30 January 2010

Phillips De Pury contemporary art evening sale in London

The catalogue for this auction on 12 February 2010 is definitely worth a look.  I really like this piece by Elmgreen and Dragset.

Josh Keyes print for Haiti

The hugely talented Josh Keyes has released a new 10 x 8" print at a price of $30.  From the proceeds of sale 50% will be donated to charities working in Haiti.  The print is for sale until 2 February 2010 and the edition size will be determined by the number of prints sold in that time.  At the moment they've sold 1515 prints.   Head over to tinyshowcase to buy yours.

26 January 2010

Pierce Casey Solo exhibition


Irish artist Pierce Casey writes to tell me of a solo exhibition entitled "Surrounded By Colour". It opens tomorrow- the 27th of January, with drinks being served from 6 to 8.30, the exhibition itself will continue on until the 22nd of February.   The address is- The Barbara Stanley Gallery, 279 Upper Richmond Road, Putney London SW15 6SP and more info is on their website

25 January 2010

Michael Landy at South London Gallery


The ever resourceful artist Michael Landy has a new exhibition opening at the South London Gallery this Friday entitled Art Bin.  A fascinating concept and an exhibition I will certainly be attending.  Here is the info


29|1|2010 - 14|3|2010

Michael Landy transforms the SLG into 'Art Bin', a container for the disposal of works of art. Over the course of the exhibition the enormous 600m³ bin will gradually fill up as people discard their art works in it, ultimately creating, in Michael Landy’s words, “a monument to creative failure”.
Landy famously destroyed all his possessions in his 2001 installation 'Break Down' and this major new work also raises issues around disposal, destruction, value and ownership. 'Art Bin' foregrounds the role of subjectivity in the attribution of value, as well as the significance of emotional attachments. Exposing the ultimate power and influence of both perceived and actual monetary value, the work also questions the relationship between ownership and authorship. 'Art Bin' toys with the role of art institutions in making and possibly breaking careers, acknowledges their important role in the art market, and makes reference to the derision with which contemporary art is sometimes treated.
Anyone can apply to dispose of art works in 'Art Bin', but only those works accepted by Michael Landy or his representative will be allowed into the bin.
From 7 December 2009 anyone can apply to dispose of art works via a dedicated website at www.art-bin.co.uk. Deliveries will be taken at the SLG from 7 December 2009 by prior arrangement, and from 29 January – 14 March 2010 works can be brought to the South London Gallery to be disposed of in 'Art Bin' from Tuesday to Sunday, 12-6pm. Michael Landy or his representative will decide which works go into Art Bin and not all works will be accepted.
www.art-bin.co.uk

24 January 2010

Au Secours - Art for Haiti


An early heads up for this event on Sunday 21st February at the Blackall Studios, Leonard St EC1 which will be a fundraising auction for the victims of the Haiti earthquake.  Artists confirmed so far include Remi Rough (who is doing a sterling job organising it), Lucy McLauchlan, Will Barras and a number of others.

Here is the facebook group.  Apparently a website is coming soon!

23 January 2010

New shows in February

After a relatively quiet start to the year late January/ february is looking a very promising month for shows in London.  I will try to feature as many as possible of them here. 

Starting with the big boys Tate Britain has a new Chris Ofili exhibition opening on 27 Jan.  All details here and press details repeated below.  I also enjoyed reading this article about Ofili in the Indedepent . 

Chris Ofili’s intensely coloured and intricately ornamented paintings are on show at Tate Britain in a major survey of the artist’s career that brings together over 45 paintings, as well as pencil drawings and watercolours from the mid 1990s to today. One of the most acclaimed British painters of his generation, Ofili won the Turner Prize in 1998 and represented Great Britain at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003.
Ofili has built an international reputation with his works that bridge the sacred and the profane, popular culture and beliefs. His exuberant paintings are renowned for their rich layering and inventive use of media, including balls of elephant dung that punctuate the canvas and support them at their base, as well as glitter, resin, map pins and magazine cut-outs.

Ofili's early works draw on a wide range of influences, from Zimbabwean cave painting to blaxploitation movies, fusing comic book heroes and icons of funk and hip-hop. For the first time, these celebrated paintings are presented alongside current developments in his practice following his move to Trinidad in 2005. While adopting a simplified colour palette and pared-down forms, his recent works continue to draw on diverse sources of inspiration, and are full of references to sensual and Biblical themes as well as explore Trinidad’s landscape and mythology.

