Monthly Archive for June, 2005

Capital of Culture, Here I Come!

Published by ian jackson on June 30, 2005 23:14 in Art Preview. Closed

Just as I’m about to fly off to Cork (this years European Capital of Culture) the Liverpool Echo prints an article saying how the Cork effort has all been a bit of a damp squib so far…

Such has been the concern at the style and substance of Cork’s celebrations one grass-roots group felt compelled to spring into action. Its name? “Where’s Me Culture?”

“It was felt that the year had kind of crept up on people and that little information was coming out -and what there was was not very inspiring,” says group member Dave MacArdle.

“The Cork 2005 logo includes a picture of a firework, but we were worried it was going to turn into a damp squib. So we thought instead of being cynical we’d try and harness various groups in the city.”

I must say, the listings I’ve seen on the website so far this year have not excited me greatly but I’m sure I’ll find some interesting stuff. Anyway, one of my favourite bands, Caribou, are playing there on Saturday night so I’ve that to look forward to.

I shall, of course, relate my Irish art adventures when I return. Meanwhile this blog will be quiet for a few days.

Published by ian jackson on June 30, 2005 23:14 in Art Preview. Closed

Wirral Degree Show, Seaside & Kif

Published by ian jackson on June 29, 2005 17:02 in Art Review. 1 Comment

Me and my friend M had a lovely day out on the Wirral yesterday. Starting at…

Wirral Met Degree Show at Williamson Gallery Birkenhead

This finishes on Sunday and I’d missed the Private View. Luckily most of the students were there yesterday morning as the assessors were visiting so we were able to ask questions, which was good as there was very little documentation.
There’s only 16 artists, the Williamson gives them 5 rooms to use so there isn’t that cramped feeling you get at the degree shows held within the colleges, more like a ‘proper’ exhibition!
We really enjoyed it and spent a lot of time there. All the works must have taken a lot of time and effort, they were all very well presented.
The students/artists are Stuart Allison, Jan Brown (part of her work pictured here), Marlene Cartwright, Diana Karpova, Kwan May Ling, Jayne Hannay, Rita Harwig, Barbara Lamb, Laura Lawton, Brendan Magee, Amanda Oliphant, Netty O’Rourke, Lisa Pugh, David Sutton, Jo Swift and Jean Wayles.

Next we drove down to….

Beside the Seaside at Lady Lever Gallery

The Lady Lever is a nice gallery in the lovely village of Port Sunlight. They have a good collection of pre-raphaelites, Wedgewoods, Chinese Pottery, Tapestries as well as Period Rooms.
The seaside exhibition is in 2 small rooms, I was expecting a bit more. They are all paintings relating to the seaside by British Impressionists such as Charles Conder, Philip Wilson Steer and Walter Sickert. Mostly evocative images of the leisured classes strolling along the promenade and fully dressed women and girls in big bonnets paddling.
In an adjacent room is Picasso’s ‘Woman Seated in an Armchair’ which is on loan from Berlin. It is shown alongside Rossetti’s ‘Sibylla Palmifera’ (another seated woman) so we can contrast the two different approaches to depicting female beauty. Its a good idea, I prefer the Rossetti.

After a look round the gallery shop we had a picnic on the village green. It was very peaceful and sunny, a pleasant way to spend a summers day.

James Pagella

James Pagella and Pete Dickinson at the Kif

The evening was more lively. It was the opening of this exhibition of new works by James and Pete. The Kif is looking better than it has done for a while and I really like the new stuff. There was a barbecue in the yard (until the storm arrived!) and excellent live music from ‘A Hawk and a Hacksaw’. At 10pm we all moved onto the Marlborough pub to see Zukanican play (with the multi-talented James on drums)

Published by ian jackson on June 29, 2005 17:02 in Art Review. 1 Comment

So What Happened on Thursday and Friday?

Published by ian jackson on June 28, 2005 18:22 in Art Review. Closed Tags: , .

