ArtEco

ERRO

2012-01-27T03:38:00.000-08:00

Schirn Kunsthalle

Frankfurt

A quick post before the weekend about the artist ERRO. Earlier this month we had a layover in Frankfurt caused by a storm in London, we therefore had a chance the next morning to cruise into Frankfurt City for an early breakfast and a visit to the Schirn Kunsthalle before our flight took off. All three exhibits they were showing at the time at the Schirn Kunsthalle were quite strong and thought provoking, from Kienholz to the Islandic Gabriela Fridriksdottir, Erro was the lightest one by far. Erro also an Islandic artist is both humoristic and political, with his large and colorful canvases he portrays popular elements in a collagious way. Erro is part of a "Figuration Narrative" group in paris, as their response to pop-art, he says you will only need 3 minutes to view a pop-art painting but a figuraton narrative you will need 17 minutes.

Erro (Gudmundur Gudmundsson) was born in 1932 on the north-western part of Iceland and there is a museum dedicated to him in Reykjavik, but the artist live and work in Paris now.

"I paint because painting is a private Utopia"

- Erro

The progressive museum, Schirn Kunsthalle, will in February open a Yoko Ono solo exhibit to celebrate her 80th birthday. Whatever you mean about her, you just have to admire her for her groundbreaking ideas, for her work for peace and for staying true to herself!

With Weekend Love

Kristin

Gesamtkunstverk!

2012-01-24T08:40:00.000-08:00

Andre Butzer

Untitled, 2007

New Art From Germany

Saatchi Gallery

As long as you can manage to rush through the first room of the Saatchi Exhibit "Gesamtkunstverk" which I found quite dreary, you will be good. Each artist's work has been given great open space to breathe its own life. Although I think the title of the exhibit sounds a bit "dated" the work is all from the the last 10 years. We bought the Saatchi book "Germania" a few years ago (my husband is German after all), and most of the artists in the book are represented here, but it is always a lot more amusing to see the pieces in real.

Unfortunately, though I am only able to do what the book did for me, to show images. But here at least you can be given a little glimpse of what the German Artists (or artists living in Germany) are up to these days:

Andre Butzer

Ahnenbild 2411, 2006

Andre Butzer with Street Art meets murals, meets Abstract Expressionism.

Andre Butzer

Untitled, 2007

Isa Genzken

Mutter mit kind, 2004

Kinder filtern I, 2005

"There is nothing worse in art than, "You see it and you know it"... That's a certainty I don't like."

-Isa Genzken (Saatchi)

Isa Genzken

Bouquet, 2004

Gert & Uwe Tobias

Untitled, 2009

Gert & Uwe are twin brothers and was born in Brasov, Romania, but live now in Cologne.

Their flimsical, metric, folkloric, and fun canvases definitely helps bringing joy into your life (even though there are dashes of morbidity).

Gert & Uwe Tobias

Untitled, 2007

Ida Ekblad

Loop, 2010

Dusty Dry On The Tongue Swallowed Some, 2010

Ida Ekblad was born in Oslo (Norway), but she live and work both in Berlin and Oslo.

"Painting to me combines expressions of rhythm, poetry, scent, emotion... It offers ways to articulate the spaces between words, and I cannot be concerned with its death, when working at it makes me feel so alive. - Ida Ekblad (Saatchi)

Ida Ekblad

Organ Invention, 2010

Alexandra Bircken

Drape, 2007

Julia Koether

Leibhaftige Malerei, 2007

Insert - Leibhaftige Malerei

Alexandra Bircken

Unit 1, 2008

Georg Herold

Untitled, 2010

These sculptures are quite breathtaking but are they reclining or are they being pulled?

Georg Herold

Untitled, 2011

Thomas Zipp

Schwarze Ballons, 2005

Thomas Zipp

World Kantzler Office, 2004

Max Frisinger

Noah's Ark (CocoRoasie), 2010

(Front) Thomas Kiesewetter

I have a little bit of news today as well, I put an offer in for a lease on a Gallery space. Nearly holding my breath while I am waiting for an answer:) Wish me luck!!!

With Love

Kristin

The Power of the Medium

2012-01-22T06:35:00.000-08:00

Gabriel Dawe

Plexus no. 11, 2011, Thread installation

London Art Fair 2012

2012-01-19T06:34:00.000-08:00

Susan MacMurray

Animus, 2011

agnew's Gallery

LONDON ART FAIR

Preview evening 2012

One could feel the excitement when one walked into the London Art Fair preview on Tuesday night.

But, as soon as the champagne was gone, the drop of enthusiasm lowered quite dramatically and I could hear desperate moans "Where is the booze?" or see people eyeing longingly at the ones who still had a glass with bobbles in it.

But, the London Art Fair shouldn't be about getting a glass of wine or not, a pity then that there was nothing one could buy either. More signs of a dooming recession?

The Business design Center is a great building for the Art Fair, first of all it's London's first Carbon Neutral venue. But, originally it was built in 1861 as The Agricultural Hall with an amazing barrel vaulted roof. There were about 100 galleries exhibiting in this fair, that is on its 24th year.

Some of the highlights are bellow:

Susan MacMurry

After Flock, 2011

agnew's Gallery

Damien Hirst

Death or Glory Hazy Gold/ Europen Gold Glorious Skull 2011

Biggs + Collings

The Toil of our Hands, 2011

Vigo Gallery

Chris Offili

Untitled, Yellow 1997

Crane Kalman Gallery

Jonathan Huxley

Flight, 2010

Crane Kalman Gallery

Me and Jonathan Huxley

Talking to Jonathan about his art work we discovered something funny, earlier this month I got stranded in Frankfurt overnight since the flight back to London got cancelled. Having to stay at the Sheraton I could not overlook the immense painting at their entrance looking very similar to Huxley's work. I therefore asked Jonathan if by any chance he had been commissioned to do a painting at the Sheraton in Frankfurt, and bingo it was him:)

Veronica Bailey

Dementer (Goddess of agriculture, nature and the seasons)

2010

Helen Sear

Sightlines, 2011

Jeffrey Blondes

Real time high definition film 52 hour loops, edition of & 7

Lars Elling

Vigo Gallery

Karen Nicol

Thread Bear

Rebecca Hossack Gallery

Mike Speller

Buy 1 get 10 free, Aug 2011

Woolf Gallery

Ackroyd & Harvey

Shoal, 2011

Sea bream skeleton, alum crystals, perspex case

The exciting part of this piece is how after the fish bone has been placed in a hot chemical solution and it cools down the crystals form and attach themselves to the bone.

Juz Kitson

Sacred Milk or Mother

Comodaa Gallery

"I have an interest in ever so slightly repulsing the viewer at first experience. They are unsettled. This uneasiness then turns into wonder and in a later stage, fascination."

- Juz Kitson

Siro

Fertility I

Ink, resin and oil on paper

arteredgallery

Tamzin Plummer

Proprioception (series)

Tamzin Plummer is one of the 40 Artists that has been picked for the Caitlin Guide this year.

A guide that profiles the most talented recent graduates from UK art Schools.

Nancy Fouts

The other wall Gallery

This last piece was not shown at the fair, but a Galerist from the Other Wall Gallery introduced me to it and it gave me a kick. What a timely piece, humorous and horrifying at the same time.

With Love

Kristin

From Here to Eternity

2012-01-16T05:56:00.000-08:00

Susan Hiller

Kunsthalle Nurnberg

Even though I have not had a chance to blog much so far this year, my life has still been centered around art. Already at the first open day of the year I dutifully placed myself at two museums in my closest proximity, the Neues Museum and Kunsthalle in Nurnberg.

At the Kunsthalle they were showing Susan Hiller. I had actually seen this exhibition at the Tate Britain last year, but a new location always add another dimension to the viewing.

I liked the way you walked behind a screening wall into another room, and then another room like a Matryoshka doll (Except the last room was the largest).

Susan Hiller is an American Artist born in Florida, 1940. She has lived in London though since 1969 so she is now considered a British Artist, actually one of Britain's most influential artists.

Psl Girls 1999

With Psl Girls there are 5 synchronized programs running on a rectangular long screen, and the screen it is running on keep rotating spaces. It is quite a psychological and mystical journey she takes you on.

When I was adding my photos right now I found these two shots of the girl quite bewitching. In the top one she looks vulnerable and perplexed and in the next one strong and determined. Interesting how we can have such emotional range in a very short time, it made me think about how easy it must be to misunderstand one another, or brain works so quickly and our expressions might show some of our thoughts while we would never think of expressing them all.

"In her works, she reconciles the contradictions between conceptual art and empathy, between the rational and the unconscious or even uncanny. Taking as her point of departure forgotten, overlooked or repressed phenomena in our western culture, as well as personal memories both collective and unconscious, Hiller attempts, with the help of pictures, language and sound, to give such material a form that can be experienced at the same time as creating a forum into which the viewer's own memories, projections and dreams can flow. The artist works with a broad range of media including film and photography, prints, found materials and objects, audio and video installation."

-Nurnberg Kunsthalle

Magic Lantern, 1987

"It's a terrible trap: when art becomes an identifiable commodity. It's one of the ways our society kills art. It's actually rather hard to encapsulate me in a show. It's hard for people to form an opinion about me at all unless they think very carefully." As Susan Hiller said in an interview with the Guardian's Rachel Cooke last year.

I couldn't agree more, it is always terribly exciting when an Artist can manage to keep the surprises coming! The halfway duplicates of a successful piece are always a bit of a disappointment.

...And, to the point of opinion maybe I can ask you to help me with it?

With Love

Kristin

Nude

2012-01-13T05:19:00.000-08:00

Eva Caridi

Ambika P3

This winter has been a time of continuous colds, therefore my slow return to ArtEco.

Even though I still felt under the weather on Tuesday I went across town to Marylebone Road and the Eva Caridi opening. I was delighted to see my efforts were not in vain.

The unassuming entrance and the factory looking location made me have a New York flashback, the atmosphere was great even though there were more wine than glasses.