Definite highlights include No Woman, No Cry, 1998, a tender portrait of a weeping female figure created in the aftermath of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry and The Upper Room 1999–2002, a darkened, walnut-panelled room containing thirteen canvases depicting rhesus macaque monkeys. Each is differentiated in bold colours, and individually spot-lit. 

17 January 2010

Sothebys Catalogues available to view

The Sothebys day and evening contemporary art auction catalogues for their february sales are now available to view online here.  Some interesting stuff.

16 January 2010

Counter Editions


The wonderful countereditions have such a great range of prints available.  I'm a huge fan of many of their artists and the service is excellent.  Orders are dispatched quickly and the packaging is second to none.  And no I'm not on a commission!  I particularly like the work they have for sale by Gary Hume (pictured) and Gillian Wearing at the moment.  If you haven't checked out the site for while then I suggest you should :)

15 January 2010

Alan Davie at Gimpel Fils



 This exhibition should certainly be worth going to.  Hard to believe that Davie is 90 years old!

Some details here and press release below

Alan Davie
Night Gems
22 January - 6 March 2010
Private View: Thursday 21st January 2010, 5-7 pm

“Marks become signs which can convey meaning from their magical evocations”
- Alan Davie

To celebrate Alan Davie’s 90th birthday, Gimpel Fils is delighted to present Night Gems, the first in a series of exhibitions taking place this year that will chart the career of this extraordinary artist.

Comprising works made in the last two years, Night Gems demonstrates Davie’s unwavering commitment to painting. In his thesis, Towards a philosophy of creativity published in 1997, Davie spoke of the necessity of letting go of material concerns and embracing the intuitive possibilities that can be found in natural states of being unhindered by external anxieties. This ‘letting go’ of exterior concerns in order to tap into hidden, mystical interior worlds has been Davie’s life-long project and significantly, he has never been afraid to change his style or painterly technique in order to achive this goal.

Davie’s clean, flat geometric style, familiar since the 1970s is here counterposed by a series of small oil paintings on board, executed in short staccato daubs of colour, perhaps a more volatile form of pointillism. There is a sense of frenetic engery in these paintings, different from the youthful exbuerance found in earlier works: dynamic coils of energy waiting to be unfurled are discernable in the tightly wound spirals of ....For a Birthday, while the dense and crowded areas of patternwork in Wheel Bender bristle with potential energy straining for escape.

Shamanism, mysticism, alchemy and magic are concepts closely linked to Davie’s work. These ideas are manifested in forms reminiscent of a Bhuddist prayer wheel, a crescent moon, the Hindu God Shiva garlanded with a snake, the geometic forms of Hopi basketry. And whilst these forms can all be found in this exhibition, also on display is a series of blue-black paintings suggestive of night meditations, depicting shapes only half comprehended, shrouded as they are in a cloak of darkness.



This exhibition is the first of a number of displays in 2010. Other exhibitions will take place at The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, University of Leeds; Callendar House, Falkirk; Kings Place Gallery, London; and Northumbria University Gallery, Newcastle.

Alan Davie’s artwork can be found in numerous international public collections including Tate Collection, London; The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh; the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam; and Museu de Arte Contemporanea, São Paulo.

14 January 2010

London art fair


I went along to the London Art fair and enjoyed my trip. There are plenty of different styles and pieces to see and although there was quite of lot of somewhat uninspired and rather boring art for my taste there were some gems mixed in.

I particularly like the huge Susie Hamilton canvas on the paul stolper stand, recognisably by Susie Hamilton but her work is changing quite a lot.  She remains one of my favourite artists.  One day I will get a big piece by her to go with my (very small) RCA secret postcard.

I was mesmorised by the Mauricio Ortiz painting on the Eyestorm stand and loved some of the work on the Mark Jason stand.


I also enjoyed seeing the work at quite a few of the galleries that were exhibiting in the project space, particularly the Bearspace gallery in Deptford which had an eclectic mix of very limited edition works by up and coming artists, many of which I liked.

Is it me or did there seem to be more editioned work (and galleries selling editioned work) over originals now?  Also there was quite a lot of gallery flipping going on.  I saw at least 2 galleries who had the recent print that Bridget Riley released with the Whitechapel gallery and they were asking for 4 to 5 times its original cost. 

Bargain of the fair is on the Advanced Graphics stand.  They are selling a smallish Albert Irvin screenprint, edition of 250, for £250 plus VAT.  It is to celebrate the release of a book of all Irvin's prints which is released in September and for that price you also get a signed book and an invite to the private view so that "Bert" can dedicate your book.  An absolute steal I thought.  I was very tempted...but resisted.   My friend who I went to the fair with bought one though, and elected to have it John Jones framed for £125 plus VAT.  Not a bad price at all.

