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FAD HAS MOVED

2006-08-29T13:31:00.000+01:00

We have moved to www.fadwebsite.com
all new blog and video and shop and other cool stuff.
To update your rss feed go here or here

Thanks

Mark

Terence Koh performance at Peres Projects Berlin

2006-08-17T10:04:00.000+01:00

Last Saturday night, American artist Terence Koh (aka asianpunkboy) performed at Peres Projects in Berlin. The event attracted a mob of hipsters from the Berlin art scene and packed them into a small, totally blackened room. After one bone-shaking drum beat, the audience were kept waiting for a further 15 minutes, growing increasingly frustrated and edgy. Many people had stuffed tissues, or earplug into their ears, in anticipation of some ear-drum ripping noise to come. (I was a little disturbed by this, as being unfamiliar with his work, I had come totally without aural protection.) As their was no stage and a heavy crowd, it was virtually impossible to see what, if anything, was going on at the front of the room. Adding to the occassional strobe light, everyone started to take flash pictures with their cameras or phones, and some managed to catch a glimpse of three beautiful, camp, and naked young men sitting behind drumkits. Just as everyone was starting to feel a little like leaving, the music kicked in, an assault of heavy drum sounds and garbled shouting.

Five minutes later we filtered out contemplating the meaning of what we had just experienced, and wondering if it was really worth wait. A friend who had been waiting outside told me that immediately after the performance finished, the guys ran out the side door, jumped into a black Mercedes and dissappeared into the night. Somehow that sounded much more exciting than what we had seen inside. Intriguing all the same........

check out:
Kohbunny
asianpunkboy
Interview with Ana Finel Honigman on Artnet

Peres Projects

The Residents - Yes/No

2006-08-16T13:25:00.000+01:00

See more video's from The Residents and follow the weekly adventures of TIMMY

The Residents: The River of Crime, an online community art project Submissions requested

2006-08-16T13:17:00.000+01:00

August 15–September 15
http://www.moma.org/residents

You are invited to take part in an online project with The Museum of Modern Art and The Residents. The famously anonymous multimedia visual artists and musicians seek video to go with their audio.

Between August 15 and September 15, visit http://www.residents.com to download the audio excerpt from The River of Crime episode 1 and read the directions for submitting your clip.
The Residents and MoMA curator Barbara London will judge submissions.

On October 1, thirty shortlist videos will be posted on YouTube.com.
London and the Residents will select the final videos for screening at MoMA on October 19. YouTube popularity will be taken into consideration in the judging process. On October 20, the selections will be posted on http://www.moma.org/residents

The Residents: Re-ViewedOctober 19–23

This survey features the musical videos and films of The Residents. Originally from Louisiana, they moved to San Francisco in the early 1970s and formed Ralph Records. With wit and rarified electronic inventiveness, The Residents fuse a dark storytelling tradition of the South with an eccentric countercultural spirit of the Bay Area. The exhibition includes material such as Eskimo (1979), the bizarre 2002 Demons Dance Alone show, and footage from their ambitious Vileness Fats film project, which was reluctantly cancelled after four years (1972–76) of filming. Throughout their thirty-year history, The Residents have cloaked their lives and music in obscurity. Band members (always four in number) refuse to grant interviews, do not identify themselves by name (or even individual pseudonyms), and never appear without masks (usually giant eyeballs with top hats.) Their management team, The Cryptic Corporation, coordinates their productions and tours. A representative will introduce the opening program and discuss The River of Crime, their recently released downloadable "Crimecast" series modeled after radio dramas of the 1940s. The Museum of Modern Art http://www.moma.org/film

TERMS AND CONDITIONS: IN ORDER TO PARTICIPATE, YOU MUST REVIEW AND AGREE TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS GOVERNING SUBMISSION TO YOUTUBE, WHICH MAY BE LOCATED AT http://www.youtube.com/t/terms, AND THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS GOVERNING SUBMISSION TO MoMA, WHICH MAY BE LOCATED AT http://www.moma/residents, EACH OF WHICH ARE INCORPORATED HEREIN BY REFERENCE. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO ANY OF THESE TERMS, THEN PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT MATERIALS FOR THIS PROJECT.

Web DNA art

2006-08-16T12:14:00.000+01:00

Here is fad's dna and this is how it works;

WEB2DNA will take you website, analyze it, crunch it to little bits and spit it out as a graphic representation of a human DNA.
The brightness of the lines is determined by the importance of the tags in terms of structure.
H1 is brighter than H2, which is brighter than H3.
TABLE is brighter than TR, which is brighter than TD tags.
Images and flash elements appear as 70% white.
New HTML tags like STRONG and EM is brighter than older ones like B and I
UL, OL and DL is brighter than their LI, DT, DD
DIV layout is brighter than table layout
Basically a semantically rich site will appear brighter than one with messy old-style code.
They also have a link to a site that creates graphs from your website DNA
click here for more info and here for a web 2.0 dna flickr group

Roadsworth -street art

2006-08-16T11:52:00.000+01:00

Love these flowers and zipper created by Roadsworth

Via woostercollective

Seth Wulsin -Prison Art

2006-08-16T11:40:00.000+01:00

Seth Wulsin has used the ex-Caseros Prison, in Buenos Aires, and its demolition as the raw materials for his latest piece, called The Caseros Prison Demolition Project, also known as 16 Tons and Aparecidos.

Breaking out certain windows, the artist has created faces in each of the 48 outer grids on the building. The windows that remain reflect the light of the sky, the sun and the moon producing human faces from certain angles. The faces appear and disappear according to the precise position of the viewer as well. “You have to move," says Wulsi. "It's a kind of active perception, many people may pass there and never notice anything." The viewing angles change throughout the year as the sun's elevation in the sky changes. The cycle of appearance and disappearance is underscored by the demolition process, which consists in the removal of the building from the top down, floor by floor. The demolition is expected to last until March of 2007.
New York film maker Kellen Quinn is making a documentary on the piece. Buenos Aires film maker Andres La Penna is filming the entire demolition of the building in collaboration with Wulsin.

Via wemakemoneynotart

Destricted-sex and art

2006-08-16T11:30:00.000+01:00

Balkan Erotic Epic, © 2005, Marina Abramovic
Straight from the Sundance Film Festival and Critics Week selection at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, this is the first public showing of Destricted, which brings together sex and art in a series of films created by some of the world’s most acclaimed artists and directors, including Marina Abramović, Marco Brambilla, Matthew Barney, Larry Clark, Gaspar Noe, Richard Prince and Sam Taylor-Wood.TATE MODERN

Destricted Screening
Wednesday 6 September , 18.30
Sunday 10 September , 15.00
Tuesday 12 September , 18.30
Wednesday13 September , 18.30

TATE MODERN
Destricted Panel Discussion
Destricted: Art and Sex Saturday 9 September 19.00–21.00
This panel discussion offers a critical context for the screenings of Destricted , a project that brings together sex and art in a series of short films created by acclaimed artists and directors, including Marina Abramović, Matthew Barney, Larry Clark, Richard Prince and Sam Taylor-Wood.

Following the screening of a selection of films from the programme, the contested issues around art and pornography are discussed by Los Angeles-based critic and curator Bruce Hainley; Catherine Millet, Art Press editor and author of The Sexual Life of Catherine M.(2002); artist Larry Clark; and critic and curator Neville Wakefield.

DESTRICTED CINEMA RELEASE
Curzon Soho - 15 & 16 Sept Curzon Soho
Fact Liverpool - 18th Sept Fact Liverpool
Tyneside Newcastle - 20th Sept Tyneside Cinema
ICA - 21st Sept

FOLLOWING THIS DESTRICTED WILL BE RELEASED ON DVD ON THE 25TH OF SEPTEMBER 2006
More info here

Photosynth

2006-08-16T10:39:00.000+01:00

Microsoft Photosynth automatically builds 3D environments out of a series of photos taken in the same approximate location.

Liverpool Biennial 2006

2006-08-16T10:02:00.000+01:00

The Kingpins, “Hieronymus Posh”, Commissioned by Liverpool Biennial “International 06 “
Liverpool Biennial 16 September - 26 November
Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art
The Tea Factory 82 Wood Street Liverpool L69 1XB UK
http://www.biennial.com

Paintings selected by Tracey Emin, pavements of shattered glass from Mexico City, work by the cream of Britain’s art school graduates, a football pitch designed as an obstacle course, and Panamanian Bus Painters transforming the city’s public transport – are just a taste of what can be expected in galleries and temporary locations throughout Liverpool.

is made up of these core programmes:
• Urban myths and the bittersweet success of regeneration are strong focal points in the International 06 exhibition. Inspired by Liverpool’s people, history and built environment, the exhibition promises 35 new commissions, half of which will be sited in the public realm. International 06 responds to the personal readings of Liverpool made by consultant curators Gerardo Mosquera and Manray Hsu. Both see art channelling energy into and within the city. Manray Hsu makes use of metaphors drawn from the Internet and from traditional Chinese medicine, while Gerardo Mosquera’s ‘reverse colonialism’ returns the flow of energy along the city’s historic geographic vectors to explore Liverpool here and now. The show’s route through the city punctuates the built environment.

• John Moores 24 Exhibition of Contemporary Painting is the UK's most prestigious and longest-running national open painting competition. Organised by National Museums Liverpool and supported by the John Moores Exhibition Trust and the aFoundation, the exhibition has been hosted by The Walker Art Gallery since 1957. Celebrating the vitality of contemporary British painting, it is open to artists living and working in the UK and offers a first prize of £25,000. This year's jury comprises of artists Sir Peter Blake and Tracey Emin with former John Moores prizewinner Jason Brooks, curator Ann Bukantas and Director of Visual Art at the British Council, Andrea Rose.

• Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2006 is the annual exhibition by students and recent graduates of Fine Art colleges throughout the UK. Established in 1949, New Contemporaries is recognised for supporting new work and artists at the start of their professional careers. The selectors are artists Alison Wilding, Angus Fairhurst and Paul Noble. Bloomberg New Contemporaries takes place at Greenland Street, Liverpool’s major new contemporary art centre run by A Foundation which launches with exhibitions, events, talks and screenings during the Biennial.

• International + is the Biennial’s learning and inclusion programme, through which participants are given the opportunity to discover and express their own creativity as well as accessing the creativity of others. This programme of activity is closely linked with International 06.In addition, there will be a penumbra of exhibitions assembled under the name of the Independents Biennial, organised specifically by Liverpool based artists, independent curators and their networks.

QuickTime/Avi Art?

2006-08-15T11:37:00.000+01:00

Cupola Gallery 15th Aniversary Show

2006-08-15T10:06:00.000+01:00

This year, the Cupola Gallery in Hillsborough, Sheffield celebrates its 15th anniversary with a special open exhibition.

Launch night is on Saturday August 26, 7.30pm until late, a party with music, food, wine, speeches, prize giving and lots of art!

The show itself is an open submission selected exhibition, celebrating the talent which Cupola has had the good fortune to show over the years, and showcasing exciting, quality contemporary work across a wide range of media. Over 30 artists from across the country, of international standard, many of whom have never exhibited in Sheffield before, will be represented. All work will be available for sale.

Cupola Contemporary Art is one of the largest, non funded, most respected contemporary art galleries in the north of England, selling everything from hand made cards and designer maker fine crafts to challenging contemporary fine art practice.

For more information visit the Cupola Gallery website. Cupola Gallery is located at 178 Middlewood Road, Hillsborough, Sheffield S6.

