Wifredo Lam (1902-1982)

Wifredo Lam was a fascinating artist, a truly cosmopolitan figure who eluded any fixed categorization while interwined personal and artistic contacts with all the most important Western avant-gardes of the Twentieth Century.

Born in Cuba to a Chinese father and a mother from African descent, throughout his life he retained elements of his cultural background in his practice, infusing them with the influence he got from different sources. His artistic evolution is aptly narrated by an exquisite retrospective exhibition that started in Paris in September 2015 before moving to Madrid from April to mid-August 2016, where I travelled last week to visit it.

Portrait of Lam-Yam [father], 1922, Pencil on paper. Self-portrait, 1926, Graphite on paper.

The exhibition is organised in five chronological sections that well display the developement of Lam’s highly individual style. The first section covers the early years of his life (1923-1938), his artistic studies in La Habana and Madrid, where he at first he applied a naturalistic approach to painting and drawing. Progressively though, he distanced himself from academic conventions and started to draw inspiration from the highly innovative works of Matisse first, and Picasso slightly later. His artistic life cannot be separated by the personal and historical events that were occurring in those years in Spain. Fully supportive of the Republican cause, after witnessing the death of his young wife and one-year-old son by starvation, he joined the fight against Francisco Franco’s authoritarian aims. Through his paintings, worked out on paper rather than on canvas, he gives us a vivid description on this period characterized by the struggle for life, violence and hunger.

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Document medley.

With the victory of Franco’s party, Lam and his friends fled to Paris and then Marseille in 1938. Between this year and 1941, Wifredo befriended many intellectuals and artists who were to bear a huge impact on his style and career, and who would remain his friends throughout his life. He particularly became close to Picasso, who shared with him an interest in the different African masquerade traditions, and André Breton, the main theorist of Surrealims. In this period he became fascinated with techniques of automatic production and collaborated with the Surrealist group to many joint works, some of which are displayed in the exhibition. He also developed the theme of the Femme cheval, a dreamlike hybrid figure in between a woman and a horse that is the best example of the Surrealist influence on his creativity. In 1941 Lam fled Marseille and visited Martinique along with Breton. Here, he got the chance to meet Aimé Césaire, poet of Négritude, who shared his negative views on racial and cultual domination.

 

In 1942, after twenty years, Lam went back to Cuba and lived and worked there until 1952. This is commonly accepted as the period of his artistic maturity. This exhibition in particular sheds a new light on his relationship with the Cuban political establishment. Although an advocate of revolution and socialism, Lam never officially bound himself to any political party, retaining his individual freedom of thought beyond all attempts to categorize him as a Marxist. His artistic production in Cuba focused on giving voice to a distinctive Cuban identity that was the original outcome of the fusion of cultural elements from all over the world, from China to West Africa, from Europe to the Americas. Many symbolic features conveyed this message and combined it to an harsh comment on social inequalities and exploitation. The jungle in particular became the preferred theme, representing both the place where to escape slavery and where to worship the ancient Yoruba gods that arrived to the New World during the centuries of the transatlantic slave trade. Also basing his visions on the work of his anthropologists friends Lydia Cabrera and Fernando Ortiz, he claimed for Cuba a variegated cultural background that appropriated elements of different traditions into a unique form that was to be preserved from the influence of the West. In this view, it is certainly a pity that his masterpiece, La Jungla (The Jungle, 1943) was not there to behold.

La fruta bomba [La Papaye], 1944. Oil on canvas.

In 1952, Lam left Cuba to dwell in Paris and until 1967 he travelled often to deliver shows in different locations all around the globe, from Caracas to Zurich, from New York to Stockholm. Around this time he started his artistic brotherhood with Asger Jorn and the CoBrA collective, sharing with them an interest in spontaneity, teamwork and popoular art. His style was evolving into simpler lines and forms and the dreamlike yet strong flavour of his drawings fit perfectly the work of different poets, such as Luca Ghérasim, whose lyrical project Lam illustrated.

Bélial, empereur des mouches, 1948. Oil on canvas.

From 1954, Wifredo and his family settled in Albisola Marina in Liguria, Italy, invited by Jorn who also lived there and was experimenting with terra cotta. It was Jorn who introduced him to this extremely protean medium through which Lam informed some 300 artworks in 1975. In the last twenty years of his life, his tireless artistic wit never slowed down, as well as his wanderings: He visited Egypt, India, Thailand, Mexico, expanding his collection of non-Western art, and he worked to the autobiographical project Le Nouveau Monde de Wifredo Lam, while getting more and more international recognition. Wifredo Lam died in his home in Paris aged 80, just after completing his latest series of engravings.

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With more than four hundred objects on display paintings, drawings, photographs, letters, reviews and rare books, this exhibition succeeds in conveying the impression of a full, dynamic life, framed by long-lasting friendships and high ideals. The syncretism of his practice defies common notions of centre and periphery, placing this poliedric artist at the centre of Modern Art in a global rather than Western perspective.

…Feels like worth seeing it? You won’t have to rush to Madrid, because Wifredo Lam will be on display at Tate Modern from 14 September 2016 to 8 January 2017 (Adult ticket: £16, Concession: £14). No excuses.

