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Amelia’s Magazine | This week’s Art listings

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This week’s arts happenings, as recommended by Amelia’s Magazine.

Tonight until Thursday

This “graduate show” has a difference as, rather than graduating from a school, these are new artists who have already been featured in the pages of the learned Creative Review. There are six contributors:

Tom Lovell
Mark Boardman
James Callahan and Joe Kiers
Tomomi Sayuda
Eilin Bergum
Matt Robinson and Tom Wrigglesworth

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The exhibition is on at Mother London until Thursday September 10.

Wednesday
$9.99 @ the onedotzero festival

Onedotzerois known for bringing an eclectic but well-edited mix of cinema from film-makers of many nationalities, dealing in shorts, animation, documentary and music video. New filmmakers and established artists show alongside one another, but all work is brand new and there is an almost overwhelming amount and variety to see. Amelia’s is intrigued to see the animated film “$9.99”, based on the short stories of Etgar Keret. Based on what one has read in his books “Kneller’s Happy Campers” and others, it promises to be full of sex (as you can see from the screenshot, above), slightly bleak but also very funny and clever, and sometimes even poignant when it comes to family and the failings of one’s parents.

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Friday 11 September, 7.30pm, free

Salon Closing Night ft. Ross Sutherland & The Sunday Defensive

The closing night party for the pop-up arts project Salon London features writer Ross Sutherland, whose collection of poems “Things To Do Before You Leave Town” got him onto the Times’ list of Top Ten Literary Stars of 2008. His star is still rising, so hear him read at Salon, and while you’re listening to his wordplay, think up some clever heckles to throw at The Sunday Defensive, a comedy duo just back from the Edinburgh Fringe and therefore no doubt ready with a witty comeback.

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All week 9-30 September
Mother Courage and Her Children

Fiona Shaw takes the title role in this influential play by Bertholt Brecht. It’s the story of a woman wheeling and dealing her way to profit while her children fall sacrifice to the war machine. Recent world history has shone a light on the toll in young lives that war takes while the older generation look on and, in some cases, profit. The show also features new music from The Duke Special. The magnificent Shaw starts her run as Mother Courage from Wednesday September 9.

Written by Satu Fox on Monday September 7th, 2009 3:28 pm

Categories ,art, ,Bertolt Brecht, ,BFI Southbank, ,Creative Review, ,Etgar Keret, ,Fiona Shaw, ,graduate show, ,listings, ,Mother Courage, ,National Theatre, ,onedotzero, ,Ross Sutherland, ,The Sunday Defensive

Amelia’s Magazine | Tom Foulsham-The Table that can Tell Stories And Other Contraptions

Man Making Machine © Tom Foulsham

Minnie Weisz’s studio, online a one-storey alcove of delightfully quirky art concealed underneath Kings Cross’s railway arches, is currently harboring the perfect antidote to the last-minute Christmas shopping overdose. Artist, designer, engineer and inventor Tom Foulsham currently exhibits a series of machines that defy easy categorization since his work is a fine blend of sculpture, architecture and installation art. The perfect interaction between all the different parts constitutes the core of elaborate systems that dazzle by their sheer ingenious flair and complexity.

Tom Foulsham Wiggle Table Photograph © Valerie Pezeron

Ron Arad says of him: “ …Tom can actually solve most mechanical problems and realise them against all odds…all sorts of contraptions like a book page-turning device that is activated by the wasting burning candle, and lots of old leather suitcases stuffed with intricate devices that would make Heath Robinson proud.” The Armchair Balance illustrates this best. Especially commissioned for Minnie Weisz’s space, the seamlessly gravity-defying apparatus at times appears to swivel out of control yet remains astonishingly together. I am told it offered entertaining obstacles for visitors at the show’s opening who were forced to approach the laser lights-like tentacles without touching for fear of total structure collapse! The artist used Minnie Weisz’s books to balance his second-hand chair and the final result beggars belief.

Tom Foulsham Arcmhair Balance Photograph © Valerie Pezeron

Foulsham could be the poster boy for that old cliché of the visionary eccentric scientist left to his own device in an antiquated shop full of strange and exciting mechanisms and other contraptions. Born in 1981, Tom Foulsham studied Architecture at the Bartlett and was an architectural assistant at Arad Associates. He went on to study Design Products MA at the Royal College of Art, graduating this summer 2009, under the tutorledge of Ron Arad. He exhibited his ‘ Balancing Shelves’ at Pecha Kucha ICA in 2007. He showed his ‘Candle Balance’ as part of the V&A group exhibition ‘In Praise of Shadows’ in September 2009.

Breathing House Video © Valerie Pezeron

Tom Foulsham’s work is completely capturing the zeitgeist; the art world, like society, is beginning to go full-circle with technology. “ We’re going back to craft,” Minnie Weisz says. “It’s been the digital age where we press a button and we don’t really know how that happens. We’re going back to skill.” Foulsham masterfully manipulates raw, organic and fine materials in a quick and dynamic manner that arch back to older days; built in two weeks for this exhibition, the Man Making machine is reminiscent of the industrial revolution era in its use of soft and fragrant paraffin. The artist enjoys devising spidery contraptions with simple technologies where nothing is hidden. “It’s a fine balancing act,” I am told. “The sculptures are fragile and delicate yet still strong enough for the public to interact with.”

Candle Balance © Tom Foulsham on Vimeo.

“I was always taking things apart and then putting them back together again, making things”, Tom tells me about his boyhood. It all sounds so much better than today’s chair bound assisted computer fun. He must have had a wonderful childhood. Tom agrees, “I was making my own toys, playing around with cardboard boxes and toying with little models and knots and bolts. Once I had worked out how something worked, I knew I could make it 20 times bigger”.

