041 Features.qxp:TANboukedevries.com/files/press/8/4_The-Art-Newspaper... · THE ART NEWSPAPER, No....
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THE ART NEWSPAPER, No. 205, SEPTEMBER 2009 Features 41 The great outdoors The art world is never averse to a spot of Festival- going, but this summer saw an especially strong artistic presence at musical events across the countryside. At Glastonbury, a green-painted Gavin Turk made an anarchic departure from his own family- friendly “House of Fairytales” performance extravaganza to storm the stage during Richard Strange’s set, where he provided an impromptu cabaret element throughout; while the Big Chill saw the inauguration of Cedric Christie’s “Blank Canvas” project, an installation of specially commissioned works of art by the likes of Tracey Emin, Rachel Whiteread (pictured), Jake and Dinos Chapman and Sir Peter Blake made from 15 army issue “pup” tents to be auctioned for homeless and human rights charities next year. The artistic adaptation of these unconventional canvases ranged from Sarah Lucas writing on and then burning hers, Christie paintballing one side and machine-gunning the other, Sir Richard Rogers parcelling up a human figure in his and Jake and Dinos Chapman substituting theirs for a pink girlie version bought at Argos. Women have the final word The chips were certainly down at the ICA’s recent one-night performance of artist Liliane Lijn’s Power Game, which transformed the capital’s favourite art house into a pop up casino, complete with leafy palms, sexy music and killer cocktails dispensed by cross-dressing waiting staff. Originally staged in 1974, this gambling game of words was given a boisterous 21st-century revisiting with artists and writers engaged in vigorous interpretive debate as they betted and battled over which of the words inscribed on their hand of cards carried the most “power”. One particularly animated skirmish involved writer Hari Kunzru going head to head with the female contingent including Lijn herself (pictured, with ICA director Ekow Eshun) over whether the word “zero” carried more power than “woman” (Jetsam is pleased to report that “woman” carried the day). Significantly at the end of the evening the only card missing from the pack was the one bearing the word “sex”. No smoke without Hockney No nicotine abstention at the public street parade organised by Jeremy Deller for the Manchester International Festival where one of the most vigorously cheered participants processing down Manchester’s Deansgate was “In the Air”, a diehard band of unrepentant smokers all puffing away and brandishing an ashtray-emblazoned banner specially designed by David Hockney, the art world’s most committed smoke-o-phile. The 72- year-old artist had planned to take part in the procession but was unable to attend on the day, a little too short of breath perhaps? Simply smashing! One of the most dramatic pots in Grayson Perry’s forthcoming Victoria Miro show (see p40) is The Westfield Vase, a mighty vessel which has been deliberately smashed and then painstakingly put back together again, with all the broken edges highlighted in gold leaf. But while Perry did the smashing, he left the reconstruction to the nimble fingers of maestro conservator Bouke de Vries, who miraculously restored Jetsam’s very own Perry pot a few years ago when it fell victim to her teenage son and a gym ball. But it turns out that Perry’s vase is not De Vries’s first foray into reconstruction for art’s sake, for he is now gaining an impressive parallel reputation for his own sculpture which uses his mending skills to dramatic effect. Earlier this summer Kay Saatchi put him in the launch exhibition of art website Murmurart at Selfridges where all five pieces were quickly snapped up, with Anita Zabludowicz keen to acquire his sculpture NO NO NO, in which a broken 19th- century Samsonware statuette devoted to the muse of music is given a new contemporary incarnation as an utterly convincing Amy Winehouse, resplendent in beehive and full Glastonbury costume with the addition of a syringe protruding from her arm. “It’s a tribute—she’s amazing but broken—and often these things go together,” the artist declares. Hydra-therapy for artists Of all the art world’s invitations, few are more eagerly anticipated than the opening of the annual exhibition at The Hydra Workshops, collector Pauline Karpidas’s warehouse space situated directly on the harbour of this idyllic Greek island where, every summer, a select gang gathers to view the latest show and stay for a sybaritic long weekend of sun, sand and sea, hosted with legendary generosity by Mrs K. and organised with quiet efficiency by Sadie Coles. This year super-trendy New York artist Nate Lowman (pictured with some of the younger guests) produced a Warholesque installation of over 70 paintings derived from photographs of his friends and Hydra regulars—including girlfriend Mary-Kate Olsen, fellow artists Adam McEwen and Dan Colen, Tate Modern