It must be all this sunny weather, I’m struggling to find the time to write about all the things I’ve been to see. Last Thursday was busy…

Adrian Henri Retrospective at Cornerstone (Hope Uni)

There was a big crowd here including many ‘celebrity’ friends of the late Mr Henri and its a bigger show than normal for this venue. There are several small tems in the glass cabinets near the entrance containing sketch books, poetry books, Liverpool Scene album covers etc.
Personally I preferred his poetry and music to his painting but I do like some of them. I used to see Liverpool Scene regularly at O’Connors Tavern in Hardman St in the late 60’s and I have a lot of Adrian’s poetry, excellent. There’s a proper review of the exhibition on the way so be patient or, better still, go and see it for yourself. Runs until July 15th.
Couldn’t stop long as we had to dash over to FACT….

The Agony & The Ecstasy at FACT

In Gallery 1 is Chen Chieh-jen’s work ‘Lingchi – Echoes of a Historical Photograph’. The printed guide begins ‘I cannot stop gazing at these photographic images of anonymous people being tortured, executed…’
Well maybe you cannot Chen, but I certainly can! Its a filmed re-enactment of a Lingchi execution or ‘death of a thousand cuts’. Its in Bill Viola style slow-motion in black & white on three large screens. I didn’t stop long. Why would I want to?

In Gallery 2 is Sigalit Landau’s ‘Barbed Hula’
‘A naked dancer (Landau herself) performs on the beach with a symbolic barbed wire hula hoop – a provocative act which, despite the barbs pointing outwards, places the onlooker in the uncomfortable position of witness to a self-inflicted pleasure/pain experience’
‘Pleasure’? I’m obviously missing something. The barbs may be pointing outwards but you can still see a lot of marks on her skin. Lets move on quickly.
Pitfall
Also in Gallery 2 is ‘Pitfall’ by Marzia Migliora & Elisa Sighicelli. This is better. Its a 3D animation in black & white inspired by pictures from the Encyclopedia of Diderot et D’Alembert [1745] of plans for hunting and trapping animals. The viewer finds herself walking inside a wood, the trees look like they’re cardboard cutouts. You’re looking for a way out but, in fact, all the paths lead to the pitfall. I actually watched this for quite a while.

Rebecca Key at Arena

On Friday I went to an office party. Or so it seemed. The Arena gallery has been turned into a big office by Rebecca Key for this installation entitled ‘Administration’. It really does look like a real rather dated, untidy office.

A few desks, computers, filing cabinets even a scruffy carpet and all the typical clutter of an admin office. A lot of the material has been donated by local companies and some has been rescued from skips (with permission).
I quite enjoyed the experience, safe in the knowledge that I don’t have to work in such an environment any more. I did long to tidy the place up though, I can’t abide untidy workspaces.
Runs until July 23rd and Rebecca is discussing the work on July 16th at 14.30.

Published by ian jackson on June 28, 2005 18:22 in Art Review. Closed Tags: , .

Art of Science Gallery

Published by ian jackson on June 27, 2005 22:27 in Web. Closed

driven.jpgNothing to do with Liverpool but I think these images are fascinating.

“This spring we asked the Princeton University community to submit imagery produced in the course of research or incorporating tools and concepts from science. The response was overwhelming: more than 200 entries from nearly 100 individuals in 15 departments. We selected 55 of these works to appear in the 2005 Art of Science Exhibition.”

Published by ian jackson on June 27, 2005 22:27 in Web. Closed

Wildlife Photography at Conservation Centre

Published by ian jackson on June 27, 2005 21:36 in Art Review. Closed Tags: .

Giant Amazon Waterlillies C.Theo Allofs

Wildlife Photographer of the Year (2004) at the Conservation Centre until September 18th 2005.
The international competition, organised by the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine aims to reward the best wildlife photographers from across the world. Their photographs convey the wonder, drama and beauty of life on Earth.