Wiggle Sketch © Paul Benny

Foulsham is a man with great ambitions. The machines/sculptures are also conceived as small-scaled versions of what is to later become life-size or even more colossal. Some of it would work well in front of an industrial museum like the Pompidou centre, I tell him like the Breathing House that is not meant to remain miniature for long. Surprisingly, Foulsham claims Quentin Blake and his “scrappy” style as an influence as well as other balancing sculptures. “My references come from all over the place.” What’s more striking is the sense of play in it all; sculpture as toy from the burnt ephemera of the Man Making Machine to the Wiggle Table. “Tom has quite surreal ideas but packages them to create something that is tangible and that people can have different experiences of. It does not dictate one view of looking and understanding. Yes, it’s scientific. We’ve had many children here who think it’s magic!”

Wiggle Table Video © Valerie Pezeron

The Wiggle Machine is a crowd pleaser and the blockbuster of this exhibition. “Like the Frankenstein of itself”, Foulsham says. He created a new typeface and a new take on the classic machine blue for this multifaceted jiggling box that grabs the current news and blurts out very serious content in a twist. “The Prime Minister says the …” and the vibrations don’t make me take the news seriously at all…The enigma machine, Second World War cockpits and 1960’s computers all spring into mind. “We’ve had séances here” Minnie Weisz says.

This exhibition is worth the visit and it’s not everywhere that the artist himself introduces you to his artwork. That is why it’s by appointment only throughout 2010. It is best to call in advance for January, I am told. The gallery is currently in festive mode and has asked the surface designer Pippa Johnson to wrap the gallery arch with a specially commissioned illustration over the windows throughout the holiday period.

Minnie Weisz Studio, Under the Arches, 123 Pancras Road, London NW1 1UN. Tube: King’s Cross.

Written by Valerie Pezeron on Monday December 21st, 2009 8:06 pm

Categories ,Arad Associates, ,architecture, ,art, ,contemporary art, ,exhibition, ,Exhibition Review, ,Gallery, ,mechanisms, ,Minnie weisz, ,pippa johnson, ,Ron Arad, ,Royal academy of arts, ,science, ,scultpture, ,Tom Foulsham, ,workshops

Amelia’s Magazine | Urs Fischer: Molding Objects to Imperfection

All Photographs courtesy of New Museum, viagra buy except where otherwise stated

It is now time for the absurd to take center stage. Swiss-born “imperfectionist” Urs Ficher makes the gallery goer rethink his or her own reality and I am grateful to the New Museum for introducing me to this brilliant artist. Ficher is an artist renown for his non-traditional creations. Thinking the world as a populated center of objects that interact and create an artificial reality, his aim is to call the viewer’s attention to his singular inner realm; his interpretations of what this life is are conveyed through different types of installations. New productions and iconic works are aplenty and together compose a series of gigantic still life and walk-in tableaux choreographed entirely by the artist. I find myself exploring neither a traditional survey nor a retrospective but the culmination of four years of work. These new productions reveal the true scope of Fischer’s universe and I am enthralled by what I am discovering.

Above photograph courtesy of Vanesa Krongold

Fischer has taken over all the three floors of the museum. Illusion and reality are intertwined in the artist ‘s show thanks to a game of trading places and multiple reflections. Chrome boxes are arranged in a grid of monoliths that create a cityscape of mirrored cubes onto which the artist has silk screened a dizzying array of images. I think it’s perfect; It’s just how I’ve been feeling when walking about New York city – drunk from trying to take it all in! It is very interesting how the artist plays with bi dimensions; I am strangely attracted by some disregarded toys. Its all about combining the reality through dimensions, perspectives, and collage. The viewer is thrust into an uneasy place, trying to understand how to walk in this new world. The hyper real state of the objects are meant to represent your and my reality…

2009 Plaster, paint, bread 10 x 21 x 15 cm.

Urs Fischer presents an installation that turns the Museum’s architecture into an image of itself—a site-specific trompe l’oeil environment. In a maddening reproduction exercise, each square inch of the Museum architecture has been photographed and reprinted as a wallpaper that covers these very same walls and ceiling it is meant to portray. A piano occupies the room, appearing to melt under the pressure of some invisible force. Simultaneously solid and soft like a Salvador Dalí painting in three dimensions, this sculpture seems to succumb to a dramatic process of metamorphosis.

Marguerite de Ponty.

On the fourth floor, Fischer presents five new aluminum sculptures cast from small clays and hand-molded by the artist. Hanging from the ceiling or balancing awkwardly in space, these massive abstractions resemble strange cocoons or a gathering of enigmatic monuments. Fischer is an engineer of imaginary worlds who has in the past created sculptures in a rich variety of materials, including unstable substances such as melting wax and rotting vegetables. In a continuous search for new plastic solutions, Fischer has built houses out of bread and given life to animated puppets; he has dissected objects or blown them out of proportion in order to reinvent our relationship to them.

In 2007, in a now-legendary exhibition, he excavated the floor of his New York gallery, digging a crater within the exhibition space. Throughout his work, with ambitious gestures and irreverent panache, Fischer explores the secret mechanisms of perception, combining a Pop immediacy with a Neo-Baroque sense for the absurd. And I am glad a taste of it!

The exhibition Urs Fischer: Marguerite de Ponty is ending on February the 7th, 2010. The New Museum is a modern building located in 235 Bowery Street, New-York.

