful and very positively received installation at APT Gallery in Deptford, This ‘Me’ of Mine moves onto its second venue in a four venue tour. The exhibition will open Friday 12 April at Strange Cargo|Georges House Gallery in Folkestone. The new venue is a lot more intimate than the generous space at APT and therefore might be an interesting challenge for Jane Boyer, the curator,  to recreate the grandiose atmosphere I felt when I visited the show.

Jane Boyers says “Stage two of a four venue tour begins this week at Strange Cargo|Georges House Gallery in Folkestone. The difference in gallery space for the second venue will impact the relationships of the works to each other and will present new connections for visitors to the show. The changing context of space becomes a visible manifestation of the project theme – ‘self in relation to context’.”

 ““When I installed the work at APT in their wonderful space, I was able to give much of that space to the works themselves, allowing time for reflection and possibly a deeper look into the work in the show. I soon realised, though, that the space I allowed the works became more than just ‘space’, it became a visible manifestation of the project theme, self in relation to context. Just as each piece in the show makes visible an aspect of self and identity, this space made ‘context’ visible. That excited me,”

If we had to pick out three artworks from what we saw at APT, David Riley, Aly Helyer and David Minton got our attention and our curiosity excited.

David Ryley‘s work using some very 2.0 mediums such as a digital photo frame and or twitter who makes him a very cutting-edge and interesting artist to observe. We particularly liked his work “Twitter user names: coded and transcribed – TUNC” (c)2013  which consists of  printed A4 office paper, printed on an office inkjet printer, connected into a continuous record using binding combs. Hung using a steel rod and steel eyelets. 300mm x 1800mm x 20mm (variable, will grow). You cannot get more current than that!

While social media channels are becoming part of out lives, and can even take over then, we understood here why Jane Boyer included this piece in her show as a witness of the ‘ME’ in a social interaction phenomena.

Credits: This ME Of Mine
Credits: This ME Of Mine

Aly Helyer‘s ‘Strange Fruit‘ (c)2007  ink on paper  67 x 101 cm mesmerised us and took us to many places. Look at it again and you seem to perceive things, or are they faces or just thoughts. Thoughts of the artist, maybe not so happy but that reminded us that the ‘ME’ is before deep inside all of us.

Aly Helyer-strange-fruit-1 Aly Helyer-strange-fruit-2

David Minton‘s Peripheral Vision (c)2010  oil on canvas  152.4 x 121.9 cm calmed us and reminded us of the simplicity of the ME sometimes. It can be everything and then nothing anymore.

Credits: This  ME of mine
Credits: This ME of mine

——————

This ‘Me’ of Mine showcases work by: Aly Helyer, Edd Pearman, Jane Boyer, Darren Nixon, Hayley Harrison, Melanie Titmuss, Annabel Dover, Kate Murdoch, David Minton, Anthony Boswell, David Riley, Sandra Crisp, Sarah Hervey, Shireen Qureshi, and Cathy Lomax.

Strange Cargo|Georges House Gallery

Georges House
8 The Old High Street
Folkestone
Kent CT20 1RL
12 April to 7 May 2013
PV 12 April, 6-9pm
Mon to Sat, 10 to 5pm

Metazoa, a new show by ROA

ROA | Art-Pie

Belgium, the country where Roa is from, must be a far away from what this artists get to travel to. I remember seeing a few years back the first street art pieces from ROA across London and thinking: what this guy does is quite fresh.

Now, look what he is up to: a show in New York city at the Jonathan Levine gallery. Nice one.

Then, when I heard about that show, I thought it is going to be the same shit: wildlife subjects, 2 colour artwork (black and white) on some wooden panels which can be manipulated by viewers to reveal the inside of the depicted animals.

ROA | Art-Pie

Guess what? Bang on. However, I noticed that the quality of the paintings is sharper and that the artist uses in a bolder way, the red colour to emphasise the inside of his painted animals.

A friend actually sent me a link to that show and when I said to him, ‘You know what, I am sure I have seen it before’, he replied that accomplished artists have a style of their own, a signature and if people like it, and I am sure you are all like it, why change it. He, like of all us, need to fill his pockets with money so if what he does, sell, then be it.

Point made and agreed. Yes I have seen it before but I would fly to New York right after I finished writing up this post just because seeing ROA’s stuff is always enjoyable and fun.
ROA | Art-Pie

The show runs until the 2nd May 2015.

Lucky enough to live in New-York and actually planning on checking it that show? We would love if you could share your pics and thoughts about it so get in touch today!

What – “Metazoa”, a solo show by ROA
Where – “Jonathan Levine gallery, 529 West 20th Street, Gallery I, New York (USA)
When – until the 2nd May 2015

ROA | Art-Pie

ROA | Art-Pie

ROA | Art-Pie

ROA | Art-Pie

First seen on Mashkulture

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