Cheryl Brooks at Spectrum London

2006-08-15T09:58:00.000+01:00

‘An Italian Solider looks in disbelief yesterday at the devastation caused by a lorry bomb’ 2006, Acrylic, graphite, gesso on panel. 111cm x 148cm. © copyright Cheryl Brooks and courtesy of Spectrum London.

Spectrum London reveals the first UK solo exhibition of Barcelona based painter Cheryl Brooks who re-works Renaissance paintings as well as current events newspaper photographs. Cheryl Brooks is influenced by the idea of repetition in photography, using only anonymous photographs of people found in the day’s news, she examines how the portraits of war and history have the ability to repeat themselves.
In spite of shifting geographical landscapes and passing time, the images remain a documentation of cyclical events. “Perspectiva” means “to see through” in Latin, and Brooks deconstructs traditional images on the canvas to find another viewpoint. Like the Renaissance artists who first discovered perspective drawing, she is attracted to the mathematical representations of 3D space.
By using this structured system of geometry, the illusion of 3D space projected on a 2D surface is created. It is the contrast between a painting, which serves as a constructed authenticity; and a photograph, a snapshot of reality that attracts her as an artist to assemble these idealized paradigms. Brooks highlights the vast disparity between the world we envision through art, and the reality we inhabit. Cheryl Brooks commented, “When looking at an image, with its fixed viewpoint, however good the illusion, it has very little to do with our experience of the world”.

Another in the occasional series "Is this Art?"

2006-08-15T09:52:00.000+01:00

Translation;
"CHEAP WINES ARE GOOD...
BECAUSE THEY'RE CHEAP AND GOOD!!!"

Two art shows in central London

2006-08-14T16:36:00.000+01:00

The Freeloaders Weekly (14.08.06-20.08.06)
QUIETEST WEEK OF THE YEAR
Tuesday 15th August - Art Central: 4 London Biennale Artists, 6-9pm, the Coningsby Gallery, 10 Tottenham Street, W1.
Thursday 17th August - Art Central: 4 London Biennale Artists, performance and poetry at the Coningsby Gallery 5-8pm, 10 Tottenham Street, W1.

XFSGBX
The Freeloaders Society of Great Britain

The Bigger Picture Gallery presents The Evil Children

2006-08-14T16:30:00.000+01:00

The Gallery’s opening exhibition The Evil Children by Bert Industries and Christopher Sims opens on London’s Shaftsbury Avenue on
7th Sept from 6pm to 9pm

Bert Industries and Sims collaboration hosts a photographic tribute to the monstrous, malignant and macabre Evil Children.
The work follows the tradition of such creations as The Children of the Corn, The Village of the Damned and anything that goes bump in the night.
Bert was born on News Years eve 1978 in the winter of discontent. The daughter of a dentist father with a fascination with guns and killing animals and a criminologist mother with a love of serial killers. Graduating with a first class degree from Central St Martins where her work focused on the effects of trauma and explored creating a space for the expression of pain. She went on to create Bert Industries, a subversive art brand.

Bert Industries have presented their commercial arts concept via a series of exhibitions at venues across London such as Wink - Brick Lane, The De Luxe gallery - Hoxton, Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes, Best and the Tardis in Clerkenwell.

Bigger Picture Gallery,
55-59 Shaftesbury Ave
7 Sept - 23 September2006
Private View: 7 Sept 6 to 9pm
Free Admission
Opening hours: 11am - 8pm

Fosters Art -Summer Exhibition

2006-08-14T12:11:00.000+01:00

Summer Exhibition 2006 17 August to 3 September 2006
Preview Night: Thursday 17 August,

This summer, Fosterart presents work of over 90 contemporary artists in the form of a mini-Fair: a gathering of art, including drawings, watercolour studies, small paintings and sculptures, limited edition prints and photographs.
Intended to help buyers begin or extend their contemporary art collection, all works have a price limit of £200.
Fosterart is establishing the Contemporary Art Health Fund to provide loans of contemporary artwork within healthcare organisations and will be donating the sales commission to this charity for all works sold during the exhibition. Artists Adam King Alex Michon Alice White Andrew Ekins Andy Harper Anna Vonnemann Balraj Khanna Brian Cheeswright Cathy Lomax Cathy Ward Chris Goodman Christopher Davies Christopher Gilvan-Cartwright Covadonga Valdes Daryl Waller David Hancock David Leapman David Redfern Dieter Loechle Dilys Finlay- Stephens DJ Roberts Dominic Shepherd Eleanor Moreton Elinor Evans Emily-Jo Sargent Farah Syed Federico Gallo Fiona Birnie & Kevin Broughton Fiona Lumbers Ford Crull Freya Douglas-Morris Glauce Cerveira Grant Foster Guy Batey Hannah Hewetson Harry Burden Helene Martin Helen Melland Hitoko Urago Hugo Bruce Isabel Young Jake Clark James Faure Walker James McMeakin Jane Gifford Jennifer Merrell Jo Wilmot Jocie Howe Joe Packer John Hiom John Holden Jon Fieldhouse Julian Brown Karl England Karoly Keseru Katherine Russell Katy Schnetler Laura Green Lee Maelzer Little Artists Lizi Sanchez Lucinda Oestreicher Lupe Ramin Madeleine Strindberg Majed Aslam Mandy Hudson Marisol Malatesta Maurizio Anzeri Maya Hewitt Michael Pybus Myles Quin Nicky Hodge Nigel Grimmer Paul Butler Paul Cole Paul Davis Phil Dobson Philippa Beale Polly Read Raymond Yap Rebecca Gould Robin Dixon Rose Gibbs Sadie Tierney Sarah Dwyer Sarah Jeffries Sarah Sparkes Sean Michael Shelagh Wakely Silvia Battista Simon Woolham Stephen Harwood Stephen Walter Swava Harasymowicz Theo Kaccoufa Tilman Roesch Wendy Anderson Wong Perng Fey Zara Matthews

SHIT Art

2006-08-14T11:49:00.000+01:00

More via Wooster Collective

The Kube Hotel Paris presents DiVA

2006-08-14T07:55:00.000+01:00

From October 26th to the 29th, The KUBE Hotel in the 18th arrondissement will host the DiVA Paris.
In its second edition, DiVA offers a selection of 20 to 25 galleries that have dedicated intensive attention to the work of their artist that uses video and the digital media to express themselves. Galleries will use the guest rooms as exhibition space while the public areas will present a works by Yoko Ono, the pioneer artist DiVA Paris will pay tribute to this year. . DiVA is the first art fair dedicated to video and digital art.

Cunts are Still Running the World

2006-08-13T11:04:00.000+01:00

Picture from Jarvis's myspace
Jarvis Cocker has a new single out, written on the night of Live8, called Cunts are Still Running the World. Head over to iTunes and buy it here for 79p, let's get it to number one!

Pinakothek Der Moderne presents Wolfgang Tillmans,

2006-08-11T10:35:00.000+01:00

Pinakothek Der Moderne presents Wolfgang Tillmans, Munich Installation 1991-2004, 2005, on view through October 15, 2006. For the Pinakothek der Moderne Tillmans has now devised a 23-part installation that he is presenting to the viewing public for the first time. Via art daily

Stuckists at Spectrum

2006-08-11T10:26:00.000+01:00

Paul Harvey, "Nigella Lawson", image copyright the artist and courtesy of Spectrum London.

Spectrum London gallery set out to prove that the Stuckists’ paintings should be taken as seriously as their politics, with Go West, the group’s first ever show in a commercial West End gallery.
The pro-painting Stuckists, have closed their own Shoreditch gallery to go west.
Royden Prior, Director of Spectrum London, said, “These artists are good, and are part of art history. Get past the art politics and look at the work”
Go West at Spectrum London features paintings by 10 leading members of the Stuckists group, headed by founder Charles Thomson, some of whose work is explicit images of his ex-wife Stella Vine’s former life as a stripper.
Raw autobiographical painter Joe Machine paints the paranoid after-effects of witnessing pornography and knife fights as a child.
The confident burlesque titillation of ex Go-go dancer Ella Guru’s images of London’s demimonde are set off by portraits of Nigella Lawson and Charlotte Church, painted meticulously with a sable brush by punk guitarist Paul Harvey, formerly of the band Penetration. Peter McArdle is an obsessive artist, who lives in an unheated Northumberland farmhouse and works with Renaissance glazing techniques in his attic studio from 4 am, seven days a week. Philip Absolon was rejected from art school and paints unemployed skeletons. Elsa Dax, Eamon Everall, Wolf Howard and Bill Lewis range from a neo-cubistically divided mother and child, through Diana bathing to God Is an Atheist – She Doesn’t Believe in Me.
Opening 6th October.

Zach Feuer's Stripteasing Funster; Boy Art: Chelsea Galleries

2006-08-11T10:17:00.000+01:00

Exhibition dates: August 8-September 23, 2006Opening reception: September 7, 2006 from 6-8pm

Zach Feuer, 28, has reopened with a spunky video and photography show by Stuart Hawkins.
Stuart Hawkins is a woman. She shuttles between New York and Nepal and bases her tongue-in-cheek work on how Western culture penetrates and collides with that of South Asia.

In her video, which is projected onto a wall in the main space, Hawkins casts herself as a tourist searching for what the gallery calls an ``anthropologically perfect native.'' She spots a candidate in a bar -- sporting sunglasses and a red-hooded tracksuit.

In hot pursuit, she does some striptease, traditional dancing and takes part in a nearly lethal car chase. Eventually, her target's resistance dwindles, and so does his size: He shrinks from a full-grown man to a child, then to a doll and finally to a patch of hair and a feather. Hawkins duly frames these traces and hangs the tableau on a wall.

In staged photographs, the artist also injects herself into the ``native'' scene in various awkward ways (in one photo, she's being hauled in a basket). That her subjects keep going about their daily business highlights the absurdity.
zachfeuer
Via Bloomberg

Underpin Installation Commissioned by Future Factory

2006-08-10T08:49:00.000+01:00

Future Factory, based within Nottingham Trent University, has commissioned visual artist Ivan Smith to research and deliver a piece of work in response to CCAN .

The result of this extensive period of research is underpin, a significant installation sited within the Barker Gate Rest Garden in Nottingham’s historic Lace Market.

From 8 September to 20 October visitors to the rest garden will be able to view the installation, which combines the use of 30 concrete pillars, each housing their own photographic image of Nottingham’s city centre which can be viewed through slits carved into the pillars.
The construction of CCAN will begin in Autumn 2006 and it is scheduled to open in Autumn 2008.

Empathic Paintings paint your mood

2006-08-09T16:09:00.000+01:00

We knew our obscure collection of facial contortion capabilities would pay off sooner or later. A new project from the University of Bath called "Empathic Painting" reads the mood on your face and paints accordingly, sending you into a spiral of despair with the skill only a machine could manage. Via MetaFilter

Garaicoa Studio to Liverpool

2006-08-09T15:55:00.000+01:00

Garaicoa Studio to Liverpool:
A project initiated and coordinated by Werk Ltd
Call for participation Art is Not Enough Five days of workshop and events
University of Liverpool School of Architecture
21-25 August 2006

For further information, please
contact Cecilia Andersson+44 (0)7796 627 208 c@ruc.com
http://www.ruc.com/werk
via eflux

Ron Mueck's art it's blank, empty, brainless - and upstaged by several other shows in Edinburgh

2006-08-09T14:39:00.000+01:00

Here is an article by Johnathan Jones from The Guardian - what do you think?