Written by Vanesa krongold on Wednesday February 3rd, 2010 1:21 pm

Categories ,Absurd, ,Aluminium, ,art, ,Art space, ,baroque, ,Clay, ,contemporary art, ,Exhibition Review, ,Hand molded, ,installation, ,Material, ,New Museum, ,new york, ,organic, ,review, ,Salvator Dali, ,sculpture, ,Still Life, ,surrealism, ,toy, ,Urs Fischer

Amelia’s Magazine | Valentine’s Day- Pas Pour Moi?

Illustration courtesy of Mari Mitsumi

Valentine’s Day is soon to creep upon us and discharge its usual bile inducing or saccharine coated brand of bland commercial overload. What is a uniquely dedicated love-fest can make or break couples… How revealing the choice of a particular date night or specific card can be! Who said Lovers’ Day had to be like everyone else’s? The following suggestions of places to take her or presents to give him are for those who enjoy a good dose of self-parody or do care to treat their special loved one to a rare gift as cute as those lovely dimples!

Photograph courtesy of Shauna Richardson.

Spine-chillingly Cuddly Valentine:

In Shauna Richardson’s Crochetdermy, doctor the Endangered craft of crochet fashions life sized endangered species. Knitting has never looked so eerily attractive! For more information, no rx contact the artist here.

Photograph courtesy of Handmadebymachine

Unleash the Geek in You!:

He or she is a type lover? The Just My Type gift set is a series of postcards that will delight the typography nut in your life. Get them at Handmade By Machine

Illustration courtesy of Mari Mitsumi

Lovelorn Ones Need not Be Alone!

Resist the Vitamin Love deficiency blues with Abe’s Penny: the one and only postcard magazine. Why pay for martinis at the bar to drown your sorry ass when you can shake or stir at home for (at least $2) less? And send them postcards to all those trusted friends who stuck by you through thick and thin? Subscribe here.

Vancouver Island Marmot print courtesy of Molly Schaffer and Jenny Kendler

And a Big Hug for the Furry Ones:

Warm the heart of your animal lover companion! Molly Schaffer and Jenny Kendler’s latest illustration project plans to raise awareness and funds for critically endangered species. 100% of the proceeds of The Endangered Species Print Project (ESPP)’s limited-edition art prints support the species they depict. Prints are limited to the species’ remaining population count. For example only 37 Seychelles Sheath-tailed bats remain in the wild, recipe so for this edition only 37 prints will ever be made. These two artists desire to operate outside this white-wall system and use their artistic talents to directly support conservation efforts and biodiversity on Planet Earth. They aimed to craft a project that would use drawing (the thing they were best at and most enjoyed doing) to positively impact the natural world (the thing they cared most about and most enjoyed experiencing).

Photograph courtesy of Incredible Things

Bilmey! Your Birthday is the 14^th!

Well, those Lego Blockz birthday candles are unlike any other and fun! Get them at Incredible Things.

Image courtesy of Oriel Myrddin Gallery

Reap and Sew my Heart Stronger:

Twelve makers from a range of craft disciplines have been invited to participate in ‘Reap & Sew’, an exhibition to open on the 27^th of February. All use nature as an inspiration for their creative output. In the mid-time, a selection of beautiful craft and design objects influenced by gardens and growth are available to purchase now at the shop. And don’t forget, you and your Nature Lover are invited to join the folks at Oriel Myrddin Gallery for A Garden Party – plants, cakes, beekeeping and bunting…

Saturday 20^th March 2-4pmOriel Myrddin Gallery, Church Lane, Carmarthen SA31 1LH/ Lôn Llan, Caerfyrddin SA31 1LH

Photograph courtesy of Stylisheve

Love me Tender:

Stylish Eve is an online craft website with wonderful tutorials. Her current selection of Handmade Romantic gift ideas is perfectly suited to those wanting to transform simple and cheap ideas into matchless treats for Valentine! Learn here how to make soap yummy!

Photograph courtesy of Wrong Love

Torture me Tender:

WRONG LOVE is a naughty orgy of performances, site-specific installation, video and live music set within A Foundation, Liverpool galleries. Featuring 40 artists who will seduce a Valentine’s night crowd with explorations of romance, sexuality, and unconventional love. WRONG LOVE is the first happening produced by the new live arts event collective LAND and aims to showcase thought-provoking works from local, national and international artists. The night will include a bespoke hour filled with ‘wrong’ love poetry and short story readings from BRICKFACE press, a team of young, independent writers and self-publishers as well as performances and installations by Samantha Sweeting, Kimbal Bumstead, Shelly Nadashi, Baptiste Croze, Unit 4, Fools Proof Theatre and many more.

For a full listing of the artists involved visit the WRONG LOVE website. Tickets £10/ £6 concession on sale here. ?Saturday 13 February 2010 ?9pm-3am

Photograph courtesy of Mossonline

Flowers are Nasty:

…When they are polluted with insecticides and other repellent things! You should know already because you’ve read the Earth article today! Well, these ones are handmade and good for your heart. Nymphenburg Treasure Box of 7 unique handmade and hand painted flowers by designer Franz Joseph Ess available here

Illustrations courtesy of The School of Life

Learn to love life:

At the The School of Life Love Week End , be guided through love’s joys and pitfalls. You will explore some essential questions: How can lovers have better conversations? How important is sex? How can love be made to last? What can science usefully tell us about love? You’ll draw on ideas from philosophy, psychoanalysis, literature and art and discover what Plato, Shakespeare, Freud and others had to say about compassion, empathy and self. How institutions of love, such as courtship and marriage, have changed over the centuries and where that legacy leaves us now?

For further details and to book your place on the Love Weekend please click here.

Price: £125.00

Illustration courtesy of Rob Ryan

I think you are Lovely:

Loveliness has never been so artily crafted! Get Rob Ryan’ s hand printed silk screens and say it with a “Leaf Kiss”.