Useful links:

Centre Pompidou exhibition page (Paris): https://www.centrepompidou.fr/cpv/resource/cbyd4kE/rbydeKb

Museo Nacional Reina Sofia exhibition page (Madrid): http://www.museoreinasofia.es/en/exhibitions/wifredo-lam-0

Tate Modern exhibition page (London): http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/ey-exhibition-wifredo-lam

 

Sokari Douglas Camp’s Primavera

Sokari Douglas Camp, Lovers Whispering, 2016. Steel and perspex, 138 x 140 x 71 cm. Image credits: http://www.octobergallery.co.uk/artists/sokari/

If you are feeling like spring is lazy to start in London, go for this beautiful inspiring exhibition at October Gallery and you will feel refreshed.

Primavera is the latest steel scultpure effort by Sokari Douglas Camp CBE (b. 1958), the wordwide famous Nigerian artist working and living in London, who often in her work recalls elements of Nigerian culture(s), interwining them to a critical discourse on international matters.

She does so even in this show, where you will find fine sculpture groups reminiscent of the Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), widely known for his blooming paintings Allegory of Spring (Primavera) and The Birth of Venus (La Nascita di Venere) among others. Fully quoting the Italian master, Douglas Camp creates vibrant pieces, where the flowing movement of the figures is well matched by the brilliant colours of the substaining natural background.

The floral theme in fact suggests the artist’s ongoing engagement with enviromnetal issues. Particularly significant form this point of view is Europe supported by Africa and America, a contemporary revisiting of William Blake’s 1796 engraving. In Douglas Camp’s version, the luxuriant garland held by Europe turns into a petrol pump heavily hanging from the sides of the sculpture. It is a strong metaphor for the exploitation of oil resources both in Africa and the Americas by international companies and it makes you look at the garlandwith different eyes, as it were cuffs trapping the three continents in a strangling embrace. In the same piece she also references Nigerian high fashion by choosing to enrich the figures with a stylish contemporary apparel.

Sokari Douglas Camp, Europe Supported by Africa and America, 2015. Steel, 200 x 181 x 93 cm. Image credits: http://newsevents.arts.ac.uk/49131/sokari-douglas-camp-primavera/

William Blake, Europe supported by Africa and America, 1796. Engraving,
19.4 x 14.1 cm. Image credits: https://uk.pinterest.com/ohornypony/history/

Other pieces explore the delicacy you may find within violence. I was specifically attracted to Posing with a gun, a powerful composition showing a fighter standing beneath fragile trees in a very scenic posture, while casually carrying a rifle on her shoulder. The only added colour to this steel piece is the pink string supporting the gun. This made me think of Richard Mosse’s video installation The Enclave (2012-2013), where the artist makes use of a pink film originally developed by the US army during WWII. I think both artists were thinking of the dreadful conditions of the relevant African countries but they were at the same time displaying the endurance of locals as well as creating an aesthetically appealing, quaint image out of a devastated scenario, thus putting forward a paradox.

Sokari Douglas Camp, Posing with a Gun, 2015. Nickel plated steel, 69 x 55 x 39 cm. Image credits: http://whatsonafrica.org/top-ten-sculptures-by-sokari-douglas-camp/

A delightful exhibition, Primavera will be on display at the October Gallery until May 14th. Entry is free.

Useful links:

October Gallery’s official website: http://www.octobergallery.co.uk/exhibitions/2016sok

Richard Mosse: The Impossible Image, short documentary on the making of The Enclave: https://vimeo.com/67115692

Herb Ritts @ Palazzo della Ragione, Milan

Time for a sweet escape in my home town, and my architect-to-be sister brought me to Palazzo della Ragione (“Palace of Reason”) in the centre, an antique space now recycled, yet not renovate, to show photography exhibitions. Now on a retrospective on Herb Ritts (1952-2002), whose black and white potraits of models and actors of the Eighties and Nineties have come to be part part of popoular culture.

Born in Los Angeles, Herb, who held a degree in Economics, started his career as a photographer quite randomly. In 1978 he took pictures of his friend Richard Gere, then a young and unknown actor, while waiting for their car to be fixed in the middle of the hot Californian countryside. Who could have imagined that this would have been the beginning of an artistic journey that would make him work with many of the most famous folks in the Western star-system? He had an innate sense for composition, but also studied Greek statuary and the works of Bruce Weber and Man Ray among others, often referencing them in his pics.

H. Ritts, Richard Gere, San Bernardino, California, USA, 1978.

The exhibition reconstructs his whole career, dividing it in three main phases or themes of interest: the body as cult, Ritt’s trip to Kenya in 1994 and finally portaits of famous personalities. His sense of sacred emanates from the naked bodies displayed in the first section as something almost moving. He was keen on natural light and detailed every little feature of an image to make a body look perfect, timeless, god-like. Observing his works, you can experience a sort of synesthesia, because through your sight you can feel the perfect smoothness of the model’s satin skin, the interplay between the heat of the sun and the soothing shadow on the body, the power of this machine that our physicality is. His collaborations with fashion houses such as Versace or Calvin Klein, just to cite a couple, helped defining the body as an idol in the post-modern era, where fitness and fashion were becoming increasingly popoular. Yet I find there is some kind of fragility in his compositions, maybe a Sehnsucht for a perfection that doesn’t exist in real life; thus these beautiful photographies become mementoes for the natural decay none of us can escape.