I felt a wave of nausea when I walked into Ron Mueck's exhibition at the National Galleries of Scotland. No, this is not the prelude to a rave review that goes on to explain how the visceral realism of Mueck's models disturbed and moved me to my very gut. The sickness I felt was at the prospect of having to waste time, and words, on this flimsy gimcrack charade, on having to walk around with a straight face and pretend this is an exhibition. Of art.

You can read the rest of it here - (it gets worse !!)

Damien Hirst in legal battle against 'spoof' site that uses his name

2006-08-09T14:38:00.000+01:00

In the modern art world, it will be billed as a rerun of David and Goliath. Damien Hirst has launched a legal battle to stop a struggling young British artist using his name on a "spoof" website.
The multimillionaire Hirst has employed the City law firm Manches LLP to act against Simon Phillips, a self-styled "internet artist" who owns the domain name www.damien-hirst.co.uk.
Hirst's legal team has submitted a dossier of evidence to the UK internet regulator Nominet, arguing that Phillips has breached his trademark and intellectual property rights. It claims that Phillips has committed an " abusive registration" with regard to both the name and contents of the website. The disputed domain name previously contained a potted history of Hirst's career, but now carries an image of a sailor dressed in red latex, with the slogan: "My arse is nothing to do with Damien Hirst."
Nominet, which has the power to transfer ownership of all domain names ending in ".uk", has given Phillips three weeks to submit his response to Hirst's dossier. It will then begin a process of mediation. A spokesman for Science, the company that handles Hirst's business affairs, said it had a legal obligation to act against all potential breaches of its trademark.
"We have to protect Damien's name, since it is a trademark. He has no problem with tribute sites, but the name of this one means that it could be confused with an official one."
Phillips, 25, promised to submit a robust rebuttal, accusing the founding father of BritArt of attempting to censor a colleague.
"I consider my internet site to be my artwork," he said. "It contains my comments on the state of the world, and since Damien Hirst is attempting to shut it down, he is guilty of trying to censor me.
"His lawyers have behaved in an incredibly heavy-handed manner. If they'd asked me nicely, they would have got a perfectly reasonable response. But instead, I was sent several very aggressive letters. I have therefore decided to fight this one all the way.
"I have nothing to lose, and would say to Damien Hirst that sites like mine are the way of the Web. If you don't like them, you can either ignore them, or set up your own, better one. It's a matter of principle that I am determined to defend."
For Hirst the stakes may be just as high. He is about to launch his first official website, containing a complete archive of his previous work, along with items of merchandise such as screen-savers.
You can read Simons Blog here The Damien Hirst website is still not live

The 2006 Balnaves Foundation Sculpture Project Opens

2006-08-09T14:32:00.000+01:00

Nike Savvas, Atomic:full of love, full of wonder, 2005 (detail), polystyrene, nylon wire, paint, electric fans. Courtsey of Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney.
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA.- The Art Gallery of New South Wales presents today Adventures with form in space, the 2006 Balnaves Foundation Sculpture Project, on view through September 17, 2006.
I know its Australia but I just love this photo.

via artdaily

Robert Mapplethorpe -still moving and lady with photography by Judy Linn

2006-08-09T14:27:00.000+01:00

Image top: Judy Linn, Patti and Robert, 23rd St., 1970.Image bottom: Robert Mapplethorpe, Lisa and Robert, 1982 © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used by Permission.
“The first time I saw Robert he was sleeping. I stood over him, this boy of twenty, who sensing my presence opened his eyes and smiled. With few words he became my friend, my compeer, my beloved adventure.”Patti Smith, “The Coral Sea”, 1996

Alison Jacques is proud to curate an exhibition of Robert Mapplethorpe focusing on the artist’s seldom-screened film work.

November 4, 2006 would have been Robert Mapplethorpe’s 60th birthday; it is with great pleasure that the gallery has been able to collaborate with Patti Smith on both this exhibition and a unique evening at Tate Modern to mark the event.

During the exhibition, the gallery will continually screen Mapplethorpe and Smith’s black and white film Still Moving (1978) and also Mapplethorpe’s colour film Lady (1984), made in collaboration with Lisa Lyon.

On view will be a large group of Mapplethorpe photographs of Patti Smith, including unique works and early Polaroids, as well as more well-known silver gelatin photographs.

Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith’s close association will also be reflected in images of them both, shot by photographer Judy Linn in the early 70s. Other works will include: a key drawing by Patti Smith relating to “The Coral Sea” (a book of her poems published in 1996 in memory of Robert Mapplethorpe); alongside Mapplethorpe's photograph Coral Sea (1983); and Mapplethorpe's famous American Flag photograph (1977), showing the tattered flag, which could be seen as relating to the muslin cloth, that later surrounded Patti Smith in the film Still Moving. A series of important photographs from the 80s of Lisa Lyon will be exhibited in the upstairs gallery.
A number of these works appear in Mapplethorpe’s book “Lady Lisa Lyon” (1983) and some are images now being shown for the first time in the UK.

Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe’s 13-minute 16mm film Still Moving had its premiere at their show held at Robert Miller Gallery, New York in 1978. Mapplethorpe wanted to capture on film the essence of Smith’s presence and her poetry and literature. During the film Patti Smith recites excerpts from several of her poems, among them “Babelfield”, “Combe” and “Pinwheels”, as well as improvising dialogues. Later, Patti Smith explained that the film was total improvisation, citing the basic theme as the struggle between heaven and earth, good and evil.

The second film on view in the exhibition will be Mapplethorpe’s 5-minute video work Lady, made in 1984 in collaboration with bodybuilding champion Lisa Lyon.

On Friday, 8 September at 7pm, Tate Modern in collaboration with Alison Jacques Gallery will present an evening of poetry and song performed by Patti Smith. There will also be a screening on 16 mm film of Still Moving and a rare presentation of Nigel Finch’s 1988 documentary: the only major broadcast featuring an interview with Mapplethorpe
www.tate.org.uk/modern

On 11 and 12 September, Patti Smith and Kevin Shields will present The Coral Sea Sessions: an evening of poetry and music in remembrance of Robert Mapplethorpe at Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank Centre. www.rfh.org.uk

The Margate Exodus

2006-08-09T13:22:00.000+01:00

image by The Margate Exodus, Penny Woolcock, Commissioned and produced by Artangel, 2006.

The Margate Exodus is Artangel’s major commission for 2006
– following on in the likes of previous major commissions including Rachel Whitread’s House (1993) and Jeremy Deller’s The Battle of Orgreave (2001).

Bringing together film-maker Penny Woolcock with artist Anthony Gormley and musicians Brian Eno, Rufus Wainwright and Cody ChesnuTT amongst others,

The Margate Exodus will transform the seaside town of Margate into a contemporary setting for an epic film in which local people play all of the parts. The project is a dynamic fusion of internationally acclaimed artists and undiscovered local talent – combining music, theatre, site-specific contemporary art and film.

The Margate Exodus brings together international artists led by Penny Woolcock, including sculptor Antony Gormley, and songwriters Rufus Wainwright, Brian Eno and Imogen Heap, alongside local musicians, singers, actors, costume-makers and set-builders to create a timeless story of identity, migration and the great movement of peoples across the world in search of a promised land.
Written and directed for Artangel by acclaimed filmmaker Penny Woolcock, the story of Exodus is told for the present day as a feature film for theatrical release and Channel 4 broadcast in 2007. Exodus Day on Saturday 30 September takes place in Margate’s town center, at the Winter Gardens, along the Seawall, through the streets and in the Dreamland funfair.
The audience follow an audio trail of the photographs by collecting a headset from a central pick-up point in town or downloading the audio trail as a podcast from the Margate Exodus website.

The Optics Lesson of Dr Turner by Alan Parker

2006-08-09T11:17:00.000+01:00

Photo by Lloyd Spencer (www.briggate.com)

The Optics Lesson of Dr Turner is a painting by Alan Parker which featured in the BP Portrait Award exhibition of 2004. Painted on a translucent surface, it depicts a scientist whose considerable fame is based on his contribution to the mathematics of reflection and refraction. Some indication of this in the words reversed on the painting. Figure on the left is my wife (on the far side of the paining). Figure on the right is me, taking the photo with the camera cradled in my hand.
More Photos

Jeff Koons elephant

2006-08-09T09:08:00.000+01:00

Stashed in one of the back galleries at Sonnabend on West 22nd Street is Jeff Koons' newest work, a colored stainless steel cast of a cute inflatable Elephant (2005), a work not unlike that emblem of the 1980s art boom, Koons' shiny steel 1986 Rabbit. The price: $1.5 million, in an edition of three and one artist's proof. But you can't have one -- they're all sold.

Banksy In Brooklyn

2006-08-08T09:57:00.000+01:00

Via Wooster Collective

Bruce Shapiro Art

2006-08-08T09:38:00.000+01:00

Bruce Shapiro is one of the world's pioneers in DIY computer controlled kinetics. For over a decade, the California-based tinkerer has been designing software to automate a range of machines—from a stratograph, which makes highly-detailed sand art (pictured), to a series called "Sisyphus" that creates intricate mandalas in sand using a ball bearing and a tilt table. via CoolHunting

Van Gogh 20 million Fake.

2006-08-08T09:29:00.000+01:00

British art experts believe that one of Australia's prized paintings by Vincent Van Gogh could be a fake. The Melbourne-based National Gallery acquired it in 1940 for 20 million.

The Sunday Times newspaper in London yesterday published claims by Van Gogh specialists that the work had been incorrectly attributed to the painter, and might be a forgery.
Skeptics have pointed out it is the only horizontal portrait by van Gogh, is not mentioned in any letters by the Dutch master, is mounted in a manner unusual for van Gogh and appears to have had the lower part, where a signature could have been, removed.
via art daily

Blind Art

2006-08-08T09:26:00.000+01:00

Jenny Cordy, Chromosphere, © Jenny Cordy, courtesy of BlindArt

The revolutionary contemporary art exhibition Sense & Sensitivity will be launching its second annual, multisesory art experience at Bankside Gallery on September 14 and will be on view through October 8, 2006.

This spectacular art extravaganza, organized by pioneering charity BlindArt, features paintings, sculptures, and installations that aim to dispel the misconception that visual ability is essential to artistic excellence and challenging the art establishment's final taboo - touch.
Sense & Sensitivity 2006 encourages visitors to get 'hands on' with all the works of art on display - exploring not only visually, but through all five senses, breaking down the barriers between art and spectator.

Damien Hirst in thailand

2006-08-08T09:16:00.000+01:00

The Last Supper By Damien Hirst4 Aug - 27 Aug 2006 100 Tonson Gallery

The Last Supper, a suite of 13 screenprints, each measuring 152.5 x 101.5cms, from the British Council Collection. The prints mimick the graphic design of medicinal industry packaging, using colours reminiscent of Hirst’s ongoing Spot Painting series, inspired by commercial drug firm product catalogues.

In addition to the product number and dosage information, each typographically individual print has the drug name substituted for pedestrian British foods such as Beans, Chips and Cornish Pasty – initially perhaps creating associations with the artist himself and his forays into restaurant ownership, though it is doubtful that such foods would ever be served in Pharmacy.

