Calvert 22 Gallery: Russian & Eastern European Art.

Today I went with my Territory of Practise group to visit Calvert 22 Gallery/Foundation in the East End to view the exhibition Dear Art curated by 4 women which had a definitive political theme. I have never been around in this particular area and I was surprised to find how funky, arty the area was with galleries cafes I mean really trendy.

Calvert 22 Gallery is a non profit Foundation that promotes Russian & Eastern European Contemporary Art thought in the exhibition there where two Italian Artist Rossella Biscotti (her surname means biscuits) & Cesare Pitroiusti. The space inside was minimalist modern with a red wooden table, bench and there blocks surrounded by books, magazines on Russian and Eastern European conceptual artist and a mini bar inside the gallery one could sit and I also noticed the stuff was allowed to sit as well (in  a lot of galleries this is not possible) which I thought was good they have a downstairs space as well where there was a film on show. The artists in the exhibition show different ways of dealing with political activism some are up front others more subtle in their approach but they have in common the fact that political issues, activism and show that it can be explored in different ways and still engage  the audience.

I watched the video titled The Emperor is Naked 2013 by artist Marina Naprushkina from Belarus who now lives in Berlin.

 In the video one can see her running through the snow while she speaks about becoming politically active in her art work after some of her family, friends where persecuted in Belarus so she was explaining how can a piece of political engaged art work can bring change in a country where they don't have democracy and civil rights ( her words). In the video she also says that for her it's better to be politically active in the street then on the Internet as it is less dangerous and more personal. She was explaining that on the street one can discuss with people who stop to chat to her about her ideas/cause and she can bring change in the way they think in a more direct way ( she is shown in the video holding a piece of art board like one would do in a protest. In the video she also talks about capitalism and how Germany is been benefiting in being competitive within the Euro zone and failed to have more outright Utopian ideal of living then brought into practise which I thought was unfair as one can not blame the Germans for being more efficient then others in the European Union there are other countries and if they are in the EU is because the governments of each Eu country feels that's the right choice ( I don't agree with this I think the EU is a mess) and if they don't oppose to legislation's put forward by Germany they then can not blame all of it on Germany each EU country should take responsibility for their own situation at the same time the undemocratic way the EU has been set up will eventually bring it to it's own collapse. Anyway the art work  by Marina Naprushkina is thought provoking and it makes you think about the role of art and of the artist within society and how one can be politically active in an artistic way: in a positive way and bring change in the way of thinking and within society so  in her art work art  is used a means to change and it's thought provoking.

Then there is the work of  Turkish artist Halil Altindere three hand made gold necklaces with in scripted 'I 'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds' on my neck then the second necklace is got unscripted 'If I can't dance it's not my revolution' and in the third necklace my favourite it said: 'Women need not always to keep their mouths shut and their wombs open' which are about women's right, freedoms their right for self determination  and she focuses your attention on the actual words by the statement  being funny & true so in her  work written words contain a political message. Apparently the proverbs in her necklaces have been taken from sentences by a pioneer peace activist and anarchist and a feminist so by famous public figures.

While the artwork 'Bread and Cake' is a more subtle way of dealing with the political.  Mladen Stilinovic from Belgrade by associating bread with cake is relating two different class systems the poor and the wealthy so the work is about the class systems and also implies labour, the relationship between power the people at the top and the once at the bottom. Another artist that is less direct in the way he presents political ideas is the German artist Lutz Kruger  who made a video about the 1938 suicide of german painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner this is one of his painting titled 'Marzella'.

Kirchner was an Expressionist painter considered degenerated by the Nazis his works where destroyed by them if you weren't aware of Kirchner history, the period he lived in & the kind of art he was making the video wouldn't make much sense. Kruger videos his friend who is supposed to represent the painter  Kirchner walking in the mountains and shooting himself again again which to me represents the ultimate annihilation of the individual against the authority in power.

After watching the video I went back to check the work 'Bread & Cake' and I asked the gallery attendant if the bread and cake where changed daily? As it looked fairly fresh it would be interesting to go back in a while to see how well is keeping but he said they don't change it daily like for example in Sarah Lucas work. Then I move on to  Sanja Ivekovic's artistic work which deals with issues of gender and politics in the media and in society. They are large photos of images (you can't missed them)  of what appear to be women in glossy magazines till one realises they actually feature the feminist activist Jana Sarinic practising the gesture of the partisan salute.