At first view the Eva Caridi Labyrinth reminds you a bit of Richard Serra's steel work, but when you walk through it and end up with a film at the core, you think; yes, but with poetry!

After you walk out of the Labyrinth you are led to scenes made out of sculptures of Women.

"The second room opens the scenery to a deconstructed space that loosens and brings back to the primitive, a continuum filled with an army of sculptures: they are grasping at life, desperate to capture a moment in time, to catch small instants that slip from their hands by freezing themselves in multiple body positions. A reflection of the human soul, of the frailness of human emotions."

- Nude

Referring to Leonardo Da Vinci, Eva Caridi says

"The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding"

Eva Caridi succeeds in making the viewer feel connected to her piece.
Mentionable is also how I was impressed by the execution of this exhibit, a great challenge fulfilled.

With Weekend Love

Kristin

Highlights 2011

2011-12-19T03:07:00.000-08:00

"A Perimeter for a room" (One thing to another)

Daniel Buren

Lisson Gallery

2011

Dear you!

Another year is soon over, it has been as exiting as exhausting. London has become my new beloved home... and at the moment I think I will never move from here... but, that is all relative, I guess.

There have been quite many Artistic highlights and rather difficult to bring it down to 10.

But bellow is another indication of a great year in art.

1. Tracey Emin proving she is the IT girl!

2. The most memorable opening ever: Ai Weiwei at the Lisson Gallery.

3. Tony Cragg's incredible sculptures at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

4. Having a chance to visit the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.

5. Grayson Perry at the British Museum.

6. The wonderful Women Make Sculpture exhibit at the Pangolin Gallery.

7. Visiting Notre Dame du Haut, the amazing Le Corbusier chapel.

8. Anish Kapoor's "Leviathan" at the Grand Palais in Paris.

9. Chantal Joffe at my favorite Gallery in London,Victoria Miro.

10. The beauty of The Alhambra of Granada, Part 1, 2, 3.

Artwork of the year:

"The Hours" By Christian Marclay, as part of the "British Art Show 7" exhibit at the Hayward Gallery.

"In the days of the comet".

In two days I will be flying off to the Dolomites, where there will be little Art (unfortunately) but lots of skiing and reading. I look forward to some days of contemplation before 2012 begins with a Big Bang. I am already thrilled to start the New Year with classes at Christie's and Sotheby's, studying Art Law and History.

Wishing you all the best during the Holidays!

With Christmas and New Year Love

Kristin

...it's incredibly sexy trying to base an economy on Poetry!

2011-12-16T08:15:00.000-08:00

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Gallerists But Were Afraid to Ask

Andrea Bellini

This is a quick and enjoyable book about Galleries opened after 1980, where Andrea Bellini questions 51 Gallerists about their likes, dislikes, struggles and successes.

The Galleries are from all over the world, from Bejing to Mexico city. Not only city galleries are represented here but Galleries that has chosen to open in small towns as well, like the Tucci Russo Studio Per L'Arte Contemporanea at the foot of the mountains in Torre Pellice (one hour away from Turin).

The questions are quite simple and the answers can be quite similar, but it is fun to hear how they opened up their Galleries and how they run it, a lot of them says by intuition!

I especially enjoyed reading that none of them regret opening their galleries, even though it can be rough at times.

With my "secret" little wish of opening my own Gallery one day I was reading the answers like a sponge.

"Contemporary art is a sort of mental gymnastic"

-Daniele Balice (Balichertling, Paris)

"The "Job" comes in many forms, many species - like flowers or insects."

-Gavin Brown (Gavin Brown's Enterprise, New York)

"Sehen, verstehen, lieben (see, know, desire)"

-Helga de Alvear (Galeria Helga de Alvear, Madrid)

"I am very influenced by my vivid intuition in general, so it has led to many smaller and greater successes and mistakes."

-Jean-Claude Freymond-Guth (Freymond-Guth & Co Fine Arts, Zurich)

"We tend to be interested in art that arrives slowly and lasts for a long time."

-Lisa Panting and Malin Ståhl (Hollybush Gardens, London)

"The true artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths"

-Bruce Nauman (referred to by Georg Kargl, Galerie Georg Kargl, Vienna)

"As a gallerist, you are not only selling contemporary art, you are selling an opinion."

-Johann Koenig (Joann Koenig, Berlin)

"- we're talking about Art and Poetry, and it's incredibly sexy trying to base an economy on Poetry."

-Franco Noero (Galleria Franco Noero, Turin)

"Art really is for everyone"

-Nicole Timonier (Evergreene, Geneva)

With Weekend Love

Kristin

Wild Beast

2011-12-15T03:19:00.000-08:00

Nymphe et satyre, 1908-1909

Henri Matisse

The Hermitage

In the previous Ladies-in-waiting room of the Winter Palace hangs one of the worlds greatest collection of Matisse paintings. Unfortunately shining in fluorescent surgery light, but still breathtaking.

His colorful paintings and his exasperating strokes started a new direction in Art named "Les Fauves" which means "Wild Beast". It seems quite funny to be named a wild beast painter when he paints quite harmonious domestic objects at times, but then comes this intense other side of him with works like Nymph et Satyre and the Nu, which makes it all be intensified in a furiously amusing way.

Marocain en vert debout (Le rifain debout). 1913

Standing Moroccan in Green (Standing Riffian)

Zorah Debout, 1912

Zorah Standing

To why this great collection made it's way to the Hermitage in St. Petersburg one has to connect the dots back to the collector Sergei Schcukin who commissioned work from Matisse. Schcukin collected impressionist and post-impressionist work to decorate his palatial home in Moscow. Shchukin was quite ahead of his time since this was seen as quite unpopular Art. When Lenin came to power his collection was taken away and his mansion turned into a state museum. Schcukin fled to Paris where he died. In later times his collection have been divided between the Hermitage and the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.

Portrait de la famille du peintre, 1911

Family Portrait

Nature morte d'Espagne. 1910

Spanish Still Life

Nature morte de Seville. 1910

Seville Still Life

Vase d'iris. 1912

Vases of Irises

Le Chambre rouge (Harmonie rouge). 1908

The Red Room (Harmony in Red)

Nu (Noir et or). 1908

Nude (Black and Gold)

Danse. 1910

(This is the second version of the "Danse" the first version is at MoMA in NY.)

These two large legendary paintings face each other playfully in the same room, you come to think of how wonderful it is that they have not been divided, how powerful it is to have them become one.

Musique. 1910

I see his paintings as quite joyful so hopefully the can color your day vibrantly as well:)

With Love

Kristin

Winter Palace

2011-12-13T02:52:00.000-08:00

The Hermitage

St. Petersburg

The Hermitage is filled with a History and a past that could cover thousands of books and make many great films. The dream of visiting it has come through.

Looking like a Russian I was repeatedly spoken to as a Russian, pretending I was a Russian only lasted until I had words on my tongue, but it made me somehow feel more connected, especially while drinking apple vodka...

Going to St. Petersburg means having a chance to spend a day at the Hermitage until the night has to be lit up, and also going to the Opera, were we watched the "Figaro" at the Mariinsky Theatre.

The Winter Palace was originally the home of the Tsar and the Hermitage was were they entertained. Empress Catherine II was and avid collector and bought up collections she invited guests to see.

Now you can walk through both the Winter Palace and the Hermitage, walking in through an unassuming entrance from the Winter Palace to great spectacles.

I will show you here some images from the buildings and then next time introduce to you the great Matisse collection that has been acquired later.

The Jordan Staircase

Ceiling Jordan staircase

War Gallery Room

The Golden Drawing room

Not many words of information written here, but letting the images save the day.

Time is of the essence these days...

With Love

Kristin

Conversador

2011-12-08T02:59:00.000-08:00

O conversador, 2005

©Vermelho Gallery

Cinthia Marcelle

Galeria Vermelho

Sao Paulo

I had planned to write about Citnhia Marcelle right after the Frieze festival where I discovered her at the booth of Vermelho Gallery. I had been talking to the gallerist Jan Fjeld for a long time about Marcelle's work before we introduced ourselves with laughter... realizing we had been conversing in English when we both have such obvious Norwegian names. Jan sent me the link to these images a while later and I finally have time to show them to you.

Cinthia Marcelle who lives and work in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, is something between an instigator of performance art, filmmaker and photographer. Her projects involves the city, nature, people and animals, our interactions knowingly and unknowingly with what surround us.

The way she covers the horse in "O conversador" and the man in "Gigante debras" makes them be connected to nature in a humorous but also thoughtful way, I find them quite poetic.

©Vermelho Gallery

GEOGRAFIA [GEOGRAPHY] of the series Unus Mundus sculpture | 2004 | Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Brasil | 256 hose arms and 128 y-connections 128 hose arms lead to a lake. Initially, there is a faucet which takes water to one arm, which connects in Y in regular intervals of time, following a geometric progression. There are then 256 arms, all visible as a group, working simultaneously, forming a sort of delta, proposing geographic accidents at that place. How many hoses are connected right now?

(Vermelho Gallery)

©Vermelho Gallery

With her environmentally loaded images she questions how our reality will look like in the future, when nature has no space to be free of human intrusion.

Impacto Ambienta (Environmental impact), 2007

©Vermelho Gallery

O Sabio, 2009

©Vermelho Gallery

Marcello reflects on social behavior and structures, her work is daringly political, showing pungent poetic messages. Which makes it a good reason for why she won the 2010 Main Prize of the Future Generation.

Gigante Detras (Back Giant), (fabric on heads), 2006

©Vermelho

While I will have to wait to see more of her work, the New Yorkers have a chance to go to Gallery Lelong from the 14th of December, where Chintia Marcelle's art will be part of a group show.

I though, will be flying to St. Petersburg for the weekend (my first time), and I can't wait to share with you my impressions from The Hermitage.

