Tate bigwig looks to the BBC
Congrats to Will Gompertz, the ubiquitous Director of Tate Media, who has just been appointed to the newly-created Arts Editor role at the BBC. The Art Newspaper understands that Gompertz beat off strong competition within the BBC to land the plum post which will embrace a wide range of projects. These include working with the Public Catalogue Foundation to help improve access to the UK's 200,000 publicly owned oil paintings. Broadcasting could also be part of the arts supremo's remit but this new TV presenting stint should be no problem for Gompertz who often treads the boards as a stand-up comedian (he recently appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe in his one man show, Double Art History) - so talking to the nation should be a piece of cake compared to a few drunken hecklers.
From In The Frame
Published online: 31 August 2009
This month:
Pooch in a puddle
An email from Tunty Chauhan, director of Threshold Gallery in Delhi, just pinged excitedly into The Art Newspaper's box. "This large sculpture was exhibited by Threshold in the outdoor sculpture park during the India Art Summit [fair held in New Delhi mid August]. It speaks of the state of the art market in India beautifully! We have withstood the storm...on a day when over a hundred trees were uprooted in Delhi!" she said. Dog Democracy (2009) by Ved Gupta weathered the hurricane—can the art market of the subcontinent also ride out the current economic storm?
From In The Frame
Published online: 29 August 2009
Eyes down
The prize for the quirkiest canvas material of the month goes to British artist John Walker whose Seal Point series is painted on a series of bingo cards. Walker (who, by the way, represented Britain at the 1972 Venice Biennale) discovered the bingo boards in 2005 at his new studio in Walpole, Maine. “I think they date from the 1950s when the building was used as a community centre,” said the artist. The card numbers apparently resemble forms found in nature, complementing Walker's depiction of the Maine coastline. So will 'two little ducks' (think of the no. 22) be visible? Or 'snakes alive' (55)? To find out, head to Offer Waterman & Co in London in October where 50 of the small-scale paintings (7x5 inches) go on show in "Incoming Tide, Small Paintings from Seal Point, Maine" (16 October-7 November).
From In The Frame
Published online: 28 August 2009
It's (not) like Piccadilly Circus round 'ere
London is set to get a new outdoor art space. Dealer Hauser & Wirth will inaugurate a new programme of outdoor sculpture at Southwood Garden, St James's Church. "Tucked behind the gallery, the garden is a little-known oasis in the heart of Piccadilly," said a gallery spokeswoman. The exhibition programme kicks off with a show of works by the German-born artist Hans Josephsohn (28 September-22 January 2010). "The earliest sculpture dates from 1951, just a few years after the garden was created by Viscount Southwood to commemorate the fortitude of London's population during the war," she added. Just call it art of the garden.
From In The Frame
Published online: 27 August 2009
Attia goes all theatrical
The Art Newspaper has had a soft spot for the Berlin-based artist Kader Attia ever since we saw his Infinities installation at Art Unlimited (Art Basel) in 2006. A sign outside warned visitors to enter at their own risk, only to discover a narrow mirrored room with giant drills burrowing down from ceiling to floor. The artist also set tongues wagging earlier this year with his Ghost piece, on view at the Saatchi Gallery in west London, which consisted of row after row of aluminium foil sculptures depicting Muslim women in prayer. The Algerian artist now turns his hand to stage design, adopting the role of Production Designer for the esteemed Rambert Dance Company's "Comedy of Change" tour (opening 16 September at Theatre Royal, Plymouth, and touring to Sadler's Wells, London, 3-7 November). The theatrical extravaganza celebrates the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin...TAN awaits Attia's take on natural selection with much anticipation.