 Finally below the work of Cesare Pitroiusti: drawings on paper & Slovenian dark beer so not any beer but Slovenian! His work is about limitation of property and he seems to be concerned with the political but in terms of economics & what is art worth  and he is interested in the relationship of ordinary acts.

Hilma Af Klint the first Abstract artist was a woman.

Recently I have been studying the work of Swedish artist Hilma Af Klint ( 1862-1944) a pioneer in abstract art,  geometric works and large abstract works some inspired by her three spirit guides called Ananda-Amaliel-Gregor. She was interested in human evolution, mathematics and the paranormal. Her  abstract paintings where never shown as part of exhibitions during her life time this is because Hilma Af Klint thought that her generation wasn't ready to accept her work but also I would like to add that she was marginalised by the main stream art world predominantly dominated by men both in terms of art critics and artists I think her being a female artist and mystic in the early 20th century was a brave choice. She was not interested in making money or being famous but in exploring and understanding her place in the world & the universe it self. Her marginalization by the art world also made me think that modern art is really based on the market place: museums, dealers buying your work and establishing the artist and if the artist is not part of the market place then they are 'outside' and ignored by the art world no matter how good or talented.
She was part of a spiritualist group with four other women walled the Five, was influenced by Theosophy ( also founded by a woman H. P. Blavatsky) the first religious organisation in Europe that included women at a senior level, that recognised women on an equal level. She met Rudolph Steiner who didn't understand her work but answered her call (he did not answer Mondrian who was quite upset about it) she was depicting the spiritual world while in trance (she was a medium)  but not all of her work is done in trance and not all of it is geometrical, at the beginning she was working with landscapes & portraits which was quite common in her times. She anticipated the work of artists such as Mondrian (concept of pure colours and forms), Malevich, Kandinsky (concept of synesthesia) her symbology & automatic drawings came much earlier on (30 years) then Surrealism. Both Theosophy and the encounters with Rudolph Steiner inspired her work making it less geometric, less angular precise more loose and huge 11 feet high in fact which make me think more of meditation paintings/abstract art with the use of soft pinks, brunt orange, lilac colours. Some include letters which where meant as a symbolic language for humanity.

She left most of her work to her nephew with instruction they shouldn't be sold or exhibited only after 20 years after her death in her life she only shown her landscape and portraits but she kept secret the other much more important abstract  paintings which preceded the abstract painters of 1910-1913 (Kandisky-Robert Delauney, Kupka & Picasso's Cubist period) and the scale of them ( considering she was a tiny lady) shows as Rebecca Pardrige states in the Berlin Art Link review:
'a female artist with tenacity, one with a sheer disregard for any artistic or gender conventions of the time'.
http://www.berlinartlink.com/2013/07/14/review-outside-is-in-hilma-af-klint/

Her first abstract works where called 'Primordial Chaos 1906-1907' and where a combination of abstract shapes with elements showing cosmic creation nearly 200 paintings followed by the Evolution works they are really colourful abstract works combined with strict geometric forms, circles and oblong shapes then there are the amazing small scale watercolours part of the Parsifal Series with again vibrant colours. 

She was also aware of the book written by two women theosophists  Annie Besant & C. W Leadbeater called 'Thought Forms' which states that thoughts float & radiate. Between 1905-1912 she made paintings called the 'Paintings for the Temple', the Temple is a metaphor for a building that would propel the spiralling movement within her paintings forward uniting each single painting into one so moving the viewer into a higher level of consciousness.

Followed by the Atom Series in 1917 biological mix, complex organism mixed with simple circular shapes.