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The group of pictures on the Maasai popoulation are maybe separate, an interlude between the many glamorous collaborations this photographer experienced, yet they present the same hieratic power, the same pursuit of a sacred dimension. I don’t know if he would have accepted it, however the characterisation of this trip as his “African period” by the curators reflect the old Western conceptions on Africa as an indifferentiated dark area where mysterious and unintelligible are the key elements. This reiterates a bias that is completely out of date, as discussed in a conference by artist Hassan Musa that I reviewed here.

H. Ritts, Maasai woman and child, Kenya, Africa, 1993

H. Ritts, Two giraffes crossed, Kenya, Africa, 1993

The potraits section is both fun and melancholic. Herb’s aim when taking a portrait was to capture the inside, making visible the personality of the sitter. The use of black and white in this instance is very helpful; it reduces the composition to simplicity and emphasises shadows and features. The resulting  images are incredibly powerful and evocative not only of the model’s character, but also of the photographer’s sensibility. I should remark here that the choice of black and white obviously makes an impact on how we behold and compare photographs and reality. Herb’s work being situated in the second half of the XIX century was very influential in shaping the perception of black and white as “pure” and “essential” and, to a certain extent, more apt to represent beauty.

H. Ritts, Jack Nicholson I, IV, III, II, London, UK, 1988

The exhibition is overall well structured and contains many valuable gelatine silver prints that were all produced while Herb was still alive. The explicative panels are interesting and smartly disposed. They give information without too much distracting the viewer from the main experience of seeing. I didn’t find the audioguide, which is included in the price, particularly useful.

Herb Ritts – In equilibrio (“Herb Ritts – In balance”) runs until 5th June 2016. Entry 12€, 10€ concessions.

Useful links:

Official page: http://www.palazzodellaragionefotografia.it/portfolio/dal-20-febbraio-al-5-giugno-2016herb-rittsherb-ritts

The Conformist

Helen Bullock, Window installation.

Set in the very central Belmacz space, The Conformist is truly an unusual show, linking modern to contemporary artists, as well as art itself to fashion and jewellery design. Main theme of the exhibition is the question on conformity/deviance, and its declination through the passing of time. The twenty-one artists included share a reflection on the moral and aesthetic codes of Western society. Their works are the result of this creative thinking, and they can be of the most different register, from serious to playful, form ironic to melanchonic, from sharp to mellow. Here’s just a taste of what you will find if you go to visit it.

Helen Bullock, coming from textile design, has created a window installation characterised by strong colours, as well as a floor decoration for the lower ground. Her vivid contribution, featuring red brush strokes on the window, torn textile with a floreal (or phallic?) allusion, handmade bracelets and a long knotted cloth hanging from the ceiling is instrumental in driving the viewer inside the exhibition space.

The curator and artist Paul Kindersley has chosen two main sites of inspiration: the first is In Youth is Pleasure (1945), a novel by Denton Welch, a worn copy of which is available to flicker through, dealing with the sensual fantasies and erotic experiences of an obsessive teenager during a non-specified summertime. The second is the flamoboyant figure of Lady Emma Hamilton (1765-1815), well-known for her extravagance and a symbol of Romantic love because of her wretched love affair with Lord Nelson (1758-1805). Her presence is announced to be the red thread of the exhibition since entering the gallery: She enigmatically beams from an etching (copy of a painting by the portraitis George Romney), her head covered with a pure-white veil. Exactly in front of her, Helen Chadwick’s Ruin (1986) parallels an interest in the body as main agent of conformation or not to the mainstream of aesthetics. The late artist’s naked body, in contrast with Emma’s covered attire, twists in an unconfortable yet intriguing pose, while with her left hand she covers her face from direct eye-contact with the viewer, and rests the right hand on a skull, probably referencing Shakespeare. Behind her, a still-image of  fruit decomposition completes the work, where the artist is both photographer and photographed, maker and object, in a game of attraction-repulsion with the viewer that challenges the Platonic conception of beauty as positive attribute.

Two video installations, one by Kindersley himself (Lady Hamilton’s Attitudes, 2014), one by Julie Verhoeven (Phlegm & Fluff, 2015), make use of the body too in addressing, in different ways, questions of genre, sex, perversity, grotesque. I found that watching each of them with the relevant soundtrack, while the other was in silent mode, would give a completely different atmosphere to the entire exhibition. Interesting how different music enables diverse emotional responses to the same space.

Works by David Parkinson.

The exhibition also features some charming pieces of jewelry, like the sophisticated gold string with charms by Julia Muggenburg recalling again Lady Emma in its ancient style. Roman coins, red coral, black pearls and citrine drops, as suggested by James Cahill in his introduction to the exhibition, recall different aspects of Lady Emma’s personality, while the string itself let us face an ambiguity – chastity belt or erotic ankle necklace?