10 January 2010

Where to buy fine art prints in the UK


Here is a little non-exhaustive list of places where you can buy fine art prints in London, the UK and online.



Art Galleries (Non-Commercial)

Of course most art galleries now have some commercial arm but by this I mean those galleries which are publicly funded. These galleries are often a very good source of limited edition prints.



The tate gallery - at the moment has some nice prints by Glenn Brown (pictured) and others

The Whitechapel Gallery - - Cheap limited edition prints by well established well known artists.

The Serpentine Gallery - another excellent source of limited edition prints.

The Baltic Gallery -  often has a good selection of murakami and chiho aoshima prints for sale

The Freud Museum -  Can’t actually be bought online but two excellent portfolios of prints

The Hayward Gallery again not yet available online but a good source for limited edition prints 


Milton Keynes Gallery –  another one where you will have to actually visit the gallery – but worth it.


Modern Art Oxford -  Some great prints in stock here too.

Royal academy -  In addition to posters the royal academy often has limited edition prints by its academicians for sale in the shop.

Art Galleries (Commercial)

There are literally hundreds out there selling limited edition prints so I will just set out a few that have a significant online presence

White cube - / Some surprisingly reasonable editions from this top London gallery

Counter editions – - very reasonably priced prints by leading contemporary artists

Eyestorm –  – a wide range of prints by up and coming and well established contemporary artists.

09 January 2010

London Art Fair Next Week


The london art fair starts on Wednesday of next week at the Islington Design Centre.  This is one of my favourite fairs of the year with plenty of exhibitors and a good range of stuff for all tastes.  I will no doubt post more about the fair having gone.

08 January 2010

Richard Wilson 20:50 back at Saatchi Gallery


Back at the Saatchi Gallery is Richard Wilson's amazing installation which consists of used sump oil and steel.  If you didn't get to see it in the Saatchi gallery's previous homes now is you chance to see it again, and it is well worth it.

07 January 2010

Haunch of Venison


For a top end london gallery Haunch of Venison has some very affordable limited edition prints by a range of contemporary artists including Hew Locke, Mat Collishaw, Polly Morgan, and, pictured, Keith Coventry. 

I think these are very good value.

Here are all the details of the Coventry print

Keith Coventry
Crack Pipes
2008

Edition of 200
Signed and numbered by the artist
One colour screenprint on 310gm Somerset Tub sized paper, glazed finish with one deckle edge
Image size: 26 X 18cm
Total size: 38 x 30cm
© Keith Coventry 2008

06 January 2010

Small Stella Vine originals on her website


Stella vine frequently releases small affordable originals and super limited edition prints on her bigcartel site and there are some good little pieces on there at the moment, including this one entitled Kate.  They tend to sell out quickly so if you want one scoot over there now.

Robert Sample at Signal Gallery


Robert Sample's new solo show opens at Signal Gallery on 8th January 2010. Should be worth a good look.

Here is the press release

Robert Sample is a young artist with a very contemporary view of the past.  He explores, by the use of many traditional figurative methods, a world that has strong visual references to earlier masters and styles, yet is very much rooted in the present. In his forthcoming solo show at Signal Gallery, we will have the chance to see his most recent fine body of work.

The Signal Gallery solo show is called ‘The Removal’. The title is intended to be both ambiguous (implying loss) while also specifically referring to the primary of the sources of inspiration for the show.

Robert has spent some time working with a company who carry out house clearances. He has been involved in clearing out the belongings of old people who have died, but had no one left to carry out this difficult task for them. This has made a deep impression on the artist, finding the casual sweeping away of whole lifetimes possessions, however apparently valueless, a heart wrenching experience. The artist’s response to these experiences and ideas finds artistic form in the Signal Gallery show as a series of intense paintings on reclaimed plywood.

‘The Removal’ will be Robert Sample’s first solo show. However, he has shown in a large number of high quality group shows in London including shows at Black Rat Press and the Leonard Street Gallery, as well as in Barcelona. The show at Signal Gallery promises to be a fine example of that rare thing, a collection of unapologetic figurative works, which do not rely on irony or nostalgia to create a strong impact.

05 January 2010

I'm Back!!

Evening all, it's been a very long time since I posted anything on this blog but my new years resolution is reinvigorate it with news of exhibitions, print releases, art fairs and other goings on in London and on the internet.

First post it to recommend the show of 4 hugely talented painters at Madder 139. The show is called Pretty Baa Lambs and features the paintings of Guy Allott, Sam Douglas, Peter Jones and Julian Perry. Go check it out. It's on until 17 January 2010. Press release here.