Her prolific, large scale works definitely challenge male artists in abstract art even if she was working in isolation or with a small group of women in the North of Sweden, being a woman she felt they where supporting her as in her times women where still seen as only good for reproduction and where not taken seriously artistically they where not seen in the arts as capable of introducing a new body of art works e nobody at the time believed that a woman could connect with a high power or guide when painting which makes her life long dedication to her work even more outstanding and I see this as a political stance in itself. Political not in the narrow sense so against past aesthetic traditions & political institutions but political from the fact that spiritual liberation from materialism will bring social revolution.
This ideas where coming from philosophical vitalism (Henry Bergson) & contemporary occultism which in turn where based on the belief that the arts could bring revolution in the way people think, experience, view things in their daily lives. So the role of the artist was from this point of view and as embraced by Hilma af Klint as a 'prophet visionary' that could show the way to humanity towards a new spiritual order this is in turn was an expression of Utopian way of thinking as political ideas at the time where getting mixed with occultism (the two where not seen as different like we do know) by artist's in the early 20th Century in the Northern countries creating new ways of artistic expression & thinking.

Below it's a really good link to learn more about Hilma Af Klint and her work.

http://www.modernamuseet.se/en/Stockholm/Exhibitions/2013/Hilma-af-Klint/

Whitechapel Gallery: Sarah Lucas.

I went with my Uni group & tutor to visit the Whitechapel Gallery. The Whitechapel Gallery is been through extensive refurbishment completed recently (a two year programme of work done) to include the former Passmore Edwards library building next door, vacated when the Idea Whitechapel Store opened. This had given much more space to the Gallery turning it into an Education centre.

We where there specifically to view the exhibition of British Artist Sarah Lucas (YBA).  All her famous works, most recent works and her famous sculptures made out of tights, giant posters with flying penis tips are in the exhibition. I wish I had brought a camera not to take pictures of her work as it wasn't allowed but to take pictures of the shocked faces of my fellow students. Some students where saying: I thought I had seen it all I can't believe what I am seeing: flying penis tips?! Yes and I replied: Did you a have a look at the plucked fresh chicken there? Or at the kipper in a see through plastic bag?

 They looked at me horrified and replied back: not yet, I am not sure...So I said: go on they are just over there.  In Bitch she reduces the female body in a melon and kipper which I found really funny photo above.

I did ask the gallery attendant if it was a real chicken and they said yes. So I asked them; does it mean that you change the chicken on a daily basis? They replied yes and we also change the fried eggs over there. I didn't want to get into it any further but I was nearly going to ask them if they actually fry the eggs in the morning before putting them in the gallery for viewing or did they buy them every morning near by? Also I wonder what they did with the fresh chicken, eggs and kipper do they just throw it away or eat it every evening?

Sarah Lucas  was part of the famous YBA's ( Damien Hirst,, Gary Hume, Angus Fairhurst) and was in  the famous Freeze exhibition in 1988.

 She challenges basically stereotypical representations of sexuality and gender, the relationship between them, social identity and she questions  the darker side of ourselves, our self destruction using as her tools every day objects, ready mades, images. She uses collages, installations, sculptures, food, old furniture combined with assemblage techniques.  In the gallery are  shown the famous pictures of her self in particular male & sexual poses: legs wide open, wearing leather jackets, sun glasses or sacking a banana staring defiant, confrontational towards the viewer most times holding a cigarette as a weapon of defiance, independence, masculinity. She forces the viewer to look under the surface of things by using masculine posture of behaviour in her photographs undermining the stereotypical view of masculinity shown in the media in an ironic, grotesque full on way there is no escaping the images.

 

As  the photos  are not small but they are very big/large and in your face which reminded me of glamorous photos taken of famous people for display but she is making fun of this at the same time I didn't feel one could gain any pleasure by looking at her like men  do when viewing naked bodies of women as she looks distinctively unglamourous she  frustrates any attempt of voyeurism on the viewer's part. Also the repetition of portraits made me think of another artist Martin Kippenberger and kind of tragic view of human beings, of the self.

Then there are the double paper spreads from newspapers such as the Sun with pics of overly sexualized female bodies male misogyny is given prime voice to make it weak.

 Also I noticed several toilet bowls in the gallery which where direct references to Duchamp's Fountain so she uses repetition in her work to make a point they become self-referring.

 I mean there is so much in the Gallery from the sculptures made out of tights, wire & wadding to two fries & kebabs (1992) where she placed meat in place of genitalia and yolks for nipples, photo above. The art work it's crude & funny at the same time by reducing symbols of naked female bodies she is making fun of men treating women like a quick take away.

