Art Today

Today I don't really have much to say, firstly because it's Friday, secondly because I wanted to comment on a show that I thought was absolutely rubbish. I walked into the Alexander Pozzalon Gallery just off Tottenham Court Road, a haunt of mine which usually surprises me. However I found only average sized paintings with these average muted landscapes, then to my horror plastered on top were the conceptual crap. She had painted smiley faces and cartoon characters that bobbed up and down festooning this imaginary countryside. I can only describe them as if Turner was having an off day, smoked some drugs with jimmy Hendricks and bumped into Hello Kitty. Which coincidently I think was one of the names of the paintings. These lurid colours clashed terribly as they were unconsciously placed together without any prior thought. The brush marks were basic and blocky, but that could just be a reference to the helter-skelter Mario like world she lives in.

She had written that the work was about her experience of not knowing where she was living Asia or Europe, blah, blah, boring.There was no engagement with surface of the paintings, no real thought past the coincidence that she could attach a brush to her hand and place it on a canvas. I find myself becoming more and more negative. I just found the artwork wholly uneventful, which is a disappointment. I expect more from a private gallery in central London with the resources to find some amazing artwork that is going on in their backyard.

Next stop was the Gagosian Gallery in Kings Cross. The home of many a pumped up celebrity artist. I was enormously happy when I walked into the Richard Serra. They say in the blurb that 'He has produced unparalleled large-scale, site-specific sculptures for architectural, urban and landscape settings.' I concur with that statement; at first you are just overwhelmed by pure nature of the beast. These mausoleums to the purity of minimalism stand soaring, reminiscent of the sides of a ship. The curvature of these vast sheets of 2 inch thick steel seem unreal, and the passage that you take through a veritable labyrinthine path is actually both daunting and exciting at the same time. The signs that tell you not to touch the sculptures only makes me want to touch them even more. Their surface is smooth but the multitude of reds that make up the façade make it seem rough and coarse. The sides are cut at very definite angles which but up to each other with precision.

I hadn't really thought about Serra's interest in surface until I was in one of his more open curved sculptures, and in the side room with the long straight piece, which I read more as a painting, due to its shape and size. I started to read the welding on the sides as if it were the corners of the stretcher.To my surprise as I enter the little annexed room where he has hung some smaller sculptures as if they were paintings, and then painted the surface. The application is immaculate, he paints in matt black with precise brush marks that cover the surface. They only seem to amplify the sides, the natural organic shades in comparison to the over analysed painted plane. A thoroughly enjoyable show, I highly recommend it.

After leaving the White cube I believed once again that art could be my salvation. So I gallantly proceeded to go to the Elmgreen and Dragset show at the Victoria Miro Gallery now called 'The Mirror'! The show's premise is to space the gap between reality and installation, the concept relies on you knowing that the gallery became a club for a night. I could only see it as a mix of installation and an excuse for a party as far as I could make out.As you walk in you approach a desk, the walls are black, the desk is black, as you look into the expanse of the gallery it seems dark and vacant. I proceeded, and nearly walked into an arrangement of neatly sectioned bottles. There are light of varying colours, a dance floor and a very large disco ball surrounded by a sofa. On the walls there are hidden pictures of naked men, I think that they were pole dancing. I stood in the middle of the room thinking, what is this trying to do? I tend to have a response to most situations, this left me with nothing. The problem that I found was that you needed to have the party atmosphere surrounding you to be a part of the concept. Then again would it not be strange to be sober in this situation, do you not have to be drinking, dancing and doing other things to be involved in the whole experience? Another aspect that was commented when talking about the show to friends was that it was 'missing the smell, the floor was too tidy'. I agreed wholeheartedly. The only aspect of the show that had a synergy between art and that club atmosphere, was in the toilets were the tubes for the sink were tied together, a newspaper was placed on the floor and two sets of legs occupied one cubicle. These were amusing but were shallow in meaning when compared to Kabakov or Red Grooms.

On exploring upstairs you find yourself blocked by the VIP room door, which could be another little swipe at the concepts of clubs but I feel that it was more likely to make the whole space smaller, and also to highlight the arrangement of photographs on the wall, which seemed like they would be at home on somebody's wall. Their naughty holiday snap qualities didn't engage me and it didn't fit within the whole context of the show very well.

As an aside, aren't you supposed to forget 90% of a good night anyway? That allows you the fun of trying to piece the bits of memory back together in the morning.