The biographical theme is furthered through the familiar company trademarks being replaced with the artist’s own name or a stylised D+H logo – corporate and authoritative. This simple alteration immediately raises questions about the nature of belief in large corporations and to a degree, the blind faith inherent in contemporary society for pharmaceutical drugs to ease our pain and heal the body.
Parallels to the faith and commitment evident in religious belief are simply evoked through the appropriation of the conceptual structure of the Last Supper. 13 images representing the 13 participants at the meal, the title itself suggesting nutrition for the body and the spirit, coupled with decay and ultimately death – the ongoing theme of Hirst’s work.

The 13 prints form iconoclastic portraits of Christ and the twelve disciples through the pop art visual device of generic mass production and the commercial world.

'the living is easy'international contemporary photography at Flowers East

2006-08-07T14:45:00.000+01:00

'the living is easy'
international contemporary photography
11 August – 10 September

2006Private view
Thursday 10th August

Yto Barrada, Aliki Braine, Edward Burtynsky, Frederico Camara,Justin Coombes, Admas Habteslasie, Nanna Hanninen, Max Kandhola,Laura Letinsky, Neeta Madahar, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Robert Polidori,Steve Pyke, Kanako Sasaki, Mikhael Subotzky, Lolo Veleko

Flowers East is proud to present ‘the living is easy’: international contemporary photography this August, an exhibition that will bring together work by a diverse selection of international and emerging photographers from Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America.

Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky’s ‘Manufacturing #17’, a factory interior in China with assembly lines of workers will feature alongside recent Slade graduate Aliki Braine’s ‘Daisy Daisy’, the latter comprising 100 photographs spread across the gallery floor.

The rich colours and textures of Robert Polidori’s worn and neglected Havana interiors will be seen in the same environment as Yto Barrada’s languid landscapes of Tangiers, a city on the cusp of terminal ennui. South African photographer, Mikhael Subotzky’s disturbing images of detainees in overcrowded African prisons will be seen in the context of Brazilian artist Frederico Camara’s monumental zoo cages, the latter eerily denuded. And Neeta Madahar’s emotive and mesmerising film ‘Falling’ will play alongside Max Kandhola’s ambiguous ghost-like images of people falling through the air.

Summertime takes on a different meaning when it is a time of drought and evacuation, both being themes explored by Admas Habteslasie. It is apt, bearing in mind the subject of exploitation associated with cotton in ‘Summertime’ (the song from which the show’s title is taken), that Zwelethu Mthethwa should depict images of exhausted sugar cane cutters at rest.

The works in the show, just like the lyrics of the song, take on a bitter sweet tone. Summertime may be a time of plenty, and the living may indeed be easy for some, but not for all. (link)

Art Shows This week

2006-08-07T13:11:00.000+01:00

A bit quite this week

The Freeloaders Weekly (07.08.06 - 13.08.06)
Thursday 10th August -
Art South: 1) Miniature art show (not with miniature artists), Jerwood Art Space, 171 Union Road, SE1 - 6-9pm
2) APT Gallery, Deptford, 6-8pm Group show with performances.

Friday 11th August -
Art East: 1) MOT Opening, Regents Studio, 8 Andrews Road, E8 - 6-9pm
2) Kaleidoscope, art and music 7pm-11pm, Whitechapel Art Gallery (£4 entry)

Saturday 12th August - Film South: Exploding Cinema, 95a Rye Lane, outdoor screening on the roof of multi-story car park (dry) only £2 - films and performances.
That's all this week,

XFSGBX
The Freeloaders Society of Great Britain

Scope Art Shows

2006-08-07T13:05:00.000+01:00

Challenging passive viewing, Scope Miami tips the container of what an art fair is with its artist-designed 40,000 square-foot pavilion.

Scope Miami’s booth-fair has been given the go ahead for Roberto Clemente Park, the heart of Miami’s Wynwood Art District.
Just blocks from the Rubell Family Art Collection, the Margulies Collection, and Miami’s leading galleries, Scope Miami’s 85 international exhibitors will uphold Scope’s unique tradition of one person and thematic group shows presented alongside museum-quality programming, collector tours, screenings and special events.
Scope programming also will be featured throughout Miami, including the Townhouse Hotel. Perfectly located in South Beach, and around the corner from ArtBasel/Miami, the TownHouse will be the networking-hub and daily host for VIPs, as well as a place to relax, meet, and travel to Scope’s Miami’s new monumental site in the Wynwood Art District.
(link)

Upcoming Fairs:
Scope London-- October 12-15, 2006
Scope Miami-- December 7-10, 2006
Scope New York-- February 23-26, 2007
Scope Basel-- June 14-17, 2007

Worlds Largest Etch a Sketch

2006-08-04T11:36:00.000+01:00

The world's largest Etch A Sketch was unveiled at the SIGGRAPH conference this week in Boston.
It actually works. At the conference, some 3,000 people in the audience were able to control the monolith simultaneously by using two-sided paddles that signaled sensor cameras, letting one side of the audience control the right knob and the other side control the left knob.

The simpsons real life intro

2006-08-04T11:27:00.000+01:00

You've probably already seen this -but Im posting it cause its great

ICA -surprise surprise private view Tuesday 1st August

2006-08-04T09:19:00.000+01:00

Went to Surprise Surprise on Tuesday evening, had a great time but had to queue to get in which was weird. Haven't had to for years. Once in ,there was a downstairs bit which failed to inspire and then the bar which was packed met loads of people many I hadn't seen for over ten years!! Met Steve who is now Asia Publisher of Maxim and Miranda Sawyer and Matt(wolf) and it was really busy.

Then I went upstairs for the loo and to my surprise (no pun intended) the exhibition continued and it was miles better upstairs but unbelievably hot.

I suppose the real joy of the exhibition would of been to compare the work on show with the usual work the artists create - but I hadn't picked up a catalogue and didn't know who did what.
So I had to judge on what was there which wasn't much really I quite liked the glass snake,the screaming face and some of the photos.

Also met up with Russell Heron and I tried to encourage him to join a flicker photo group I found hope he does .
More details here
For more pictures just click one of the photos above
And for a much better review go here
and I told you I didnt have a catalogue Russel took them all !!

Inspired art fair

2006-08-03T13:49:00.000+01:00

mark morris
8TH-12TH November 2006

Christ Church, Commercial St, Spitalfields, London E1.
Private View Wednesday 8th – 7.30pm – 9.00pm

Now in its 4th year INSPIRED ART FAIR (IAF) is at the forefront of exhibiting the best in contemporary art from emerging independent artists. IAF 2006 sees over 40 dynamic national and international artists represented across a diverse range of media.

As part of IAF and new for 2006 is the IAF PHOTOGRAPHIC CHALLENGE. The challenge is for photographers to capture their 'Hidden London'. (In association with Visit London)

IAF is also delighted to announce the launch of a new and unique visual arts challenge, created by Inspired Art Fair for Aprilia.
IAF website
IAF Photo Challenge
Aprilia Art Challenge

Also there's still time if you're an artist to submit your work
details here

Box art by Franck de Las Mercedes

2006-08-03T11:12:00.000+01:00

Franck de Las Mercedes sends his paintings on cardboard boxes to anyone, anywhere in the world, for free. The boxes are shipped with a message on the outside (e.g.
"Fragile: Contains Peace"), for all to see and consider. This revolutionary art series combines elements of painting, sculpture and installation art, and also transform the exhibition space into a broader, more interactive environment than that of an art gallery, where the recipient is also incorporated into the work. The idea is to provoke thought and to consider the fragility of things like peace, love and happiness, but also to promote change through art and to foment art appreciation in those who come in contact with the boxes.

Franck is an abstract painter whose work has exhibited in galleries in New York, Miami and New Jersey. His work is in corporate and private collections around the world. FdLM will be featured in an upcoming book by celebrity photographer Natal Felix Jr, to be published in the autumn.

Tracey Emin Goes Scottish

2006-08-02T15:05:00.000+01:00

Sometimes I feel beautiful
EDINBURGH is to host the biggest-ever exhibition devoted to the work of controversial artist Tracey Emin.
The first major retrospective of her career is to be mounted at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in two years' time.
The celebrated London artist has agreed to produce a number of new works for her first solo exhibition in Scotland.
The National Galleries of Scotland will also be borrowing works from her own archive and private collections for the exhibition.

Video Game Art Exhibition

2006-08-02T09:09:00.000+01:00

Images by Rensselaer/Rainey Straus

Using surveillance cameras and the popular video game The Sims 2™, Katherine Isbister, associate professor of language, literature, and communication at Rensselaer, will create a public art installation called SimVeillance: San Jose as part of The ZeroOne San Jose Festival, taking place Aug. 7-13.
Surveillance cameras focused on the Fairmont Plaza in downtown San Jose will capture images of passers by.
Isbister will then use The Sims 2 game that allows users to create simulated worlds and fill them with cyber-citizens to create a virtual version of the plaza, and fill it with avatars of the people passing through the plaza who’ve been caught on camera. The virtual population will grow throughout the duration of the exhibition.
The final installation will have two displays. One screen will feature the game running, populated with the simulated transients.
The other will show live surveillance of the plaza itself.
“SimVeillance brings the local urban population back into the show in a unique way, as locals may be able to see themselves captured via surveillance camera and transposed into the game,” says Isbister. “Even viewers who don’t catch glimpses of themselves in the installation are bound to reconsider the impact of wandering the urban landscape.
The project seeks to evoke feelings of curiosity, voyeurism, and a jolt into the perspective typical of city planners or sociologists.”
Isbister collaborated on the project with Rainey Straus, and Chelsea Hash ’06.

ZeroOne is the 2006 incarnation of the International Symposium on Electronic Art, held in various cities worldwide since 1988. According to the festival’s organizers, the event will showcase the world’s most innovative contemporary artists working at the intersection of art and digital culture.
View SIMveillance Video preview.

White Space To Present PLUG

2006-08-02T09:05:00.000+01:00

Dafna Talmor, Untitled, 2003.
White Space, County Hall Gallery, will present PLUG,
from August 8th through August 27th, 2006.
PLUG is a group exhibition featuring a large selection of artists from the RCA Alumni.
The exhibition at County Hall Gallery - comprises a mix of emerging and established contemporary artists working in the medium of photography, painting, drawing and video.