Au Naturel (1994) an old mattress where on top we see a cucumber ( melon, cucumbers possibly repressed sexual desires) and  two oranges representing a phallus ( did  I say that this exhibition is not suitable for kids) representing masculinity on the other side two melons & a bucket which represent femininity which reminds you of maybe a one night stand in a cheap bed sit, the sex in her work is not enjoyable is not supposed to make you fantasies but think, it s has a defiant punk edge to it which is very freeing.

The Upstairs gallery was covered in Wall Paper 1993/2013 (see photo below) of again male genitalia surrounded by opened bear cans and what appear to be a piece of car wreck again is sexual images ain't pleasurable but they give you strong sense of aversion.

One thing that I felt is that the space was to small for all the items on display I think they should have chosen maybe less items to put on display or the work needs a bigger room, more space between each art work it felt claustrophobic at times.

Fuck destiny 2000, which shows an abstract scene of sexual intercourse below.

The last rooms comped of bronze sculptures Dacre (2013) abstract androgynous cold nude sex is there but less in your face, more part of the old establishment less the punk angst 

I prefer the row sculptures made out of tights and wire which reminded me of bodily functions the body both masculine & feminine as wadding & tights are used by women so are soft while wire it's cold and hard.

There was a lot going on in this exhibition so you need to stick through  the strong art work, images also I advise viewers to be aware of Freud's studies on fetishism, where objects appear in dreams this due to sexual frustration sexual repression & be aware of Surrealism as they study the 'other' as the normal one, to explore the dark side of modernity when looking at Sarah Lucas work but is not necessary. I did find that her work  made me think also about what is art and what isn't and what turns an object into art?

Marisa Mertz at the Serpentine Gallery.

Marisa Mertz is an important Italian artist (born in 1926 in Turin) who didn't get the recognition she deserved in her early years & the only woman in the Arte Povera movement. 

I was really excited to see her work exhibited at the Serpentine Gallery. On the day I was visiting the gallery I was supposed to go with my Uni group and my tutor unfortunately I had lost them so I went on my own. In the exhibition one can see her use of industrial materials such as metal sheets, metal containers which are more associated with the movement Arte Povera who embraced poor materials or what was considered low materials so to subvert the elitist status/ role of what art object had become  in a western  consumerist based society. 

What Marisa Mertz does different is the way she combines cold, industrial, ordinary materials with other different materials which are more associated with the feminine, crafts, domesticity using a variety of textiles & knitting. The knitting pieces are done using nylon, copper, iron again materials used by Arte Povera  but done in a delicate way with a careful balance between hard & soft forming geometric patterns such triangles, squares, circles  which made me think of voids some of them fairly small in their scale if compared with work from male artists of the Arte Povera giving them an inner sense of vulnerability (see also image of knitted shoe). The assembled pieces can be traced back to Alexander Calder & Pablo Picasso but have a distinct feminine touch which gives them strength.

The metal containers give out a cold steely feeling but then they have been filled with soft wax.

In the first room a portrait worked on beautifully with  a gentle blend of colourful lines of soft pastels with a linear rhythm that create  loose formless  abstract faces with no distinct identity. Which again give an intimate feeling to the overall portrait inverting what is it to be sacred in the arts especially in Italy where there is so much of it, she brings feeling into the object so the art work becomes one with life.

 In one other room filled with small clay sculptures playful unfired heads with expressions that go from mute to serene, they take you away from rationality but more into an intimate space this due to the their small size & expression they reminded me in their simplicity of Bizantine Icons with an extra element of fragility. I did wonder also if  artists Thomas Schutte (saw his exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery a while back) studied her work because his heads look so much like Maris Mertz heads...

In the room next door hanging down from the ceiling layered floating intertwined metal sheets  that remind you of organic bodies, organic shapes of on going growth. 

The exhibition must be popular because when I asked  for a leaflet in reception they said they had run out also I couldn't find any postcards of her work. I wanted to give a card to ma but there was nothing on sale just weird and disappointing. While hovering around the reception desk I noticed another work  which was outside of the exhibition area, literally on the reception desk by Marisa Mertz : a box filled with wax and flowers again a small intimate art work that could have gone un-noticed. 

I looked at it then wondered off into beautiful Hyde Park, great setting for a gallery (peaceful, quiet).