I find The Conformist an interesting experiment of mixing fields. It is imaginative and witty. I won’t steal the pleasure of surprise by giving away too much of it! If you are looking for a fresh, nonconformist show, visit The Conformist at Belmacz show room, until 16th April 2016. Entry is free.

Useful links: http://www.belmacz.com/gallery/

All pictures credits: http://www.belmacz.com/gallery/current

Paul Housley, Head of an English Iconoclast, 2016, glazed painted clay, 8x14x20cm.

Annie Leibovitz’s WOMEN

This morning I got the chance to know (East) London a bit more and I patiently waited for the Overground to take me to Wapping. This maritime borough hosts the latest travelling exhibition by U.S. photographer Annie Leibovitz, WOMEN: New Portraits. Starting off as a photojournalist, Annie (born 1949) has gained international recognition since the 1970s, specialising in portraits. She has worked for Rolling Stone and Vogue among others, producing some of the most famous pictures in the Western popular culture.

Wapping Hydraulic Power Station

The WOMEN project was born some fifteen years ago, as the joint effort by Annie and the writer and activist Susan Sontag (1933-2004) to help women empowerment within contemporary society. The “update” I visited today actually deals mainly with portraits of famous women mainly coming from the U.S., whether by birth or education.
The arrangement of the display is very interesting. A former hydraulic power station gives an unusual the setting for the exhibition. Only a few photographs are actually pinned on a wide board in the main room, each of them carrying a biographical note on the subject, which helps situating her in contemporary history. However, I found the script to be quite small and difficult to read because of the natural light reflecting from the plexiglass.

Most of the works instead are displayed on two maxi-screens made up by different tv screens assembled together. Therefore, the images can result out of their axis at times, which cripples the quality of the experience. Moreover, the choice of video display doesn’t allow the viewer to behold a picture for as long as one wishes, and even if you wanted to wait for that same image to come back on the screen, you would wait at length because the queued works are so many!

Nevertheless, I loved the portraits as motivational pieces for everyone in the world towards gender equality, and the evolving notions of respect and self-consciousness during time. They also help people to get into contact with powerful female figures in today’s world, some of whom I wasn’t aware of. Maybe it is not surprising, but I felt more interested in the portraits of those women I didn’t know rather than in the familiar and almost always present figures of, just to pick two, Aung San Suu Kyi and Adele.

Annie Leibovitz, Alice Waters and her daughter Fanny Singer, Hillview Farms, Gillette, New Jersey, 2015.

Annie Leibovitz, Cindy Sherman, New York City, 2012.

At any rate (passing over my personal ignorance), as mentioned all of the women portrayed for this new part of the project are somehow rich and famous, apart from Denise Manong, who deals with AIDS in South Africa. I do not know whether this was the artist’s intention or it was so by will of the commissioning Swiss finance firm UBS. This interest is only partly mitigated by a few pictures coming from the older part of the project, featuring four unknown casino dancers both in their costumes and as they appear in their daily life (many photos for the original project also had an important commissioner, e.g. Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of American Vogue).

Overall the experience is enjoyable and enables some critical questions. What is the role of the woman nowadays? What makes a woman? How many stereotypes have been deconstructed, how many are still common? Is the dualism male – female a cultural tag? The foreword to the exhibition by feminist Gloria Steinem vividly paints an holistic approach to humanity and its affairs – I like to think that the ex-hydraulic power station was chosen as a metaphor of the fresh use that we can give to old, worn concepts. From the backwall of the exhibition space, as suspended between past and present, the still image of Queen Elizabeth II in her White Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace towers on all the other all-shifting portraits, sending a somewhat ironic yet politically strong message.

And then, is photography art? Can we capture something of an individual’s personality from these mere instants? A bonus point is that the exhibition comes with no gift shop, giving some relief from having to pass through the commodified versions of these exquisite portraits. Instead, visitors can enter a second, smaller room furnished with a big wooden table, 1900 lamps and some very cosy armchairs, where you can enjoy browsing thorugh plenty of old and new catalogues of Annie’s work, as well as Cartier-Bresson’s and Cindy Sherman’s.

The exhibition space.

WOMEN: New Portraits is on until February 7th at
Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, Wapping Wall, London E1W .
Opening Times: from Monday to Sunday 10:00 – 18:00, except on Friday 10:00 – 20:00.
Entrance is free and there is no booking required.

Useful links:
UBS official exhibition page: www.ubs.com/microsites/annie-leibovitz/en/tour/london

Gauguin @ MUDEC Milan

Paul Gauguin, Arearea no varua ino (Words of the Devil or Reclining Tahitian Women), 1894, oil on canvas, 60 × 98 cm, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen. Credits: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gauguin_Arearea_no_varua_ino.jpg

Here we come to the end of the first year for Diotima in the Gallery! What a perfect occasion to close with a post that in some ways brings me back to my origins…

I have been so lucky to get a week off from the Christmastime frenzy in London and I happily reached Milan, Italy, for a week of pleasures. One of these was certainly my visit to the MUDEC (Museo delle Culture, i.e. Museum of Cultures). In contrast with its old-fashioned name, MUDEC is set in a very contemporary space by architect David Chipperfield and hosts a plethora of events and exhibitions so that it has already become a centre of Milan’s cultural life. Considering that the opening was just in Summer 2015, I must say the amount of happenings that have already taken place at MUDEC is quite amazing.