Written by Valerie Pezeron on Tuesday February 9th, 2010 4:58 pm

Categories ,A Foundation, ,Abe’s Penny, ,art, ,Biodiversity, ,conservation, ,craft, ,design, ,ecology, ,events, ,Franz Joseph Ess, ,Hand Painted, ,handmade, ,illustration, ,knitting, ,Lego Blockz birthday candles, ,Liverpool galleries, ,magazine, ,Mari Mitsumi, ,Molly Schaffer and Jenny Kendler, ,Oriel Myrddin Gallery, ,Postcard Art, ,print, ,rob ryan, ,screen-printing, ,Stylisheve, ,Taxidermy, ,The Endangered Species Print Project, ,The School of Life, ,tutorials, ,Valentine’s Day, ,Wrong Love

Amelia’s Magazine | Valentine’s Day- Pas Pour Moi?

Illustration courtesy of Mari Mitsumi

Photograph courtesy of Shauna Richardson.

Spine-chillingly Cuddly Valentine:

In Shauna Richardson’s Crochetdermy, the Endangered craft of crochet fashions life sized endangered species. Knitting has never looked so eerily attractive! For more information, contact the artist here.

Photograph courtesy of Handmadebymachine

Unleash the Geek in You!:

He or she is a type lover? The Just My Type gift set is a series of postcards that will delight the typography nut in your life. Get them at Handmade By Machine

Illustration courtesy of Mari Mitsumi

Lovelorn Ones Need not Be Alone!

Vancouver Island Marmot print courtesy of Molly Schaffer and Jenny Kendler

And a Big Hug for the Furry Ones:

Warm the heart of your animal lover companion! Molly Schaffer and Jenny Kendler’s latest illustration project plans to raise awareness and funds for critically endangered species. 100% of the proceeds of The Endangered Species Print Project (ESPP)’s limited-edition art prints support the species they depict. Prints are limited to the species’ remaining population count. For example only 37 Seychelles Sheath-tailed bats remain in the wild, so for this edition only 37 prints will ever be made. These two artists desire to operate outside this white-wall system and use their artistic talents to directly support conservation efforts and biodiversity on Planet Earth. They aimed to craft a project that would use drawing (the thing they were best at and most enjoyed doing) to positively impact the natural world (the thing they cared most about and most enjoyed experiencing).

Photograph courtesy of Incredible Things

Bilmey! Your Birthday is the 14^th!

Well, those Lego Blockz birthday candles are unlike any other and fun! Get them at Incredible Things.

Image courtesy of Oriel Myrddin Gallery

Reap and Sew my Heart Stronger:

Saturday 20^th March 2-4pmOriel Myrddin Gallery, Church Lane, Carmarthen SA31 1LH/ Lôn Llan, Caerfyrddin SA31 1LH

Photograph courtesy of Stylisheve

Love me Tender:

Photograph courtesy of Wrong Love

Torture me Tender:

For a full listing of the artists involved visit the WRONG LOVE website. Tickets £10/ £6 concession on sale here.  Saturday 13 February 2010  9pm-3am

Photograph courtesy of Mossonline

Flowers are Nasty:

Illustrations courtesy of The School of Life

Learn to love life:

For further details and to book your place on the Love Weekend please click here.

Price: £125.00

Illustration courtesy of Rob Ryan

I think you are Lovely:

Loveliness has never been so artily crafted! Get Rob Ryan’ s hand printed silk screens and say it with a “Leaf Kiss”.

Written by Valerie Pezeron on Tuesday February 9th, 2010 4:58 pm

Amelia’s Magazine | Rosalind Nashashibi Eyeballing

Amelia’s Magazine likes folk music, visit this site drugs and Jonquil are deliciously, timeless folk music. Yet they are also indescribable and I like not to be able to pin point a band’s genre. It could be said, they are folk music because of the tradition of group harmonies, the rich depth of sound created through the carefully crafted relationship between instrument and voice. Furthermore, the entire band appears to be multi-instrumental

This autumn witnesses Oxford-based, Jonquil begin another of their massive European tours of whimsical venues beginning last night in the Macbeth pub, London. They return to Camden’s Proud Gallery on October 24th, miss your second chance to see this band at your peril because as any supporter will tell you there is nothing more enjoyable, inclusive or liable to start a smile on your face than a Jonquil performance.

Jonquil are six; Kit Monteith plays the drums providing the ever-rhythmic backbone to their songs, Jody Prewitt is on guitar, Hugo Manuel provides the voice for the majority of the songs with the rest of the band contributing to choruses and introductions, Ben Rimmer, Robin McDiarmid, Sam Scott and Hugo Manuel juggle instruments throughout the gig. Swapping from guitar to keyboard to double bass to flute and the accordion with only the occasional hiccup, which by the time this usually happens, the crowd are so enamored with the music that a misplaced flute is the least of anyone troubles.

This autumn sees the showcase of new songs composed for the eagerly awaited second album (Lions was released in 2007 and Whistle Low an EP in 2006). The new songs see an increased presence of the entire band’s individual voices, whilst Hugo’s remain centre stage. The added depth of sound provided by the variety of voice increases its instrumental presence rather than functioning as ornamentation. The voices of Jonquil complete their harmonious sound, it is this attribute which makes a Jonquil gig so special, as a viewer you feel enveloped in their creativity and part of their imaginary world conjured by the lyrics of each song.

Moreover, rather fantastically Jonquil started a blog where you can find Kit musing on their recording and practice sessions as well as the lead up to their current tour. It is refreshing to be let into the everyday life of a band and how they essentially function in order to produce songs. The blog is really lovely to read and I look forward to it being updated throughout their up and coming tour.

