RCA WIP

 I love going to student art shows to see the energy and humour which is usually be battered out of art once it reaches an established gallery, commercial or otherwise. 

You are guaranteed to find:

- phonebooth prostitute cards

- piles of rubble

- mannequins

Works in Progress at the RCA this weekend was no exception, the sculptural piece below inexplicably combined Beethoven and Meridian Dan (regrettably I can't remember the artist's name). Super great. 

ARWA ABOUON

I'm Sorry / I Forgive You by Libyan artist Arwa Abouon, 2012.

CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHER CHAIR SHARE

Above: One and Three Chairs, Joseph Kosuth, 1965
Below: Cher / Chair / Share, Ole Ukena, 2011

No doubt I'm late to the party but Ole Ukena's update of Kosuth's seminal work is pretty funny. I'm definitely not going to get started on whether it's art or not.

STYLIST / ARTIST /...

I came across the work of Stylist/Artist Gracie Wales Bonner recently. Highly recommended if, like me, you have a soft spot for collage/cords/colour.

MMMM HMMM

The Beauty Contest, 2012 Dick Jewell 

I like them brown, yellow Puerto Rican and Haitian
LOOK at these  ladies working their Contrappostos. More from the artist here.

LUFTBOBLER

A few weeks ago I went the launch of Dinos Chapman's* album Luftbobler. My initial scepticism about the transferable skills between painting swastikas on toy soldiers and making music was rapidly dispelled: the album is good. You can hear more from DC and listen to his music here.















*Dinos (with glasses) is the older of the Chapman Brothers - artistic duo of Goya-defacing, Hitler-exhibiting, YBA fame.

CRACK

Image c/o Style.com

THIS look from Wang's debut collection for Balenciaga. Sophisticated art student/technician/studio assistant. I can't help the dull practicalities that spring to mind - whether the paint would flake off, how it could be washed. Such a dry cleaner's nightmare.

WIEN

Writing my dissertation completely squeezed the joy out of looking at or reading about the work of Egon Schiele. So severe was this feeling, I reached the point where the only pleasure I took from my research was the great colours highlighters make when they overlap.

Happily my Schiele fatigue has gone and I am trying to plan a trip to Vienna to see the Leopold Museum's collection of his works. While I'm (theoretically) there I would also love to see their current exhibition exploring the Male Nude as subject which looks fantastic. 

LEDA AND THE SWAN

Tom Hunter top left in the illustrious company of Leonardo da Vinci right and Michelangelo.

Can you spot pervy Castor and Pollux having a peek?

MARK WALLINGER

Mark Wallinger's 'Construction Site', 2011.

This is a still from a Mark Wallinger film soon to be on show at the Baltic Centre in Gateshead. 'Construction Site' is an hour long recording of three scaffolders creating and dismantling this structure. The temporary structure reminds me of the grids artists have traditionally used to accurately scale images - the similarity is pleasing because Wallinger's largely conceptual work is the antithesis grid-painted works.

SUNGLASSES

There is something to be said for huge sunglasses, whether you're using them to shield hungover eyes and avoid paps or, like me, you have a deceptively large head and wear them out of necessity.

John Currin's wife (above 'Rachel in Fur', 2002) is a great poster girl for oversized shades.

ART X FASHION?

A lot of people bang on about the way fashion and art are inextricably linked etc. For the most part I'm inclined to consider them as two separate entities but I was pleasantly surprised by these dresses. Made by Mother of Pearl in collaboration with artist John Currin, these dresses are the most literal collaboration and are a great success for it. 

I like to think my tshirt is along the same lines.

ARTIST TEGEN WILLIAMS

I would quite love this first one on the wall of my kitchen when I have my own sweet pad. 

Or lots of variations on the second made to look like a clapboard dado. 

By upcoming artist Tegen Williams, check out her blog YOUNG PAINT .

BRISTOL GRAFFITI

The style of these figures is really refreshing, not so sure about the sentiment (no doubt added by some joker).

LOUIS WAIN

Louis Wain is an Edwardian artist best known for his paintings of cats. His paintings, which progress from realistic depictions of cats to anthropomorphic images to abstracted psychadelic representations are often cited as proof of his mental decline as allegedly he was schizophrenic. (Posthumous analysis tends to diagnose him with something closer to Aspergers). This notion of decline is particularly contentious issue as he produced realistic images alongside the horror vacui felines throughout his life, including the last fifteen years of which he spent at Bethlem.

Whatever the truth may be considering the recent popularity of so-called Outsider Art (Museum of Everything), this is surely the time for a reappraisal of Wain's work.