I went there to visit the exhibition regarding Gauguin and I definitely recommend it. Entitled “Gauguin, Tales from Paradise”, it displays not only paintings but also some magnificent wood carvings as well as pottery and zincographs by the artist. Some paintings by Cézanne, Pisarro, Van Gogh are on display too in order to emphasize differences and similarities within the artists.

The aim of the curators was to tell a story of the different places visited by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), an artist who always escaped defining tags. Through his work, the visitor can come into contact with many regions of the world, very distant and different from each other: In his restless artistic search, Gauguin explored in fact Brittany, Denmark, Paris and Arles, as well as Martinique, Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands. Gauguin was keen on drawing material form other cultures to use in his work, in an artistic synthesis that ended up being something very different from the Impressionist style to which he was associated at first.

The developement of the exhibition, divided in five sections, shows this metamorphosis of  Gauguin’s style neatly. It also underlines the importance of Gauguin as an indefinable figure, who always pushed the limits of art convention. He approached Primitivism in his own original way, creating works that leave behind the European, “civilised” artistic conventions and enclose the most disparate elements, from everyday life to dreams to local myths. In his practice, we can appreciate a fusion of real, symbolic and decorative, a fusion operated by the artist’s mind through abstraction. No wonder that his work deeply influenced Picasso and the Cubism movement, Matisse and the Fauves. I could actually stretch his influence to the Surrealists without doubt.

Paul Gauguin, Arii Matamoe (The Royal End), 1892, Oil on coarse fabric, 45,1 x 74,3 cm, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Credits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Paul_Gauguin_(French_-_Arii_Matamoe_(The_Royal_End)_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

Most of the artworks displayed come from the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek of Copenhagen, being the first time they are shown all together outside their usual setting. The choice of lights and materials for display reflect the importance given to Gauguin’s relationship with Primitivism: low lights, ground red or night blue reed mats and wooden cases are disposed to create a labyrinth where, as you turn the next corner, you enter a new level of understanding of Gauguin’s revolutionary originality. I must say I found it a bit disorienting and at first didn’t follow the intended path, but on the other hand I’ve always had a very bad sense of direction…

The museum doesn’t allow to take pictures so I had to use the ones available from the Internet. The show includes some famous masterpieces, however the real revelation are the wood carvings, little jewels to enjoy maybe for the first time. Don’t miss this chance if you find yourself nearby!

Paul Gauguin, Pape moe (Mysterious water), 1894, Painted Oak, 81,5 x 62 x 5 cm, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. Credits: http://www.glyptoteket.com/press-release/the-glyptotek-recieves-a-donation-of-a-work-by-gauguin

Paul Gauguin, Hina and Fatu, c. 1892, Carved Tamanu Wood, Height: 32,71 cm, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Credits:http://arttattler.com/archivepaulgauguin.html

Gauguin, Tales from Paradise
Until February 21st 2016
MUDEC, via Tortona 56, Milano, Italy
Tickets: 12,00 € Full, 10,00 € Reduced

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Useful links:

MUDEC Exhibition page: http://www.mudec.it/eng/gauguin/
An article on MUDEC by Politecnico di Milano International Business School’s Blog: http://www.growingleader.com/mudec-the-cultural-exhibition-center-opens-in-milan/

PANGAEA II @ Saatchi Gallery

As I entered the luminous space of the Saatchi Gallery with a friend, a week ago, I was suddenly rapt into a quiet, ethereal world, where the silence was not even interrupted by the thundering rain outside, and the artworks on display would simply but blodly disclose themselves in all their beauty, almost challenging you to fade away and leave the stage to the unfolding of their meanings.

The artists presented in the exhibition “Pangaea II: New Art from Africa and Latin America” come from these continents, and some of them had already shown their works in a previous collective exhibition, held at the Saatchi Gallery last year, across Spring, Summer and Autumn 2014. The earlier show was named “Pangaea”, so that the second was clearly linked to the first in the extent in which they both displayed contemporary artists coming from economically developing parts of the world that are miles and miles away from each other, but can reunite through art (as the probably geographically were millennia ago).

The show was divided into different rooms, onto two floors of the gallery, with no explanation whatsoever of the works, which most of the time were presented only by a plain collective label at the entrance of every room, stating the basic information (author, title, year, medium, size). This gave a chance for attentive and meditative looking at the pieces, without focusing on written text as we are so much used to. In this case, though, a bit of knowledge of the background of every artist would have been indispensable to get a better understanding of their works. I had done my homework research before reaching the gallery, so I felt enough comfortable in the sole presence of the artworks, but I am not sure the friend who was with me had the same kind of experience. At any rate, the way the objects were presented, the ubiquitous white light cascading from the ceiling and probably the silent gallery environment itself gave space for personal reflection and I soon lost sight of my mate, getting back to him only at the shop entrance. He told me he had really enoyed the show.