You can find Jonquil on their myspace www.myspace.com/jonquiluk, which they have recently updated with new songs whilst retaining a known crowd favourite: Lions.

The new exhibition by Rosalind Nashashibi, tadalafil a Scottish artist who was the recipient of the 2003 Becks Futures prize, deals with both the performative element of humanity and what is revealed when it doesn’t know it’s being watched. Both public and exclusive places are pictured, from a busy street corner to a private bedroom. All the works are about the connections or otherwise between things, whether it is the apparently arbitrary arrangement of a building’s features or the disconnect between the drab appearance of out-of-costume opera singers and the sound of their voices.

As I walked into the exhibition at the ICA galleries I heard a tinkle of piano and the sound of a woman singing opera, sudden and sublime. As I wondered where it was coming from it emerged that the first room shows photos of opera singers rehearsing on a stripped stage, all the artifice of their craft taken away. Nashashibi is known for a documentary-style examination of human beings observed unaware, for example in her short film “The States of Things”, which showed people sifting through clothes at a jumble sale. The beauty and warmth of the recorded singing, the final product as it were, was in stark contrast to the rather bleak and seemingly uncomposed photographs of the singers in rehearsal, whom we saw from every angle in a huge number of photos in the series.

RN62-1-Eyeballing%20-%20production%20still.jpg

Also on display was Nashashibi’s film “Eyeballing”, a series of shots trained on various buildings, every day objects and street furniture that contained the components of a human face. The faces were generally cheerful and the deadpan nature of the still camera and the occasional incursion of everyday human activity on the unconcerned, smiling faces made it funny, in the way that a running joke builds up over time. For some reason I found the little face Nashashibi documented on the back of her electric toothbrush especially funny and endearing. These parts of “Eyeballing” made me wonder if we were being asked to question our anthropomorphication of objects to make it easier to live in urban environments, or whether architects and designers include these details, consciously or otherwise, for the same reasons.

Cut in between the faces are scenes filmed at a New York police station, with a huge blue crest emblazoned on its doors, giving the slightly fantastical feel of a portal to an unknown space. Unlike the water fountains, wood knots and windows of the other scenes, these facings are unsmiling and it is here that the “eyeballing” suddenly seems a little darker and more threatening. The narrative tension is ramped during these scenes because occasionally one of the police officers, who we aren’t sure are aware they are being filmed, will look directly into the camera, just for a split second – it’s strangely thrilling. In fact, Nashashibi was filming illegally under a pretext.

A series of still photographs echo the themes of the film: upside-down church vaults lead your eye to look for more faces. According to the literature, an influence of Nashashibi’s while making some of the work in this show is Proust, particularly although indirectly on “The Prisoner”, a film of a woman’s high-heeled feet walking and pausing, allowing the viewer to suspect that she knows she is being watched – a little like the NYPD. The film is a loose reconstruction from a film

The exhibition will run September 10 – November 1.

Written by Satu Fox on Thursday September 10th, 2009 6:29 pm

Categories ,art, ,film, ,ICA, ,Rosalind Nashashibi

Amelia’s Magazine | Shelter Up My Street Art Auction: Our House, an Amelia’s Magazine Collaboration

Our House up my street shelter Amelia's Magazine final
Our House, a collaborative artwork by Amelia’s Magazine created in aid of the Up My Street campaign by Shelter.

A few years ago I held an open brief to put together a piece of art on the theme of a House of Cards, which was sold at auction in aid of Shelter in the company of such luminaries as Damien Hirst, Alexander McQueen (RIP) and Vivienne Westwood. The Shelter Card Quilt included interpretations of the Two of Hearts by 54 illustrators and artists, including some who became regular contributors to Amelia’s Magazine and went on to feature in my books. The final artwork sold for £2,200 to a mystery bidder, so we were thrilled to raise so much money for a good cause.

emma block up my street shelter Amelia's Magazine
Close up of room by Emma Block.

This month Shelter once again hosts an exhibition of artwork themed around the concept of Up My Street, currently showing at the Coningsby Gallery. With my baby due mere weeks away I decided that instead of an open brief I would commission some of the wonderful illustrators who I have worked with regularly over the past few years, and who have featured in my books, Amelia’s Anthology of Illustration and Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration.

Thereza Rowe up my street shelter Amelia's Magazine
Close up of room by Thereza Rowe.

It’s fitting that I first worked with two of those illustrators, Lesley Barnes and Thereza Rowe, when they entered the House of Cards open brief back in 2009, and it’s fantastic to see how much their confidence and careers have developed since then.

Lesley Barnes roof up my street shelter Amelia's Magazine
Lesley Barnes attic up my street shelter Amelia's Magazine
Lesley Barnes front door up my street shelter Amelia's Magazine
Close up of roof, attic and front door by Lesley Barnes.

To represent the idea of an emotional connection to a secure home environment I settled on the idea of creating a house full of rooms, each of which features the individual illustrator’s interpretation of happiness and security. I wanted to include a broad spectrum of ways in which people are happy today, whether singly or together, and at whatever age that might be: so there’s the family with grandparents by Emma Block, a single mother with her baby by Yelena Bryksenkova, a children’s party by Natsuki Otani, and an older lady enjoying a luxuriant bathtime by Antonia Parker, to name a few of the scenarios. I worked closely with Lesley Barnes to create the body of the house, including the attic, roof and doorway, and then each of the other illustrators worked on their own room. I hope the final artwork, Our House, embodies feelings of comfort, security and happiness in the home.

Natsuki_Otani up my street shelter Amelia's Magazine
Close up of room by Natsuki Otani.