With Weekend Adventure Love

Kristin

Panorama

2011-12-05T05:27:00.000-08:00

Ema (Nude on a staircase) (Ema, Akt auf einer Treppe)

1966

Gerhard Richter

Tate Modern

Gerhard Richter will be one of the artists that represents the time we live in. His name will never be forgotten in our history of art, as the retrospective at the Tate Modern proves to us. It takes us chronologically through his life as a painter. As beautiful as that might sound, I think that after having seen Richter's work quite many times at different locations, I found myself feeling that something was missing. I walked through the exhibition a bit restless, having a hard time taking in the impressions. Realizing, after a while that I found the chronological placement of his work disruptive. Since he is working with so many different styles, I think this could have been a great opportunity to show the paintings that sort of related to each other collectively. As an example; I wish that the Hyper- realistic paintings would hang together, the paintings of his daughter, of his wives and the nature paintings. Instead the rooms fluctated between the abstract to the realistic in an interruptive way.

Betty

1988

Except, for the Cage Paintings that was on view earlier this year as well (in a different location at the Tate) and the Baader Meinhof paintings.

Maybe that is why the series in Room 9 "18 October 1977" hit me the hardest this time around. Although Richter did not express sympathy for the group's politic's he spoke about his sorrow for their fates, and that their ideologies had led to their deaths, the Tate writes.

"The Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader Meinhof group, was active in the late 1960's and 1970's. Connected to other radical movements emerging throughout Europe after 1968, its members were in part motivated by the perception that a number of former Nazis continued to hold positions of power. Increasingly violent terrorist activities were followed by the leaders' arrests and trials as well as failed plots by breakaway groups to free them."

Youth Portrait (Jugendbildnis)

1988

Confrontation 3 (Gegenuberstellung 3)

1988

The groups suicides after their capture has been questioned, could it possibly have been a state-organized killing? The photos are dark, mysterious and poetic, but not in any way glamorizing their deaths.

Hanged (Erhangte)

1988

Dead (Tote)

1988

Although I have my hesitations about the placement of the paintings, it is still one of the best exhibits in London at the moment, so if you do have a chance to she the retrospective of this legendary artist, please do. "Panorama" continues until the 8th of January 2012.

With Love

Kristin

The World is still big!

2011-11-30T06:23:00.000-08:00

Clearing, 2011

Constructed mixed media on C-type photograph

©Alex Hartley, Victoria Miro Gallery

Alex Hartley

Victoria Miro

22. Nov. - 21 Jan. 2012

The problem about going to an opening at the Victoria Miro is that you don't want to leave. Hanging out at the combined Parasol Unit and Victoria Miro back garden in front of the pond is social, comfortable and fun. We tried to get to the Lisson gallery after, but we barely managed to sneak in for a minute and only catch a glimpse of the great light works of Daniel Buren before they closed their doors.

In the middle of the gallery stands Victoria Miro herself, orchestrating the event calmly, and talking to Grayson Perry (dressed in casual black this time). Picked as one of ArtReviews 100 most powerful people in the Art industry, she certainly looks like it too.

I can't possibly give Alex Hartley the credit he deserves by showing the photos from the exhibit, there are just so much more to them that you will need to see in person. When you look at these photos you see a flat image, well it's not. Every single image has been rebuilt to show a place of seclusion, a sanctuary. All of the "Sanctuary" details are architectural models that are put on top of the photos or engraved into the the photos, like small caves. With "Waiting for daylight to End" as an example you have here a small hut built by wood.

Waiting for daylight to End

(Kacynski's cabin), 2011

Constructed mixed media on C-type photograph

©Alex Hartley, Victoria Miro Gallery

""...Alex Hartley's most recent culmination of his on-going investigation into dystopian architecture, secular habitation and the construction of sanctuary as an inherent drive to form refuge from the world. Hartley returns to his previous lines of investigation; community, belonging and isolation, and counter culture versus establishment, however with a clear and decisive shift in presentation and form."

- Victoria Miro Gallery

Uniglory, 2011

Constructed mixed media on C-type photograph

©Alex Hartley, Victoria Miro Gallery

These days can't last forever, 2011

Constructed mixed media on C-type photograph

©Alex Hartley, Victoria Miro Gallery

This image is taken in Joshua Tree, does it seem habitual to you? Alex Hartley shows us a way of inhabiting the un-habitable, or is it the other way around? You are given the opportunity to make up your own interpretation.

What strikes me is that he is giving nature a new level of survival or should I say destitution. Is there a future in using these desolated parts of the world for the people? Deep inside of me I feel great horror at the thought of all land being inhabited.

Dropper, 2011

Alex Hartley will be living in his version of a Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome, situated on the terrace by the pond during the exhibit. (the eco - dome was very popular among the hippies in the 60's in Drop City Colorado, therefore probably the fitting name Dropper).

Here Alex Hartley, will have his own little sanctuary in the middle of London.

With Sanctuary Love

Kristin

The Philosopher's Stone

2011-11-28T05:43:00.000-08:00

Tail light by Stuart Haygarth

Gallery Libby Sellers

Grandmateria II

When I first met Libby Sellers we had a spring lunch in the gorgeous courtyard at the V&A with our common friend Helen Evenden. Libby was talking then about opening her own Gallery and in September it became a reality. Located right in-between Art Galleries and Design stores on Berner Street in London she could not find a better location for her stunning functional Art pieces.

Since 2007 she had been doing pop-up galleries, and it was time to stay put in one location.

The first pop-up Gallery was called Grandmateria, so it was only natural to make the Gallery begin with a symbolical Grandameteria II.

The title alludes to the mythologies of the Philosopher’s Stone: a stone said to have alchemist powers to transmute lead into gold. By working with modest materials, using materials out of context, or by layering the materials with rich narrative each of the represented designers elevate the ordinary to extraordinary effect. - Libby Sellers

BrickGlass by Fabien Cappello (2010)

Photography: Gideon Hart

Christmas tree project by Fabien Cappello

Photography: Gideon Hart

These Christmas tree tables, were initiated by both Libby and the artist Fabien Cappello, to change discarded Christmas trees into tables and stools and have part of the profit go to the Woodland Trust. An estimated 976, 000 Christmas trees will be discarded this year, so why not make something useful out of them?

Geno Chair by Simon Hasan

Photography: Gideon Hart

These boiled "Geno" leather stools are quite a fantastic and interesting minimalist concept.

Sliplamp by Nicolas Le Moigne

Photography: Nicolas Le Moigne

This limited edition table lamp is made out of eternit, a fibre cement that is commonly used for construction. Remarkably, when you touch it, it feels soft and smooth.

colony - asmara' by formafantasma for gallery libby sellers
photo by luisa zanzani
© gallery libby sellers

Italian born, Eindhoven-based designers Simone Farresin and Andrea Trimarchi is behind the exciting Formafantasma pieces, focusing on current and historical flow of people between North Africa and Italy (especially Sicily). The mohair blankets looks a bit like oversized stamps, showing the marks each cultures have established with each other. Like here the old Fiat factory in Eritrea.

Libby in front of Nina Tolstrup's paletable (2010)

This table and chairs are constructed out of reclaimed wood taken from unused pallets.

(Nina Tolstrup has made off cut animals casted in Crystacal plaster for a limited edition sale at Phillips de Pury's gallery the 1st of December.)

Excited about what Libby comes up with next I am looking forward to checking out her next opening in the middle of December. Find more info about Libby Sellers Gallery here.

With Love

Kristin

I'm a wild animal you can't tame me!

2011-11-23T05:15:00.000-08:00

My body is a house of glass

Nathalie Djurberg

A world of Glass

Camden Arts Centre

If you are not familiar with London don't go to the Camden Arts Centre without properly checking out how to get there. I learned my lesson, but after the tube, a few helpful people and a couple of busses, I eventually stood in front of the lovely building that was originally built as a library in 1897. From the 60's the building turned into an arts centre supporting some of the most exciting international artists and also offer residency, education and off-site artists projects.

On my virgin trip to Camden I went eagerly to see in person what Nathalie Djurberg is all about. She creates characters out of plasticine puts them in some sort of horror fairy tale and then films it, her partner Hans Berg composes the music. You can't help but gasp at the daring darkness of it all, portraying a brutal sexual and violent relationship between animals and humans. At the same time we are being pushed to think about how painfully helpless we can be, and our secret desires.

"The beguiling beauty of the installation contrasts with scenes of wounded flesh or emotional distress, drawing out the connection between desire and suffering, a theme explored by Bataille when he discussed the transgression of taboos in relation to the sometimes violent drives of sexuality. The dark and foreboding atmosphere of the installation also links Djurberg’s work to the subversive imagination of Goya." - Camden Arts Centre

Monster: Didn't you know I'm made of butter

In front of the four films that are showing at the Camden Arts Centre, there are these stunning glass sculptures looking like they are made of ice that just began to melt. The sound of clinking glass will never be quite the same.... - Not suitable for children - for sure!!

With Love

Kristin

Answer Me

2011-11-18T03:37:00.000-08:00

Long sorrow, 2005

Anri Sala

Serpentine Gallery

As the Serpentine duo Hans Ulrich Obrist and Julia Peyton Jones (curators, writers, museum directors...) achieved their 2nd place again in the Art Review Power list this year, they keep bringing forth great shows. The last one I viewed there this summer was Michelangelo Pistoletto´s cardboard labyrinths, this time it is Anri Sala's video's accompanied by live music.

The Albenian Artist Anri Sala has seen it as his mission to represent the social and political changes that his country is going through, his work is dominated by the importance of sound related to images. Next year Anri Sala is having a solo exhibition at the Pompidou Center in Paris.

Long Sorrow though is filmed in Berlin where he now lives, the jazz musician Jemeel Moondoc performs while suspended outside the window of an empty apartment on the eighteenth floor, of a public housing estate. At first you only view the contours of the musician's head and the tops of skyscrapers, which looks pretty grim. As the film progresses it turns greener and greener until it seems like a park in the middle of the housing estate. It feels like quite a concert treat since another saxophone player in the gallery is playing live a duet with Jemeel Moondoc in the film...

Long Sorrow, 2005

When Long Sorrow ends the saxophone player leads us into the next room where Tlatelco crash is being shown.