director Vicente Todoli and photographer Johnnie Shand Kydd—all of whom were present in the flesh to view their artistic incarnations, with J.S.K. providing many of the original images. But a certain pall was cast on the proceedings by the untimely death of Lowman’s friend Dash Snow, with Snow’s partner Jade Berreau and young daughter Secret amongst the New York contingent. It was therefore up to the British posse to inject some levity into the proceedings which they did with a vengeance, most notably in the form of an impromptu waterborne cabaret courtesy of theatre designer Christopher Woods, who choreographed a flurry of midnight synchronised swimming from a bevy of eminent curators, including Xavier Salomon of Dulwich Picture Gallery and Maria Balshaw of Manchester’s Whitworth Gallery as well as Jetsam herself. The display was deemed so successful that considerable pressure was applied to fellow guest Matthew Slotover to incorporate it into this year’s Frieze projects programme. ■ Jetsam Canvas on a landscape? That can’t be right… It all depends on the in-tent, of course LONDON DIARY LOUISA BUCK Flotsam Missing: Meyer’s mail to Dash’s grandma What Sotheby’s man had to say about Snow Who stole Toby’s tribute? No sooner had Triple Candie announced their latest exhibition entitled “Maurizio Cattelan is Dead”, than everyone started dropping unexpectedly, from Michael Jackson to Dash Snow, the latter unleashing a media frenzy unmatched since Basquiat. Impressive indeed was the appearance at a “tribute” show to Snow (pictured), deftly assembled overnight at Deitch Projects, of a long message from Sotheby’s Tobias Meyer. Sent to Snow’s De Menil grandma, Christophe, it detailed Meyer’s love for his work, including pieces he owns himself, one of which was prominently on display, and his last vision of Dash setting off by foot into the dark Los Angeles night. Surrounded by “street” art, wild graffiti and sprayed RIP tags, this epistle struck an elegant elegiac note and after a few days was either removed for being too revealing or was pinched by some teen outlaw fan of Meyer’s impeccably ingratiating prose. Callow youth revisited The crushed “Cold Wave” concert hosted by Mac cosmetics to launch their collaboration with Richard Phillips at his Chelsea studio at least boasted the appearance of star-curator Francesco Bonami (pictured) bracing himself for his forthcoming Whitney Biennial. Waxing nostalgic one recalls when, as a humble Flash Art hack, Bonami himself interviewed the curators of the 1997 Biennial, posing such still-pertinent questions as: “You didn’t release the final list until very late. Is that a matter of secretive strategy or, as I thought, more a matter of work in progress?” Or: “Do you feel like you are participating in the making of a career when you decide to select an artist or not to select another one?” But best of all Bonami’s Biennial may be accompanied by a special show of his own paintings, for when the young Italian first arrived in New York it was very much as an artist. Flotsam can reveal that his biggest fan, who has long planned a show of this work, is none other than Andrea Rosen, who way back then was a desk-girl at Bonami’s East Village Sharpe Gallery. And Deborah Sharpe herself has gone on to glory with her eponymous line of linens, “coordinating bedding for hundreds of clients’ homes, yachts, and even a plane”, with famous fans including Oprah, Dustin Hoffman and such collectors as Sylvester Stallone and Vidal Sassoon. So expect a celebrity-packed opening next March for “Bonami: the Early Years” at the Andrea Rosen gallery. McLaren and the “Dear Leader” Legendary Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren was in fine form at a recent townhouse drinks bash, revealing that his blossoming career as a visual artist is about to receive a deliciously improbable boost in unexpected Asian quarters. For that equally notorious art world entrepreneur James Birch, best known for taking Francis Bacon to Soviet Russia and Gilbert & George to Communist China, is about to pull off the coup of his career by staging a full-scale McLaren retrospective in… Pyongyang! That the North Korean state should happily host a major McLaren exhibition boggles belief, but apparently the clincher was vintage footage of the New York Dolls as presented by their then-manager Malcy, live on American TV beneath a giant hammer and sickle. Clifton’s designs on Deyn? Ricky Clifton (pictured) may be Manhattan’s most modish decorator, a man “never seen twice in the same trousers”, as renowned for his social ubiquity as his connections in the contemporary art world, but Flotsam was still surprised to catch him in the upstate-town of Hudson with none other than super-super-model Agyness Deyn. “We’ve just bought an amazing coral table for only $300,” explained the designer gesturing to the Stair auction house across the road. Clifton went on to reveal that so famous is his young friend that he went to meet her at the bank very early one