Extraordinary, life-size skeletal rhino by Norfolk-based sculptor Rachael Long. Made from recycled and forged metal, the rhino is on show at Doddington Hall near Lincoln from 2nd August to 7th September 2014.
A rearing horse, an owl in flight, a lurcher, poised… More Rachael Long, here
Photo by owl’s house london using iPhone 5S.
Subtle, geometric, beautiful. These still-life vignettes by Jan Hardisty are a new series of limited edition, digital inkjet prints with the same modernist, unmistakably Danish touch by the artist (more of his works, here). Happy weekend.
Jan Hardisty, Goldmark Art.
Seven architects from around the world – Alvaro Siza, Eduardo Souto de Moura and Kengo Kuma included, have created a series of site-specific installations and inserted them into the main galleries and front courtyard of the RA. More than just a shelter or a flashy building, architecture has the ability to shape and form how we feel everyday. We are invited to touch, climb, walk, talk, sit, contemplate. And more – as you enter the galleries, a sign orders you to tweet, and photography is encouraged. A rare treat in the rarefied environment of this grand institution. Definitely one for the littles…
Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined until 6 April 2014
Royal Academy of Arts, London. More, here. Image via
It’s London Art Fair week, the first show of the art world year, showing Modern British work of both established and emerging artists. And it’s not just about the art – it’s the most wonderful place to people-watch.
London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, Islington 15-19 January 2014.
More Maisie Broadhead, here
Allusion and ambiguity beguile in these fantastical portrayals of modernity by the impressively monikered Geebird and Bamby. With echoes of Julius Shulman, Alfred Hitchcock, Ed Ruscha and others they appear familiar and yet surreal at the same time.
The Modern Gentleman by Geebird and Bamby, here
More inspiring design from Belgium; this time Ampersand House, a gallery of art and design located in the centre of Brussels. It is also a home, which the owners define as a living gallery, a constantly changing place depending on what is on show. They curate the gallery as an ever evolving environment mixing vintage, contemporary and prototype work to inspire a dialogue with and between collectors and creatives. Almost everything is available for sale.
The style is an eclectic mixture of pieces of different periods, from strict modernism to French opulence, with the only rule being the pieces need to be connected either by texture, material, colour or shape, for a cohesive overall aesthetic. I love the influences the owners cite, from the work of the architect and Brazilian designer Isay Weinfeld, to the mid-twentieth century furniture of Sergio Rodrigues to Australian architect Glenn Murcutt and French designer Pierre Paulin. What a fabulous design sourcebook.
Ampersand House via Photos: Karel Balas
More wonderful spaces, here
Just back from a few days final foray to south wales before the leaves turn for another year…
Playing with dimension and scale, these staged still lifes are decidedly modernist, referencing the works of Miro and Picasso, for example. Composition, form and lighting all come into play and everyday, recognisable objects become players within a stage set.
Danish artist Jan Hardisty has created abstract artworks that resemble paintings but are actually photographs. More, here
Jan Hardisty Abstract Art Photographs first seen here:
I first wrote about Oliver Jeffers here. A teller of fantastical children’s stories that are sweet and funny and with the most beautiful illustrations, Oliver Jeffers is also a figurative painter. His first London exhibition Nothing To See Here is at Lazarides Gallery in London opening tomorrow.
There is more than a touch of surrealism about his work, which also references familiar 18th and 19th century European landscape and still-life painting. Clearly an observer of modern life, the works question and provoke. The series of paintings which give the show its name show a classic rural landscape, or a reclining nude, defaced with the graffiti-like slogan Nothing To See Here, creating a tension between the picture and the words – which one is to be believed?
Oliver Jeffers’ world is an inquisitive one:
‘In contradicting modern scenes and subjects with references to classical painting, his depictions encourage the viewer to look a little closer at the world around them and question the mundane. Are we blindly ignorant or are our eyes wide open in the dark?’
Oliver Jeffers: Nothing To See Here 13th September to 3rd October 2013 Lazarides Rathbone, 11 Rathbone Place, London. All images courtesy of the gallery.
More Oliver Jeffers: www.oliverjeffers.com
More in the gallery, here
I first featured Lena Wolff’s work in an earlier post ‘black dahlia’ (see it, here). Lena’s latest work is currently on show at Ampersand Gallery in Portland, Oregon. Called Call & Response, the title of the show alludes to the traditions of craft and folk art, and the pattens and iconography of American quilt making that are so deeply entrenched in Lena’s work. Through a reductive process of paring down and honing in, the resulting collages, prints and drawings reveal a dynamic pattern and rhythm creating contemporary, geometric abstraction.
Call & Response, Ampersand Gallery, Portland, Oregon until July 21st.
All images courtesy of the artist.
What do you think of Lena’s work? More in the gallery, here
Saul Leiter has documented the world around him, capturing New York mid-century, with his beautiful colour and black-and-white photographs (see my previous post, here). But throughout his life he painted, too, and both media are on show at Hackelbury Fine Art in London (now until 27 July 2013).
His paintings are vibrant and full of life, with vivacious, playful brush strokes and pools of intense colour. As with his photographs, the asymmetrical composition is exquisite. In both media, his influences are evident: the paintings of Renoir, Matisse and Bonnard. There is a lovely quotation in Nigel Warburton’s interview (more, here), which gives a clear indication of his regard for Bonnard:
‘Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and I reach over to one of my 30 books on Bonnard… if I can’t find the one I want, I go out and buy another copy’.
The documentary ‘In No Great Hurry: 13 Lessons in Life with Saul Leiter’ is being shown at Open City Docs Fest in London on 21st June, and at the ICA on the 27th June. The film is an absolute delight, with Saul Leiter as the reluctant, but utterly beguiling, protagonist.
More in the gallery, here.
All images © Saul Leiter HackelBury Fine Art courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery
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