From In The Frame
Published online: 26 August 2009
Michelangelo, Leonardo...Cappuccino
Food art always makes us go frothy so news of a series of celebrity "latte etchings", set to go on show at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, West Sussex (until 28 August), had us salivating. Coffee machine manufacturer De'Longhi asked more than 2,000 Brits who they'd most like to chat with over a cup of coffee. US President Barack Obama topped the poll (39%) with London mayor Boris Johnson a surprising second choice (22%). Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole was the most popular lady (17%). Obama was also no.1 in a separate survey which quizzed participants on who they like gossiping about over a caffeine fix (rather than with). "To illustrate the study findings, De'Longhi has commissioned world renowned coffee artist Søren Stiller Markussen to create latte etchings of those people we most talk about over a cup of coffee," says a company spokesman. As we said, all very frothy.
From In The Frame
Published online: 25 August 2009
From a pub to a palace
Every objects tells a story-some more than others. This is certainly the case with an impressive pair of Tudor heraldic beasts set to go on show at Hampton Court Palace in Surrey early next month. Historian Todd Longstaffe-Gowan explains their miraculous reappearance:"I bought these large Taynton stone 'King's Beasts' (c.1520-30?; each measuring 120cm x 43cm x 37cm) from a chap living in a campsite in the south of France. They were acquired by him in around 1985 in suburban Surrey. In fact, he (then a roofing contractor) saved them from being destroyed by an iconoclastic publican who was hell-bent on destroying them. The pub whence they came lies within a short distance from the gates of Hampton Court Palace, in what was formerly Nonsuch Park [Henry VIII's great, demolished palace]." So the striking, sinewy creatures left a Surrey drinking hole to return to the same patch in royal splendour.
From In The Frame
Published online: 24 August 2009
Creative Time shakes some booty
Leave it to the folks at Creative Time to find a perfect way to celebrate the fact that New York is finally seeing some summer weather. As temperatures rise in the city, the public art producer has come out with a new line of limited edition super-short shorts emblazoned with the organisation's name across the bum. And to advertise the fetching fashions, it has created a YouTube video featuring all it's staff wearing the revealing summerwear. The most surprising part? The shorts seem flattering on everyone. Daring art fans can buy their own pair at CT's online store.
From In The Frame
Published online: 21 August 2009
Extra-Large Lounge
If the summer has left you a little body conscious, it might be a good time to head over to Atlanta, Georgia, where an exhibition of overweight classic furniture by Atlanta-based Mark Wentzel is sure to improve your own self-image. On view until 11 September at the Global Health Odyssey Museum—the official museum of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention we were delighted to discover!—Wenztel's sculptures of morbidly obese Eames lounge chairs let you finally see what would happen if the modern design icons indulged in a few too many Twinkies. The artist’s aim of "responding to the … over-consumption of goods and materials of recent years" is sure to keep many visitors on a strict diet. At least until the end of bikini season.
From In The Frame
Published online: 20 August 2009
Whitney Who?
While the New York art world waits to see what curator Francesco Bonami has up his sleeve for next year's Whitney Biennial, a cadre of young artists are staging their own version of the interdisciplinary exhibition in Greenpoint, Brooklyn next weekend. But rather than presenting it as a survey of many artists, the group aims to "personalize" the show by ascribing all the work to one imaginary artist. "Whitney is the proverbial Every Artist, the flesh-and-bone actor laboring under the shadows of giants," reads the effusive press release. "This is her Biennial." And with faded R&B chanteuse Whitney Houston’s comeback album set to be released just days after Whitney’s Biennial opens at c.r.e.a.m. projects (28-30 August), this may turn out to be the Weekend for all Whitneys.
From In The Frame
Published online: 18 August 2009
Baby's first art catalogue
We receive a number of books in our offices, but few have caught our eye as quickly as the new set of children's art books coming out this autumn from Sterling Publishing with such charming titles as "Tickle Tut's Toes" and "Catch Picasso's Rooster". Illustrated with reproductions of famous masterpieces in museum collections that have been made more kid friendly — Dürer's Hare from the Albertina is embellished with a patch of plush fur — the books encourage youngsters to "stroke, pat, lift, and feel your way through art history. Go ahead — touch the art!" Museum guards should be on the look out for any well read toddlers attempting to get their hands on the real thing.