Many of the works contained a political or socio-economical reference to the countries the artist belongs to. Some addressed a blue reflection on burocracy and the way human beings are swallowed by technology and urbanization. Others would tackle the power-games in which an individual must mix him or herself up in in order to gain political authority and prestige. Others again would reflect on the situation of the poorest sections of society.

I particularly felt an association with the series of paintings by Dawit Abebe (1978, Ethiopia), giving a portrait of ailing figures always turning their back to the viewer and to the worldly reality, from which nevertheless they are surrounded in the form of official papers, tickets, ties, …The melancholy they aroused was the same one feels when you ask yourself if this is really the only way things could be.

Dawit Abebe, No.2 Background 1, 2014, mixed media painting, 150×130 cm

Dawit Abebe, No.2 Background 5, 2014, mixed media painting, 150×130 cm

Dawit Abebe, No.2 Background 3, 2014, mixed media painting, 150×130 cm

Ephrem Solomon’s (1983, Ethiopia) Political Game 3 reminded me of a fish in a sea full of sharks:

Ephrem Solomon, Political Game 3, 2012, woodcut and mixed media, 85×86 cm

Armand Boua’s (1978) humble carboards well fitted his reflection on the hinumanity he experiences in everyday-life in Abidjan (Ivory Coast):

Armand Boua, various works, 2013, tar and acrylic on cardboard, 82×95 cm

Other works had a humorous vein than made me openly smile, like Alexandre da Cunha’s (1969, Brazil) nude series, in which the author uses found objects and different media to obtain a painting which is also a sculpture, conveying an ironic message on the way we see and appropriate material objects. I particularly enjoyed this piece:

Alexandre da Cunha, Nude VI, 2012, hats, canvas, thread, 220x300x17.5 cm

A couple of artists, namely Alida Cervantes (1972, California, U.S.A.), Virginia Chihota (1983, Zimbabwe), but also Eddy Ilunga Kamuanga (1991, Democratic Republic of the Congo) dealt with feminine figures in different ways. I felt a strong connection with Virginia’s reflection on marriage and the developing of personal relationships that she conveys through her work Raising Your Own (Kurera Wako). Unfortunately I was not able to take a picture of it, but her delicate, almost phantom-like bride, her white skin almost melting away with the unnatural white background, gave me a sense of strength and impotence at the same time. She stands beside her husband-to-be, both wrapped in an unusual black veil, which shadows them from the viewer and make them close and fearfully intimate. Their feet are bare, and the woman covers her womb with her black hands as a blood stain widens on her white wedding dress.

Eddy’s women are the heroines of the new cultural diversity which is emerging in his hometown, Kinshasa. He is strongly influenced both by traditions and pop culture and the resulting works seems to me vibrant and positive. I really appreciated the use he made of written word in his paintings, a device that conveys particular meanings (if you can read the language!) and helps the old mixing with the new.

Eddy Ilunga Kamuanga, Voile, 2014, acrylic on canvas, 120×100 cm

However, my favourite pieces were the ones welcoming the visitor in the first room of the exhibition. I left them for last because of their power, their marvellous quality as art objects and the activism that they inspire. I am talking about the selection of works by Diego Mendoza Imbachi (1982, Colombia), who links gardening and art-making in a process that juxtaposes the natural elements of the forest with the harmful industrialisation that more and more affects the landscape in South America. Diego truly is a poet, even in the choice of titles. His medium, mainly graphite, reflects his intention of giving space, in some ways, to a reconciliation between human destructivness and natural life. His works, of very large dimensions, make you feel like you really are in some magical forest made up of beautifully crafted, tall, silent trees whose branches resemble in some ways electrical wires. The element of sacred is surely present, it makes you reflect on the beauty and delicacy of nature and on the stubborn dullness of multi-national corporations. After staring at these works, my Greenpeace soul aroused, and even talking about it now, some days after the exhibition has already closed its doors, I still feel a sense of courage, of urgence for doing everything I can to respect the planet. Now I can really start my day in a positive, proactive way.

Diego Mendoza Imbachi, The Poetics of Reflection, 2014, graphite and binder on canvas, 300×600 cm

Pangaea II: New Art form Africa and Latin America, Saatchi Gallery, 11 March – 17 September 2015.

Useful links:

The exhibition’s webpage has links to the bios and abstracts of the partecipant artists, and it’s a mine for more information: http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/pangaea_II/

Rotterdam, or of a great surprise

The Boijmans’ backgarden.

I am usually based in London and I am “Londonholic” too. However, I have recently been wandering somewhere else, having decided to take a holiday from the rain with my brother, Lorenzo.
This lead us (quite unpredictably, since the weather is even worse), to the Netherlands, and I must say I fell in love with Rotterdam.

The newly-built Markthal, Rotterdam.

Rotterdam is everything but a ordinary place. Completely destroyed during WW2, as many people know after the war it has undergone a massive reconstruction; the latter, however, didn’t follow the lines of traditional northern Europe architecture, rather the one of post-war avant-garde.
Thus Rotterdam is the most interesting place in terms of architectural innovations, and you can see many buildings here displaying an interest in aesthetics, the game between form and light, the laws of physics – an interest which sometimes overcomes functionality issues. The resulting skyline is extremely particular and you can bet every corner you turn in Rotterdam, you’ll find something to surprise your eye!