Artist’s exhibiting: Axel Antas, Becky Beasley, David Bennett, Bianca Brunner, Martin Clark, Annabelle Dalby, Joe Duggan, Annabel Elgar, Ebru Erülkü, Lihie Gendler Talmor, Sunnifa Hope, Mustafa Hulusi, Elina Jokipii, Greg Jones, Minna Kantonen, Peter Kennard & Cat Picton Phillipps, Steffi Klenz, Karen Knorr, Wiebke Leister, Lucy Levene, Virginie Litzler, Katherine Mac Daid, Miho Miyachi, Sebastien Montabonel, Suzanne Mooney, Martina Mullaney, Jenny Nordquist, Sarah Pickering, Shelley Rae, Ali Richards, Kimberly Schoen, Eva Stenram, Helga Steppan, Dafna Talmor, Esther Teichmann, Jessica Thom, Jesper List Thomsen, Danny Treacy, Leon Woolls and Ben Young

Ron Mueck in Scotland

2006-08-01T12:30:00.000+01:00

Ron Mueck is having a show in Edinburgh (so does Robert Mapplethorpe) and the press has announced the event extensively. There's the official image gallery of the exhibition and The Telegraph has a more "behind the curtains" gallery showing Mueck sewing the hair on the sculptures or fixing their eyes.
Ron Mueck is at the Royal Scottish Academy from August 5 to October 1.Picture: Gautier Deblonde, courtesy Anthony d'Offay, London.

via wemakemoneynotart

Giant ape created on resort front

2006-08-01T12:20:00.000+01:00

Around 20 tonnes of sand are being transformed into King Kong on Weston-super-Mare beach as the resort hosts its first sand sculpture event.
Once the 10ft square case of sand is compacted, the sculptors will carve away to create the gaint ape which will be in place until September.
Sculptors have previously created pieces including life-size models of cars, replicas of buildings and people.
Over five days King Kong will emerge from the sand on Beach Lawns.
via:link

Like a beautiful nightmare

2006-07-31T13:27:00.000+01:00

Norwegian artist Børre Sæthre's clean universe is slightly disturbing. His elegant Space Odyssey-like scenography are inhabited by unlikely creatures: a dead Roe Dee, menacing crows, lusty rabbits or a staring white Unicorn.
more info and picture credits via link

Banksy Films

2006-07-31T13:24:00.000+01:00

watch Banksy films here

Monstrous Tales at APT Gallery

2006-07-31T12:12:00.000+01:00

The Monstrous Tales show at APT Gallery opens in August

MONSTROUS TALES Aug 10 - Oct 20, 2006 Thursday-Sunday,
1-6pm Private view Thursday 10th August 6 - 8pm

Artists:Oreet Ashery, Yason Banal, Teodora Buba, Gary Colclough, Christina Corfield, Sarah Doyle, Joe Duggan, Lisa Finnegan-Smith, Angela Cockayne, Craig Fisher, Nick Hornby, Gabrielle O'Connor, Anita Mudaliar.

‘Monstrous Tales’ brings together an exciting mix of artists who employ humour, absurdity and spectacle to investigate and portray the monstrous, the bizarre, and the shocking.
Through the use of satirical humour Monstrous Tales will question, reveal and expose the monsters that we have become accustomed to within the media, film, and the everyday, allowing the viewer to confront the unfamiliar within the familiar.
These monsters are not only the hairy, drooling, sharp teethed creatures that live under children’s beds, they are stars of reality TV, plastic surgery freaks, countries who rage war, stories in children’s books, or celebrities whose life’s are lived out through trashy magazines.
On the evening of the private view Nick Hornby will be performing a sound piece that involves brining a car in to the gallery space, Oreet Ashery and Stephen Wilson will perform ‘Three Sons’.

APT Gallery Harold Works 6 CreeksideSE8 4SAmap
Deptford (via London Bridge / Deptford Bridge DLR)

http://www.aptstudios.org
http://www.monstrous-tales.co.uk/

IS This Art? number 2

2006-07-31T11:55:00.000+01:00

An occasional posting number 2 via fluid thinking

Uwe Max Jensen

2006-07-31T11:44:00.000+01:00

Controversial Danish shock artist bleeds for his work via The Peninsula

Danish shock artist Uwe Max Jensen has courted controversy for years, using his unorthodox and provocative work — some of which make use of his own blood and excrement — to test the outer limits of art appreciation.
In a soft voice and with an almost juvenile expression, the 34-year-old father of three insists he is not “a lunatic, not a provocateur.”
“People do not like the natural materials that I use in my work: blood, urine and excrement.... They prefer oil on canvas!” “It’s free of charge, and we all have it in our bodies,” Jensen adds.
His latest installation is no exception to the irreverent style: every morning and evening in the last week of July, Jensen walked his dog Rocky on the lawn of the Aarhus gallery, the last word in cutting-edge art, leaving “messages” from his pet on the grass.
“It’s a gift for the museum because they do not have to pay for the exhibit,” explains Jansen.

The gallery is no stranger to Jensen’s pranks.
In January 2005, he relieved himself on the “Waterfalls” sculpture by Danish-Icelandic sculptor Olafur Eliasson. “I have not improved the work,” he said at the time. “I have merely added a little local art, which is sadly lacking in this museum.”
Some simply consider him a vandal, while others see genius in his work, pushing the limits of conceptual art.

An exhibit displayed in Stockholm in 2002 featured his own mother, a washing machine, a tumble-dryer and an iron, entitled “Mother’s Laundry”. Members of the public were encouraged to leave their dirty washing at the exhibit and collect it, freshly washed and pressed, as they left, “thus liberating visitors from their domestic tasks and mundane daily routines to allow them to focus on art.”

He shocked the art world again last March with a live performance at an Aarhus museum where he made a sausage from his own blood. His 11-year-old daughter then passed the sausage around to onlookers to taste.
Jensen admires other artists who have made use of bodily functions, such as Frenchman Marcel Duchamp for his “Fountain”, a urinal, and the Italian Piero Manzoni’s creation “Artist’s Shit.”
He has also attracted the attention of maverick Danish film director Lars von Trier, who invited Jensen to celebrate his 50th birthday in May at a provocation-suprise-absurdity-themed party.

Art Attack

2006-07-31T11:37:00.000+01:00

"On Saturday night, art attacked! Sprawled out on the floor of the Gladstone Hotel with paint, markers, chalk, crayons, and whatever other colourful tools they could get their hands on, artists first covered their kraft paper canvasses before heading out en masse to beautify the community. " read more
via Jerrold

Art Private views in London, The Freeloaders Weekely (31.07.06 - 06.08.06)

2006-07-31T10:50:00.000+01:00

Monday 31st July -
Art East: Recent Paintings by Katie Solluhub - 6-8pm, Shoreditch Gallery, Hoxton Market, N1.

Tuesday 1st August -
Art Central: 1) ICA Opening, invite only, huge show 'Surprise Surprise' 6-9pm
2) James Hyman Fine Art, 6 Masons Yard, Duke St, SW1 6-8pm

Wednesday 2nd August -
Art West: Italian Arcadia, Stables Gallery, Orleans House, Richmond, TW1 3DJ - 2.30 - 5.30PM (afternoon free food and wine)
Art Centralish: PV for Chelsea College Postgrad, 16 John Islip Street, Millbank, next to Tate Britain

Thursday 3rd August -

Art East: Pv at nomoregrey, Redchurch Street, 6-10pm

Saturday 5th August -

Art Central: Sketch, 31 Conduit St, 12.30-2.30pm, afternoon film and wine.
Art East: The Art Pavillion, Mile End Park, art, jazz and picnic (bring your own food)

Art outside London (for it does exist): Longshore Drift, Brighton Beach - 1pm to Sunset (7pm or later) on the beach directly opposite the concorde2 bar on madeira drive - live art and artists celebration

Sprinkleman

2006-07-28T09:36:00.000+01:00

Sprinkleman by Mr McElwaine
more sprinkle here
via PSFK

Joe Nishizawa: Japan’s underground photography

2006-07-28T07:47:00.000+01:00

Another great article via those guys at pingmag

Support Daniel McGowan

2006-07-28T07:11:00.000+01:00

If They Come For You In The Morning: A Benefit Art Show for Daniel McGowan,
will be held tonight at ABC No Rio (who now own their building!).
The show will raise money for the legal defense of local activist Daniel McGowan, who was arrested last December during Operation Backfire, a multi-state sweep of environmental activists who have now been charged with virtually every unsolved earth and animal liberation case in the Northwest.
He is currently facing life plus 335 years in prison on federal charges of arson, property destruction, and conspiracy - he has pled not guilty to all charges.

Featuring over 80 renowned and emerging artists (including: Swoon, Banksy, Borf, David Ellis, Klutch and a whole lot more), the minimum-bid auction will have artwork priced as low as $5, there will also be pieces sold at a flat rate. Selected work is also available for purchase online at www.visualresistance.org/mcgowan. Donations also accepted.
5 to 10pm // ABC No Rio [156 Rivington Street NEW YORK] // Free
More details also here

Show me the Monet

2006-07-28T06:55:00.000+01:00

Thursday 13 July, 3-4pm

Shezad Dawood and Joanna Callaghan (co-producer, Show Me The Monet)
Artist Shezad Dawood's current projects include Artists' Studio, a 1 year project located in a Victorian house in Knightsbridge. 7 artists have been invited over the year to propose individual projects lasting 6 weeks to undermine, interfere or comment upon the notion of the studio / apartment. The project looks at bringing the site of art production, the East End, to the site of art consumption, the West End. Shezad will be exhibiting at Artists' Studio from 20 June to 25 July.

Joanna Callaghan is an Australian artist based in London, and co-producer and citizen reporter for Show Me The Monet.

includes an interview between Joanna Callaghan and our very own Freeloaders Society of Great Britain.

Listen again to Shezad Dawood and Joanna Callaghan via a an MP3 audio file

Lolla Lives-Shepard Fairey-Webisode 2-Banksy

2006-07-27T08:02:00.000+01:00

Rock hero Perry Farrell, creator of Lollapalooza, has decided to start interviewing some of his favorite people.

One of his interviews is with LA street artist Shepard Fairey. Farrell has cut together several short bits, this one is part two of his interview with the OBEY visionary. In this one they talk about fellow artist Banksy

To see more of Perry's interviews, search them out on YouTube

Keeping Score at Art Rod

2006-07-26T11:14:00.000+01:00

Really liked this photo for more info on the show go to art daily

Tate Modern plans its £215m cubist period

2006-07-26T11:10:00.000+01:00

Plans for one of the most extraordinary buildings ever considered for Britain, a £215 million extension for Tate Modern, were unveiled yesterday with the gallery declaring that it hoped to complete it in time for the 2012 London Olympics.
Via telgraph online

FADshop now live

2006-07-25T12:48:00.000+01:00

Yes you can now buy back issue's of The FAD magazine - only a few left though so hurry..
FADshop

Barbara Amos Cuts up the Park at the Whyte Museum

2006-07-25T11:57:00.000+01:00

BANFF, ALBERTA, CANADA.-
The Whyte Museum presents the exhibit Barbara Amos:
Cutting up the Park through October 9, 2006.

Barbara Amos’s whimsical "cut-ups" explore some of the best-known regions of Banff National Park through the process of rearranging iconic scenes of the Canadian Rockies to reflect the varying pressures on the land.
Through her work, we are able to contemplate these dilemmas further by viewing a multi-layered perspective on a complex issue. Paintings of Lake Louise, with their serene brushwork and iconic choice of subject, explore the dilemma by contrasting the concepts of unspoiled beauty and fragmented, parceled land; vastness and segmentation; the palette of nature against a man-made palette. The works of Barbara Amos involve a local scene that is cut up, distorted or rearranged.
The realism is a starting point that dissolves into layering, fragmenting and restructuring, creating a metaphor for the changes in our society. For the past few years her work has focused on urban and corporate themes.
Her recent work has moved into the landscape and environmental issues. She has worked in various painting mediums, in video and in digital imagery.

She has been short listed on national and international public art competitions and recently completed a 90 foot work for Cardel Place in Calgary, Alberta. Her work is in the US Library of Congress. The Alberta Foundation for the Arts, RBC Dominion Securities and Esso Resources are a few of the organizations that have added her work to their collections.