morning only to discover she was already surrounded by hungry paparazzi. “Let’s pretend you’re my new boyfriend!” jested La Deyn, with rumours of their improbable liaison reaching the international gossip industry soon after. Once a punk… Nicholas Hall (pictured) has transformed Christie’s old masters, not least recently folding it into their 19th-century department, but some of us cannot forget his rather wilder jeunesse as a King’s Road punk rocker, his appearance on the cover of a Clash record sleeve now reverently framed in his SoHo bathroom. If Hall’s 50th birthday dinner was cause for celebration—Le Bilboquet booked for the occasion— revellers were shocked to receive an official Christie’s email a week later revealing they were actually expected to pay their way for this festive feast, Hall himself having generously offered only the wine. This nearly led to Hall having a “white riot, a riot of my own”. Salander: the catalogue clues Preparing to move to Paris (ciao, Manhattan!), Flotsam has been going through 20 years of papers and coming across many an oddity, not least the Butler Institute catalogue for its 2004 exhibition of that renowned part-time painter and full-time gallerist Lawrence Salander (currently facing charges of massive fraud in the US courts). His chosen painting titles are oddly revealing, whether Never Asked Questions or his self-description as a Nothing Man, and the accompanying essays are rich indeed. Thus his old friend Leon Wieseltier admits: “It is not an appetite that can ever be appeased. Give this hunger what it wants and it grows.” A perfect description of Larry’s lust for lucre, followed by: “There is no New York swagger here. Grandiosity has been pulled down by privacy. It is not a void that Salander displays…it is a plenitude.” Even more prophetic is the other essay which concludes: “He was trying, often with heartbreaking honesty, to imagine how we endure the colossal and often arbitrary forces arrayed against us.” ■ ❑ This will be Adrian Dannatt’s last New York diary, as he is relocating to Paris, though not the end of his association with The Art Newspaper NEW YORK DIARY ADRIAN DANNATT THEARTNEWSPAPER.COM Adam Reich •• 041 Features.qxp:TAN 199 26/8/09 18:08 Page 45
Transcript of 041 Features.qxp:TANboukedevries.com/files/press/8/4_The-Art-Newspaper... · THE ART NEWSPAPER, No....
THE ART NEWSPAPER, No. 205, SEPTEMBER 2009 Features 41
The great outdoors
The art world is never averse to a spot of Festival-going, but this summer saw an especially strongartistic presenceat musicalevents across thecountryside. AtGlastonbury, agreen-paintedGavin Turkmade an anarchic departure from his own family-friendly “House of Fairytales” performanceextravaganza to storm the stage during RichardStrange’s set, where he provided an impromptucabaret element throughout; while the Big Chillsaw the inauguration of Cedric Christie’s “BlankCanvas” project, an installation of speciallycommissioned works of art by the likes of TraceyEmin, Rachel Whiteread (pictured), Jake andDinos Chapman and Sir Peter Blake made from15 army issue “pup” tents to be auctioned forhomeless and human rights charities next year.The artistic adaptation of these unconventionalcanvases ranged from Sarah Lucas writing on andthen burning hers, Christie paintballing one sideand machine-gunning the other, Sir RichardRogers parcelling up a human figure in his andJake and Dinos Chapman substituting theirs for apink girlie version bought at Argos.
Women have the final word
The chips were certainly down at the ICA’srecent one-night performance of artist LilianeLijn’s Power Game, which transformed thecapital’s favourite art house into a pop upcasino, complete with leafy palms, sexy musicand killer cocktails dispensed by cross-dressingwaiting staff. Originally staged in 1974, thisgambling game of words was given a boisterous21st-century revisiting with artists and writers
engaged in vigorousinterpretive debateas they betted andbattled over which ofthe words inscribedon their hand ofcards carried themost “power”. Oneparticularlyanimated skirmish
involved writer Hari Kunzru going head tohead with the female contingent including Lijnherself (pictured, with ICA director EkowEshun) over whether the word “zero” carriedmore power than “woman” (Jetsam is pleasedto report that “woman” carried the day).Significantly at the end of the evening the onlycard missing from the pack was the onebearing the word “sex”.
No smoke without Hockney
No nicotine abstention at the public street paradeorganised by Jeremy Deller for the ManchesterInternational Festivalwhere one of the mostvigorously cheeredparticipants processingdown Manchester’sDeansgate was “In theAir”, a diehard band ofunrepentant smokers allpuffing away andbrandishing an ashtray-emblazoned bannerspecially designed by David Hockney, the artworld’s most committed smoke-o-phile. The 72-year-old artist had planned to take part in theprocession but was unable to attend on the day, alittle too short of breath perhaps?