Tlatelco clash, 2011

Tlatelco clash, is filmed in the ruins of the Tlatelcolco site in Mexico City, where different people brings fragments of the same musical score into a barrel organ.

Tlatelco clash, 2011

I interpreted this a bit like we are all given our own personal predetermined musical score and somehow it all links us together in one long song. I was explaining this a little to my husband when I got home saying that I would probably have been given a very dramatic heavy score, but he said no, I think it would be a more happy "Lalalala"... and yes I would hope for that too.

With the happy and light lalalala I will wish you all a great weekend!!!

With Love

Kristin

The Tomb of the Unknown craftsmen

2011-11-16T06:13:00.000-08:00

Hold Your Beliefs Lightly (2011)

Grayson Perry

The British Museum

It is awkward and fun to see the what Grayson Perry has been allowed to achieve at the British Museum. Inspired by the fact that most of the artefacts of the collection actually comes from tombs and is made by "unknown craftsmen", Grayson Perry has picked pieces that inspires him and then displayed it together with his own contemporary tapestry, sculptures and drawings. With each piece he has picked he gives an explanation of why the particular object is touching to him, and then it is matched with a "Comparable" adaption that he has created. The whole concept together makes it a very enjoyable viewing.

Pilgrimage to the British Museum, 2011

On his pilgrimage to (and through) the British Museum his 50 year old Teddy, Alan Measles is quite prominent. Alan Measles was the dictator of his childhood imaginary world. Notice... he still is as he is represented in most of his work, as some sort of God like creature.

Grayson Perry has earlier been his bodyguard he says, but now he is a guru and lives in his personal cosmology.

Grayson Perry and Alan Measles aboard AM1on the Nurburgring

motor racing circuit, Germany, 2010

Here Alan Measles travels to meet the world in his personal backseat shrine, like the Pope in his "Popemobile". They went to Germany to make peace!

Grayson Perry is well known for his great costumes;

"One fact that every transvestite has to come to terms with is that a person dressed up in the clothes of the opposite sex is somehow inherently funny. This can be a very difficult aspect of being a cross-dresser and I feel it has profoundly shaped my own outlook on life. I regard humor as an important and necessary aspect of art." Grayson Perry

Our Mother, 2009

"I am not a historian, I am an artist. That is all you need to know"
- Grayson Perry

Still he brings art history a new perspective. Here is Grayson's version of a pilgrim. How we like to bring back souvenirs from our traveling as tokens of memory. This iron sculpture also has a male (Our Father) counterpart, as Grayson says "They carry the weight of many different cultures and conflicts as well as the domestic and familiar. They are all of us and also from somewhere else."

The Rosetta vase, 2011

Grayson Perry began ceramic lessons in 1983, his pottery now is like a map of our culture today.

Grayson Perry Map Silk scarf (collectible)

(Bought this silk scarf, excited for it to drop in my mailbox)

I wish I could show you the entertaining details of his work... but for that you will have to visit The British Museum. You still have time for the adventure, the exhibit is up until 19th of February 2012, I promise you will see an unrivaled exhibit.

With Love

Kristin

Vegas Gallery

2011-11-10T05:15:00.000-08:00

Vegas Gallery

Suzanne Schurgers

As we sit down to eat octopus and salmon at the Town Hall restaurant in Bethnal Green, I ask Suzanne, "So, how did you get into this?"

"How am I going to get out of this is the question", she answers, and we laugh. Suzanne is funny and quick with her replies. 5 years ago she started Vegas Gallery, it was supposed to be a minor non-commercial project related to her brother's media company MINIVEGAS. Quickly though after three exhibits that started in a basement of an old industrial warehouse in the heart of east London she realized this was going to become a full time project.

Suzanne studied at the prestigious Art Academy: Gerrit Rietveld in Amsterdam, originally with the thought of becoming an artist herself. Instead she represents artists that she admired then. Being inspired by Elke Krystufek's work while being a student and to now have the chance to represent her in a solo exhibit makes the hard work at the Gallery extra rewarding.

Press a key, 2008

Elke Krystufek

Elke Krystufek, was born 1970 in Austria, she works mostly with paper, video and paintings, but also works with Sculptures and performance art.

"As in Krystufek's previous work, she brings a combination of insight and subjectivity to the genre of figurative art. Possessing a humorous and sometime ironic eye Krystufek plays with the viewer and the dynamics of looking at a painting. The texts which are employed in some of her works could be seen as poetry lyrics and musical scores as well as key words addressing subjectivity from a musical angle. The harmony that exists in the works is similar to tonal symphonies and the string theories which is then sent tail-spinning into chaotic dissonance by the over-subjectification the masses apply to more contemporary art." - Vegas

"You", 2011

Elke Krystufek

Me-who would listen to me, 2007

Elke Krystufek

Elke Krystufek, Tracey Emin and Suzanne

at the opening of the Krystufek exhibition

After changing locations three times, Vegas Gallery is now located on Poyser Street under the arches of Cambridge Heath near Bethnal Green. The Gallery is actively participating in fairs from Volta Basel, Art Amsterdam to next weeks Crunch Art and Music festival at Hay (Wales).

Suzanne mentions that one of the key show's for the Gallery was the "Peeping Tom" curated by Keith Coventry. Dealing with the subjects scopophilia and Voyerism. 80 works by artists like Tracey Emin, Tim Nobel & Sue Webster, Gillian Wearing, Mat Collishaw, Gavin Turk and Keith Tyson was brought together to great acclaim among press and visitors.

Vegas Gallery

The next Vegas show will be a group exhibition called "I wish you well" opening Thursday 1st of December. It is co-curated by Anny Baranova, the artwork chosen for the show will be identifying the notions of one's experience and one's emotional state during the stage of the last good-bye.

As someone told Suzanne "The way to love, is to realize that it might be lost."

With Love

Kristin

Eyeball Massage

2011-11-05T10:30:00.000-07:00

PIPILOTTI RIST

Hayward Gallery

28 September - 8 January 2012

When I ventured through the Pipilotti Rist exhibit last week I was filled with this intense happiness and hope. I felt calm and expectant, life has so much to offer me, how lucky I am!

I laid down on the comfortable pillows that was actually stuffed clothes, put out for the audience as an invitation to "Be my friend" and to relax.

While looking at the sheep jumping in the meadow, I was dreaming about painting my baby room yellow. Could I dare wish for a girl this time I wondered... holding my hand gently over my belly, smiling and enjoying the films.

Pipilotti Rist was not given this enticing name, she was born Elisabeth Charlotte Rist in June 1962, in Switzerland. Pipilotti was her nickname inspired by Pippi (Astrid Lindgren). Her work is often happy and pretty, mentioned as a feministic artist she deals a great deal with sexuality and gender.

In one video she talks about how she grew up close to the highway and learning about goodness... then she skips to talk about how we would react if a relationship broke up? How would we answer that and to whom?

And that takes me to where I am today, can I talk about what I am going through and with whom?

The day after I saw the exhibit I had some sort of "The Help" experience in my bathroom. (like the book and the movie). I said out loud "No", which my cleaning lady heard and came running in to find me crying over spilt blood, holding me and telling me that has happened to her many times as well.

So there I am standing with another loss, and the only thing to do is to open a bottle of champagne with my husband when he comes home (we do that when the world goes us a bit wrong, as well as when we celebrate... well, there is always a reason). Then the next step is to go out drinking with another friend who has had five miscarriages before (but happy now with 3 girls) it makes it "easy" to have some gallows humor about the whole thing. Since this is my 4th time, I know the pain doesn't come at once but more likely the next day so I decide to get drunk... and save the pain for later. The next day I am barely walking but getting to the hospital for my scheduled gyno appointment (how convenient) at the Chelsea Westminster Hospital, where I was met with great kindness and support. This time they took lots of tests to see if they can stop it from happening a 5th time...

When I walk out of there I can't handle the fact of going home empty handed, so I take the bus to Harvey Nichols and carve myself desperately through the myriad of clothes and find a mustard yellow Marc Jacobs sweater that I find could tame my cravings a little bit... (My intention was tight jeans and stilettos but I was bleeding too much to even try some on). Then I ventured to the bus where I leaned my head on the window (with my Mothers words in my head "Who does such things? Others would go home and lie in bed") until I finally reached my house and could lie down on the sofa with my two boys (they seem like a miracle) crawling all over me to give kisses, understanding that something is not quite right with Mamma.

Today I have been wearing my new mustard yellow sweater to tame my self-indulgence and sadness, lying on the sofa while my body is tearing apart, to get rid of whatever is left. Will I manage to do this to myself again and again? Or should I give up now, be happy for what I already have? I am thinking of the Women that goes through this over and over again without a baby to hold in their arms in the end, what physical and psychological pain to endure.

A camera showing lips inside a shell

Watching these flowery films that turns into body studies, makes me think how well they describe the female body. It's beauty but also its pain.

Pipilotti experiments a lot with the use of the human body;

"She use small surveillance cameras to roam over the surface of the skin and sends surgical cameras on journeys through the intestines. Extreme close-up shots reveal the ambiguity of wrinkles and folds of flesh. Music reflects the melody of heartbeats and the sounds of fluids moving within our bodies."

Hayward Gallery

Ever is over all

After feeling sorry for myself at first I decided the only thing I can do is to write about it, focus on my guys and a future with Art as a main ingredient. My life is really good after all and the pain will eventually disappear, although when I see a pregnant woman I look at her with a slight tinge of envy.
A devil inside of me wishes that I could run around laughing right now, while I happily smash car windows down a whole block, just like Pipilotti does in the film "Ever is over all".
But, since my world is a bit more controlled I am better off getting myself a calm glass of wine, take a deep breath, look at my guys and give some thanks.

With Love

Kristin

Man with a Blue Scarf

2011-11-03T07:28:00.000-07:00

Lucian Freud

(8. December 1922 - 20 July 2011)

I wish that I had had a chance to meet Lucian Freud and been able to see his dancing steps while he added paint to the canvas or did his etchings. I am not completely sure if I would have liked to be the one painted...