There will be a silent auction held tonight at the private view at the Coningsby Gallery, so I popped in earlier today to check out the other artworks.

Shelter Up My Street Our House exhibition
Bidders will be spoilt for choice for once again we are in very good company: there is original art to bid for by top artists such as Julian Opie, Grayson Perry, Anthony Gormley, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Giles Deacon, Bob and Roberta Smith and Miles Aldridge. We are delighted that our image has been used on the Shelter website and took pride of place in the Metro newspaper!

yelena bryksenkova_up my street shelter Amelia's Magazine
Close up of room by Yelena Bryksenkova.

I am extremely grateful to the illustrators who got so enthusiastically involved with this project, and to Richard Penny at Ripe Digital for so kindly printing the final high quality A1 giclee print. I hope that Our House resonates with someone, and that once again it will sell for a princely sum – all the proceeds of which will go to support the important work of Shelter.

Antonia Parker up my street shelter Amelia's Magazine
Close up of room by Antonia Parker.

The contributing illustrators have been blogging about Our House too. Here’s some links to their websites:
Emma Block introduces the grandparents who inspired her piece.
Lesley Barnes describes how she put her architectural skills to work.
Thereza Rowe shows off her room, with one man and his dogs.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Thursday March 8th, 2012 4:54 pm

Categories ,ACOFI, ,Amelia’s Anthology of Illustration, ,Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration, ,Amelia’s Magazine, ,Anthony Gormley, ,Antonia Parker, ,art, ,auction, ,Bob and Roberta Smith, ,charity, ,Coningsby Gallery, ,Emma Block, ,exhibition, ,Giles Deacon, ,Grayson Perry, ,House of Cards, ,Jake and Dinos Chapman, ,Julian Opie, ,Lesley Barnes, ,Metro, ,Miles Aldridge, ,Natsuki Otani, ,Our House, ,Richard Penny, ,Ripe Digital, ,shelter, ,Thereza Rowe, ,Up My Street, ,Yelena Bryksenkova

Amelia’s Magazine | Nick Roberts’ work of a different stripe

Do you set design rules?

Not necessarily, I like to work within parameters or in a certain way. Design provides these. If considering the idea of the viewer as a client, the tactics of design can be used to produce a certain response from the product. Some principles of design allow you to produce a clear objective from any given piece.

nickrobertsinterior2

What is the relation of your project to Mathematics?

I do not see it as being very precise, Maths works because it is a complete language for itself, it is pure, but it is not relating itself directly to the world – perhaps we could expand on maths in relation to the world as mysticism often seems to involve numbers. The exhibition at Samuel Smalls is the product of a few tricks with perspective, the design element is a system-based process.
Personally, I do not really like the assumptive nature of science, as science all too often doesn’t even realise it’s own failure or that it is completely ridiculous. If you try and define everything you lose everything.
Life is made up of missing links and misunderstandings. For this reason I am drawn to elements of mysticism. Whilst not interesting in the context of the exhibition at Samuel Smalls, it is something I consider for instance it is interesting in the work of Yves Klein or Wyndem Lewis of the British Futurists idea of Vouixism.

How did the exhibition at Samuel Small’s develop – does research play an active role in the creation of your artwork?

Samuel Smalls provided a blank space, after considering previous work show at (at John’s Space and Graduation Byam Shaw) and new ideas of creating sculptures covered in the Dazzle patterns. I began to research the process of working out how the patterns would fit onto the objects and I subsequently spent a month online downloading all the information I could find on the application of the Dazzle pattern: Warships, Modernist Architecture, Le Corb’s face to Bad Modern Architecture and the interiors and exteriors of buildings. The Internet is a great source of random links and serendipity, whilst researching Le Corb you might stumble across a sailing ship and decide that that object is required in the exhibition space.

What is your relationship with computers?

Illustrator has provided the opportunity to work through multiple images, you can revise some, print, copy and paste one image unto another document, delete, layer up and layer down. There is a sense of infinite play with computers; it has become almost a way of thinking. The ability to undo or as I said layer up or layer down.
Discuss Edward Wadsworth
I have known about him for a while from DOT DOT DOT magazine, created by Stuart Bailey. He functions as part of my interest in the history of modernism and the Avant Garde, a period I attribute to being 1909 to 1939 (why?).

How does the work relate to ideas of Advertising?

Ideas of scale, art on the scale of advertising, art accessing the emotional layers of advertising, it is not out of place you can get it’s point in a single glance. It is justified solely in terms of its function. The function of the work is to elicit a response, even if the response is ambiguous. But you want to know what the outcome will be eventually, at the same time being able to tap into something that was not known to be there.
Advertising interests because it relies on the function of myth and the ability to manipulate the subliminal.
The Dazzle paintings are not about camouflage, paintings on boats accessed a particular idea about abstract painting at that time. Abstract art on a scale grander than historical pictorial art, it was a collision of brightness and function. They were a mechanisation of art, characteristic of this period, they were painted on the docks, overseen by a foreman and completed by trade painters.

What is the relation to sculpture in the new exhibition?

It started off cluttered and became simplified. Principles of space are important, as is how the viewer interacts within that space. I consider my work to be sculpture because of the position the viewer inhabits. The viewer is in their own space, but the work gives them an awareness of that space. Where as Painting occupies an ideas space, (you stand in front and project yourself into the frame) with sculpture you enter your own physical space, you become reaware of your position in space.
The prints in the exhibition are static objects that draw attention to the difference in perception required when viewing sculpture compared to painting. They act as a jar within the sculpture, as the prints are flat with their own perception field.