ART show : Offspace Projects Present...the sun in uranus

2006-07-25T11:29:00.000+01:00

Private View: Sunday 30th July 3pm – 7pm
Exhibition: 31st July – 28th August 2006

Sebastian Brameshuber - Max Boehme - Tony Brennan Cedric Christie - Thomas Draschan - Derek Ogbourne Mark Hammond - Marc Hulson - Daniel Jackson Nicolas Jasmin (N.I.C.J.O.B.) - Cedar Lewisohn Calum F. Kerr - Thom Kubli - Leon Kuhn Lee Maelzer - Jason Mountolive - Hermann Nitsch Richard Niman - Emer O'Brien - Raul Pina Brendan Quick - Jamie Robinson - Bernhard Schreiner Vroni Schwegler - Rafael Vargas-Suarez Paul Sakoilsky - Colin Smith - Samon Takahashi Gavin Turk – Alexandra Vogt

An exhibition of international artists taking place at the Las Vegas Tattoo Co,
including: drawing, painting, photo-works & video-works.
A piece/image from the majority of artists will be made into a tattoo design, which one will be able to purchase as a real tattoo over the course of the show, tattooed by El Chicano and his crowd, (with a letter of authentication).
The tattoos will also be available as multiples, in the form of two tattoo-transfers on a signed card, (one for now and one for later!). Works will also, obviously be for sale, and my god! we are so generous, we'll even throw in tattoo transfers.

As the only true witnesses of the Chupacabras of Hackney, Raul Pina & Paul Sakoilsky will start the art-tattoo needles pricking and the inks flowing, with a dual public tattoo ceremony with El Chicano & his crowd.

'Pure retinal porn': A show to blow the London cynicism out of our brains. 'Art is short; tattoo (sic.) is for Life.' Offer a piece of your skin to El Chicano! Become a real piece of work! Offer yourself to the Cosmos! Look into the eyes of the Chupacabras & Laugh.

contact:raulpina1@mac.com +44(0)7958618486 paulsakoilsky@mac.com +44(0)7951714468
Las Vegas Tattoo Co.,
245 Mare St, Hackney,
London E8 3NS
020 8986 1439

Art Shows -The Freeloaders Weekly (24.07.06 - 30.07.06)

2006-07-25T09:55:00.000+01:00

Wednesday 26th July
Art North: Cubitt Gallery, 8 Angel Mews, N1 - 6.30-8.30pm - Documentation of Random Acts of Kindness

Thursday 27th July
Art Central: 60th Anniversary of Gimpel Fils Gallery, 30 Davies St, 6-10pm lotsa Champagne.

Art South: Solo show of Thilo Staudt, Clapham Art Centre, 26-32 Voltaire Road, SW4. Must rvsp - studio@shiftdesign.co.uk for entry to the private view, food / drink and after-party.

Art East: 1) Foster Art, 21 Rivington Street, 6-8pm 2) Final Day of Free range student shows, Old Trumans Brewery, Brick Lane, 6-10pm

Friday 28th July

Art East: 1) The Group / Sharon Gal - 6-9pm, Transition Gallery, Unit 2, Regents Studio, 6-9pm
2) George Polke, 46-68 De Beauvoir Crescent, 6-9pm

Sunday 30th July
Art East: 'A Sun in Uranus' Group show and performances at the Las Vegas Tattoo Company,
245 Mare Street, E8 from 3pm - 7pm. (see blog above)

Marlborough Fine Art Summer Party

2006-07-24T19:22:00.000+01:00

We set off for a night out at the Marlborough summer party but before this we headed over to the Economist Plaza to see Julie Verhoeven wasnt really much here but did take some seeds to place over at the art gallery Riflemaker.

Then over to Marlboro on the way we stopped off at the Royal Academy to see Damien Hirsts Virgin Mother, It was great the scale really works with the academy in the backround.

Marlborough was ramed free champagne for all great work Francis Bacon etc funilly enough somone working thought I wanted to buy it, just $10 million !!

More photo of the Marlborough Party here

ZUNE is coming

2006-07-22T15:56:00.000+01:00

Microsoft is launching a competitor to itunes/ipod called Zune the cool thing is the illustration/music they are using to create a buzz.
Link

AFTER THE REALITY at Deitch Projects

2006-07-21T10:55:00.000+01:00

AFTER THE REALITY ON VIEW THROUGH AUGUST 12, 2006
Yoshitaka Azuma, Enlightenment, Koichi Enomoto, Taro Izumi ,Soshiro Matsubara ,Aya Ohki
Deitch Projects
76 Grand StreetNew York, NY 10013
www.deitch.com

Population One

2006-07-20T19:21:00.000+01:00

Found this via Protein
"every pixel in the illustration represents one person alive on earth. The first one is you, the rest is everyone else. 6.5 billion people, 6.5 billion pixels." link

Kozyndan Exhibition at Paul Smith’s SPACE

2006-07-20T19:19:00.000+01:00

Great report on a Koyzndan exhibition over at Ping Magazine

Google Artist -most viewed unknown artist ever !

2006-07-20T19:08:00.000+01:00

This is the guy who illustrates all the Google Logos he's been doing it since 2000. His name is Denis Hwang.

Via CNN

And view more of his work here

Interview of W. James Au AKA Hamlet Au

2006-07-20T18:49:00.000+01:00

Cool interview of W James about what he's been doing in Second Life actually interviewing other avatars/people about their everyday life, business, passions inside the game.
Via we make money not art

CURATING FOR THE RADIO Cubitt Gallery

2006-07-20T12:02:00.000+01:00

Saturday 22nd July 2006, 6:00 to 7:30pm

A discussion between Alex Farquharson, Raimundas Malasauskas, Olivia Plender and Loris Gréaud (via telepathy). Moderated by Anna Colin.

The four speakers will share their experiences of curating and exhibiting on the radio in the context of their own practices, and in particular in relation to other exhibition formats, whether physical spaces, television or print. Addressing radio's potential as an artistic medium and mode of dissemination, they will discuss the significance of its increasing use by artists, curators and institutions.

Free. No booking Required. Pay Bar.

Curating for the Radio is an event accompanying Radio Gallery, a series of 12 radio programmes envisaging radio as exhibition space. Radio Gallery is curated by Anna Colin. For more information visit: http://www.radiogallery.org/
For more information please contact Tom Morton or Bettina Brunner at info@cubittartists.org.uk or on +44 (0) 20 7278 8226.

Dazed and 1234 photos

2006-07-19T15:48:00.000+01:00

Following up on Mark's post, here's some photos from Astrid Chesney at the Dazed and Confused and from 1234 Action at the Old Blue Last.

Photo Art by Bert Monroy

2006-07-19T14:11:00.000+01:00

This might look like a photo but its not its;

"It is a panorama of the Damen Station on the Blue Line of the Chicago Transit Authority.
Adobe Illustrator was used for generating the majority of the basic shapes as well as all the buildings in the Chicago skyline. The rest was created in Photoshop.•
The image size is 40 inches by 120 inches.•
The flattened file weighs in at 1.7 Gigabytes. •
It took eleven months (close to 2,000 hours) to create.•
The painting is comprised of close to fifty individual Photoshop files. •
Taking a cumulative total of all the files, the overall image contains over 15,000 layers.•
Over 500 alpha channels were used for various effects. •
Over 250,000 paths make up the multitude of shapes throughout the scene. "

via Transbuddha

The Freeloaders Weekly (17.07.06-23.07.06)

2006-07-18T09:17:00.000+01:00

Tuesday 18th July
Art Central: 1) Marlborough Fine Art Summer Show, 6-8pm (champagne) 2) The Economist, 6.30-8.30pm
Art East: Flowers East, Kingsland Road, 6-8pm

Wednesday 19th July
Art Central: ICA Book Launch, Metropolis Rising, 6.30-11pm, free early drinks and entry to downstairs club night, 12 Carlton Terrace entrance - Free entry RVSP: info@metropolis-rise.co.uk
Art East: Steve Micalef's film Red Star Dwarf launched at 35 Fieldgate Street Gallery, 7pm-late free food and drink.

Thursday 20th July
Art North: '55', 55 Holmes Road, Group Show, 6-9pm, just off Kentish Town High Street
Art East: Penultimate Old Truman Brewery Student Shows, Free Range, 6-10pm.

Friday 21st July: Séance: ‘War on Ghosts’ curated by Andrew Hunt, 6.30-9pmfeaturing David Burrows and Simon O’Sullivan, Simon Ould, Millie Brown, Calum F. Kerr

Saturday 22nd July: Art East: Flaca, 69 Broadway Market, group show, 6-9pm

XFSGBXThe Freeloaders Society of Great Britain

Astrid Chesney at Dazed Gallery

2006-07-17T17:38:00.000+01:00

Last Thursday Dan came down to London we started out at The Foundry with great intentions to goto about 5 shows plus Free range.

However the reality was not so great we managed to go to Astrid Chesney at The Dazed Gallery where we met up with Rankin .
We then headed over to The Old Blue Last to hook up with Sean's 1234 records night and kinda ended up staying there saw a couple of bands and I had a go up on stage

.

Short Circuits film night at the Common Room, Sheffield

2006-07-15T13:23:00.000+01:00

Last Wednesday was Short Circuits night at the Common Room, upstairs at The Forum in Sheffield's Division Street. I walked in to the bar's cavernous interior, hunted around the pool tables and past the couples in their smart casual clothing, watching boxing on multiple flat screens, until I finally stumbled upon a more rag-tag bunch hidden away in a dark alcove, watching a series of short films made by local artists and film-makers.

There were around 20 pieces on show, ranging from around one minute to five minutes in length, with short breaks every few films during which music played along to live video mixing and we were treated to one or two performances. A highlight of the night was the live show by WebsterGotts - two near-naked men (Alexis Gotts and Scott Webster) dressed only in large cardboard y-fronts, a forest of fake pubes hanging underneath. They stood, impassive, smoking cigarettes and holding pints of beer while a brass band version of Bohemian Rhapsody played over the PA. When it reached its near-climactic "guitar solo" both men lifted their pints to their lips and tipped them back, glugging the lot over the length of the solo. Glasses down on the table, they returned to making only the most understated of movements, puffing on cigarettes and staring into space. As the last breaths of the song played out, the two took one final drag and exhaled over the last lingering note. The whole thing was inspired, and reminded me of Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer at their surreal best.

Back to the films - here are some of my favourites:

David Shrigley and Chris Sheperd's Who I Am What I Want, a disturbing and funny animation about a savage boy whose name is muck and who just is who he is; voiceover by the legendary Kevin Eldon.

Aqua Gym by Simon Green, is a film of two synchronised swimmers but filmed from underwater, and often turned upside-down, so that it looked as though we were watching two women balancing upon water. The film began with a quote from Diane Arbus: "Nothing is the same as they said it was. It's what I've never seen before I recognise". Echoing the quote, the action in the film was simultaneously familiar and alien.

Forget Me Not 3 by Trine Lise Nedreaas showed an old man eating a plateful of mini-frankfurters (around 30 of them) in a little over a minute. The expressions on his face, especially the pleasure on finishing his task, were beautiful to behold, as was the photographic style of this fixed-camera piece.

All the time in the world? by Semiconductor combined sounds from the British Geological survey with cleverly animated photographs of the Northumbria landscape which made it seem as though the earth was breathing, pulsating, its heart beating with the passing of aeons.

The Pitch by Mark Lewis was a pitch, spoken by the arist (I presume), proposing a film with no leading roles, where the stars are the extras. The film started out as a head shot, and panned out over the course of its four minutes. The speaker was standing in what seemed to be a busy station (Liverpool Street?) and all around him people bustled, their various activities both distracting from and adding to the significance of his speech.