I was just in Hoxton Square, while spending some time in London, and decided to go to the White Cube Gallery. I walked into the space, which I always find disappointingly small. However this time the place was filled with beautiful chrome contemporary chandeliers, the space became enlivened. The show was called Island Universe, an installation consisting of five sculptures. You stood in the midst of these blasts of metal and lights. I can only describe them as spiky balls. However on investigation I found that I wasn't far off. They are representations of both the big bang and a play on the chandeliers in New York's Metropolitan Opera by the varying lengths of the rods are based on measurements of time, the clusters of glass discs and spheres accurately represent the clustering of galaxies in the universe, and the light bulbs mimic the brightest objects that exist, quasars. I was so excited that I had to read up about the original lights, created in 1965 were actually a gift from the Austrian government.

The use of the gallery I thought was really exciting, the light hovered in your space you inspected them as you would a globe, whilst you try to point the places that you would love to visit. These combined with the video upstairs created an extremely good combination. All the art was self-satisfactory as pieces, but you also got the bonus of an educational film that wasn't setting itself out for the lowest common denominator. It was creative and exciting, it had no real plot but it didn't matter I was enjoying the sparkly lights as they float from the ceiling. It kept me in the dark for at least half an hour. The video really gave another dimension to the whole experience. It demonstrated real sense of cohesion to the gallery.

As you arrive at the space you are immersed in an example of the utopian planning that 1960's scifi movie directors dreamt we would be living in. This complex is a myriad clean lines made from steel, cement and glass. Surrounded by these beautifully sleek buildings the old pump house, where that gallery is situated stands out like a soar thumb but still retains its own character. As you pass through the contemporary glass doorway you are immediately confronted by a large brick wall. However after an inspection you start to realise that this wall is a prop, that the wall doesn't quite fit you expectations. It curls and rumples as it hits the smooth cement floor. You start to observe that the edges don't have any depth and that there are holes riveted around the edge, which are attached with ropes to the ceiling. As I walk to inspect this theatrical backdrop you start to notice the brushmarks, and the contrived tromp l'oiel qualities. You almost miss the clown drowning in the sand vase that is placed next to this overpowering wall.

Matthew Drapers paintings are just as surreal, He is obviously interested in allied carpet rug brochures. The carpets that he paints have a chunky cartoon like quality. They occupy angles and spaces that they shouldn't. However you perceive them in domestic scenes. But maybe you take that as given. His clunky rugs levitate in the space awkwardly fundamentally I don't like them but I can't specifically tell you why they entice such a reaction. I can only interpret them as objects that are too easy to create a dialogue with, I gave up too quickly.

I would just like to thank everybody who helped out and came along to the private views or any of the events in the gallery. It was great fun to do, and a great success. I would especially like to thank those who came out to bring me cake! (Eemyun Kang)>

It's going to be hard to critique my own curation, so any comments would be appreciated. The show is a mixture of artists from the Slade School of Fine Art. The artworks range from large kinetic copper sculpture (Candida Powell-Williams)through to four colour silkscreen printing (Sonke Faltien), with touches of brilliance dotted around the gallery. I formulated the show as way to enhance my own practice as an artist and also to engage with the local community.

We started the week off with a bang on Sunday when more than 90 people came into the gallery to take part in the 'Big Draw', which was tremendous fun. Children and adults were literally sprawled out everywhere, even on the pavement outside. Within the cacophony there was some amazing drawings going on. It was brilliant to see children remonstrating their parents for not drawing properly as if they had switched roles and  were not holding their knife and fork with proper etiquette. The whole event has to commended and a special mention has to go to the lead role, Diana Schiler.

The week rolled by so fast and so much happened but the highlights have to be the Punch and Judy (Andrea Greenwood) which was performed in the marketplace on Thursday lunchtime and at the private view on Friday evening. Both were a riot, the mishaps seamlessly sewn into the plot line as these ancient rivals battle it out but not in a traditional beachside manner. The other sculptors in the show were Susan Stainman with her abstract sculptures that play with your perceptions of objects, and  Luke McCreadie who produced smaller but just as cryptic artworks. You visually rummage through his secret number 1, but to no avail. One guy spent 20 minutes pouring over the piece, shouted 'got it!' and then left. He never told me if he had got the answer or not.

