Adam Neate exhibition at Elms Lester

Haven't posted here for a long while due to work commitments and other things. Hopefully I will post a bit more regularly from now on. Anyway this first post relates to an absolutely amazing exhibition on at the Elms Lester Painting rooms at the moment. The Adam Neate exhibition is possibly the best I have seen in London for some time. Go check it out. This painting is appropriately called 2am Blog. This runs until Saturday 25th August.

Hirst and Emin charity work to be auctioned

Original work by Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst (pictured), Fiona Banner, Quentin Blake and others is to go under the hammer at the Jerwood Space on 1 February 2007. For more details and ticket information click here.

Ebay auction of Banksy "tat"

I love this - a group of Banksy fans have got together and are auctioning off in the aid of charity all the "tat" that they have bought on ebay of Banksy Merchandise. Check out the auction by clicking here.

RCA Secret 2006

Just a reminder not to forget the RCA Secret 2006 postcard sale and exhibition which commences on Friday 17 November 2006 with the sale the following Saturday and Sunday. For more information visit the rca website or alternatively my rca secret blog or the rca secret yahoo group.

NSPCC Charity auction

There will be an auction of various artworks in aid of the NSPCC at the Dover Street Galleries on 16 November 2006. Click here to visit the site.

Inspired Art Fair

The Inspired Art Fair opens today at Christchurch, Spitalfields. It is on until Sunday. The fair features work by up and coming self representing artists. Well worth a visit. Click here to visit the fair's website.

Ovarian Cancer Art Auction

On 2 November 2006 an art auction will be held in london for the benefit of Ovarian Cancer Action. Tickets to the event are sold out but you can still preview some of the amazing artworks for sale between 29 October 2006 and 1 November 2006. Full details together with pictures of the artwork for sale are featured on the special website set up for the sale. There are too many artworks for sale to list individually but they include many well known artists including the pictured by Tim Noble and Sue Webster.

How to avoid being sold a fake

Hot on the heels of the heavily reported news of Damien Hirst fakes being withdrawn from sale by Sothebys comes news of another suspicious sale on ebay. I came across this auction on ebay a little while ago of supposedly an oil painting by renowned Scottish Artist John Bellany.

Suspicious of it I emailed John Bellany. His PA confirmed that this is not a painting by Bellany.

So how do we stop ourselves being duped. If the experts at Sothebys can (nearly) be fooled how does the humble punter stop himself from also being fooled. The obvious response if twofold - firstly satisfy yourself of the provenance of a piece. Most established dealers (even on ebay) will be happy to provide you with evidence of provenance. Secondly if something seems too good to be true then it almost certainly is too good to be true. Why sell a large John Bellany oil on ebay with a starting price of 1p if you were happy with it's provenance?

October is the busiest month

So much goes on in October in the contemporary art scene in London it is hard to know where to begin. I will try to break it down into events as much as I can. Hopefully I can write articles about some or all of these events later.

Fairs

There are numerous art fairs in central london in October, including the biggie, Frieze. They include

ART London - 6-10 October 2006 -I like this fair. It is not too big to get round and there is some really interesting stuff there.

Zoo Art Fair 13-15 October 2006 - cutting edge contemporary art from new and emerging artists make this fair an absolute must visit.

Frieze - 12-15 October 2006 - the biggest and the best. Be prepared for long queues, high ticket prices and scrums of people but despite all that this fair cannot be missed. Now... can anyone get me a free ticket?

Scope Art fair - 12-15 October. Another fair that should not be missed. Getting better and better each year.

Affordable art fair - 20-23 October. No art over £3,000 in this unpretentious but enjoyable (and hugely busy) fair in Battersea Park.


Auctions

All the major auction houses have their big contemporary art auctions in October. I would highly recommend attending the viewings which can be better than attending some of the fairs in terms of keeping up to date with the current contemporary art climate.

A couple of small other auctions. Look out for the Whitechapel auction on 13 October 2006 at Sothebys. This auction is of works by internationally renowned artists all in aid of the Whitechapel gallery.

For those with a more modest budget there is an interesting little ebay charity auction containing some well known artists and illustrators run by Pitney Bowes called pushing the envelope. Click here to visit the site. The online auction starts on 11 October 2006

Current shows

Simply far too many to name as all the galleries put out their strongest offerings for the time when the big spenders come to london for the auction and fair season. One I should mention, as I went there the other day, is the Ian Davenport exhibition at the Alan Cristea Gallery in Cork Street (pictured). For admirers of the artist's work this is a visually stunning show. Highly recommended.

So thats it for the moment. What a busy time for all of us. Enjoy!

Art Raffle 2006

News has reached me of a fantastic charity event on 15 October 2006 at the Hampton Hill Playhouse where there will be a raffle to win some truly amazing artworks.

The event is in aid of the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture. For £85 you can buy a ticket to the event where there will be a raffle of over 50 works of art by artists including Sir Peter Blake, Beryl Cook, Anthony Whishaw, Maggi Hambling and Patrick Hughes (left).

Please see the special website for more details of the events. I have purchased my ticket already and organisers say that there are only a few left.