Once the films were finished, Hotsnack set up and played a set of largely improvised music which regularly broke down (broke up?) into a repetitive troll-like marching rhythym. The band members stalked the stage in masks, hats and enormous beards, while snatches of film, orchestrated by Edwin Rostron, continued to play on the large projection screen behind them, making the performance as visually exciting as it was aurally. When they finished, the band packed up as the film continued, scenes from a variety of bizarre fetish movies which showed, among other things, scantily-clad women pouring baked beans over one another's feet and then licking them off. Finally, I headed downstairs to The Forum in time for two songs by local band Monkey Swallows the Universe, and then trolled home myself.

There is a full set of photos from this night here.

BLOCassembly 3 - 30th June 2006

2006-07-14T18:11:00.000+01:00

On 30th June I went to the third BLOCassembly (you can see my report and pictures from BLOCassembly two here) at BLOCspace, Sheffield.

I arrived a bit late, and spent most of my time chatting once I was there, so I missed some of the work which this time was all film/video based arts.

The first piece I caught was Homagery by Elizabeth Adams, a claymation featuring plastacine ducks, which was described in the programme as "small commentaries on art, art education and the importance of either, with slapstick overtones". It took a few scenes for me to catch on to the theme of the pieces, but after seeing ducks on couches, ducks picnicking on the lawn, duck ballerinas, ducks covered in blue paint writhing on canvases, ducks in formaldehyde, etc etc etc, I realised I was watching the history of art as re-enacted by small animated plastacine animals. Lots of fun.

Next up was Restricted View/1 by Susanne Palzer. Footage from a 70s American cop show, featuring an outrageously camp drag artist and some apparently closet homosexuality. There was something strangely familiar about the show, but the strange jump edits made me wonder what was missing and how the various parts linked together. It was only when I read the programme that I realised this was an episode of Starsky and Hutch with all appearances by Starsky and/or Hutch edited out. Made for an interesting study of what's left over once the main focus of attention has gone.

Outside in the courtyard, several TVs (and a Mini-DVD player, viewable through a telescope) played pieces on continual loop. I didn't get a proper look at any of these, something which could well be the fault of Drink by Sheena MacRae, another piece of re-appropriated American TV. This time the source material was the soap opera Dallas: an entire series-worth edited down to show just the scenes of characters drinking - seven minutes in total. Placing this right next to the bar was either a very bad or a very good move. I'm sure shots of JR repeatededly knocking back large whiskeys had some subliminal influence upon my habits that evening, and go some way towards explaining why my memories beyond this point are rather fuzzy.

As I stood outside, drinking, Linda Bevan performed her untitled piece, walking carefully back and forth around the courtyard, laying down pieces of paper (flyers for the event), walking over them, re-tracing her steps and collecting them up. In the programme she explained that "my art practice has included me using high heels, bubble wrap, cardboard boxes, and sheets of cardboard as important perpetual props to make my art. It is imperative to my practice that I don't allow a prop to remain a trace left over from an event, but come back and perform a task that allows me to activate it again". By this stage, I think I'd had too much Dallas to properly appreciate the significance of the ritual.

Inside again Shaun Armstrong's film Things Are Queer was mainly a photographic animation, a series of still photographs strung together to make a jerky motion picture in a similar matter to Between You and Me by Patryk Rebisz. The effect was spoiled slightly by a "making of" documentary afterwards in which the artist explained, in uneccessary detail, how the effects in the film were achieved. Some things are best left unsaid.

As the evening wore on, and I grew more and more under the influence of Dallas, I saw less work and participated in more drunken chatting. Eventually the studio closed down for the night and we headed, en masse, to Dulo, where I sat beneath the angels in the beer garden and took photographs of any and every stranger passing my way.

Mine at Candid arts-20th July

2006-07-14T16:22:00.000+01:00

Astrid Chesney at Dazed Gallery

2006-07-13T12:52:00.000+01:00

Dazed Gallery:
Astrid Chesney - World of Inferiors: A Rogue's GalleryDepicting two very different extremes in her drawing - one that is serious and considered; the other is immediate and ridiculous - Chesney's love of story is evident in the development of her characters and the atmosphere of her pieces. Influenced by Eastern European films with a strong sense of atmosphere and detail, her strong compositions evoke a dream-like ambience.

July 14 - August 11The Dazed & Confused Gallery can be found at 112-116 Old Street, EC1

Gavin Turk -Live Stock Market Presents...

2006-07-13T12:44:00.000+01:00

LIVE STOCK MARKET PRESENTS A PUPPET SHOW IN TWO ACTS
13th AND 14th JULY HACKNEY EMPIRE THE ACORD THEATRE MARE STREET
DOORS 7 PM£10 (£5 CONS)

From the studio of Gavin Turk comes an art world satire via Becketts masterpiece of absurd theatre.
Existential anxiety meets slapstick puppetry as Beuys and Duchamp squabble irrationally within a barren no-mans land distracted momentarily by the bemused intervantion of Andy, and the bourgeoise art collector Scratchi.
The spice festival presents a rare opportunity to see Waiting for Gavo first performed at the 2005 Port Eliot Literary Festival.

Rohkunstbau Opening

2006-07-12T13:08:00.000+01:00

Summer At The Lake

Last Sunday saw the opening day of this summer's Rohkunstbau show. Located on the outskirts of Berlin in the idyllic surroundings of the Spreewald forest, the annual summer show takes place in a Castle on the side of Gross Leuthen lake. This year was the first year of a trilogy of exhibitions, based on the Krztstof Kieslowski film trilogy, Three Colours: Blue, White, Red. Like the films, the exhibition takes up the signature themes of the French flag, the Tricolore - Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, and examines what the ideals of the French Revolution mean in the here and now.

Gregor Schneider was the biggest name in this years 11-person show. He used the basement rooms not for an installation, but to present documentation for his proposed piece but as yet unrealised piece 'CUBE'. Initally conceived for the Piazza San Marco for last years Venice Biennale, it was turned down by the curators, who deemed it unsuitable. It was susequntly turned down by curators at The Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, who deemed it unsuitable also. So what is it? What heinous, twisted piece of obscenity could cause a big-hitter like Schneider to be turned down by these two institutions? A black cube. Yes, a big black cube, like the Kaaba in Mecca. So Schneider wanted to replicate the holiest place of worship for Muslims slap bang in the middle of Europe, and uh-uh, that's way too provocative. Taken out of context the Kaaba (literally, meaning 'cube') looks quite menacing, and mysetrious, and if you know what it refers to, a whole lot of negative connotations come into play, then, like it or not, it feels immensely threatening to a Westener. What better metaphor for the relations between the West and the Muslim world at the moment? Probably the best illustration in the show of the complex notions of global 'Liberty' that this first part of the trilogy deals with. And who would have thought that it would take such a minimal work to truly shock the art world.

Above: Gregor Schneider, Dokumentation CUBE VENICE 2005

The Blue Noses, two middle-aged Russian men, don't take themselves quite so seriously. Their installation 'Revolution For Export' was comprised of five shipment crates containing monitors, on which played a kind of extreme slapstick violence. In one, a man is repeatedly attacked in the groin by his friend who hold a burning firework. In another a woman screams hysterically as she finds herself bedecked with a great big penis. Hilarious and anarchic, the Blue Noses produce a populist take on the serious subject of freedom and revolution at a personal, corporeal level.

Above: The Blue Noses, Revolution for Export (detail), 2006. Photo: Arwed Messmer

Monica Bonvicini's piece stood out as one of only two pieces in the show that made direct use of the grounds and surroundings of the castle. Her designated room lay empty, and instead she installed a sign reading 'NOT FOR YOU' outside on the wall facing the lake. Such a beautiful and simple illustration of liberty was the most powerful and directly affecting of all the pieces in the show.

Above: Monica Bonvicini, NOT FOR YOU, 2006, Schloss Groß Leuthen. Photos: Vicky Fox

Early evening there was a set of performances, (some highly dubious, such as a man in a wedding dress, strutting along the low wall of the lake to the sound of Billy Idol's 'White Wedding' and then laying flat out with a piece of torte on his would-be winkle and waiting for a brave audience memeber to go and take a bite) others were pretty amusing. All were based around food and presented as a menu - starter, main course, desert and digestiv. Here's the main course in action. How does carrots, pasta salad and red peppers sound tonight? mm mmm...

Above: Performance at Rohkunstbau, 8 July 2006. Photos: Vicky Fox

http://www.rohkunstbau.de/

Flattening Grass Gathering on Hampstead Heath

2006-07-12T12:20:00.000+01:00

Cindy Sherman at Jeu De Paume Paris

2006-07-10T15:45:00.000+01:00

I love Paris was over there last week which was great saw the semi- final off the world cup (which France won) so everyone was going ,mad etc
One of the reasons I like Paris is that you get all this random art (see above) no idea who or why but the red lines are great .
Only got to see one show I had to collect my sisters books and stuff so didnt have much time but went to a Cindy Sherman retrospective at Jeu De Paume which has just had a make over.The venue was really great its on the Place de la Concorde so you get great views from outside.

They have two cinema's downstairs then two floors with about 5/6 galleries.
It was really nice to see how Cindy had progrerssed from small black&white photos based on everday situations to very large very coloufull slightly intimidating subjects.
Also got to see some work that didnt feature her lots of melting,disfigured cindy/barbie dolls .
Didnt take many photos they kinda didnt allow it however click on the photo below to see a few more.

Free Range, Ji Wenyu at Museum 52 and Sunil Pawar at Bricklane Gallery

2006-07-10T15:30:00.000+01:00

Sorry this is so late but I went to Paris last week and didnt take my computer with me (for once). Anyway it was a great night two weeks ago the Ji Wenyu show was probably one of the best shows we've been to for a long while, went with Kirsten and Jim she was showing at Museum 52 picture below also you can read a review of the show here .
You can click on the picture below to see more photos.

After this show we went to Sunil Pawar at The Bricklane Gallery great work. Sunil is also a DJ
, as well as seeing work on his website you can get mp3's of his music.

Then after this we had a look around Free range and found some great work and not so great work some artists seemed very money obsessed click photo below for more pictures.

The Freeloaders Weekly 10.07.06 - 16.07.06

2006-07-10T15:12:00.000+01:00

Monday 10th July -
Art Central: Riflemaker, 78 Beak Street, 6.30-9pm

Tuesday 11th July -
Art South: Union, 1 Ewer Street, SE1, solo show of a German painter, 6-9pm

Thursday 13th July -
Art East: 1) Modern Art no's 7 & 10 Vyner Street 6-8pm 2) Reception Space Gallery, 17 Cremer Street, 6-9pm 3) Launch of Savage Messiah 5 by Laura Norder from 7pm at The Foundry, 89 Great Eastern St. 4) Free range student art shows continue in Brick Lane - 6-10pm.

Music East: Noblesse Oblige album launch free entry to Bethnal Green Working Men's Club 8pm-2am

Art Central: Alexe Pollande, 11 Howland Street, WC1, Group show of glasgow based artists 6-8pm

Friday 14th July -
Art East: 1) Clunie Read at the Keith Talent Gallery 6-10pm, Tudor Road, E9 2) Ghao Brothers work at 100 Blurton Road, Clapton, E5 6-10PM 3) Film screenings at the Terrace, 7 Frederick Street, E8 - 6-10pm

Saturday 15th July - Art West: Arcadia Opening Party/picnic, the Stables Gallery at Orleans House, Twickenham, 2.30-5pm

Film/Art East: £5 cost Exploding Cinema, low-budget films and performance, starts at 8pm.