Simply smashing!
One of the most dramatic pots in GraysonPerry’s forthcoming Victoria Miro show (seep40) is The Westfield Vase, a mighty vesselwhich has been deliberately smashed and thenpainstakingly put back together again, with allthe broken edges highlighted in gold leaf. Butwhile Perry did the smashing, he left thereconstruction to the nimble fingers of maestroconservator Bouke de Vries, who miraculouslyrestored Jetsam’s very own Perry pot a fewyears ago when it fell victim to her teenage sonand a gym ball. But it turns out that Perry’svase is not De Vries’s first foray intoreconstruction for art’s sake, for he is nowgaining an impressive parallel reputation forhis own sculpture which uses his mending skillsto dramatic effect. Earlier this summer KaySaatchi put him inthe launchexhibition of artwebsiteMurmurart atSelfridges whereall five pieces werequickly snappedup, with AnitaZabludowicz keento acquire hissculpture NO NONO, in which abroken 19th-centurySamsonwarestatuette devotedto the muse ofmusic is given anew contemporary incarnation as an utterlyconvincing Amy Winehouse, resplendent inbeehive and full Glastonbury costume with the addition of a syringe protruding from herarm. “It’s a tribute—she’s amazing butbroken—and often these things go together,”the artist declares.
Hydra-therapy for artists
Of all the art world’s invitations, few are moreeagerly anticipated than the opening of the annualexhibition at The Hydra Workshops, collectorPauline Karpidas’s warehouse space situateddirectly on the harbour of this idyllic Greek islandwhere, every summer, a select gang gathers toview the latest show and stay for a sybaritic longweekend of sun, sand and sea, hosted withlegendary generosity by Mrs K. and organised
with quiet efficiencyby Sadie Coles. Thisyear super-trendyNew York artist NateLowman (picturedwith some of theyounger guests)produced a
Warholesque installation of over 70 paintingsderived from photographs of his friends andHydra regulars—including girlfriend Mary-KateOlsen, fellow artists Adam McEwen and DanColen, Tate Modern director Vicente Todoli andphotographer Johnnie Shand Kydd—all of whomwere present in the flesh to view their artisticincarnations, with J.S.K. providing many of theoriginal images. But a certain pall was cast on theproceedings by the untimely death of Lowman’sfriend Dash Snow, with Snow’s partner JadeBerreau and young daughter Secret amongst theNew York contingent. It was therefore up to theBritish posse to inject some levity into theproceedings which they did with a vengeance,most notably in the form of an impromptuwaterborne cabaret courtesy of theatre designerChristopher Woods, who choreographed a flurryof midnight synchronised swimming from a bevyof eminent curators, including Xavier Salomon ofDulwich Picture Gallery and Maria Balshaw ofManchester’s Whitworth Gallery as well asJetsam herself. The display was deemed sosuccessful that considerable pressure was appliedto fellow guest Matthew Slotover to incorporate itinto this year’s Frieze projects programme. ■
Jetsam
Canvas on a landscape?That can’t be right…
It all depends on the in-tent, of course
LONDON DIARY
LOUISABUCK
Flotsam
Missing: Meyer’s mail to Dash’s grandma
What Sotheby’s man had to say about Snow
Who stole Toby’s tribute?
No sooner had Triple Candie announced theirlatest exhibition entitled “Maurizio Cattelan isDead”, than everyone started droppingunexpectedly, from Michael Jackson to DashSnow, the latter unleashing a media frenzyunmatched since Basquiat. Impressive indeedwas the appearance at a “tribute” show to
Snow (pictured),deftly assembledovernight atDeitch Projects,of a longmessage fromSotheby’sTobias Meyer.Sent to Snow’sDe Menilgrandma,Christophe, it
detailed Meyer’s love for his work, includingpieces he owns himself, one of which wasprominently on display, and his last vision ofDash setting off by foot into the dark LosAngeles night. Surrounded by “street” art,wild graffiti and sprayed RIP tags, this epistlestruck an elegant elegiac note and after a fewdays was either removed for being toorevealing or was pinched by some teen outlawfan of Meyer’s impeccably ingratiating prose.
