Category Archives: contemporary art

Buzz Buzz: Chris Ofili at Tate Britain

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If you haven’t heard, you have probably been living under a rock or on a remote island. Chris Ofili’s name is popping up everwhere, and the press coverage is certainly having an effect on me: I want to go!

Installation View, Tate Britain

Ofili is having a retrospective–which feels off to me, for a 41 year old whose work is evolving to already have a retrospective–at Tate Britain, and to mixed reviews of his more recent work. Since moving to Trinidad, he has begun experimenting with new forms and pared down medium. (To borrow a phrase, he has “cut the crap.”) Check out the video at the Guardian about the influence of the Caribbean on his work.

His more recent paintings are less flamboyant, minus the glitter and dung, etc. The curator Judith Nesbitt says to Culture 24:

“He says he’s doing more of the listening now, working in a more open-minded way, letting it be, waiting to see where it’s going to go.That’s one of the most exciting factors in this exhibition. He’s still a young artist. He’s got some way to go.”

Iscariot blues, 2007

Some of the buzz:

  • “At a beautiful and provocative Tate show, we see the artist and his elephant droppings in a new and improved light”– Times Online

Anna Jóelsdóttir: Near Chaos

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There is turmoil in the world, too many dots to connect; we are many outsiders floating around lost centers. I want my work to reflect that near chaos. – Artist Statement

Of the openings I went to in Chelsea last night, I saw a lot of more, or less, successful toyings with geometric shapes and color (nostalgia much?). What a relief then, to come upon Anna Jóelsdóttir’s show priest chews velvet haddock at the Stux Gallery.

For this exhibition, the Chicago-based Icelandic artist produced mylar installations, paintings, a really extraordinary journal, and a big game of pick up sticks. While that may seem like quite a range of objects, they were very much unified by a stark, sprawling, detailed aesthetic that was precise yet evocative. It was too crowded to get a good installation shot last night, so I pulled the images above from Stux’s website. The artist folds, cuts, and otherwise manipulates the painted mylar into a variety of complex forms. The mylar shows her typical thin streaks and spurts of color on a white background.

When the Bough Breaks

Jóelsdóttir’s paintings, also on white backgrounds with pulsing color connected by thin lines, create poetic yet direct images. Somehow even where there is chaos and tension, there is also a sort of peace. I’m not sure how well these paintings reproduce here, but seeing them last night I was struck by how refreshing and clean the white background was, and how well the artist used the thin crawling lines to explode the space. They felt very personal and immediate. I like how they reconcile what ought to be opposite characteristics, like emotion and coolness, and strength and delicacy. They’ll be up through the New Year if you have a chance to go by, and I recommend you do. More about the artist on her website.

Bent Horizons

Damien Hirst: Practice Makes Perfect

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“Anyone can be like Rembrandt. I don’t think a painter like Rembrandt is a genius. It’s about freedom and guts. It’s about looking. It can be learnt. That’s the great thing about art. Anybody can do it if you just believe. With practice you can make great paintings.”

The artist poses in front of his latest show

The Telegraph reports that Hirst: “made the comments as he defended himself from critics of his latest exhibition at the Wallace Collection in London, which has been described as “an embarrassment” and “shockingly bad”. He admitted he had a long way to go before equalling the 17th century Dutch master, but dismissed the idea that Rembrandt was a genius and claimed that, with practice, he could learn to paint like him.”

While I might not entirely disagree with Hirst’s comment, it’s hilarious that he is getting defensive now. Apparently putting animals in formaldehyde for ridiculous amounts of money required no comment. He really branched out with his work, and kudos to him for taking that kind of risk. At the same time his idealism- anybody can be a great painter if they just believe- isn’t working here, at least according to the critics. Maybe he needs more practice?