Sunday 16th July - Festival East: Grassyart, art stalls and events across London Fields, Hackney, E8.
That's it, see you there, there, there, there or there,

XFSGBXThe Freeloaders Society of Great Britain

Private view tonight Mark flores at Alison Jaques

2006-07-05T07:02:00.000+01:00

Los Angeles based artist Mark Flores. press release below

In a series of new installations, consisting of hundreds of small paintings and a collection of new drawings, Mark Flores plays on the expansiveness of abstraction, simultaneously evoking the “end of the continent sadness” of American Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac and the commonplace, diaristic impressions of American poet James Schuyler.
Flores suggests a place lost or forgotten, yet somehow hopeful. A sunny California utopia has crumbled to dust, but in the wreckage we can still find a few precious, fleeting moments of calm and beauty.
In the central gallery, Mark Flores presents an installation of numerous small black paintings, eight by six inches in size, that navigate the wall to create the impression of a landscape or cave. The paintings are arranged in a grid-like formation with consistent spacing between each work. The composition generates a visual effect in which the eye creates a dark spot at the crux of each intersection. Embedded within the installation are two drawings rendered in muted colours: the first, a portrait of a man and a woman in silhouette; the second, a drawing of a group of four men in silhouette. The drawings depict the scratches, scuffs and evidence of wear over time present in the source material. Occupying the facing wall of the gallery is a group of portraits created in shades of grey, of singular subjects sitting or standing in various poses.
All source images are taken from the archive of historical photographs at U. C. Berkeley's Bancroft Library.

In the backspace of the gallery, a further modular installation of many small paintings expands out from the far corner of the room. The arrangement of paintings approximates the shadows and light cast upon a wall by a Dreamachine (a rotating light device created by Brion Gysin in the early 1960’s). The Dreamachine, viewed with eyes closed, induces a trance-like state in spectators who stare into it. The experience produces a kaleidoscopic array of intense colour and pattern, and some viewers also describe seeing images and scenes. Mark Flores’ installation consists of layers of paintings. The paintings on the base layer are created in blends of similar colours based on the colours Flores has experienced viewing the Dreamachine. Further layers of paintings draw on photographs the artist has taken and printed of the shadows the apparatus has cast. These paintings obscure the base layer, and here and there hints of brilliant colour peek out from underneath. In the opposing corner of the room is placed a drawing of the Redwood Forest seen from the ground looking skyward. All that is visible in the image is a pattern of branches, leaves and light.

Fluctuating between abstraction and figuration, mediated by painting and drawing, Flores believes the concrete representation of photography lends itself to a transcendent project. “We stand on the ground, but we may look toward the sky. We stare into the light, but our eyes may play tricks on us.” (Mark Flores, June 2006)

Mark Flores was born in California (1970) and lives and works in Los Angeles. He received his MFA from CalArts, Valencia (2002) and his BFA from the University of California, Los Angeles (1999). Recent exhibitions include a solo show at David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles (2005) and Mark Flores exhibited in An Arc, Another, And So On, curated by Jan Tumlir at the California State University, Los Angeles (2004)

John Flear LED firefly art

2006-07-03T18:29:00.000+01:00

Check out John Flear and other artists and see how they use biteditions 'stuff' to create affordable electronic art. link

Planningtorock at Tate Modern

2006-07-03T17:51:00.000+01:00

Saturday I went to the Tate Modern to see Planningtorock it was part of the UBS openings season at the Tate and also featured workshops from the Guerilla Girls and Laurie Simmons new film.
I only got to see Planningtorock because I watched the England game beforehand.

Anyway the evening started up in the members bar of the Tate where you can get great views over london, it was really nice watching the sun go down.

Then downstairs to watch planningtorock as she climbed up on stage she looked kina small but then the music kicked off and with her energy and all the visuals it was great very like an early 90's rave which I loved some photo's below and future tour dates after the link.

Dry Cleaner’s Typography in Tokyo

2006-07-03T17:47:00.000+01:00

There is a nice article on typography over at Ping magazine
Shows what you can do/see when you get lost if you just look around (obviously helps if you are in tokyo).Why do they always use english words in their signs? is it cause they look good?

Tr-IN-ity open submission exhibition

2006-07-03T17:33:00.000+01:00

Monday 17th July – Saturday 22rd July 2006

Arts@trinity is pleased to announce the launch of tr-IN-ity the first of its open submission exhibitions at Holy Trinity Church.

Arts@trinity invited artists from all disciplines to consider and respond to the space at Holy Trinity in any manner and media they saw fit.

The work is from across a range of disciplines and includes photography, sound, video and interactive work.
The artists chosen for this project will be displaying their work in the space at Holy Trinity Church, Boar Lane, Leeds from Monday 17th July until Saturday 22nd July from 10am – 4pm and 12– 6pm on Thursday 20th.

A full list of those taking part can be found on www.artsattrinity.co.uk
The launch night will take place on Monday 17th July from 6-8pm and will include drinks and live music performances in the space.

For further information call: 0113 245 4268 or email artsattrinity@hotmail.co.uk or visit www.artsattrinity.co.uk

Events This week 3rd July

2006-07-03T13:26:00.000+01:00

The Freeloaders Weekly (03.07.06 - 09.07.06)

Tuesday 4th July
Art Central: Cathy Lomax show at Rosy Wilde's new space at 79 Wardour St, above the Ann Summers shop, 6-8pm.

Art East: The Foundry, 89 Grt Eastern St, opening night of draw_drawing organised by Giacomo Picca performances from 7pm and from 7 everyday until Saturday

Wednesday 5th July -
Art East: Pv at Victoria Miro Gallery, Wharf Road, 6-8pm.

Thursday 6th July
Art South: Human Technology pv 6-10pm at 220 Farmers Road, SE5. Also 6-9pm museum of Garden History in Lambeth.

Art East: 1) Dark Matter, group show, 6-8pm in White Cube, Hoxton Square 2) Standpoint Gallery pv 6-9pm, Coronet Street 3) Ron Meerbeek at Studio 1.1, Rechurch Street.

Friday 7th July
Art East: 1) Way out East, Hackney Artists show 38-40 Upper Clapton Road, 6-late.Around 8pm performance by the Lonesome Cowboys from Hell.

2) Art/Music East: 'Abonimal' at the Flea Pit, 49 Columbia Road, doors 7-10pm costs £4 - featuring Frank E. from the Lonesome Cowboys from Hell.

Saturday 8th July

Art Central: Ellen Cantor presents, a film about Northern Soul @Sketch, 9 Conduit St, W1. dj's, free wine, in super posh environs 12.30pm-4pm.

Music/Comedy: Rise Festival, FREE anti-racism festival in Finsbury Park on from 1pm-9pm, the Wailers headlining, Buzzcocks, Graham Coxon, Comedy Tent, etc.

Sunday 9th July (and Saturday 8th)
Music: Salaam Festival FREE in Regents Park, lots of world music acts 12noon-9pm.

Not Signs but Signifiers

2006-06-29T21:47:00.000+01:00

There's a controversy going on in Vancouver over an art exhibit made from scavenged/stolen street signs. To me this sounds like a lot of fuss over not particularly good art, although perhaps I shouldn't judge without seeing the "strong holistic spectacle" (no longer quite so holistic).

Paranoia at Leeds Art Gallery

2006-06-29T13:52:00.000+01:00

Last night I went to the opening of Paranoia, the new show at Leeds City Art Gallery (which will subsequently transfer to Focal Point Gallery in Southend and the Freud Museum in London prior to an international tour).

At least, I intended to go to the opening. Unfortunately, as ever I got delayed by one thing and another, so didn't leave the house until nearly 5.30pm. Got to Sheffield Station in time for the 6.08 train, which ought to get me to Leeds with about half an hour to spare to look around the show. Ah well, better than nothing.

Unfortunately (again) my train broke down as it got into Castleford. I had to sit around for about 20 minutes twiddling my thumbs before finally the train started chugging, very slowly, backwards, to Leeds. Got to the station at about ten-to-eight, ran to the art gallery, and arrived just as the bottles of free wine were going back into boxes (damn!) with about two minutes to try and dash around the whole show.

I didn't manage it, nowhere near, and I was so flustered that I didn't really get a chance to take in any of the work, which was a huge shame as this looked to be one of the most fascinating art shows I've visited in a long time. There was a diverse and engaging body of work from many international artists in every medium imaginable. Some large metallic photographic prints (which I subsequently discovered were by Martin Effert) caught my attention, and once again made me realise how bad the Tom Hunter work at Sheffield's Graves Gallery really is. In the centre of one room was an Arab in a cage (yes, a real live Arab in a cage), Doug Fishbone's "Performance with an Arab", which was both attention-grabbing and poignant. As I arrived, I had obviously just missed another performance relating to a woman's paranoia about her appearance: a bare-footed woman in a white dress walked away from one of the gallery's permanent statues (a classical female nude) which was encircled with hundreds of discarded cotton wool pads, womens' magazines and assorted beauty products. Next door another woman, in Middle-Eastern dress, sat with her daughter, surrounded by bread and cotton wool. Obviously the aftermath of Rana Bishara's "Bread for Palestine" performance.

There was just so much going on, and so much to see, I wanted to let it all sink in. But before I could the curators came around, sweeping everyone out of the room. I was left on the steps outside, alone. Not wanting my trip to Leeds to be entirely wasted, I found a very good Japanese restaurant where I ate smoked eel teriyaki and got very drunk, before hopping on the late-night train back to Sheffield.

Police Dog Bite

2006-06-29T13:17:00.000+01:00

Something rather unusual happened to me this morning. I was attacked by a police dog.

I was walking my dog Gizmo in the park, as I do most mornings at about this time. Ahead of me, I could see a large alsatian snuffling around in the undergrowth and a man who was mostly hidden by the trees ahead of me. As we got closer, the alsatian turned, saw Gizmo, and set off after him. Now, Gizmo loves getting other dogs to chase him, because he knows that none of them will ever catch him, so I wasn't too concerned.

By this stage the man had come into view and I could see that he was wearing full police uniform. He called his dog back, and ordered me to stand still, which I did. His dog turned back as soon as it was called, but instead of going back to the owner it lunged at my hand as it passed, and latched on with full force. I was completely shocked. It hurt. A lot.

The policeman ordered his dog off and thankfully it responded to his command. When I took my hand out, it was oozing thick blood. The sight of it made me feel weak. There was a large puncture on the middle finger of my right hand, a hole splayed open at the edges inside which I could see a big loose vein and other bits and pieces of gore. Up the side of my index finger was a raking cut, again fairly deep and with little bits of mincemeat hanging out. The policeman brushed it off as "not a very bad one", and took me back to his van where he gave the cuts a quick wipe and put a dressing on my middle finger, while two plain-clothed detectives hovered in the background. He told me that they'd been searching for a purse which was stolen and probably dumped around there. Only a couple of months before I'd found a rucksack dumped in exactly the same spot, which I'd taken to the police station. Not long before that, I found a mobile nearby and got to hear a part the sad story of what happened to its owner. I'm starting to have my worries about walking home late at night in this area.

Subsequently I had to go to my GP's for a tetanus jab, then to the hospital to have the wound checked over, sellotaped up (it needs stitches but they apparently don't stitch animal bites in case they seal in any infection), and pick up some antibiotics. And now, I'm finding it very hard to type, and to take photographs.

Anyway, Mark wanted me to show these photos which Gill took for me. Are they art? A depiction of the artist's suffering, perhaps?