The process was a long one and then I am not talking about hours, but more like months and perhaps years, and even then he could suddenly find that the painting was not worth completing... After you have sat for Lucian you might then discover the least flattering things about you have been thrown out for the world to discover.

But, still I wonder, how would it have been? Since, I am deeply curious and also in awe of Lucian Freud, I think I would have rather felt it would have been a tremendous honor to be found interesting enough to be painted by him, and yes, I would have thanked yes!

Martin Gayford describes in this book wonderfully how the process of sitting for Lucian Freud was, and how he turned out to become the "Man with a blue scarf".

Bellow are some extracts from the book:

"... he keeps up a constant dance-like movement, stepping sideways, peering at me intently, measuring with the charcoal. He holds it upright, and with a characteristic motion moves it through an arc, then back to the canvas to put in another stroke."

"LF's taste in plants and landscape are very much like his preferences in human models. He likes them unadorned, as they actually are."

"What I'm most passionate about, much much more than all the rest in my profession - is the portrait, the modern portrait.... I WOULD LIKE, you see I'm far from saying that I can do all this, but anyway I'm aiming at it, I would like to do portraits which would look like apparitions to people a century later. So I don't try to do us by photographic resemblance, but by our passionate expressions." LF

Kate Moss 2002

"...with bad painters all their pictures look like self portraits, except the actual self portraits, because they have given themselves such special regard." LF

"I would wish my portraits to be of the people, not like them. Not having a look of the sitter, being them. I didn't want to get just a likeness like a mimic, but to portray them, like an actor... As far as I am concerned the paint is the person. I want it to work for me just as flesh does." LF

" A painter must see all that has been produced up to now as merely an aid to his own work." LF

"... having arrived her at the age of ten, I still feel like a visitor in the most exciting, romantic place I can imagine. Whenever I think of going somewhere else, I think it's mad when there are parts of London I haven't ever visited." LF

After his painting sessions Lucian Freud would often take his "models" to one of his favorite places to eat. One of these places was the Wolseley. At the day of his death, a single candle and a black table cloth was on his regular table honoring the legendary man!

"When one is doing something to do with quality, even a lifetime doesn't seem enough." LF

If you are a Lucian Freud admirer, this book is a must read.

I tell you, like my friend told me:)

With Love

Kristin

Lost in Thought

2011-10-31T07:30:00.000-07:00

Declination (2004)

TONY CRAGG

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

Edinburgh

There has been so many exhibits I would have love to write about, like the Thomas Huseago oudoor exhibit at the Edinburgh Botanical Garden or the fantastic Rauschenberg exhibit at the Inverleith House.

But I find myself in the mood for Tony Cragg's dreamy, smart and wavy sculptures. The volume of his work at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is immense and astonishing, showing about 50 sculptures from the last 15 years.

Tony Cragg was born in Liverpool in 1949. He studied science as well as art, a unique combination that has brought forth his excellent play with materials. He started out with experimenting with rubber, then using found materials like man-made waste, broken toys, plastic bottles and chair seats in the late 70´s. In the 80´s he began casting in Iron and Bronze, then finding a way to attach color to cast bronze in the early 2000. While he also has been working with wood, stone, steel and fiberglas he has also been creating a lot of drawings.

Hollow Head, 2011

Bronze

Constructur, 2007

Stainless steel

All of Tony Cragg's sculptures are handmade, a team of assistants helps out with the completion. The dynamical precision feels utterly complete.

Outspan, 2008

Bronze

McCormack, 2007

Bronze

Elbow, 2010

Lost in thought, (insert) 2011

Wood

Tony Cragg studied at, Glouchestershire College of Art, Wimbledon School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London. He is now a Professor and The Principal at the Kunstakademie in Dusseldorf. Perhaps one more reason to consider studying there, for the once that are on the lookout?

With Love

Kristin

Super Brand

2011-10-26T03:18:00.000-07:00

Laura Keeble

"Down the Aisle"

Super Brand

Andaz Hyatt Hotel (London)

Irina Stark is a curator and an art consultant that I keep meeting at various Art Events. Irina runs Stark Projects where she manages private collections and sets up exhibitions for emerging and mid-career artists. Lately she has been busy curating the exhibition Super Brand at the Andaz Hotel. Super Brand was put up in connection with the Frieze festival, but you still have time to run over for a cocktail and a viewing, it stays up until this Sunday (the 30th of October).

Another show that deals with our addiction to consumerism and brand names (the last post I wrote was about Josephine Meckseper and her take on it). I particularly enjoy the "Down the Aisle" piece. Is our new church really the mall? Laura Keeble used reclaimed cathedral stained glass on the shopping trolley and the basket.

"..."Buy this you will feel better, be better, live better".

"The final journey up the aisle to the altar, where a donation box validates and blesses this feeling of uplift as a true exchange". - Superbrand

Simon Monk is represented with a series of five paintings called "Secret Identity" each representing a plastic model of a famous superhero.

Matteo Negri

The enlarged "lego" pieces are made by Matteo Negri. Inspired by the way he played with Lego as a child, he now turns it into and adult expression of his ambition and self-expression. He bends the rules with not only using the straight standard bricks but gives the lego different loops and curves. This brings out the question of what do we do within a society with no clear answers? and with too many choices?

With Love

Kristin

Purple Heart

2011-10-24T03:33:00.000-07:00

African Spir (2011)

JOSEPHINE MECKSEPER

Timothy Taylor Gallery

In the middle of the exclusive Mayfair area The Timothy Taylor Gallery is showing Josephine Meckseper critique of consumerism. The parody of this hits me sometimes but at the same time I am glad this is happening. The posh galleries are still taking a stand with political and interest conflicting themes. Please, must this never end.

Josephine Meckseper was born in Germany but most of her art is directly associated with the American Culture where she lives now (New York). She brings up the hunger for instant gratification and the throw-away culture that we are living in.

African Spir (Above);

"Meckseper references Hitchcock's classic of American Gothic, The Birds, to articulate American cultural imperialism played out through Hollywood's grip on cultural production. Meckseper posits the actress Tippi Hedren as a signature icon of American cold war propaganda in filmmaking. The whole cabinet is suffused with a sense of threat and acts as a modern sarcophagus; a totem decorated with contemporary cultural relics..." Timothy Taylor Gallery

Untitled (Angel), 2010

Chrome paint on acrylic resin, metal stand, acrylic on canvas, and glass dome on pedestal

Lexus Sculpture, 2010

Car headlight, disco ball, owl keychain, flag pin, belt buckle, chains on chrome stand.

Inspired by Rauschenberg and Johns. She uses recognizable objects to illustrates her point. She especially brings to light artifacts that make you reflect on the catastrophic American car industry.

Purple Heart, 2011

Mannequin leg in purple hosiery, and glass dome on pedestal

Emirates Palace, 2011

Acrylic and mixed media on canvas; plastic emblem on metal stand; mannequin leg, stocking; metal stand; rabbit fur; glass crystal; digital ink-jet print mounted on acrylic in steel and glass vitirine with fluorescent lights and acrylic sheeting.

'6' , 2011

Acrylic and mixed media on canvas; chrome arm; metal mesh with plaster, molding paste, acrylic, and paper on metal stand in steel and glass vitrine with fluorescent light and acrylic sheeting.

'SS22', 2011

Metal fixtures, chains; glass and metal jewelry; fur tail; aluminium can; acrylic sign and mixed media on canvases; glass crystals on acrylic mirrored MDF slatwall.

The Analysis of wealth, 2011

Mixed media and acrylic on canvas; metal fixtures; feather duster; glass crystal on acrylic mirrored MDF slatwall with aluminium edging.

Title from Foucalt's "The Order of Things" (Book about classical systems of knowledge, an archeology of the sciences.) Here applied to an archeology of our time in terms of politics and consumer society.

'Jaguar' 2010

Mixed media and acrylic on canvases; metal fixtures; chain; pipe; hosiery; sunglasses; acrylic fixtures; fur tail; on acrylic mirrored MDF slatwall with aluminum edging.

'Less' , 2010

Inkjet prink on Canvass.

The newspaper writings lately about the doomed 7 billion people we will turn into, makes me think that dealing with the urge for consumption will have to change and that Josephine Meckseper is right on target.

With Love;

Kristin

With Circular Force

2011-10-20T04:57:00.000-07:00

Maria Nepomuceno

Maria Nepmuceno is the artist from last week that my thoughts are lingering at. After seeing her work at Phillips de Pury for the Bianca Jagger Humanitarian Auction, I also found her at Frieze. At Frieze she was represented by the Brazilian Gallery; A Gentil Carioca, who kindly gave me a disk with images of her work that I now over a good warm cup of coffee, has been gazing at. The more I see her work the more I fall in love with it. It is feminine, it has mystery, it is strong, it has a life of its own.

Superflux 2

2007, sewed ropes, 190 x 310 cm

Untitled, 2011

(from the Bianca Jagger, Human Rights Auction at Phillips de Pury)

"The House Where I was Born"

Photograph, 2008

©Maria Nepomuceno

Force, 2011

©Victoria Miro Gallery

Sara Tremlett (Victoria Miro) descripes her work beautifully;

Nepomuceno has taken the stuff of everyday existence - straw, rope and beads - all
registering subliminally in the viewer's mind with the traditional craft-making of her native

Brazil, dipped them in carnival colours and married their materiality literally with a cosmic

spin. Apparently, the spiral shape she repeatedly returns to occurs naturally throughout the

universe - from DNA to immense galaxies. Without any sense of indulgence these coiled

love letters to a planetary pulse, are shockingly different - they simply exist as works in

themselves - disarming the viewer with an unashamed lack of conceptual dystopia or

problematic subjectivity. The artist has let her imagination and these bounteous

entomological forms run riot - apparently giving only a fleeting acknowledgement of

gravity - spreading and spilling across the walls and floors in hammock- like poses or

constellationary groups.