From In The Frame
Published online: 17 August 2009
The lights go out at TAT
We could not resist publishing this image of the Tate Liverpool sign which, unfortunately, suffered a malfunction last weekend, leaving the lovely word TAT emblazoned across the building. The Art Newspaper has nothing more to say about the missing E...
From In The Frame
Published online: 14 August 2009
Abramovic, Bourgeois...Binoche?
Alluring French actress Juliette Binoche has not only been at the centre of such memorable movies as The English Patient and The Lovers on the Bridge — she's been capturing the action off-set too. The Oscar winner has been busy painting during her movie shoots with 58 of her ink washes on paper set to go on show in the US for the first time at the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York (10 September-9 October) as part of the In-I & Jubilations month-long festival. The "In-Eyes" show will include 29 triptychs which each consist of portraits of the characters played by Binoche, images of the corresponding film directors and a poem to each director (sweet). Quelle belle fille.
From In The Frame
Published online: 13 August 2009
DJ Da Pury is in da Berlin house
Is there no limit to the talents of Simon de Pury, the energetic chairman of auction house Phillips de Pury? A press release ludicrously labelled "Purepurygraphy/Purepurypop" pinged into our email box with details of "contemporary art market power player de Pury’s exhibition of his own photographs in Berlin this autumn. The photographs exposed of Simon de Pury’s worldly travels provide an insight into his way of thinking and will be shown at the trendy Corner Berlin (21 October-31 December)." And the pr spiel continues: "Purepurygraphy is synopsis and extension, allurement and coolness, bewilderment and calm – a myriad of paradoxes through which Simon de Pury establishes yet another of his many personifications; that of a passionate and widely-off-the-beaten-track photographer." And that's not all. De Pury is set to DJ at the exhibition opening party on 21 October. Will you also be fluffing up the canapes and working the door Simon?
From In The Frame
Published online: 12 August 2009
Feeling queasy with the Mona Lisa
The world’s media is in a lather over the news that a Russian woman threw a cup of hot English Breakfast tea at the Mona Lisa last week. A Louvre spokesman was keen to reassure us that “the work was not damaged. The museum has filed a complaint [to the authorities]. The cup was thrown at the glass casing of the Mona Lisa.” The da Vinci vandal apparently smuggled the steaming brew into the gallery from one of the museum’s cafes but we’re most intrigued by this Daily Mail snippet: “Doctors were trying to assess whether she was suffering from Stendhal Syndrome, a rare condition that causes dizziness, confusion or violent acts when an individual is exposed to art.” Is that why art connoisseurs sometimes feel unwell when looking at the work of certain YBAs?
From In The Frame
Published online: 11 August 2009
Tracey and the Tories: an update
Tracey Emin lets rip in a recent interview with www.bbc.co.uk/news. The feisty Brit artist first fended off a series of quick-fire questions with a series of no-holds-barred, unabashed responses: "Hirst or Michelangelo? Hirst; Van Gogh or Tracey Emin? "That's a tricky one. I think I'll stick with myself, Tracey Emin." What about her critically panned 2007 Venice Biennale show? Emin says she did an "OK" job considering she had only nine months to prepare for the Italian outing, stressing that her British pavilion exhibition received a "third more publicity" than usual. And the big media-obsessed question - will Trace back the Tories at the next UK general election as she's so tantalisingly hinted? "No, I'm not backing any party whatsoever. I just feel that it's time for change in Britain," she trumps, adding that she'd like a "hung parliament" at the next election.
