Leah Gordon’s Kanaval @ Photofusion
Intimidating; intoxicating; terrifying – people have tried to put their reactions into words, but nothing compares to standing in the room with the photographs.
Taken by Leah Gordon in Jacmel, southern Haiti, over a period of 13 years, the snapshots feel like a key-hole view to another way of life.
“Haiti is an antidote to the apathy in our society,” Leah says. “There’s a nationwide participation in culture, rather than an elite creating it for it to be consumed.”
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The power of the pictures shows a grassroots performance which effortlessly eclipses so many of London’s big-budget shows.
Taken during pre-Lenten Mardi Gras street carnival, their simplicity makes a mockery of highfalutin’ shows such as Alexander McQueen’s latest collaboration at Sadler’s Wells.
“Performance is not allocated to actors, it’s a way of life,” Leah, an aspiring photographer since the age of seven, explains.
From the politicians to the poorest, in Haiti there isn’t an exclusive hierarchy when it comes to self expression.”
Tied…
Still Human, Still Here @ Host Gallery
Trapped.
Not free to return home, nor free to make a new one. It’s the situation that hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants face in the UK today.
If ever you were tempted to discount their claims as bogus attempts to sponge off the state, a photography exhibition now on at the Host Gallery in Islington could change your mind.
“It’s been the most emotionally draining project of my life,” says ex-Telegraph photojournalist Abbie Trayler-Smith, who has reported in disaster zones from Haiti to Zimbabwe.
TO VIEW A FULL PDF CLICK HERE: 2009_03_20_li_asylum
Working for the past twelve months with journalist Diane Taylor, they are now ready to reveal dozens of untold stories from the men and women who live in a legal limbo here in the UK.
“Even after a day or two listening…
Reza @ Frontline Club
At 16-years-old a young Iranian photographer’s father said, “If you believe in what you are doing, then go ahead and do it.”
Reza was just 16-years-old, but he had already hit a crossroads. For taking a picture and telling the story of an exploited market worker in his school magazine, the Savak - Iran’s equivalent of the KGB - decided to pay him a visit. He was told that if he were to publish another magazine, both his life and that of his parents would be over.
“My father’s words we’re what motivated me to carry on,” the 57-year-old father of two now says. “I knew I would be in trouble, but I just had to take…
Ian Bruce @ Thompson’s Gallery
From dandies to the disabled, Ian’s art is in search of personality
Loads of artists think that tragedy is more sincere than optimism, but I don’t feel that way,” says painter Ian Bruce. Life, as with us all, has dealt Ian his fair share of blows, but in moments of creativity it is not despair that he turns to. Rather, it is the personality of his subjects, a ‘love affair with paint’ and an eye for humour which are his current counsellors; aspirations which have evolved from a simple childhood…
Helpful Links: Ian Bruce Portraits,Thompson’s Gallery
Photography: Wildlife and War
The Natural History Museum and the Barbican set the standard for 2009
Hundreds of thousands have I seen flee thus… I am afraid that hundreds and hundreds of thousands more, who in other countries perhaps are still living comfortable lives, may soon find themselves enduring the same fate.” Robert Capa wrote this text when photographing refugees at a transit centre in Barcelona, January 15, 1939. The Spanish Civil War had been raging for three years and in nearby Germany a restless Adolf Hitler was on course to change the live of millions of comfortable families…
Helpful Links:The Natural History Museum, Barbican
Byzantine vs Babylon
Two historical heavyweights go head to head
“How’s your history? Casting my mind back to A-Levels, there’s some 19th Century British bickering between Gladstone and Disraeli. And thanks to the Life of Brian, we all know what we have the Romans to thank for. But what about the bigger picture?…
Helpful Links: Royal Academy, British Museum
Tim Knowles’ Nightwalks
Contemporary photography from around the world
“When I first laid eyes on Tim Knowles’s Nightwalk #3 at Art Futures 2008, the annual fair organized by the Contemporary Art Society, it transported me out of London and back to an improbable journey of my own. A drizzle fell in a rainforest of Southeast Asia, and I walked with just a torch, projecting my voice into the night…
Helpful Links: Hayward Gallery, Parasol Unit, Tate Britain, Saatchi Gallery
Art After Dark
Art After Dark
The last in a summer series with Don Letts at the helm
“Fusion cuisine anyone? Mixing flavours in food is long established, but what about in the arts? Theatre; installation; painting – mixed media seems to be today’s catchphrase. Yet some, like Paula Naughton and Greg Poole, have been doing it for years. Paula is an artist, Greg is a DJ…
Helpful Links: Louise T Blouin Institute , Don Letts
Vinita Agarwal @ The Nehru Centre
Photography and dance blend in a night of Indian magic.
