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The opening of Priority Innfield at the Zabludowicz Collection is getting closer and closer and we are really starting to get a feel for how the show is shaping up. It is looking good!
The walls are being painted and there’s a sea of different greens that will make you feel weak at the knees.
Before the show kicks off I took some time to catch up on London and Berlin ‘happenings.’ Balfron Tower in East London provided a surprising source of energy. The corridors should be full of ghosts now this old tenement building is empty but the opposite is true and you can still really feel the past occupiers of this amazing architecturally brutal structure.
Lucy Harrison tried to capture this feeling by inviting two of the old tenants, Bogdan and his son Jason to tell us their stories and relive certain moments from the past. The work is set in the actual apartment they had lived in and is very endearing.
I had a lovely dinner at Marlborough Contemporary where Sigalit Landau had created quite a thought provoking and complex work. Titled ‘Knafeh’ it shows the art of making this beloved Middle Eastern sweetmeat of the same name. The work pictured is a rather comfortable looking neck cushion crafted from marble.
It was exciting to check out Ed Fornieles’ new show at Chisenhale Gallery, where he has really successfully pulled virtual reality into our physical reality. The installation presents quite a distorted suburbia with seemingly ordinary objects feeling both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. Ed was hanging out on a mattress of weird unseen giggling dolls that reminded me of a scene from a Pixar Science Fiction film.
Viewing the forest of high and low tech, the bubbly Jacuzzi and the pretty avatar
my eyes finally rested on the most attractive work in the room, some potted plants resting around a wire frame to spell out ‘We Are One.’ By this stage I was feeling the unreal was turning into the surreal and perhaps the surreal was turning into the real. It was time to take my leave.
This left enough time for Oscar Murillo and I to take a selfie…yep I do look a bit knackered.
In the lovely September Indian Summer weather we had a wonderful lunch for Julie Mehretu. A fantastic group had gathered in support of Art For Embassies USA. Artist’s Julie, Rachel Champion and Ed Fornieles hanging out in front of the Alex Da Cunha shed.
Sitting comfortably on the grass was Jenni Lomax in conversation with Tomma Abts, David Batchelor and Matthew Darbyshire.
Then it was off to Berlin. The abc, art Berlin contemporary fair was quite amazing and with the glorious weather and buzzy atmosphere it was easy to navigate round and see some great works. A Mark Bijl work at Upstream Gallery.
My favourite work was Donna Huanca’s at the Brand New Gallery, where naked performers painted in blue interacted with the surrounding works on display.
Luciana Rondolini’s work at gallery miau miau, Buenos Aires was quite interesting.
There was also some great performances happening including JPW3 and Brendan Fowler. This man couldn’t help but draw my attention as he played with a string around his eyelash!
This chap was dressed in a gorilla outfit and breaking lovely cut glasses to pieces at PSM. I really wasn’t sure what Anca Munteanu Rimnic’s intentions were with this work.
There was also so much humour around. Des Hughes from Buchman Gallery being a prime example.
Steve Turner Contemporary was showing Yung Jake whose work we have already acquired for the collection in LA. A very interesting artist who is happiest rapping in front of an audience rather than showing his art in a gallery.
Analia Saban has extended her practice to sculpture and really triumphed. It was outstanding. How do you take real marble and visibly mould it to take the appearance of fabric?
Just in case there were any 20ft giants in town, Krištof Kintera had created an overpowering chandelier street lamp at Schleicher/Lange.
My highlight of the day! Tanya Leighton had hosted us for an amazing evening surrounded by wonderful people and we were lucky enough to be in the company of Andrea Longacre-White, Brendan Fowler, Oliver Laric, Dan Rees and Aleksandra Domanovic. The other table was just as fabulous with Tobias Rehberger, Jorge Pardo and Tim Neuger.
The next morning we visited the new Galerie Neu where there was quite a show going on. Marc Camille Chaimowicz, Klara Lidén and Manfred Pernice had created a flock of little birdies climbing all over the works.
We then headed to see Ryan Trecartin and Lizzie Fitch’s ‘Site Visit’ at KW, Berlin. With a derelict but glamourous building as their backdrop it shows their characters on an adventure of destruction and dysfunctional behaviour. Their work is getting more and more layered and the animation has become far more sophisticated.
In contrast, our very own home grown post-internet artist, Kate Cooper had created a thought provoking work upstairs based on the behaviour of the female through the manipulations of the internet.
The last bit of entertainment for the day was Ilit Azoulay’s ‘SHIFTING DEGREES OF CERTAINTY’ where she had photographed site specific works and accompanied them with sound explaining the stories behind each item. She managed to make the mundane fascinating.
I then managed at last to check out the work of Bunny Rogers and came across a very strange and sad look at the Columbine High School massacre
and the surrounding obscure and distorted media.
Then it was home get ready for our Ryan Trecartin and Lizzie Fitch opening on Thursday. Hope you can join us.
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