What was it like to study at Byam Shaw?
It influenced my work, there was a good work ethic and great people. The focus was entirely on the work rather than socialising or hanging out with gallerists. There were no right texts to read and no set texts, just you and the work and the people.

What is next for Nick Roberts?
Working on a musical piece with the intention of doing an opera about La Corb with Rose Daguel and Zoe Paul. Opera’s tendencies for the overblown format perfect for the setting of a falsified history. The history of La Corbusier or his myth an iconic modernist. The opera will feature his influence on 1950’s British Architecture namely at the AA and Patrick Hodgeson who was misunderstood at the time because of his rejectrion of La Corbusier’s modernist brutalist buildings.

Written by Sally Mumby-Croft on Wednesday November 11th, 2009 4:20 pm

Categories ,art, ,Nick Roberts

Amelia’s Magazine | NOISE festival 08

Hello, treat treat Katie!! featured in our latest issue, prescription as part of the New Brasil section. It’s the vision of Hisato, who Amelia described as ‘a small portly man with the slightly pallid demeanour of someone who lives for the night”. He’s a very well respected DJ, and I think this says a lot about the key idea behind his latest EP, ‘Girls’.

Opener ‘Don’t Panic (That’s The Way It Is)’ is drenched in the atmosphere of New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’ – famously the highest selling 7″ of all time, purely because of it’s popularity with DJs. Vocals come in the form of some super cool sounding girl, who I imagine to look exactly like the type you see standing in front of DJ booths in the hope of grabbing attention. It’s a song that I guess comes from Hisato’s time spent hanging around the super cool, Djing fashion shows and stuff like that. Considering the band is named in honour of Kate Moss herself, this is perhaps something to be expected.

My favourite track is ‘Female Moustache’. It has the feel of a soundtrack from a high octane action movie, building and plateauing, only to return to its peak moments of drama once again. You can imagine some bald guy with stubble diving between trains to it, or something like that anyway.

It finishes with ‘Today’s Tomorrow’s Breath’, something of a respite compared to the rest of the album. The vocals sound almost scary, sung by Hisato himself in what sounds like a cave.

The EP comes across like a party in your ears. It has all the aspects of really fun party music that has put Brazil on the musical map in recent years.

Having interviewed the girls who will be featuring in issue 10 of Amelia’s mag (keep an eye out for them), click I was keen to make a pit stop to their preview of their exhibition, look ‘in bed with the girls’.

The first thing that hits you as you enter the bubblegum pink Beverly Knowles Gallery in Notting hill is the burst of colour within all the photos. Cramming 12 years worth of staged portrait photography, capsule self portraiture and performance pieces in one smallish room gives their work an intensity. A few faves are the performance piece where a naked lady is adorned with various sweet treats such as: swiss rolls, tarts, custard creams. The performance piece reminded me of the oldsy english countryside picnics that now looks like a novel practice. With a priest sat next to her this set to unnerve the viewer.

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Also the smurfette pieces were cute and kitsch.

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Most of their work is playful, set with lavish sets, however I also like some of their black and white shots particularly Dungeness which are actually tiny.

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With so many different sets designs and images, these reflect two varied, bubbly personalities. They reference pop culture, the idea of Englishness, gender roles, nostalgia and desire in a fun yet also subtly dark way. So there really is something for everyone.

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Perhaps you’d like a pair of wizard boots? A caterpillar? some skeleton string? or a monster forest? Inventory of Parlour, ed an Australian designed jewellery label, more about offers treats for the imagination! A range of delectable pieces with intricate and distinctive designs that originate from another realm.

Katia, who studied textile design at RMIT University in Melbourne, was introduced to the wonderful world of jewellery when she spent some time living in London interning with the infamously unique Tatty Devine. The influence is clear – treating jewelry as a piece of art, creating something personal to illustrate the wearer. Katia’s own inspirations draw from the Parlour rooms of the 1800′s and the curious happenings within them. The pieces themselves are made mostly out of collages using text and vintage imagery from periodicals, catalogues and encyclopedias.

“A world of alakazams and abracadabras.. demented delights and a menagerie of oddities..”

Intrigued? Want to see more? Unlock the cabinet of goodies on the their blog and get a new lace for that neck!

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Photo: Dan Spinney

Despite my obsession with These New Puritans (we’ve all read the inspiring reviews from music boffs across the globe so its not necessary for me to rationalise this passion), medical neither time nor cash had granted me with a chance to witness them live, prescription until their set at the Amersham Arms. Perhaps it was dangerous levels of excitement which left me doubtful (or the fact that Derv from Amelia’s team wouldn’t stop chatting in my ear), but I couldn’t help but feel that I was left half empty.

There’s something about the intensity of delivery by lead vocalist Jack Barnett which just didn’t hit me as hard as my 5 year old Woolworth’s headphones. Its not that I’m not accusing them of being poor live performers, ‘Colours’, ‘Infinity ytinifnl’ and ‘Swords of truth’ resembled the album versions to a T, but all that intellectual equation and science stuff just seemed that little bit more magical without the hustle and bustle of a pub. Naturally These New Puritans took the opportunity to drop a few new tracks, which if this occasion is anything to go by, prove to be bordering on bland or atmospheric depending on your perspective or the volume of your glass.

Micachu and The Shape’s set wasn’t as enthralling as it should have been, mainly due to the venues poor sound. Teamed with a crowd that seemed preoccupied with having a chin wag, their music almost seemed to take a back seat. When I’ve seen them before, crowds are usually silenced by their magnificent performances, but I think most people were too preoccupied with drinking at that stage of the night. ‘Golden Phone’ did seem to divert people’s attention, and it’s definately still her standout track. She’s an artist destined for much bigger events this time next year.

