3 Mar - 15 Apr 2007
Parasol Unit
14 Wharf Road, London, N1 7RW
Comprising of work by: Francis Alys, Robert Breer, Paul Bush + Lisa Milroy, Micheal Dudok de Wit, Brent Green, Takashi Ishida, Susanne Jirkuff, William Kentridge, Avish Khebrehzadeh, Jochen Kuhn, Zilla Leutenegger, Arthur de Pins, Qubo Gas, Christine Rebet, Robin Rhode, Georges Schwizgebel, David Shrigley, Tabaimo, Naoyuki Tsuji + Kara Walker.
South London Gallery
2 Feb – 25 Mar 2007
This exhibition of Armleder’s drawings fills almost all the wall space of the South London Gallery. It includes a snowflake wall paper, designed by the artist purposely for the show, running along the top half of the two long walls, in orange and green. The wallpaper itself reminded me of something I could buy in Habitat, and I disliked it. Though the exhibition is a survey of his drawings it does contain an awful lot of them. As so many of them were so high I could not look at them with any intimacy. I could not see how they were made. Can you have drawing without intimacy, without access to its means of production? Though the sight of all the drawings was impressive, I found myself frustrated by the limited access to the work and the sheer spectacle of the exhibition.
Until 24 Feb Tara Donovan's work is on display at the Stephen Friedman Gallery, in an exhibition called 'Memory and Obsession'. Other artists included in the show are Tom Friedman, Robert Gober and Mark Manders. Donovan's work 'Colony' blew me away. It was fascinating, so simple and so affective. I loved the shear range of colours in the collection of pencils, referencing geological formations and processes. I really like the simple exploration of what simple everyday materials can do, just through repetition and multiplication.
Copy web address to see details of 'Memory and Obsession' at the Stephen Friedman Gallery http://www.stephenfriedman.com/
When arriving at the private view for Tomoko Takahashi show, I was met by a long queue. I overheard that the work had to be viewed, curiously, by torchlight.
I had the opportunity of meeting Tomoko, last year at the Drawing Power event on Exhibition Road. Tomoko was extremely happy, enthusiastic and down to earth; it was a refreshing change to the pretentious cool of some artists.
When we finally came to the front of the queue the hand drawn wall map showing our route through the gallery was explained to us, and we were handed a wind-up torch. The best thing about seeing the collection of stuff arranged on the floor and the walls by torchlight was that we only saw a partial view, never the totality of the room. I found myself coming across collections and groupings of things. It reminded me of the viewfinder that I had to look through, at school art lessons, and only draw what was contained within the frame. We shared the torch between us, and we would intern look at from the perspective of each other; things I liked and things my friend liked. It reminded me of the adventurous dreams I had as a child coming across hoards of treasure in some dark catacomb. Though it initially looked like a collection of the leftovers from a jumble sale, without the clothes, motifs were repeated; arrangements of things clearly became a Tomoko arrangement, the deleted clocks, and the playing cards for example.
In the next room, this time fully lit, there was a catwalk along the centre and around on the floor were all her documentation, in boxes and photographs upside down covering the floor. On the walls were photographs of her work, but stapled and bent, curved, not flat and displayed in a conventional manner. With my own work I find the relationship between the work and the documentation, a curious problem.
We returned to the dark room and negotiated our way through to the next room on our journey through the Hales Gallery. In this room, where framed photographs of the floor, very beautiful multiple exposures, appropriately framed, simple. We then walked through the final room, the Hales Gallery office. Like Takahashi herself, her practice, and the gallery were completely open and uninhibited.
I recently discovered the work of John Plowman, a London based artist. I came across his book 'Field of Activity' at the Angel Row gallery in Nottingham. He is interested in the trace of the time involved in making work. The work is the result of the repetitive actions such as sharpening pencils.
Click on link for further information John Plowman on the Axis web site
SEVENTEEN
17 Kingsland Road, London E2
Opening 1st March 6pm
1 Mar - 31 Mar
Susan Collis turns how we look at everyday objects from one of a careless glance in to one of awe and fascination.
Collis won the Jerwood Drawing Prize, Student Prize in 2002.
At the PM gallery 'Drawing as Vital Practice' includes works by ten international artists.
At the Pitzhanger Manor House 'Petherbridge Alone With Soane' a collection of Deanna Petherbridge's pen and wash drawings responding to international architectural styles.
19 Jan - 3 Mar 2007
Open Tues - Fri 1pm - 5pm
Sat 11am-5pm
Margret H. Blondal is exhibiting at Mothers Tank Station, 41-43 Watling Street, Ushers Island, Dublin.
Opening 21 Feb 18:00 - 20:00
Exhibition 22 Feb - 24 Mar 2007.
Go to URL below for further images of her work.
http://www.motherstankstation.com/pages-magrb/margbllimages04lg.htm
C4RD Nanospace 61 - 63 Cudworth St. Bethnal Green, London
31 Jan - 16 Feb 2007
Wed - Fri 12.30 - 5.30
I went to Rachel Cattle’s show with a preconception of her work, gained from seeing reproductions. I was expecting little, cute, drawings that were interesting but accessible. Luckierly, this is not what I saw. In the C4RD pinned around the room (only at the top) were a series of approximately A3 sized heavy graphite drawings. The works are part of the ‘100 drawings’ series; the title being something she saw scratched into a tree. Looking at the drawings I saw my own childhood anxieties, often ones that were unexplainable. Brownies, not fitting in, but trying to unsuccessfully; an up turned tree trunk that watches you, but you have to go round it; a stuffed bear, that isn’t scary for being a bear anymore, but for being something else; a person covered in hair; but without a face. ‘True Love’ turns this small intimate gallery into a space that has the thoughts of a psychologist’s consultation room, with its dark troublesome memories hanging around. Taking an appearance, but still difficult to pin down in words. These drawings, akin to outsider art, seem to hold an answer, but an answer that isn’t in the person but only exists in a tantalising space between thought and the surface of the paper. It allowed me to remembered things I didn’t know I had forgotten.