British Art Fair

The British art fair is on at the royal college of art this weekend. Click here to be taken to the fair's website.

This fair is worth a couple of hours of your time to visit. The emphasis tends to be more on modern art than contemporary art but it is a pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

This is really a precusor to the numerous art fairs happening next month. Click here for my article on London art fairs.

Susie Hamilton at Paul Stolper Gallery

One of my favourite artists, Susie Hamilton, is having a solo show at the Paul Stolper Gallery this month. It will be well worth seeing.










Here is what the gallery say

SUSIE HAMILTON
LEISURE PAINTINGS


15th September-15th October 2006

Susie Hamilton paints the unstable, metamorphic figure adrift in a landscape of wilderness. Such wildernesses may be literal (arctic wastes, tropical forests, wild west) or metaphorical (casinos, luxury hotels, service stations), but both serve as an arena for her transformation of the figure to the point of dissolution. She paints figures with thin veils of acrylic which are allowed to burst their boundaries and destroy contours to suggest mutation and deliquescence. She has developed a language of poured, printed, layered and pitted marks through which to represent the figure as a fluctuating, vulnerable, mutilated and dishevelled creature.

These recent works of beaches and hotels obviously relate to her paintings of commercial wilderness. However they represent the deserts of public spaces with the vastness and threat associated with her paintings of the arctic ice or the tropical forest. The leisure areas of these paintings are sites of doom or convulsion, an impression achieved through the huge dark space overarching the diminutive diners or sunbathers, the countervailing force of light bursting upon these figures with an annihilating or transfiguring power, the hovering presence of magnified, virulent cells as if what is invisible and unforeseen is becoming a manifest menace.

One group of works continues her preoccupation with the single figure, trapped in glaring light between the dark expanse of the background and the enlarged shape of an unidentifiable object in the foreground. In the rest of the exhibition the figure is part of an unnumbered crowd by which it is swallowed up. While the solitary figure is misshapen in its isolation, these teeming creatures on beaches or at banquets are distorted through the presence of each other as if unwelcome ideas or emotions are seeping out beneath the social veneer. They are consequently represented as leaking, messy, grotesque. The spots and squiggles used in the background sea of figures are dragged to the foreground where they are enlarged to become part of a turbulent pattern of seething bodies, reduced at times to blots and puddles of paint.

The figures are also becoming abstract shapes. Apart from painting figures overwhelmed by aspects of existence, Hamilton is concerned with the idea of figurative elements in the painting challenged or overtaken by abstraction. Figures are painted in the process of becoming unnameable and mysterious phenomena. Her paintings are not therefore materialist critiques of materialistic pleasures, humans reduced to mere blots and puddles of matter. They engage with the idea of the sublime or what is beyond comprehension and what is limitless, immeasurable. Whether it is the unnameable object, the unbounded darkness of the sky, the innumerable figures or the peculiar shapes into which the human is transformed, these paintings are about a feeling of being overawed, overwhelmed. This occurs even in the heart of the cheap, commercial environment inhabited by these figures: the world of leisure.

The exhibition will be accompanied by an illustrated book, ‘Riddled with Light’, a comprehensive survey of Susie Hamilton’s works from 1996 – 2006, with essays by Richard Dyer and Charlotte Mullins.

Charity auction of Tracey Emin and Bridget Riley works

Works by Tracey Emin (pictured) and Bridget Riley are among those going under the hammer at a charity auction on 16th September 2006 in aid of the Friends of the Petrie Museum. For more details click here.

Mothership collective at South London Gallery

On saturday I visited the Mothership Collective show at the South London gallery. This themed show devised by Harold Offeh was an interesting if hardly awe inspiring collection of works around the theme of science fiction, aliens etc. Whilst a pleasant diversion I felt that the show's underlying messages - about racism, cultural differences etc were a bit too obvious and unsubtle for me. But make up your own mind. The show is on until 27 August 2006. This is what the gallery says about it:

With Åbäke, Jamika Ajalon, Barby Asante & Andrea Encinas, Ansuman Biswas, David Blandy, Eloïse Calandre, Gayle Chong Kwan, Carl Clerkin, Charlie Dark, Kodwo Eshun, Martino Gamper, Intoart, Anthony Joseph, Lambeth Band of Solidarity, Harun Morrison & Helen Walker, Harold Offeh, Olivia Plender & Paul Richards, Julian Roberts, Urban Classicism, and Ming Wong.

Art and sci-fi meet in ‘The Mothership Collective’, a project devised by artist Harold Offeh. Offeh has invited fellow artists, dancers and musicians to create an installation and performances with members of the public inspired by the music of George Clinton and Sun-Ra.

From 1-18 August, a different artist, from established names to emerging talent, will take over the SLG with an exceptional hands-on workshop for adults, children, young people or families.

Record your own funk track, become an alien in Peckham for a day, find your intergalactic soul mate, write a science fiction story, make your own alien video message, and more…

As the weeks unfold, work from each event will add to Harold Offeh's art installation, The Mothership Collective, which will be launched in an evening celebration on Saturday 19 August with live dance and music performances devised by Urban Classicism, Barby Asante and Blacktronica. The installation will be on display until 27 August, accompanied by a programme of talks, screenings and events.