On the painting side there was a great diversity. Sam hackings miniature landscapes attracted a lot of attention, as they were dotted around the gallery. As did Tom Yeomans' 9 panel painting that bedazzled and bemused all who walked in, as it seemed to bring everybody who passed in the street. Another major artwork was Eemyun Kangs' the skull that also seemed to hold peoples attention as they deciphered the fungal shapes and realised the skull shape. Last but no means least were Chloe Le Tissier who had some beautifully elegant portraits in the show and Jack Killick who exhibited his fantatsice abstract drawings.

Making art is a very lonely business and so we invite you to join us in our latest incarnation as ConsumeCreate. This show tries to document young contemporary London based artwork. All the artists in this show are studying or have studied at the Slade School of Fine Art (UCL).

ConsumeCreate was started by Oliver Cloke. He has found collaborative artwork the perfect medium for the kind of research that he wishes to investigate. It has enabled him to explore the notion of the finished artwork. As an art teacher he has studied the idea of achievement and the criteria for success in creative fields. When creating his own sculptures and paintings he found that the major factors for success was finding an appropriate space to exhibit, finding the best artwork to surround it with and the discussion the ensues.

His experimentation with collaborative practice started while at the Slade School of Fine Art organising groups of students in the production of a limited edition hand printed fanzine, which lead onto curating shows in London, New York and in Malta. His practice has evolved into enhancing other's art, involving planning many hours of discussion and co-operation. This show ConsumeCreate is a culmination of conversations with different artists.

The Participating Artists:

Tom Yeomans

Tom Yeomans tells narratives through pictures, whilst not denying the inherent fraud that is in the activity of making pictures.

Susan Stainman

Susan's love of everyday objects is the driving force behind her work. Reinterpreting their function and context, her sculptures attempt to add mystery and playfulness to life.

Chloe Le Tissier

London based artist Chloe Le Tissier combines a confident and delicate approach to painting, using specifically obscure subject matter to construct a dialogue between and within her works. Le Tissier's paintings feel theatrical and suggest a film still quality. They transcend the barriers separating abstract from realist, surreal from ordinary. The paintings operate on different levels, questioning the process of painting as well as traditional narrative.

Sam Hacking

Brought up in Cambridgeshire Sam has a wonderful relationship with the landscape. This is evident in the qualities that she brings out in her artwork. The depth passion and detail is evident in every brushstroke.

Eemyun Kang

Paints dreamy isolated worlds, spheres of unique appearance and attribute, populated by the rarest of flora and the strangest of beings. Kang evokes a pure land of myth, an untouched zone, located far in the antipodes of the human imagination.

Nick Spears

Nick Spears' work is an amalgam of his passions, Music and Art. He produces bold powerful paintings that describe his personal journey through the music that he listens to. He deals with the duality of hedonism/ responsibilty and the line between inner and outer lives. He is currently studying at The Slade.

Sonke Faltien

A photographer but also a philosopher his artworks consider the relationship between the idea of the sublime and the utopian dream of the atomic age. Born in Hanover he has exhibited extensively in London, Liverpool, Bremen, Hildeshiem (Ger) and Brno (Czech Rep).

Candida Powell-Williams

Candida's work explores the thematic relationship between the body and space, the internal and the external. The objects perform independently through the use of motors or natural elements such as the wind, but in some cases the body is called on to animate the kinetic elements. The particularity of the materials for each individual object is fundamental to the way that sculpture behaves. The objects exist somewhere between the functional and the dysfunctional and invite the viewer to experience the space between reality and imagination.

Andrea Greenwood

Andrea Greenwood's work stems from a primary interest in the object and its materiality. Often what the object is or what it represents may be directly challenged by the material it is made in and thus behaves contrary to the viewers' expectations. More recently the process by which a work is made has become more important within her works, in particular the act of making as a performance or spectacle combined and how this might become implicit to a finished sculptural work.

The Programme of Events:

Sunday 12

Quentin Blake's BIG DRAW, the gallery will be taken over by the young budding artist of Henley-on-Thames. All welcome refreshments provided.

Monday 13

The gallery will be open to the public

Tuesday 14

From 6pm until 8pm, there will be drawing lessons, it is free to come along and participate. (Bring a pencil)

Wednesday 15

The gallery will be open to the public

Thursday 16

There will be a live artists performance in the market place from 12am until 2pm.

Friday 17

Private view evening. From 6 -9pm come to see the work and meet the artists with refreshments, all welcome.

Saturday 18

The gallery will be open untill the early afternoon.