There are, indeed, some excellent shots of wildlife but my own favourites are the few that don’t actually have any animals in them. Like this picture of Giant Amazonian Waterlillies and there’s one of ice bubbles in a pond with golden sunlight shining on the grass.
More details at www.nhm.ac.uk/wildphoto

Published by ian jackson on June 27, 2005 21:36 in Art Review. Closed Tags: .

Nicholas Horsfield – Obituary

Published by ian jackson on June 27, 2005 16:55 in News. Closed

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Nicholas Horsfield died just 2 weeks after his retrospective opened at Liverpool University Art Gallery. Which reminds me that although I went to the private viewing I haven’t reviewed it yet. I must go back and have a proper look and write about it. The exhibition runs until July 29th.

Painter and teacher, he was one of the most influential members of the Merseyside art world

‘A member of the Liverpool Academy of Art from 1954, and its president from 1960 to 1965, Horsfield was also a member of the Merseyside Contemporary Artists. He had many solo shows and his work is in many public and private collections, including the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.’

‘He delighted in independent spirit and demonstrated an extraordinary ability to spot the moment at which a student had seen the light.’
Obituary in todays Guardian

Published by ian jackson on June 27, 2005 16:55 in News. Closed

Summer of Love at Tate Liverpool

Published by Jo Raven on June 26, 2005 16:57 in Art Review. Closed Tags: .

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Summer of Love Review by Jo Raven

Tate Liverpool’s Summer of Love exhibition explores an entire era of exceptional political and cultural change, spanning over a decade from the 1960’s to the early seventies. Focusing on one particular aspect, the ‘psychedelic’ and its diverse creative potential, the Tate offers an assortment of work from posters, record covers, books and magazines, films and installations, spread over two floors. The exhibition covers all aspects of visual culture, produced and strongly influenced by experimentation with the mind-altering effect of drugs, notably marijuana and the hallucinogenic LSD.

Entering the exhibition through a black and white tunnel, you are led into a room teeming with original advertising posters featuring bold, fluorescent colours, intensely detailed and written in barely legible typefaces. The next section is divided into geographical areas: San Francisco and West Coast, New York and the East Cost and London and Liverpool, with each individual area accompanied by a timeline placing the display in its cultural and historical context.

These rooms are filled with memorabilia of the time: press cuttings, photographs, posters, and album covers of every conceivable popular music icon of the time from the Rolling Stones and the Beatles to Pink Floyd. There is an abundance of original literature including work produced by the emerging ‘underground’ magazines, all of which is interspersed with original film footage.

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Film, video and multimedia installations feature widely in this exhibition. Light shows, psychedelic films and interactive installations such as Peter Sedgley’s ultraviolet discs, Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room Lover Forever and Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable and The Velvet Underground, combine a frenzy of vibrant colours, abstract shapes and interchanging images, created to challenge and stretch the human perceptual capacity.

Impacting on all aspects of popular culture at the time, the psychedelic is clearly evident in the fields of art, film, fashion, design and music. For me, Janis Joplin’s hand painted Porsche epitomises the excessively creative and over-the-top style, which has become indicative of this art and this period, making Summer of Love a must see.

Published by Jo Raven on June 26, 2005 16:57 in Art Review. Closed Tags: .

Jumping Jack Flash at FACT!

Published by ian jackson on June 24, 2005 23:38 in Music and News. Closed Tags: .

FACT.FM has started in the Media Lounge at FACT…

For a limited time only, FACT will be hosting an internet radio station by and for the people of Liverpool. Budding DJs and presenters of all ages are invited to use the open access Media Lounge Recording Studio to record their copyright-free stories, rhymes and grimes, poems and songs for an archive of home-made sounds. All audio will then be available on the world wide web; to the delight (no doubt), of ex-pats, family and friends across the globe.

There’s already an amazing rendition of Jumping Jack Flash by Lily Kehoe who is only 3.5 years old! You have to listen to it and pass on the link, its going to be a hit!.

Published by ian jackson on June 24, 2005 23:38 in Music and News. Closed Tags: .