REVIEWS

Brett Amory at The Outsiders: waiting on the line

Brett Amory The Outsiders | Art-PieIntentional 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

Brett Amory at The Outsiders
Brett Amory at The OutsidersBrett Amory at The Outsiders
Brett Amory at The Outsiders
Brett Amory at The Outsiders
Brett Amory at The Outsiders

BLOG

Wire sculptures by David Oliveira

Is “wire sculpture” becoming a thing? Well we met Robin Wight and his beautiful Fairies Wire Sculptures and we were astonished by the outcome.

Meet David Oliveira and his animal wire sculptures. His manipulation of wire to create a zoo of mind-boggling animal sculptures is just crazy. have you ever tried to make something out of the wire thingy around a champagne cork? Yes you did .

David Oliveira | Art-Pie

But take it to the next level and you get what might look like for some some sort of doodle or drawing. We have not had the chance yet to see the artist’s work in front of our eyes but we hear that the what looks like a 2d piece is an intricate yet clever use of wires to shape 3d wildlife animals.

What the artists says –

“My work 99% comes from my memory the other 1% is wire. Very ecological, right? Why wire? Because [it] is a line that can [stand] against gravity… Because [it] is naif, easy and spontaneous.”

David oliveira | Art-Pie

BLOG, CONTEMPORARY ART, LATEST

Chen Wenling’s farting bull

2 Comments

When we first noticed Chen Wenling’s “What You see Might Not Be Real” sculpture, we immediately wanted to find out more about the artist and his work. This is not the name which jumped at us but the rather amusing look of the sculpture – yes it a farting bull!

Here is what Zhu Qi says about Chen Wenglin’s sculptures

Chen Wenling’s sculptures represent the spirit of collective imagery that defines China after her entrance into consumerist society. His work uses a mythological form that encompasses the spiritual insemination that overtook a generation with materialism in the 1990s, as well as the self-awareness and post awareness era everyday spirit of Chinese after the 1990s.

"What You see Might Not Be Real” (or the Farting Bull)
“What You see Might Not Be Real” (or the Farting Bull)

Zhu Qi adds –

Two main themes are prevalent in Chen Wenling’s sculptures, the first being an expression of the extreme human condition, the latter being an expression of the spiritual imagery of a consumer society.

The “farting bull”, we will refer to the work above using this – so much more fun, is a reflexion ab about the infamous global financial crisis.

The man getting crushed by the bull is Bernard (Bernie) Madoff who is an American fraudster and a former stockbroker, investment advisor, and financier. He is the former non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock market, and the admitted operator of a Ponzi scheme that is considered the largest financial fraud in U.S. history.

Chen Wenglin’s “farting bull” has also been used in several other sculpture works. We included below a few examples of these as well as more about the “What You see Might Not Be Real” sculpture – the piece first described above

"What You see Might Not Be Real” (or the Farting Bull) | Art-Pie"What You see Might Not Be Real” (or the Farting Bull) | Art-PieChen Wengling | Art-PieChen Wengling | Art-PieChen Wengling | Art-PieChen Wengling | Art-Pie Chen Wengling | Art-Pie

PREVIEW

Greg Miller at Scream

Opening reception: Thursday 1st September 6.30 – 8.30 pm

Scream gallery will soon host Greg Miller’s first solo UK exhibition. The large-scale works artist will again use his creativity using collages.

His style is very much pop art-inspired paintings and his “Phantom Lady” got noticed this year at an Bonhams urban art sale earlier this year. See picture below.

“In his new work…Greg Miller brings the pictorial poise of Pop to the eloquent fury of street art, effecting a marriage – or at least a torrid affair – between two hot items. One item is hot today, the other has been hot for half a century, but in Miller’s hands there is no generation gap, only a spiritual union – one that generates a sky, or at least wall, full of sparks.” Peter Frank

Opening reception: Thursday 1st September 6.30 – 8.30 pm.
Please contact lee@leesharrock.co.uk for guest list

Opening times: Mon-Fri 10am-6pm; Sat 11am-5pm
Gallery address: Scream | 34 Bruton Street | London W1J 6QX

BLOG, STREET ART

EN MASSE mural at Village Underground

It was a glorious day when we had the chance to see the EN MASSE crew working on anew and huge wall at Village Underground

EN MASSE : (from French) “as a whole”, or “all together”

EN MASSE is a Montreal based, multi-artist collaborative drawing project. It draws life from the many creative individuals who take part in the project to create large-scale, highly spontaneous drawings in black and white.

EN MASSE | Art-Pie

EN MASSE explores the creation of a collective vision; works created together that are greater than any one person could create alone.

HISTORY

The project was created by Tim Barnard and Jason Botkin in 2009, at the Galerie Pangée. Now under the direction of Botkin and Rupert Bottenberg, the initiative has worked with nearly 250+ artists internationally.

MANDATE

The EN MASSE Project nurtures the broadening and solidification of artistic communities everywhere it goes, serving artists from extremely diverse backgrounds such as graphic novels, graffiti, tattoo, illustration, design and the fine arts.

EN MASSE | Art-PieEN MASSE | Art-Pie

For the most part, artists participating in the project are self-taught creative entrepreneurs. EN MASSE is a high-profile public platform for these people who have often found themselves in an awkward relationship with many contemporary arts institutions (resulting in their work often being excluded from mainstream galleries, museums, and funding agencies). This is a bridge for artist to institution, and vice versa.

EN MASSE | Art-Pie

STREET ART ENCOUNTERS