Next we headed over to The Tavern to finish our night with sets from Loefah and Benga, and were subjected to some very garage heavy selections, which delighted some, but for me it just wasn’t too exciting. Soon after they had taken to the decks though, the speakers blew. It was announced that the line-up would be moved to the nearby Goldsmith’s Student Union Bar.

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Photo: Louis Hartnoll

We followed the crowds round the corner to where there was already a sizeable queue forming. I hate situations like this, when a mass of people is trying to get into a venue and the venue’s security sees it as an excuse to exercise their power by just being weird and annoying. Eventually they decided everybody had waited long enough an allowed us in. The choice of venue was strange, and didn’t really suit the music. Nevertheless, everyone was there to have a good time, and it’s difficult not to enjoy yourself in that type of environment.
So this morning I received an email shouting about NOISE, erectile an online arts showcase funded by the Arts Council & NWDA. The idea is to showcase art, ask music and fashion all conjured up by creative beings under 25. The curators include acclaimed industry professionals such as Badly Drawn Boy for music and Norman Rosenthal for fine arts. This month NOISE festival will cherry pick the crème de la crème for your viewing pleasure. Here’s a few things I spotted:

The talented miss amy brown, prescription who designed the cover of amelia’s mag issue 8 has her portfolio on here. She says that an average day consists of replying to e-mails, tea drinking, drawing, and wiping paint off my kitten Millie-Rad. She also comments that she has always loved drawing and just hope that people get as much enjoyment from looking at [her] work as [she]does making it! Have a peek at her work.

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patrick gildersleeves, aka wowow is inspired by the people of the world, patterns, paper, animals and plants. He likes to work with a pencil, felt tips and paint. His biggest influences are Inuit art, Ancient South American culture and drawings from the Far East.

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heres a cool image of promo shots for the electric circus band by ‘paul’
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6 by rae:
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clockface by chimere:
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brunch from brunch series by shauba:
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So if you want to inject a little brightness to your day or are seeking some inspiration go and check it out.

Written by Tanya Geddes on Wednesday October 8th, 2008 12:39 pm

Categories ,Amy Brown, ,Art, ,Festival, ,NOISE, ,Patrick Gildersleeves, ,Wowow

Amelia’s Magazine | Out of Sorts

Monday 19th January

Greg Dulli/Mark Lanegan, viagra sale information pills Union Chapel, cialis 40mg London

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For fans of the drug-n-whisky soaked darker side of life this intimate venue should be the perfect place to catch the full intensity of this bad boy duo’s melancholic rumblings.

Still Flyin’, patient Stricken City, We Have Band, Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen, London

15-piece Californian band/orchestra/whatever headline with their sunny but diverse indie pop. Plus cool electro pop from We Have Band.

Tuesday 20th January

Kasms, White Heat, London

Noisy and shambolic guitar sounds from these metal-tinged black-haired Londoners.

Wednesday 21st January

Wire, Cargo, London

Sometimes gigs from old favourites can be a risky business, often liable to disappoint when your heroes have become sad old has-beens. With any luck these late 70s punk stalwarts were too cool to age badly and this should be a great gig.

Little Joy, Dingwalls, London

Strokes drummer Fab Moretti becomes a front man on this side project. Expect New Yorkey, indie-pop in a similar vein to, um, The Strokes via Brazil.

Thursday 22nd January

La Roux, Cockpit, Leeds

She’s in Issue 10 so she must be pretty good but don’t just take our (and every other music journalist in England’s) word for it. Check out her fun dance pop live.

Friday 23rd January

Sky Larkin, Barfly, Cardiff

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Cute but clever indie rock from Leeds with a definite off-beat edge.

David Grubbs, The Croft, Bristol

Once the founder of 80s punk metallers Squirrel Bait, David Grubbs now plays grungy post-rock as a solo concern.

Saturday 24th January

James Yuill, The Macbeth, London

Think Jose Gonzalez without the advert but with plenty of electronic sounds to accompany the quiet and introspective acoustic numbers.

Of Montreal, Digital, Brighton

Much loved indie pop, spreading a little happiness whilst supporting Franz Ferdinand on their latest tour.

Sunday 25th January

Le Corps Mince de Francoise, Library, Lancaster

Daft Finnish pop in the same vein as CSS, Chicks on Speed and others of that ilk. Crazy make up and fun party girls = a great end to the weekend.

Rows of fish heads preserved in salt – even in the quirky world of Tatty Devine, viagra 60mg that’s an unexpected sight. They peer out from a long black board mounted on the gallery wall like hunting trophies. Next to them, buy cast copies of ripe oranges burrow into blocks of dark red velvet, rx as if victims of a bloody fruit massacre.

This is the first solo show of sculptor Amaia Allende, which opened on Thursday at the Tatty Devine boutique and gallery space in Brick Lane, east London. Allende claims to tackle the “subject of belonging” by assembling similar everyday items into tidy rows. It looks suspiciously like she has emptied her kitchen bin around the shop.

By the front door, some sort of green pear-like fruits line up on a narrow shelf. Poking out of the top are long strands of polyester blond hair, which make them look like a family of Mrs Pear Heads. So they belong together, you see, while at the same time having individual personalities (because of the hair).

Tatty Devine is famous for its unique jewellery and edgy art exhibitions, including “Jane Amongst the Birds”, a competition for the best foreign bird or budgie (complete with Tatty Devine trophy) held in September last year. So when it comes to belonging, it seems that Allende and her sombre line-up of fish heads and old fruit, have found an appropriate home.

Written by Kirsty McGregor on Tuesday January 20th, 2009 11:06 am

Categories ,Art, ,East London, ,Sculpture, ,Tatty Devine

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