Callow youth revisited
The crushed “Cold Wave” concert hosted by Maccosmetics to launch their collaboration withRichard Phillips at his Chelsea studio at leastboasted the appearance of star-curator FrancescoBonami (pictured) bracing himself for hisforthcoming Whitney Biennial. Waxing nostalgicone recalls when, as a humble Flash Art hack,Bonami himself interviewed the curators of the1997 Biennial, posing such still-pertinentquestions as: “You didn’t release the final list untilvery late. Is that a matter of secretive strategy or,as I thought, more a matter of work in progress?”Or: “Do you feel like you are participating in themaking of a career when you decide to select anartist or not to select another one?” But best of allBonami’s Biennial may be accompanied by aspecial show of his own paintings, for when theyoung Italian first arrived in New York it was verymuch as an artist. Flotsam can reveal that hisbiggest fan, who has longplanned a show of this work, isnone other than Andrea Rosen,who way back then was adesk-girl at Bonami’s EastVillage Sharpe Gallery. AndDeborah Sharpe herself hasgone on to glory with hereponymous line of linens,“coordinating bedding for hundreds of clients’homes, yachts, and even a plane”, with famousfans including Oprah, Dustin Hoffman and suchcollectors as Sylvester Stallone and Vidal Sassoon.So expect a celebrity-packed opening next Marchfor “Bonami: the Early Years” at the AndreaRosen gallery.
McLaren and the “Dear Leader”
Legendary Sex Pistols manager MalcolmMcLaren was in fine form at a recenttownhouse drinks bash, revealing that hisblossoming career as a visual artist is aboutto receive a deliciously improbable boost inunexpected Asian quarters. For that equallynotorious art world entrepreneur JamesBirch, best known for taking Francis Bacon
to Soviet Russia and Gilbert & George toCommunist China, is about to pull off thecoup of his career by staging a full-scaleMcLaren retrospective in… Pyongyang! Thatthe North Koreanstate should happilyhost a majorMcLaren exhibitionboggles belief, butapparently theclincher was vintagefootage of the NewYork Dolls aspresented by theirthen-manager Malcy, live on American TVbeneath a giant hammer and sickle.
Clifton’s designs on Deyn?
Ricky Clifton (pictured) may be Manhattan’smost modish decorator, a man “never seen twicein the same trousers”, as renowned for his socialubiquity as his connections in the contemporaryart world, but Flotsam was still surprised to catchhim in the upstate-town of Hudson with noneother than super-super-model Agyness Deyn.“We’ve just bought an amazing coral table foronly $300,” explained the designer gesturing to
the Stair auction houseacross the road. Clifton wenton to reveal that so famous ishis young friend that he wentto meet her at the bank veryearly one morning only todiscover she was alreadysurrounded by hungrypaparazzi. “Let’s pretend
you’re my new boyfriend!” jested La Deyn, withrumours of their improbable liaison reaching theinternational gossip industry soon after.
Once a punk…
Nicholas Hall (pictured) has transformedChristie’s old masters, not least recentlyfolding it into their 19th-century department,but some of us cannot forget his rather wilderjeunesse as a King’s Road punk rocker, hisappearance on the cover of a Clash recordsleeve now reverently framed in his SoHobathroom. If Hall’s 50thbirthday dinner was cause forcelebration—Le Bilboquetbooked for the occasion—revellers were shocked toreceive an official Christie’semail a week later revealingthey were actually expected topay their way for this festivefeast, Hall himself having generously offeredonly the wine. This nearly led to Hall having a“white riot, a riot of my own”.
Salander: the catalogue clues
Preparing to move to Paris (ciao, Manhattan!),Flotsam has been going through 20 years ofpapers and coming across many an oddity, notleast the Butler Institute catalogue for its 2004exhibition of that renowned part-time painterand full-time gallerist Lawrence Salander(currently facing charges of massive fraud in theUS courts). His chosen painting titles are oddlyrevealing, whether Never Asked Questions or hisself-description as a Nothing Man, and theaccompanying essays are rich indeed. Thus hisold friend Leon Wieseltier admits: “It is not anappetite that can ever be appeased. Give thishunger what it wants and it grows.” A perfectdescription of Larry’s lust for lucre, followed by:“There is no New York swagger here.Grandiosity has been pulled down by privacy. Itis not a void that Salander displays…it is aplenitude.” Even more prophetic is the otheressay which concludes: “He was trying, oftenwith heartbreaking honesty, to imagine how weendure the colossal and often arbitrary forcesarrayed against us.” ■❑ This will be Adrian Dannatt’s last New York diary, as he is relocatingto Paris, though not the end of his association with The Art Newspaper
NEW YORK DIARY
ADRIANDANNATT
THEARTNEWSPAPER.COM
Adam
Reic
h
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