Apologies for my absence last week. My trouble started on Tuesday when I managed to sprain my ankle on an escalator at Tottenham Court Road tube station. I’d like to thank the man who I grabbed onto in automatic response. He said he was perfectly happy for me to hold onto him. I think maybe he was being polite.
I did manage to hobble down to the Rokeby gallery last week though, to take a look at their current exhibition. I did feel rather granny-like, walking stick in hand. I had to stop myself cackling, “never-you-mind young man”, at random people in the street.
Biro drawings seem to be all the rage at the moment. Erica Eyres at the Rokeby, uses Biro to bring a sort of ‘cartoon-like’ satirical edge to her upfront portraits of women. I loved the way she moves between the fine strokes and intricate details of hair, for instance, to big caricature lips and teeth. All this with only the use of the humble biro. Downstairs her video, “ Imaginary girlfriend”, is bizarre and slightly hilarious. In an ironic way of course. Perhaps this is not what you are meant to think, it being art not comedy, but is there such a thing as comic art?
Also last week Artangel put on an evening of ‘Noise Art” or what was described by my art friend as “Nerd Art”. Grand Pianos were suspended from the ceiling of a huge basement, and pipes wired up to them so that they could hit the keys. The ‘plinky plonky sounds’ were accompanied by theatrical lighting and sound bites of famous speeches from 1920’s philosophers. After an hour and a half my friend reported that it finished with out much variation, and that by that time hunger had taken over her need for intense listening. (It was around dinnertime after all).
Other interesting exhibitions this week include both the East and West London Approach galleries who are exhibiting two artists who re-work the canvas as if it were a collage book. In a trompe d’oeil fly effect – re. Mr Verneer - combined with a contemporary style, Helene Appel’s minimalist canvases are incredible. What seems to be stuck on items such as lettuce leaves and masking tape are actually painted on in total realism on top of blank canvases. Also check out Martin Westwood’s work. No illusion here. It is actually collage, using all manner of bizarre items to create brilliant figurative pieces on canvas. Including a rabbits paw, nail varnish, a shoulder pad and shaving scabs on a commuters’ newspaper.
Rokeby gallery:
http://www.rokebygallery.com/
Artangel:
http://www.artangel.org.uk/pages/aboutus.htm
The Approach:
http://www.theapproach.co.uk/exhibitions
1 Comment
April 29, 2008 at 5:45 pm
[...] charlotdickins wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptIn a trompe d’oeil fly effect – re. Mr Verneer - combined with a contemporary style, Helene Appel’s minimalist canvases are incredible. What seems to be stuck on items such as lettuce leaves and masking tape are actually painted on in … [...]
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