©Victoria Miro Gallery, 2010

As in a cyclonic storm of colors I am pulled into the inviting world of Maria Nepomuceno.

Hope you are enjoying it too!

With Love

Kristin

The Rider on the White Horse

2011-10-17T05:30:00.000-07:00

Der Schimmelreiter,

2007, oil on canvas

Ruprecht von Kaufmann

Aquator 2

Uzyiel Family Collection

Last week we were invited to a vernissage of Ruprecht Von Kaufmann's work at the home of Freda and Isaac Uziyel. Freda and Isaac have recently built a subterranean private gallery that leads to a sculpture garden, close to the gorgeous Hampstead Heath. A perfect place to present their immaculate taste in Art. With great enthusiasm Freda introduces us to her collection and leads us to the basement were we meet the man the evening is tributed to, Ruprecht Von Kaufmann.

It did not take long before we realized we had lived quite close to each other some years ago. I in Pasadena, Ruprecht in Arcadia while studying at the Art and design center in Pasadena, California.

Ruprecht went on living in America after his studies and moved to New York (Williamsburg) for a few years, before moving back to Germany. Ruprecht was born in Munich in 1974, but now he lives and works in Berlin.

After Freda discovered Ruprecht she aquired the top painting called "Der Schimmelreiter" (The Rider on the White Horse). "Der Schimmelreiter" is based on a novella that Ruprecht grew up with, he says. It was written by the German writer Theodor Storm. A story about a man who was in charge of the dykes, very good at what he does, has bright new ideas but does not have the talent to communicate it. When the flood comes it destroys the dykes and he goes down with them. The story represents in Ruprechts view a tale of how one man cannot do it all alone.

Von der unmoglichkeit ein Portrait zu malen

2009

Lately Ruprecht's work has been evolving quite a lot, he has been testing how far he can go with the combination of sculpture and painting. The pieces are sort of emitting out towards you so it leaves the one dimensional to become more interactive. As Ruprecht says:

"There ends up being a struggle between the individuals and the Artwork. You will need to change your position to get a straight view. The opinion you have formed will change depending on where you stand."

At the beginning of this transformation from the one dimensional to the more sculptural was the "Von der unmoglichkeit ein Portrait zu malen". Ruprecht had just been asked to be part of a portrait exhibition, and being a bit intimidated by the fact that he is not a portrait painter, a figurative painter, yes, but rather a representative of the more anti-portraitists. The result he came up with was this piece, where the individidual is looking at himself in the mirror but by only seeing his body posture reflected you are left with having to interpret the rest yourselves. On the felt behind the painting one can see steps as part of a house, which makes you think more about the complexity of the human. If you could see the face would you have understood the person better? perhaps not.

(Insert) Von der unmoglichkeit ein Portrait zu malen

Das also ist...

2010, Acrylic on felt

In these last three pieces you can view the complete conversion and a signature Ruprecht Von Kaufmann work of today. Here he is accomplishing a great technique with using acrylic on felt.

The result seems well thought through and proficient.

Zwischenraum

2010, Acrylic on felt

You still cannot see the expressions of the characters illustrated but you do feel that you know them. The passive guy watching TV as in a safe distance to what is going on elsewhere in the world.

Der Tag an dem der Osterhase eschossen wurde

2010, Acrylic on Felt

Ruprecht von Kaufmann

Next month Ruprecht von Kaufmann will be holding a soloshow called "Old House" at Galerie Rupert Pfab in Dusseldorf.

With Love

Kristin

Frieze 2011

2011-10-13T06:35:00.000-07:00

Elmgreen & Dragset

The Fruit of Knowledge, 2011

Books, metal stand, bronze, silicon, buffalo hair

Courtesy Victoria Miro Gallery, © The Artist

FRIEZE

London 2011

It is London's ART week of the year and it has been packed with events from Philips de Pury's, The Saatchi Gallery & Channel 4's "The Future can wait". To the rather rock concert looking opening of the largest European commercial art space, The White Cube in Bermondsey.

Yesterday was the private view opening of the Frieze in Regents Park, followed by the happening Vanity Fair party at Christie's.

The word is out that what is being shown at Frieze this year is carefully selected, the quality is high and quite many unfamiliar names are being shown together with the usual money hit makers.

Barnaby Hosking

Thoughts (Butterflies) 10, 2011

brass butterfly sculpture installation; 12 pieces

various dimensions

Max Wigram Gallery

The simple effects of these brass butterfly wings and their shadows, made me once again stop at a Barnaby Hosking piece (another piece by the same artist is being auctioned by Phillips de Pury this week) . A young artist that is quickly turning into a familiar name.

FOS

Nothing Disappears Only Our Amnesia Arises, 2004

Mixed media: wood, aluminium and birds

Max Wigram Gallery

Perhaps not the best image of the lively birdcage sculpture, but fascinating it is. Anything caged often has a cringing effect, but at the same time being caged these days could actually mean survival.

Franz West

Gagosian

Late last night when I was on my way home from the Vanity Fair Party, I was reading a post by Artinfo saying that the sale at the Frieze was sparse... That post might have been written too soon. Yes, there was perhaps no buying frenzy but a lot of the good pieces was taken quite quickly.

What I did see related to recession was perhaps the use of phallic symbols, and that could possibly be seen as a reaction to men's vulnerability when jobs are sparse? Funny enough bananas was a repeat object as well. This large sculpture by Franz West was sold quite early...

Paul McCarthy (b.1945)

Steven and the Big Leg, 2008

oil clay, fiberglass, polyurethane foam, resin, wood, steel, bucket.

Hauser & Wirth

Martha Friedman

Cucumber, 2003, 2011

Plexiglass, polyurethane, paint, steel

Wallspace (N.Y.)

The rather long... cucumber piece is quite amusing. Here with the Wallspace gallerists and Art consultant Pier Vegner Tosta.

A piece that was creating quite a buzz at the fair was the sale of a luxury yacht by the artist Christian Jankowski. It is offered for £60m as a yacht and £75m as an art piece authenticated by the artist. Is this a prank? A gut hitting over the top stunt to show the world how some can throw their money where their appetite lays? I am going to believe that, until I see if it will be sold or not.

Henrik Olesen

Gallery Daniel Bucholz (Berlin, Cologne)

Tacita Dean

Blackboard paint, fibre-based print mounted on paper

Frith Street Gallery

The world is watching Tacita Dean these days, especially with her film addition to the Unilever series at the Tate Modern. She won the Hugo Boss prize in 2006 which is one of my favorite prizes. How I miss the exhibits that the Guggenheim was throwing for the nominated years ago in Soho. Now the space has turned into the infamous Prada store and the Hugo Boss prize is only presenting the winner.

Elmgreen & Dragset

Steel, wood, dummy in latex, shoes, blackboard, jewels

Untitled (unique), 2011

I am turning into a great fan of the Elmgreen & Dragset duo (Norwegian and Danish). They continue to amuse and surprise and at the same time bringing serious issues to the forefront.

Ken Okiishi

Alex Zachary (New York)

Alex Zachary's booth was filled with these swinging Zebra umbrellas.

Grayson Perry

Map of Truths and Beliefs, 2011

Wool and cotton tapestry woven by Flanders Tapestries from files prepared at Factum Arte

Courtesy Victoria Miro Gallery, © The Artist

Grayson Perry's tapestry was were my heart went at this fair, I could look at this for hours. It is exquisite and thought provoking. The piece made me look forward to viewing his exhibit "The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman" that is currently at the British Museum (it opened the 6th of October and runs until 19th of February (2012).

Frieze

With Love

Kristin

Phillips de Pury - Fall Auction 2011

2011-10-10T06:19:00.000-07:00

Barnaby Furnas

Flood (Red Sea), 2006

£150,000-250,000

Sold £169,250

Phillips de Pury

October 12th - 13th

Contemporary Art Auction

This weekend has been colored by Phillips de Pury's presentation of what will be auctioned at the evening sale the 12th and the day show the 13th of October. I ended up going to both the preview night on Thursday and the brunch Sunday. It was a rather calm atmosphere at both days, with enjoyable conversations and bubbly drinks.

Bellow are some of the highlights. Later this week I will add what each piece actually sold for, but here are the estimated sale prizes.

Andreas Gursky,

Copan, 2002

£180,000-250,000

Sold £ 217,500

Tim Noble & Sue Webster

Toxic Schizophrenia, 1997

£180,000 - 250,000

£229,250

George Condo

Cave Painting (2008) (Insert)

£300,000 - 500,000

George Condo is represented with 5 works at this Auction, the New Yorker is known for his dark and humorous portraits, dripping with madness...

Liu Xiaocheng

Breath (22), 2007

£5,000 - 7,000

In the middle of all the grand colors and statements I really fell for this understated painting. It portrays a protest in a subtle poetic and captivating way.

John Bock

Der Ultimate Rendite Rezipenten Aufbau bei Gleichzeitiger

futterung der modderMachtMasse, (2002)

£25,000 - 30,000

This piece makes you pause because of it's humoristic appeal. After seeing the work by John Bock we began talking about our expectations of seeing more humor being used in the future. Humor in Art as a counter act to the dreadfulness of decline.

Damien Hirst

Observation - The Crown of Justice (2006)

£700,000 - 1,000,000

£780,450

No major Contemporary Auction without a Damien Hirst.... this piece is quite stunning, looking closely you will notice one of his trademarks - the butterflies.

Cecily Brown

Park, 2004

£400,000 - 600,000

Sold £421,250

Don't pass on a Cecily Brown painting. They are a lot more intricate than what at first is captured by your eyes. Cecily Brown is perhaps one of the greatest paid female painters today, coming from a great knowledge of the History of paintings. Cecily Brown takes her inspiration from Impressionists to Abstract Expressionists, in-between, before and after... the turn she makes can often be seen as quite erotic, just stop and look for a little while.