“Dancer in the dark. The flash would fire every 20 seconds. The lens of the camera would stay open in between the bursts of light, capturing the traces from the dancer’s bangles. It’s a simple format, which has led to Vinita Agarwal’s beautiful and complex images…
Helpful Links: Vinita Agarwal , Nehru Centre
If Hitler Had Been A Hippy How Happy Would We Be @ White Cube Mason’s Yard
The Chapman brothers are back with a vengeance.
“To have a sense of humour when two years of your hard work burns to the ground is impressive. Yet to turn around after it’s gone and vow to come back with a bigger and better version is admirable.
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The piece in question is Jake and Dinos Chapman’s Hell, which was destroyed, along with countless prized pieces of contemporary art, in the Momart storage warehouse fire of 2004…
Helpful Links: White Cube
freshfacedandwildeyed08 @ The Photographers’ Gallery
Fresh faced, but old hats. Meet Gavin Fernandes, Sally Verrall, Neil Montier and Jesus Jimenez, four of last year’s graduates making this year’s headlines.
“Degree shows are so last year. It may sound disparaging, but it’s a fact the Photographers’ Gallery will be proudly promoting with its latest show – freshfacedandwildeyed 08. Twenty-five hand-picked photographers from a UK-wide competition…
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A FULL PDF
Helpful Links: Photographer’s Gallery, Meet Gavin Fernandes, Sally Verrall,Neil Montier, Jesus Jimenez
John Minihan Photography @ The Riverside Studios
To photograph Samuel Beckett, you have to give to get.
“Shake a tree and 40 poets fall out,” says photographer John Minihan of his native Ireland. “Yet we’re not so known for our visual culture.” To right the wrong…
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A FULL PDF
Helpful Links: John Minihan’s site , Riverside Studios
Art Futures 2008
Contemporary Art Society’s stars-of-tomorrow art fair is a haven for hidden gems.
“Price tags reading £50million dangle from Damien Hirst’s artwork today, but imagine if you’d bought when it sold for under £5,000. Art Futures would have been the place to do it. For 20 years it has consistently exhibited…
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A FULL PDF
Helpful Links: Contemporary Art Society , www.jeffreydennis.co.uk
Photography’s finest at the Hackelbury Gallery, The Photographers’ Gallery and the ICA.
Sebastião Salgado, Antoine D’Agata, Peter Hujar plus a few handy tips for the perfect photographic day out.
“LIGHT, dark and a shade in between. Three fascinating photography exhibitions, from horrific to beatific. It seems a tall order to take them all in, but it’s possible and worth it. Sebastião Salgado at Hackelbury Gallery, Launceston Place…
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A FULL PDF
Helpful Links: www.photonet.org.uk/ , www.hackelbury.co.uk/ , www.ica.org/ , www.buttercupcakeshop.co.uk
Anthony McCall at the Serpentine Gallery.
Review of the latest in a string of illuminating exhibitions.
“LET THERE be light. Anthony McCall, prodigal son of British light art, has returned to bask in the rays at the Serpentine Gallery, Kensington Gardens. He slipped into obscurity in the early 1970s…
Helpful Links: www.anthonymccall.com, www.serpentinegallery.org
National Gallery Portrait Photographer of the Year.