From In The Frame
Published online: 11 August 2009
Vintage Kenny
The mischievous London-based contemporary art dealer Kenny Schachter is leading a double life - as a vintage car dealer. The jovial American scours the internet for classic cars, overhauls them and then offers the memorable motors for sale. Schachter says: "My most notable success is a 67 Alfa Romeo, and a car with the propitious name: Imp! Though I haven't sold to art worlders just yet, [New York collector] Adam Lindemann looked at a 73 Porsche Lightweight I had and a car dealer is dying to change positions with me and switch roles for a year. I must admit, it's the most tempting offer I've had for ages!" For his latest auto deals, go to www.rovecars.com
From In The Frame
Published online: 10 August 2009
Art goes for the goal
Mel Bochner's Win! (2009) will be on view in Cowboy's Stadium in Texas. Courtesy Marc Selwyn Fine Art
So rarely do the worlds of professional sports and art come together that we were shocked to see that the Dallas Cowboys football team is launching a new art initiative that will bring site-specific installation by major artists such as Olafur Eliasson and Lawrence Weiner to the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Funded by team owners Gene and Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboys Art Program opens with 14 new commissions that will be installed in the stadium in time for the first regular season game against the New York Giants on 20 September. And the owners hope to continue the project with future commissions and have asked local experts to serve on the advisory committee, including Michael Auping, chief curator of the Museum of Modern Art, Fort Worth; Charlie Wylie, curator of contemporary art at the Dallas Museum of Art; and Texas-based collectors Howard Rachofsky and Gayle Stoffel. An obvious choice for the next artist might be Matthew Barney, who moved to art after an injury scuttled his football career.
From In The Frame
Published online: 07 August 2009
Modern day Michelangelo
He's been called the modern day Michelangelo, and with commissions for the Pope's personal chapel and the new Basilica of Notre Dame du Rosaire in Lourdes, Fr Marko Rupnik does indeed bring to mind the days of grand church projects, except with more hard hats than fresco painting. His most recent work, a series of mosaics made for Sacred Heart's University, will be unveiled in September when its new chapel opens. And the arty friar has even been keeping up with ancient iconographic tradition, starting installation of the mosaics on Sunday. “It begins with the face of the Lord because Sunday is the day of the Lord,” said Rupnik, who is also director of Rome’s Centro Aletti workshop of spiritual art. It seems no one told the early Christian artists that on the seventh day He rested.
From In The Frame
Published online: 05 August 2009
Angelina feeds the world
Celebrity shock artist Daniel Edwards, who brought us the Paris Hilton autopsy sculpture and the grossly realistic portrait of Britney Spears giving birth, is at it again. This time in honour of World Breastfeeding Week (1-7 August, it's not too late to celebrate!), Edwards has immortalised the Supreme Mother of all Hollywood moms, Angelina Jolie, with a life-size bronze nude. Inspired by a photo spread in W magazine, "Landmark for Breastfeeding" shows a seated Ms Jolie-Pitt supporting twin babies in the "football-hold", which we understand is "an accepted technique for breastfeeding two babies simultaneously" according to press materials. The sculpture will be installed at the Mainsite Contemporary Art space in Norman, Oklahoma in September and a version may travel to London in October. And to reflect Angelina's mutli-cultural family, "future castings of the statue will represent other world cultures through variations of the babies' patina coloring". Such a universal embrace must make the UN Goodwill Ambassador proud.
From In The Frame
Published online: 04 August 2009
Kanye West has seen it all
Visitors at the small, experimental space PS122, which hosted a tribute show of video, dance and musical performances dedicated to rap artist Kanye West, were probably shocked when the hip hop star showed up at the event himself. But they were likely not as shocked as Kanye, as the night progressed, when performance artist Ann Liv Young came on stage, completely naked, and berated the rapper for his most recent album "808s & Heartbreak". And to add to the bizarre diatribe, while she was complaining that the CD was not his best work, Young rubbed barbecued pork onto her genitals, before eating it. Kanye must be used to such controversial criticism though, or at least daring performance art—the man did work with Vanessa Beecroft on a performance featuring naked models in afro wigs for his last album launch—as fellow viewers including music channel MTV report he didn't bat an eye.
From In The Frame
Published online: 03 August 2009