Johannes Kahrs

Eifer-sucht (Jealousy), 1995

£120,000 - 180,000

John Korner

Lolland (2004)

£8,000 - 12,000

Sold £12,500

Desiree Dolron

Xterior (Birgitte) (2001)

£40,000 - 50,000

Sold £49,250

Gilbert & George

Heart (2004)

£100,000 - 150,000

Absolutely genius!! The two collaborators has here created a photo with two of their heads, as turned into three, as turned into a scary ghost. It all depends on how you see the image first. I only saw the three faces at first, but when I came back home and glanced at the photos that I had taken, I reacted by saying out loud "Wow" this is spooky. I was glad I could come back to the Sunday brunch and have a second look before it sells, to what I will say is a fortunate future owner.

Christian Ward

Black Hut, 2005

£7,000-9,000

Sold £688

Susanne Kuhn

Kinderzimmer (2006)

£15,000-20,000

Sold £18,750

Robert Motherwell

Frontier No. 12 (1958)

£150,000 - 200,000

Marc Quinn

Red Lantern Cove (2010)

£85,000 - 120,000

£91,250

Jake and Dinos Chapman

I wanted to say "I've Missed You" (2008)

£40,000 - 60,000

Paula Rego

The Servant (1993-94)

£500,000 - 700,000

Another of the great selling female painters is Paula Rego. Behind her figurative work there is often a story of repression and violence. Here with the pastel painting "The Servant" she is for sure hitting me in the gut as well.

Yang Shaobin

Untitled No.15 (2000)

£120,000-180,000

£ 313, 250

Gunther Uecker

Horse-Children in crisis (1994)

£30,000 - 40,000

Jeff Koons

Seal Walrus Trashcans (2003-09)

£2,000,000 - 3,000,000

£2,113,250

Ugo Rondinone

Everything Gets Lighter Everyone is Light, 2004

£120,000 - 180,000

I will end the "walk through" with this lyrical title that Ugo Rondinone gave his spiritual tree;

"Everything Gets Lighter Everyone is Light"

With Love

Kristin

Weh-HEY-y-JUgo

2011-10-06T04:59:00.000-07:00

Lup Bup Zhir POW! 1994/1997 (detail)

Ingrid Calame

The Fruitmarket Gallery

Edinburgh

With the great core of Apple unfortunately lost today (Steve Jobs). I was reminded of a market with other great fruits to share. The Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh is a must stop for anyone adventuring north to Edinburgh, they proudly presents outstanding artists from all over the world. When I was there they were exhibiting the American Artist Ingrid Calame, as part of the Edinburgh art festival.

Installation view

Ingrid Calame, The Fruitmarket Gallery

Photograph: Ruth Clark

Installation view

Ingrid Calame, The Fruitmarket Gallery

Photograph: Ruth Clark

Ingrid Calame was born in 1965 in the Bronx, New York. She originally began with film making but now works more with drawings and paintings, taking her inspiration from nature and graffiti.

"Pouncing causes little explosions through each hole that radiate out. It is an event, like a drawing/dance. I'm physically punching the pigment through the paper and gravity causes it to fall down behind the paper and sit on the imperfections on the wall. It is the residue of the translation of something traced from the ground placed on (or transferred to?) the wall. The drawing itself shares affinities with dance, as it creeps up to the ceiling and to the wall edges, offering an immersive experience in its vast expanse." - Ingrid Calame (describing her work process)

L.A. River at Clearwater Street, 2006-8 (detail), 2011

Wall drawing

Photograph: Ruth Clark

Ingrid Calame makes use of her impressions from sites like L.A. River to Perry street project, creating beauty out of the places history and residue.

L.A. River at Clearwater Street, 2006-8 (detail), 2011

Wall drawing

Photograph: Ruth Clark

Weh-HEY-y-JUgo, 2004 (detail)

Enamel Paint on Aluminium

Pueep, 2001(Detail)

Enamel Paint on Aluminium

"Making frozen moments rather than using the narrative structure that a time-based medium involves"

- Ingrid Calame

hoo-koo-koo-koo, 2003 (detail)

Enamel paint on aluminium

#320 Drawing (detail)

(Tracings from ArcelorMittal Steel, Buffalo, NY), 2010

Colored pencil on trace Mylar

From #258 Drawing (detail)

(Tracings from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the L.A. River) 2007

Enamel paint on aluminium

The neglected turns into splendor with Ingrid Calame's figurative abstraction.

With Love

Kristin

Pure Luck!

2011-09-27T08:53:00.000-07:00

VANABBEMUSEUM

Eindhoven (Netherlands)

I have to admit that the chances for just ending up at this museum was made up by pure luck! We were driving from Berlin towards London and decided by looking at the map for a convenient place to have lunch. The Eidenhoven location was perfect, so off the freeway we went and within minutes we parked conveniently next to the Vanabbenmuseum. We even had a few hours to spend, so after a long lunch we had a great walk through the museum collection.... and I got my Art Kick for the day!

Jason Rhoades

Sloto-the secret life of the Onion, 2003

I will have to give you the entertaining description by the museum:

"The work represents a production process. Onion-shaped glass containers are filled with mineral oil, dried onion rings, pictures of works from the collection of the Van Abbemuseum and works by Rhoades, as well as socks. The socks are important because they have taken up the dust from the floors of the museum. Some of the filled glass containers are driven around a work of art by Donald Judd in a pig train. In this way the onions "experience" this work of art from different perspectives. Subsequently the "experienced" onions are placed in shelves against the wall."

Gerrit van Bakel

Eindhoven-aanwezigheids-machine, 1980

"The mechanism represents the engine of everything: energy. This machine ensures that both the material energy as well as the spiritual energy envelop the exhibition space."

Richard Long

Wood Circle, 1977

Joost van Roojen & Aldo van Eijk

42 series of Bands of Colour in a Spiral Space

These colored pieces of fabric are sewed together in bands.

(Not sure about the artist, it is a little home outside the Museum, quite, if you know the artist, please let me know:)

Christian Boltanski

Odessa Monument, 1991

After this post, I will move you back to the United Kingdom and up north towards Edinburgh!!

With Love

Kristin

Bye bye Testosteroni

2011-09-26T05:57:00.001-07:00

Nina Fischer/Maroan el Sani

Colour print on alu dibond

118 x 149 cm. Edition 3.

A girl enters the space she makes a sign: Time-out, and freezes for 5 seconds.

Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani

Impero dei Segni

Galerie Eigen + Art

Berlin

With the Saudi Arabian Women getting the right to vote this weekend, Monday morning begins with a great boost...

To move the perspective from Saudi Arabia and to a completely different Male chauvinistic territory we go to Italy and Berlusconi's world, where this photography series has been shot by Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani.

I came about this rather poignant photography series IMPERO DEI SEGNI at Galeri Eigen + Art (Berlin), it records the performance of a temporary intervention with activists at the empty Palazzo dei Congressi in Rome.

Nina Fischer/Maroan el Sani

Colour print on alu dibond. 118 x 149 cm. Edition: 3.

They sit down on the floor for a sit-in and freeze for about 5 seconds.

"The work IMPERO DEI SEGNI thus unites two sets of themes in contemporary art: on the one hand, the discourse surrounding 'appropriation and art in public spaces' and on the other, 'artistic intervention in the political'. The work thus seizes on essential questions in intervention art, such as those already posed by Situationists and other ephemeral, situation- specific performance artists, in short: how can artistic criticism have an effect in the political sphere? The project does not dwell on the aesthetic argument of these objects, but offers a concrete set of instructions for action through the work. The work can be seen as a piece of 'fine art' - fine in the sense that it possesses edifying qualities for the viewer and prompts, quite literally, action, the art of action."

- Galerie Eigen + Art

Nina Fischer/Maroan el Sani

Colour print on alu dibond. 118 x 149 cm. Edition: 3.

They line up and build a word in Italian sign language: Manifesto

The "silent" demonstration is set appropriately at the Palazzo dei Congressi which is a building built as Mussolini's vision of a 'Third Reich'. The non-verbal communication is set out for you to interpret through, gestures, body language and sign language.

"Bye, Bye Testosteroni" is quite an amusing way of saying hey look at us, we have a manifest to give you, but please be welcome to interpret it your way.

Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani

Impero dei Segni.

Bye bye Testosteroni

Installation view Gallery Eigen + Art, Berlin 2011

Hope your week will be filled with inspiration.

With Love

Kristin

You can't Look Away!

2011-09-21T05:29:00.000-07:00

Me Collectors Room

Berlin

For those that know me well, you know how wild I am about shoes. So walking down Agustrasse in Berlin late August it was fun to see this tribute to Italian Shoemakers. The exhibition was also shown earlier this year in Milan.

This year the Collectors room is concentrating on "Collecting" itself so not only shoes but fabulous hats, jewelry, bags and sunglasses were given its on great showcase.

The Me Collectors Room changes quickly and is quite varied. The 1st of October the new exhibit will be Antoine de Galbert's collection. He collects contemporary adaptions of folk art so it should be quite exciting.

Me Collectors Room also has a cafe at the front with energy boosters and (my favorite) communal tables.

With Love

Kristin

The private lives of the impresionists

2011-09-20T05:17:00.000-07:00

While driving around in France I finally had a chance to read "The Private Lives of the impressionists" that was recommended by an Art Business teacher last year at NYU. What convenient timing, had I read it before I would have not had the same feeling for the place Monet grew up and the places that he always went back to paint like Le Havre, Petit Dalles, Eritrat and Honfleur. I did miss out on Giverny though, that is on my must list in the future (that is where he later painted his famous Water lilies). But the book concentrated on the earlier years of hardships of some of the most celebrated painters today. Pointing out Manet as the leader but Monet and his painting:

Impression, Sunrise 1873

as the cause for the title "Impressionists". Since the critics with their early ridicule gladly pointed them out as impressionists after seeing this title, but the title works wonders in the long run. The group that it originally was linked to and the we get to know better through this book is; Monet, Manet. Pissaro, Degas, Renoir, Caillebotte, Sisley, Cezanne, Berthe Morisott and Mary Cassatt. Later the definition has been opened up to include many other artists that worked at the same time like Gauguin, Boudin, Courbet and Delacroix.