Contemporary Art Society’s stars-of-tomorrow art fair is a haven for hidden gems.
“THE FIFTH annual Photographic Portrait Prize has returned to the National Portrait Gallery in style. The jury’s task was to select a shortlist of 60 entrants from 2,700 entries. As a photographer for theLondon Informer I chose six of my personal favourites, and then spoke to the artists to gain an insight into the story behind the images. My selection includes…
Helpful Links:www.npg.org.uk/live/photoprize.asp
Photographing the 60 million.
Pimlico photographer touches down in India for the Kumbh Mela, the biggest human gathering on earth.
“IMAGINE the entire population of Britain gathered to celebrate an event. We marvel at the atmosphere when close to 100,000 fans gather at Wembley. Now picture 60 million gathered in a holy procession, and you are a step closer to the experience of Lorna Buchanan-Jardine…
Helpful Links:www.lornabj.co.uk
Georg Baselitz and Paul Mellon at the Royal Academy
One man collected art out of love; another created it out of rage.
“SCANDAL and serenity, war and peace – two equally fascinating yet totally different exhibitions are now in full swing at the Royal Academy of Arts…
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A FULL PDF
Helpful Links: RA Autumn 2007 Magazine, Artnet George Baselitz Page ,
www.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk , www.lib.virginia.edu/small/exhibits/mellon/legacy.html
Guess Who?
Student or Pro? Guess your way to the Royal College of Art’s postcard jackpot.
“CAN YOU see which rainbow has a pot of gold at its end? Here is a selection of the postcards that went on sale at the Secret exhibition at Kensington’s Royal College of Art…
Helpful Links:www.rca.ac.uk, www.tate.org.uk/britain/turnerprize/
The Art of a Good Marriage
Royal Academy sweethearts Natsha and Peter Kissell exhibit at The Cello Factory
“PRETTY in pink? Notting Hill artist Peter Harrap, 32, thought so when he first laid eyes on his future wife, artist Natasha Kissell….
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Here’s looking at you Kid
The Chelsea Youth Centre get snapping
“HERE’S looking at you kid… At the Chelsea Theatre 10 photographic portraits from the borough’s brightest young talents are on display. Under the guidance of professional photographer Anthony Luvera…
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A FULL PDF
Helpful links: www.chelseayouthclub.org , www.luvera.com
Anthony Gormley’s Into Blind Light at the Hayward Gallery
Hot and steamy, but is Gormley’s art genius or gimmick?
“HEAVEN. I have died and gone to heaven. These are the words that flashed through my mind as I stepped into Antony Gormley’s extraordinary new sculpture Blind Light…
Helpful Links: Antony Gormley’s Website, South Bank Centre Gormley Page, Phaidon Page
Chelsea Portraits and the Golden Girls
Double profile of self-taught artist Morgan Penn at the National Portrait Gallery and two of Goldsmiths University’s hottest graduates.
Helpful Links:www.goldsmiths.ac.uk, www.npg.org.uk, www.morganpenn.com, www.myculturallifemagazine.co.uk
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Surrealism at the V&A
Bored of The Lobster Telephone? Think you’ve seen it all before? Check this show out for a different depth.
“TO SELL out or not to sell out – the question any successful artist must eventually face. And the dilemma at the heart of the brilliant new exhibition at the V&A museum, Surreal Things: Surrealism and Design…
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A FULL PDF
Helpful Links: www.vam.ac.uk , www.guardian.co.uk
Gilbert and George interview at the Tate Modern.
Naughty British duo on sex, art, David Cameron, and why the Tate is a shit-spewing sausage factory.
“SOLITARY, conservative, pro-monarchists on the one hand; artistically violent homosexuals on the other. What on earth are we to make of infamous London double act Gilbert and George?…
Helpful Links:www.tate.org.uk,www.whitecube.com, www.bbc.co.uk (Radio 3 Interview Transcript)
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