‘The Mothership Collective’ is loosely based on musician and grand funkster George Clinton’s P-Funk performances of the seventies, which aimed to raise issues of black consciousness. The P-Funk performances were characterized by alien space clothing, cosmic slogans and the adoption of outer space icons in which the ‘mothership’ played a central part.

From P-Funk’s ‘Mothership Connection’ to Sun Ra and the Arkestra’s ‘Space is the Place’ to more recently OutKast’s ‘Prototype’ video featuring André 3000 as a visitor from beyond, there is a playful visual and musical engagement with issues of racism and identity by black American musicians.

As an artist, Harold Offeh has explored these histories of engagement with notions of space, Sci-fi and the alien as analogies used to undermine and question cultural, racial and social values. ‘The Mothership Collective’ continues Offeh’s interest through Ming Wong’s Intergalactic Speed Dating to Ansuman Biswas’ Inner Space Meditation.

Sandra Blow dies aged 80

Very sad to report the death of one of britains foremost abstract artists Sandra Blow. Blow was part of the St Ives school that also included Terry Frost, Patrick Heron, Ben Nicholson, Roger Hilton etc. A lot of abstract art has been criticised for being cold or neutral but Blow's work for me could never attract that criticism. Her pieces positively fizzed with colour, energy and light.

There is an excellent obituary of her in the guardian. Click here to read.

Peter Jones at the Pump House gallery

Peter Jones is an artist I have long admired. He is currently in the process of painting, in stunning and quirky detail, stuffed monkeys which he buys from auctions and ebay and such like. Through his paintings he really brings the monkeys to life. They can often be quite sinister and disturbing, frequently giving you the feeling that the monkey is watching and evaluating you, and not the other way round. Others can just be charming, quirky and fun.

Peter is a part-time tutor at the RCA and until recently has been somewhat shy about exhibiting and selling his work. This year has, however, been a great year for him as he has been signed to Fred (London) in Vyner street, has been exhibited at the armory show in New York. Peter has a solo show coming up at Fred London in November/December of this year. In the meantime some of his works are also on show at a group exhibition at the pump house gallery in Battersea par. Well worth a visit.

Also worth checking out at the group show is young artist Debbie Lawson whose stunning work with wood is a joy to behold.

RCA Summer Show review

On Sunday I went along to Part 1 of the Royal College of Art Summer show for graduating students.

As usual the college has put on a highly professional show which is well signed and a pleasure to walk round. The catalogue (both online and in print) is also well written and produced. Other art schools could really learn a thing or two from the way in which the RCA put on their show.

There were many highlights for me but to sum up a few of them:

Abigail Smith (painting) - beautiful, thought provoking intimately woven embroidered silk tapestries depicting what at first sight would appear to be traditional mythological scenes but look closer and you will see hints of a darker sexual nature. For me the highlight of the painting show.

Ursula Llewellyn (painting) - nude men, deceptive scales, well executed.

Brigida Mendes (photography) Original photos of old women - visual tricks with shadow and perception. In my opinion head and shoulders above the other photography offerings.

Ulrich Gebert (photography) much has been made of this talented young german artist. He shunned photography to produce a thought provoking piece on genetically modified crops and seeds. Well worth a second look.

Duncan Cook (Photography) this appealed to the scientist in me - pictures of marbles set up to look like the planets. Fun.

Nick Turvey (Glass) quite stunning pieces of coloured glass in all sorts of different tactile curves. I would have gone home with one of Nick's pieces if I could afford it!

Olivia Lowe absolutely beautiful silver vases for single stemmed flowers. Stunning. How do you put the water in though?

Adam Bridgland (printmaking) quirky 1950's style prints advertising a more wholesome time. Not totally original but well executed, quirky and amusing.

Well those are just some of the highlights but I would strongly suggest that you go along and see it for yourself. There is plenty of interesting stuff.

Anita Klein Print Sale

Anita Klein is having another one of her twice yearly print sales at her home on the weekend of the 9 and 10 June 2006 (not 10 and 11th as previously advised). For more details I suggest you send anita an email. All her details are on her website.

I can thoroughly recommend attending the sale. Not only will you get the chance to meet Anita but you can pick up some prints (and occasionally the odd unique piece) at a fraction of the gallery price.

Dulwich Art Fair Returns

After the cancellation of their 2005 show the Dulwich art fair returns between 2-4 June 2006 at Dulwich College. Click here for more information. This fair offers a good opportunity to buy reasonably priced contemporary art. I already have my complimentary tickets and will combine a trip there to the excellent Dulwich Picture Gallery which is round the corner.

For more details of art fairs in london please see my London Art Fairs posting.

The summer shows have started

The round of Art School summer shows has started with the Scuplture show at the Royal College of art starting on 25 May and the show Part 1 starting on 26 May 2006. Of all the Art school summer shows I find this one to be the most professionally run and an absolute pleasure to attend. There is so much to see you could be there all day. The RCA have set up a dedicated website for the show. Click here to be taken to it.