We can thank the Art Dealer Paul Durand-Ruel for the survival of these artists as Renoir said to his son:

"Durand-Ruel was a missionary. It is lucky for us that his religion was painting..."

Or as Monet told Joseph Durand-Ruel (his son) on Durand-Ruel's deathbed:

"I can never forget everything my friends and I owe your dear father"

A "Father" he was. Durand-Ruel discovered them, supported them almost to his ruin many times but never lost his belief and continued to exhibit them. As the way the book begins it ends, with him taking the impressionists paintings to New York where they finally are embraced.

And as Manet said to his friend Proust:

"Oh, I know about justice being done one day, It means you begin to live only after you're dead. I know all about that kind of justice."

Continue to live with us they certainly do, and grateful we are that they never gave up.

With Love

Kristin

Notre Dame du Haut

2011-09-14T05:21:00.000-07:00

Le Corbusier

Notre Dame du Haut

Ronchamp

I have been desperately trying to get back to blogging but with very little time I have not gotten far. I thought I could give you a quick update on one of my favorite spots that I have visited this summer. Notre Dame du Haut is a pilgrimage chapel built in France near Belfort in the 1950's to replace the chapel that had been destroyed during the war.

Notre Dame Du Haut turned into Le Corbusier's most celebrated building, and named one of the greatest architectural edifices of the 20th Century. The building though is hard to come by, you will need to make it a destination spot. It is beautifully spotted on top of a hill overlooking the small town Ronchamp. You will need to park halfway up the hill and then walk the rest. But the building does not disappoint, a spectacular sacred spot built out of simple raw materials. The shape of the building is composed to its ultimatum with the way light comes through to the chapel.

(One is not aloud to take photos inside so that part you will have to discover yourself.)

The outdoor altar

Renzo Piano has started to build additional housing for the nuns and replace the visitor center so you should perhaps plan your visit for next year when it supposedly is finished.

Good to be back

With Love

Kristin

Grace

2011-08-05T08:22:00.000-07:00

Fransesca Lowe

Riflemaker Gallery

The Riflemaker Gallery is a small hidden gem in the middle of Soho. Housed in London's oldest public building. It used to be a Georgian riflemaker's workshop dating from 1712. The Riflemaker Gallery began in 2004, when I went there they were showing the large canvases by Fransesca Lowe.

The canvases illustrates a Woman's journey, both psychologically and eternally...

With this I am going on my own journey... with destinations in Norway, Germany and France awaiting.

(insert)

I will be back in September!

Hopefully filled with new energy and inspiration.

Must life treat you well until then.

With Love

Kristin

The Architecture of Happiness

2011-08-03T05:26:00.000-07:00

Balancing Barn, Suffolk

Mole Architects

Alain de Botton

LIVING ARCHITECTURE

Some friends of ours came for the weekend from Germany and brought the latest issue of Der Spiegel where there were an article about the latest project by Alain de Botton. I got so excited when I viewed it, somehow it had not reached my ear that the great novelist turned philosopher now has turned his energy into creating exciting holiday homes.

I have followed his writings since his adorable novels like "The Romantic Movement" and "Kiss and Tell". He later went on to write more philosophical books, but always with a strange twist like "How Proust can change your life" or "The Art of Travel". After he gave out the book "The Architecture of Happiness" he wondered why he was not more involved in Architecture since he loved it so much.

Therefore he began with the project "Living Architecture" which is a not-for-profit organisation that engages leading Architects to build houses around UK for then to rent it out for holidays.

A discovery seldom comes alone... so yesterday I ventured to the Design museum and guess what was there? The model for the Balancing Barn. That made me even more excited and inspired me to share this with you.

The Dune House, Suffolk

Jarmund/Vigsnæs Architects

The book that instigated the project

" I love architecture and I believe that good quality buildings can make a serious improvement to life. But most people’s experience of modern architecture is civic and not residential...". (Alain de Botton)

I am now thrilled to see which architects and what new houses Living Architecture will bring forth to us in the future!

With Love

Kristin

Fire Leap

2011-08-01T05:40:00.000-07:00

NAN GOLDIN

Fire Leap

Sprovieri Gallery (London)

On Friday I went to the Norwegian Church in London to be part of the Memorial for the horrible attacks in Norway 22/07. It felt good to be there, a calm togetherness lingered in the packed Church. With an intense headache, I sat through the ceremony, had the lovely waffles and coffee that was served so lovingly and felt the closeness of the other Norwegians that missed home right now.

After the ceremony I ventured to Heddon Street to view the Nan Goldin exhibition at the Sprovieri Gallery, before my headache took over and guided me home. The Fire Leap photos felt quite fitting on a day like this. A few of us had just been talking about "How do people become evil? What makes somebody do what they do?" A question I would dare anybody to try and answer. I just read somewhere that 3-5% of the population lacks empathy, is that why someone can become mass murderers or is it because of the way we grow up? So many questions and so few answers.

Nan Goldin though is the master of describing humanity through her photos. Her photos are brutally realistic in a way that you nearly think you know the subjects. In the photo stream that can be seen here you follow pregnancy through birth and early childhood, with kids singing "Desperado"(The Eagles), "Space Oddity" David Bowie and "I'm so Glad (I'm a little boy and you're a little Girl) (Jimmy Boyd).

Isabella as a ghost

This song was also sung and it is so touching I had to post the Mommy version of it here, many of you probably grew up with it?:

LITTLE CHILD (MOMMY/DADDY DEAR)

(Mon Enfant) (Traditional)

Mommy dear, tell me please is the world really round?

Tell me where is the bluebird of happiness found?

Tell me why is the sky up above is so blue?

And when you were a child did your mommy tell you?

What becomes of the sun when it falls into the sea?

And who lights it again bright as bright can be?

Tell me why can't I fly without wings through the skies?

Tell me why, Mommy dear, are there tears in your eyes?

Little one, little one, yes, the world's really round

And the bluebird you search for will surely be found

And the sky up above is so blue and clear so that

You'll see the bluebird if it should come near

And the sun doesn't fall when it slips out of sight

All it does is make way for the moon's pretty light

And if children could fly there'd be no need for birds

And I cry, little one, 'cause I'm touched by your words

Don't be sad, Mommy dear, if it's true the world's round

I will search 'round the world till the bluebird is found

Little one, there's no need to wander too far

For what you really seek is right here where you are

Show me where, Mommy dear, and here's what I will do

I will take the dear bluebird and give it to you

Dear,the bluebird's the love in your heart pure and true

And I found it the day heaven blessed me with you

Nan Goldin is an American photographer born in Washington D.C. Already at 15 she had her first solo show documenting gays and transexuals. Her whole life has been a photographic journal through love, sexuality, drugs, domesticity, sorrow and happiness.

Nan Goldin is known as an artist whose output is inextricably bound up with her own biography, and for breaking down the traditional barrier between the camera and what is being photographed. Her naturally lit images document her surrogate family of friends and lovers, and – more often than not – are frank confrontations with personal experience, and explorations of both intimacy and the alienation that can be wound up within it.

- Sprovieri Gallery

Ava

Let's make a baby king
Let's make him Lord of all
Let's give him everything
Let's make a baby king

(text from "Let's Make a Baby King" Wynonna Judd)

How can we make sure that we will be able to take care of the next generation, and embrace them with love and security? Even if we can't take care of many, what about trying with the once you already have around?

It makes me hope dearly that my kids will think of me as a good mother when they grow up. Will I be able to protect them from damage and sorrow? to keep hearing their pure happy innocent childish laughter? Probably not. But, I will be there for them as much as I can.

WITH LOVE

Kristin

Men Only

2011-07-27T03:23:00.000-07:00

Hartley, 1971

ALICE NEEL

Men Only

Victoria Miro

After what has happened in Norway it is hard to feel the right to keep on going and to keep writing my blog. Somehow it all feels so shallow, so selfish, but life goes on and one can't let this person stop us from living. I say this person or maybe just use his initials ABB and keep it at that, he said he rather wants to be hated than forgotten. So I try with many others, to forget him. But, not quite yet... while Norway now has turned so beautifully blood into roses, I sit here in London wishing I was there with my fellow Norwegians. I don't think I have never missed Norway as much as right now and I am glad I am going home in a few days.

The photos published of ABB has haunted me these last long days, about how he looks so perfectly composed, so absolutely normal. He does not strike me in any way as the "perfect" criminal, but rather like any guy you could encounter. I think this shatters my thoughts on how you look at evil. Can you really see if someone got less empathy and compassion for his/hers fellow human beings? I am not confident that I can anymore.

ABB's pictures in captivity does not look as flattering, but still does he look like someone who could kill over 80 innocents?

I went to see this Alice Neel exhibit the day before the Twin Attacks, as it has been called. Her male portraits in the "Male Only" exhibit keeps lingering. When I walked through the exhibits I was thinking I could point out what the mens profession was, their personality, maybe imagine their lives... but would I dare to do that today?

Phil Bard, 1957

John Evans, 1968

Alice Neel (1900 - 1984) is one of Americas most well known Portrait painters.
She had strong left-wing beliefs, she painted people she met on the streets to other famous artists, lovers, family, women, children, writers and trade unionists.

Richard Gibbs, 1965

Purvis, 1958

Stephen Herbert, 1977

Richard 1973

Alice Neel struggled with her own losses. Losing one daughter to diphtheria, and later her second daughter was taken to Cuba by her husband. The loss, brought her to a suicide ward at the Philadelphia General hospital.

When Alice Neel got out of the hospital she stayed with her parents before she moved to New York. She concentrated successfully on her paintings and years later she had two sons Hartley and Richard portrayed here as young men.

Ned McCabe

Ed Ziff, 1963

Let us do like the Norwegians are doing right now, embrace each other, remember and care for each other. Maybe by our LOVE we can make this world a better place. I hope so! ABB is not going to be remembered as an instigator to hate (as was his intention), but one who brought us closer to each other.

With Love

Kristin