Kubuswonig (cubic houses), Rotterdam. By Piet Blom, 1984.

Notwithstanding some examples which I personally found quite distasteful, the city is generally very well constructed and I must say all the new additions (there are always men at work!) perfectly fit the context.
The Museumpark is an example of this equilibrium. As its name tells you, here you will find a conglomeration of different museums, all around a very nice park full of perfumed flowers, which must be lovely for a pic-nic (no sun at all when I visited it though!). I must definitely recommend both the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen and the Kunsthal, where I spent delightful hours.
The Boijmans is a traditional fine art museum that also includes a huge library and as a special wing for temporary exhibitions. I made my way through the permanent collection, which is displayed in a chronological order, from religious art of the XIV c. to the most contemporary installations. Every room is arranged around some certain theme and the general explicative panels always give some historical reference to fit the artists in both their regional and European context. I particularly appreciated the way the curators emphasized the links between Italian and transalpine artists, whose works and techniques influenced each other.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Tower of Babel, circa 1565. oil on panel.

Moreover, a comparison with the famous Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam shows how the latter is more intended to be a shrine for Dutch masters, while the Boijmans collection looks more to Europe in general, even if of course the Dutch masters are heavily present. Nevertheless, I praise the effort put in showing artists coming from different parts of our continent, from Italy to Spain to Germany. The Boijmans holds some true jewels of Flemish and Dutch art, such as the famous Tower of Babel by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Staring at this painting is a very strong experience; the canvas itself is not even that huge, but the tower, still unfinished, touches the clouds above and makes the natural world around it look like a miniature – not to talk of the tiny, almost invisible human figures who, like busy ants, struggle to complete this absurd task. The sense of humility which this scene instills in the viewer makes you recognise that The Tower of Babel truly is a masterpiece.
In the rooms concerning the XVII c. Dutch genre you will find some Rembrandts, including a very intimate portrait of the painter’s son, entitled Titus at his desk, which actually doesn’t fit the moralistic tone usually found in pictures coming from that period.

In the following rooms at some point you will be surprised to see the head of a man popping out the floor to stare at the paintings with curiosity and a bit of insolence. This is in fact a piece by Maurizio Cattelan, Untitled (Manhole). While I don’t find many of his jokes so funny, this one is not only ironic but also engages me in questions regarding contemporary art as the loss of beauty, and the position of contemporary artists in relation to the Old Masters.

Maurizio Cattelan, Untitled (Manhole), 2001, painted wax, hair and fabric.

Medardo rosso, Femme à la voilette, 1895 (cast 1919-1923), wax over plaster.

The Dutch poet Ingmar Heytze (Utrecht, 1970) wrote this lines taking inspiration from Medardo Rosso’s sculpture at the Boijmans. The two artworks are now on display next to each other.

I would also like to mention the room of Impressionism, where among a copy of Degas’s Little dancer of fourteen years and some other important representatives, you can take a look at some of Van Gogh’s earlier works, and admire Medardo Rosso’s enchanting Woman with a Veil, flanked by a touching poem inspired by it.
At any rate, the most interesting works are displayed in the rooms dealing with Expressionism and Surrealism. It must be said the museum has a stunning collection of paintings and sculptures by Oskar Kokoschka, Paul Signac, René Magritte, Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst and Giorgio de Chirico. As the panels explained the relationship between the British connoisseur Edward James and both Magritte and Dalí, I particularly enjoyed Magritte’s enigmatic portrait of James sitting in front of a mirror in his house in London.

René Magritte, La reproduction interdite, 1937, oil on canvas.

While this first visit was more meditative, the one I had to the Kunsthal was actually physically enjoyable. Scattered through different levels, there are various temporary exhibitions, but the place was undergoing a reorganization I suppose, because some were out of the visitor’s reach. I experienced the most different installations of the exhibition Do it! in which the underlying theory is that people must enjoy and be part of an artwork, and the curators wanted to encourage this by putting on display an idea by the artist that must be carried out by the audience. The funniest was an installation with two armchairs where you can book a breakfast with an artist – for the reasonable price of 35€. The exhibition overall was a very entertaining experience, in which maybe I didn’t think as much as I did in the Bojimans, but indeed I had a good time.
And that’s what’s all about, in the end.

Ben Kinmont, The possibilities of trust as a sculpture and the question of value for each partecipant, 1997. (Wake Up In It, Breakfast in Art)

Don’t miss these beautiful temples of art if you get the chance to go to Rotterdam! The city itself was a very pleasant discovery.

The London Open 2015 @ Whitechapel Gallery

Jane Bustin, from left to right: Tabitha’s Cape, 2014, Nijinksy’s Window, 2015, Nijinksy I, 2014, various materials.

There is currently an exceptional open submission exhibition held at Whitechapel Gallery, which is worth seeing for at least three reasons.

