Unspeakable Things and Cityscape

Art Sleuth made it to two excellent openings last night. The first being Control.Alt.Shift’s Unmasked Corruption. Original artwork for Political comic strips have been amassed from all corners of the globe, trailing events such as the Iranian Election, Barak Obahma’s election and the Iraq War.

Autumn Art

As things get colder you might be able to drink the impending winter doom away with a free bottle of beer or two at some unsuspecting art show. Here are a selection of some interesting shows in London for the end of October, start of November and beyond. Including private view dates where possible.

Opening night at Frieze Art Fair 09

Celebs were in and out early for the champagne reception at Frieze this year, spotted were regulars Lily Allen and Gwyneth Paltrow. A Frieze worker said she got a radio call from one of her star-struck colleagues outside saying Kate Moss had turned up, and they didn’t know what to do with her! The likes of Grayson Perry and Tracey Emin were there too. Emin’s new work is an exercise especially for the more interactive art buyer. She is offering to make a commissioned work in which (quoting from the instructions) firstly you pay her “10,000 sterling”, before completing a simple questionnaire of 14 questions, then she will make a phrase in neon lights in response to the answers. She asks for a further “45,000 sterling” on completion. Contract signed and framed before of course. It might have been a mirage but was that art media magnate Louise MacBain I saw perusing the stand?

The Turner Prize 2009

The cream of new contemporary art I hear you cry! Why yes here it is, the Turner Prize. And this year we have one oldie, a Mr Wright who has given a rather restrained response, Lucy Skaer who has given a mathematical, clean-cut, cultural experience, Ernesto David who will hurl us deep into the dark realms of his subconscious and Roger Hiorns who has continued to nurture his modern day momento mori theme into several distinguished pieces.

Fourth Plinth Genius

God bless Art Sleuth’s wonderful friend Maya Shamji for her most excellent performance on the plinth. If anything Antony Gormley has revealed that most Brits have little imagination on the Fourth Plinth. Reading a book for an hour or taking photographs of Trafalgar square? Surely there is more you can do in the sole hour of your life you have as live art? I’m sure Nelson would agree.

Richard Tuttle at the Modern Art Gallery

Now and again there is an exhibition that totally perplexes you because it asks the question; what is art? Richard Tuttle’s exhibition at the Modern Art Gallery does this, but unfortunately for all the wrong reasons.

Tie-die, the choice clothing embellishment of the traditional hippy could be the beginnings of a spectacularly different approach to an art exhibition. Here it seems that Tuttle, a well established ‘post minimalist’ artist has attached bits of died cloth together with grommets and then stuck them on the walls. Perhaps he employed young school children to produce them, which is honourable, but all in all the effect is rather disappointing and characterless.

Memories of Hackney WickED 09

Another year another wicked show set up by Hackney’s huge community of artists. A maze of artist’s studios and exhibitions opened up all over ‘the Wick’ accompanied by lots of fun and frolicking.

Friday was opening night with galleries getting fiesta-like and Saturday saw a veritable array of live bands for the street party. Sunday was more chilled however you could stumble across the odd accordion or banjos being played if you were looking in the right places. Take a look at the photos.

Vice Photo Exhibition 2009

Vice magazine has got some sort of reputation to live up to when it comes to its’ photos. So trendy it aches would be one way of putting it; like Dana Goldstein’s boys in rock star poses; and also a decent amount of nudity, girls snogging and some amusing commentary to undermine it all, which is what this exhibition has. But it also includes some rather thought-provoking or technically impressive work too.

Nettie Horn and other East London group shows…..

Pop along to the group show at Nettie Horn to see the likes of Emma Mcnally who has created large scale paper-on-pencil works of ‘geometric calamity’. With the use of protractors and compasses she has created a cosmic mapping system which displaces the notion of scientific diagrams for artistic purposes. Good use of your typical school maths stationary.

Hollywood In Cambodia Gallery, Buenos Aires.

Walking along the backstreets of Bs As equivalent to the Kings Road the Barrio Palermo, the last thing you would expect to find is a bar totally covered from wall to ceiling in stencil art. Over 1,600 stencils apparently. And at the back of this fantastic drinking den, a gallery full of contemporary and urban art.

Alexander Hoda. The Arts Gallery, University of the Arts, London.

Alexander Hoda’s animals delve deep into the realms of a twisted imagination. Like something out of a fantasy novel they possess Predator style teeth, teats growing out of their backs and armed with weird objects of indescribable weaponry. These are potential killer creatures. Many are in chains. Suggesting a tension, a threatening danger.

5 Storey Projects, group show ‘Matter of Time’

5 Storey Projects, has concentrated mainly on two things, site-specific installation, something old dilapidated warehouses lend themselves too very nicely and art which reflects some type of ’critical sculptural aesthetic’.

8 of the best at Zoo Art Fair

8 of the best from Zoo Art Fair 2008

Frieze – it’s all about the Art or the buy sell buy sell?

Going to Frieze Art Fair is a bit like shopping at T-K Maxx. You sift through the good, the bad, the humorous and the downright bizarre-what-is-that-actually-meant-to-be-anyway? And leave after three hours (you have lost the exit) feeling confused. Your own idea of taste has been so diminished by the sheer amount of stuff you have been bombarded with in a short amount of time you leave with a pair of purple leather trousers that you will never wear (ok that’s just T-K Maxx).

The Future Can Wait, Kounter Kulture and Saatchi – 4 Sensations

The Truman Breweries’ triple art fair extravaganza: Kounter Kulture, Saatchi – 4 New Sensations and The Future Can Wait, are most definitely worth a visit and more so as they are exactly zero pounds entry.

Concrete and Glass opening night

Heart of Glass is set in the maze of dark hidden basement rooms in Shoreditch town hall, had a queue going round the block at the opening last night, and for good reason. It is an ideal environment for installation-based shows and this one showing 33 progressive artists’ work is a must see.

Another Alternative Art Fair….Free Art Fair ‘08

The Free Art Fair, taking place in two streets near Marble Arch is a fair with a difference. Jasper has arranged it so all the art work gets given away free to visitors, the little people. The people who should be getting the art. Right on Jasper Joffe! And this is no small fry. Saatchi favorites such as Mathew Collins and Stella Vine plus others taken from over 50 emerging international artists exhibiting.

The Mona Lisa Curse, Channel 4, 21st Sept.

Art as commerce is taken for granted these days, it is the product of a self-fulfilling prophecy encouraged even by artists, the very people who are meant to uphold its’ integrity. What was great about Robert Hughes perspective on it all was that it took into account the history of over 30 years of the relationship between money and art.

Alternative Art Fairs in London Art Week

The big downer with the Frieze Art Fair is the expense; a ticket can cost over twenty squid. Lehman Brothers’ employees might be interested in an alternative this year. So here are some other possibilities….

Elinor Evans and Christine Aerfeldt at the Wyer Gallery

Hung side by side in this exhibition is the work of two stylistically diverse female oil painters. One scandalous, one monumental but feminine.