ROLLING PLINTH

Beatriz Milhazes at Gluebenkian Lisbon

Posted on May 16, 2012 by rolling_manager

At the Glubenkian in Lisbon…

Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian was not only the richest man in the world and first ever billionaire in his day, but he also was a man with a vision and a passion for art collecting. When he died in 1955 his will for the magnificent art collection he has amassed during his life time was to serve as the starting point of an international foundation for charitable, artisticm educational and scientific purposes to be located in Lisbon. The ultra modern concrete and glass structure , attached to the architecturally matching headquarters of the foundation was inaugurated back in October 1969 and now is home to a collection of world art with works spanning every period and every culture attached to that is the contemporary art Museum.

Approach from the broad Avenida de Berna in the Lisbon outskirts and you enter into the midst of a 20-acre wooded landscaped garden-park, where secret paths lead you to the modern contemporary art museum. It is hard to say if the gardens are so harmonious and complement the architecture perfectly , or if it is the architecture that complements the gardens!

At present , and nearly over you can see an exhibition by Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes. The four season paintings and collages and her large mobile in the entrance hall are really upbeat impressive in size and act like a breath of fresh air! Here is an interview I found at whitewall magazine with her , if you would like to know more:
http://www.whitewallmag.com/2011/12/01/beatriz-milhazes-for-cartier-aquarium/

Dropping the Urn is Ai Wei Wei at the V&A

Posted on December 29, 2011 by rolling_manager

This Exhibition will be on until the 18th March 2012. So that will leave plenty of time to reach the 6th floor of the V&A and the very last room on that floor , room 146 to be precise , to go and visit this good if rather small show. Today ceramics continue to be iconic to China’s rich cultural heritage. In ‘Dropping the Urn’, Ai Wei Wei questions inherent systems and using historical artefacts from as far back as the Han Dynasty and Neolithic times, he has either ground them to dust or repainted them with modern paints and glazes. Poignantly it can be understood as a metaphor for his relationship with his native China , one where concern and opposition take equal stage. Jingdezhen the town where most of the pottery of old and new are manufactured still today, is also where all the millions of sunflower seeds we saw in the Tate earlier this year were carefully hand made. There is a little pile of those also left in one corner.

If you do make it there, also to be seen on the way through the warren of vitrine’s bursting with porcelain and pottery from all ages and places, there is a contemporary international display of ceramics well worth seeing in room 141.

Posted in Art Exhibition Reviews, Current Exhibitions London | Tagged Ai Wei Wei at the V&A, Dropping the Urn Ai Wei Wei | Leave a comment

Joseph Popper ‘In Pursuit’ Hangzhou China

Posted on January 13, 2012 by rolling_manager

December 16th 2011 was the start of Joseph Popper’s first solo show at the Direct Art Centre in Hangzhou, China. Curator: Liang Qing.

Excerpt from the press release:

‘To be in pursuit of the impossible is the enduring concern for Popper. This exhibition surveys the Continue reading →

Posted in Art and Science, Art Exhibition Reviews, Culture and Travel, Current Exhibitions | Tagged China Exhibition, Hangzhou, Joseph Popper | Leave a comment

Aiko Tezuka – Interview

Posted on February 26, 2012 by rolling_manager

Aiko Tezuka

Everybody has a turning point in his or her own life

Interview with Aiko Tezuka by Christina Eberhart.

I first noticed Aiko’s work in December 2010 at the Royal College show, after which she very kindly invited me to her studio in Dalston where she has been busy preparing work for three forthcoming exhibitions to take place in her homeland Japan.

It is Aiko’s first one year Fellowship in Europe funded by GOTO Foundation finds her that living and working in London has made her see her own country, Japan in a different light.

Aiko London is very different, and I am learning about how people in the East End are living. The society is very diverse and people live in cultural groups, preserving their culture whilst living together in the same city. In Tokyo we can leave our phone on a chair to reserve it while we go to the toilet, not so here! So in that respect London does have it’s down sides on the other hand I have also experienced extreme openness and kindness from people compared to Japan and deep consideration for others unlike anywhere else I have been. So being here it is a valuable experience.

C Aiko’s studio space is amass with colourful fabric and delicate threads arranged in orderly fashion. I notice that her recent work has a pronounced femininity about it. So my first question is Continue reading →

Posted in Artists Profile & Interviews, Uncategorized | Tagged Aiko Tezuka, Artist Interview | Leave a comment

NOWHEREISLAND

Posted on February 27, 2012 by rolling_manager

‘If we were to create a new nation how might we begin’?

This was Alex Hartley’s original question when he first conceived this project, centered around a new found island in the Arctic.

This idea began back in 2004, when, Alex visited the High Arctic with the climate change organization, Cape Farewell. The artist explored the northernmost polar landmass – a landscape shaped by the rapidly receding ice cap and marked by a human history of prospecting and exploration. Here explorers have attempted extraordinary feats of endurance and many have failed. This is a place over which nations have fiercely debated their territorial and mining rights and an area to which migrants have flocked in search of a place to belong. And it is here that Alex Hartley discovered a new island.
In the autumn of 2011, he returned to the Arctic and with the permission of the Norwegian government, sailed a portion of this island territory north beyond the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Norway. Read more about the NOWHEREISLAND project here:

http://nowhereisland.org/about/

Alex Hartley’s recent show at the Victoria Miro:

http://www.victoria-miro.com/artists/_21/

Sign up and become a citizen on NOWHEREISLAND there are presently 5312, there is an option to contribute and get involved, help write the constitution.
Nowhereisland is an Artists Taking the Lead project, part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. It is produced by Situations at the University of the West of England, Bristol and funded by Arts Council England. We also gratefully acknowledge the support of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Royal Norwegian Embassy and Nicky Wilson Jupiter Artland.