First, the variety of the art displayed. The London Open 2015 is in fact a collection of artworks created by contemporary artists based in London, selected by important names of the artworld such as artist Angela de la Cruz, collector Nicoletta Fiorucci, art critic Ben Luke and gallerist Jake Miller. The selection, made from nothing less than 2133 applicants, picks 48 contemporary artists who give their contribution using many different medias and styles. The result is a fresh dive into the variegated world of contemporary art, passing through installations and sculptures made with the most different materials, to reach to the extremes of video art, live performance and painting. The works are grouped together by themes, affinity and contrast. You may not enjoy every piece that you will encounter in this trip through the galleries, but at least you will definetely appreciate the melting pot of creativity that surrounds you.

Alexander Duncan, Cove, 2007-2015, polyurethane, polystyrene.

Dominic Watson, Are you not Entertained?, 2013, HD video.

Second, the focus on London. The aim of the exhibition is to give voice and international resonance to the living artists who make up the vibrating London art scene. The only requirement to be selected was to be over 26 and to be dwelling in the London boroughs. It is incredible to think of the great response given by the artists, with thousands of submissions from which the curators chose twentyfive female artists, tewntytwo male artists and one collective. The artists themselves, as most of the people livingin London, are from everywhere in the world, their nationalities spanning across the UK, Canada, Egypt, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Peru, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, USA. The London Open really gives you the feeling of London as one of the most important centres of contemporary art in the world, a place where conventional and unconventional ways of creating cohexist in a thrilling dynamism.

Ben Cove, Dissenter, 2015, acrylic on panel.
Ben Cove, Head Construct (2), 2013, oil and acrylic on panel.

Last but not least! The London Open 2015 is not the first open submission exhibition hosted by the Whitechapel Gallery: Back in 1932, the East End Academy (later Whitechapel Open) was hosting the work of all artists living in the area of Aldgate. Later on, the space developed to include artists from all London areas, Whitechapel Gallery becoming a renowned spot where young, promising artists can show their work to a wider audience. This gallery is surely a mecca for whoever may be interested in contemporary art, and especially this exhibition, in line with the gallery’s historical position, displays what we can call the avant-guard of all art based in London. A very useful catalogue by curator Daniel Herrmann and assitant curator Poppy Bowers accompanies and explains both the works and the artists.

An enchanting exhibition, certainly an enriching experience! Don’t miss it.

Zehra Arslan, Obstacle #1, 2015, acrylic, wallpaper paste, photographic paper, plastic on canvas.

The London Open 2015 is on from 15th July to 6th September 2015, in Galleries 1, 8, Victor Petitgas Gallery (Gallery 9) and Gallery 2 at Whitechapel Gallery, 77 – 82 Whitechapel High Street, London E1 7QX (Tube: Aldgate East). Opening times: Tuesday – Sunday, 11am – 6pm, Thursdays, 11am – 9pm. Ow, and yes, the admission is free.

Useful links:

The London Open 2015 overview: http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/coming-soon-london-open/

Photographer Ketaki Sheth On Belonging

There is a very interesting even though tiny exhibition going on at the National Portrait Gallery. It is entitled “On Belonging: Photographs of Indians of African Descent” and brings together some of the beautiful black and white pictures captured by Ketaki Sheth (born in 1957, Mumbai) during her project among the Sidi.

“On Belonging”, National Portrait Gallery, Room 33. Until 31 August 2015.

The Sidi, also known as Siddhi, are a community of no more that 70 000 people, living in different areas of India and Pakistan. What makes them interesting is that they descend from Bantu people (Southeast Africa) who in the past centuries were active on the trading routes of the Indian Ocean. While it is true some were merchants and mercenaries, many of them were introduced in the Indian subcontinent as slaves by the Portuguese. Sidi communities still retain African features, still nowadays they are “Indians”. Even if they may be still considered a minority, they have been dwelling Indian regions for more than five hundreds years now. Their experience fits perfectly the discourse on the African Diaspora, on identity and cultural membership.

Ketaki Sheth, Community Doyen Haseens, Badshah with her Sixth Grandson, Ratanpur, 2006

The exhibition deals exactly with these themes. Through the pictures the visitor can experience a story, the story of a cultural group that, although considering Africa as an ancestral womb, has opened itself to a new, mixed identity, accepting in all respect the “Indian” way of life. In particular, many pictures from the display were taken in occasion of a wedding. These portraits are stunning not only for the beauty of the composition itself, but also because it is very easy to pay attention the tale they tell you without words nor colours. I find the black and white choice effectively renders the question of identity on which the artist wanted to focus.

Most of all, as I just mentioned, the photographs on display are portraits. The issue of cultural identity is then linked to the one of personal identity, individuality. It is impossible not to ask oneself how much culture shapes the individual. The case of Sidi people let us think of ourselves, let me think of the chimera of individualism of which the Western tradition is so proud of.

The Catalogue

A nice show, for free, just one room. You can see it in 10 minutes, or stay the entire afternoon, going from one picture to another, from one face to another. You can also browse the catalogue sitting on the bench provided, and discover many more beautiful shots taken by Sheth alongside with her explanation of them. But just until August 31st.

Many thanks to Esmeralda for giving me the first piece of info regarding this artist and her exhibition.)

Useful links:
National Portrait Gallery Exhibition Page: http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/display/2015/on-belonging-photographs-of-indians-of-african-descent.php

More info on the Sidi communities: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddi