STUDIO-ONLINE

The works of 14 critically acclaimed sculptors, including by Margaret Hunter, Peter Burke, Richard Kindersley and Sir Eduardo Paolozzi are the exhibits currently assembled for Millstream Sculpture Garden’s second season.

Curated by architect Michael Newberry and art consultant Geoffrey Bertram, the exhibition at Michael’s single storey steel and glass house commences Saturday 3^rd May 2008.

Set in tranquil, purpose-built gardens within Newberry’s riverside property, the exhibition – located midway between Salisbury and Bath, one minute from the A36 into Warminster, Wiltshire – represents an inspiring fusion of contemporary architecture with landscaping entirely designed with a single objective: the promotion of contemporary sculpture in ideal, intimately scaled surroundings.

Newberry states, “From the outset, I designed Millstream to incorporate exterior sculpture. The light, the location, the stream running alongside and the beautiful surroundings provide an ideal backdrop for sculpture. I’ve always liked sculpture, probably because it is three-dimensional and tactile, both of which appeal to the architect and designer in me. But it’s more than that. Having sculpture in the garden is just an extension of a need to be surrounded by beautiful things. We aim to set sculpture in a setting where form is enhanced not only by light and shade but also by contrast to the surrounding foliage, ground textures and water.”

Geoffrey Bertram, whose experience in running galleries in Edinburgh, Toronto and London’s Cork Street and whose extensive knowledge of contemporary sculpture has complemented Newberry’s own vision, added: “You enter Michael’s property and immediately know that everything is completely right: well-lit interior spaces are ideal for the small and medium-scale work of Peter Burke, for example, while Tim Harrisson’s marble sculptures, though displayed inside the house, are juxtaposed with the outdoor sculptures that sit in a perfect background of riverside trees, sloping lawn and raised terraces.”

Margaret Hunter, Richard Kindersley and Sir Eduardo Paolozzi works are enhanced by sculptures from: Chris Buck, Christine Fox, Cathy Lewis, Carole Waller, Rosie Musgrave, Peter Burke, Nigel Cann, Tim Harrisson, Jonathan Leslie, Guy Thomas, Henry Swanzy and Raymond Wirick.

The gardens are designed by the internationally acclaimed landscape gardener John Brookes – a former Chairman of the Society of Garden Designers, and author of, among other books, Small Gardens (Dorling Kindersley, 2006) and with whom Michael Newberry has worked since the seventies.

Construction of the house was completed in 2003. The result of this Newberry-Brookes collaboration in southern England was an award – for development in a conservation area – from West Wiltshire District Council (WWDC) in 2005.

The exhibition, running from 3^rd May to 28^th September 2008, is open during weekends (12-5pm) and Bank Holidays - and by appointment. Entry:FREE

Tel: (44) 1985 213360. Email info@millstreamsculpturegarden.com

For Images and further information about Millstream Gallery go to www.millstreamsculpturegarden.com

Reviewed by Cindi Di Marzo

The tag line on the cover of the paperback edition of Judy Corbett’s Castles in the Air (Ebury Press, 2005) is strongly indicative of the Artist as archetype. Most likely, in referring to “The restoration adventures of two young optimists and a crumbling old mansion,” the copywriter aimed to draw home restorers eager for tips and encouragement for the long haul ahead of them, or those who, having been through the ups and downs of historic home restoration, might enjoy some humorous hindsight. (more…)

Teresa Lawton, one of the most accomplished contemporary British artists will be exhibiting her new works at The Old Guildhall, in Corfe Castle.

Her abstract work with transcending visions of her Southern English country side are captivating and inspiring.

Open Thursday – Sunday 11am – 4pm and by appointment.

THE OLD GUILDHALL
47 East St, Corfe Castle, Dorset, BH20 5EE
Tel: 07890 559246
Web: www.teresalawton.co.uk

Dearraindrop return to Italy with the second solo show Scared Straight. Dearraindrop is made up of young US artists (Billy Grant, Joe Grillo, Laura Grant), who live in Virginia Beach.

A Dearraindrop show is an encyclopaedic bazaar which exhibits everything deliciously artificial which one might expect to find in a teenager’s bedroom, with a fantastic effect of barbaric chaos and irrepressible vital exultation. Anything is possible in the magical kaleidoscopes they create, in a jubilant explosion of forms and saturated fluorescent colours.

DRD are also extraordinary talents who spring from an environment of authentically popular creativity, who found their first publicity in the rough pages of comic fanzines, or in the environment of riotous rock concerts. A very vibrant jumble made up of expressions of a group of creative youngsters, clearly skilled and talented, but more interesting because they enlarge, with their great number, the volume of a “mass avant-garde”, which has finally taken form rather than for the determination to emerge from anonymity.
Indeed DRD are the most exceptional group to emerge from this intricate and vibrant undergrowth.

IN B SIDE PROJECT ROOM

Devin and Ian Flynn: DRAWINGS AND ANIMATIONS

Into the Project Room there is the first solo show in Europe of Devin and Ian Flynn: Drawings (Ian) and animations (Devin). Ian is an explosive and refined drawer while Devin makes animation for TV. A concentrated of irreverences and transgression (warning: are you over 18 ?).

Perugi artecontemporanea
via Giordano Bruno 24 b
35124 PADOVA Italia
Phone: +39 049 8809.507

Sisters 2008, Oil on canvas.

In her new series of oil paintings Norwegian painter, Anki King, extracts imagery through remembered experiences from childhood as well as other memory based work. The childhood paintings are 30″ x 24″ and smaller and are often cropped in unexpected ways to emphasize the narrow view of a child. The larger paintings contain mature life size figures in full view. The human form is used here as a way of expressing emotions and emotions are an essential force in Ms. King’s work. The figures are not tied to a specific place or time and so become a vehicle for the viewer to create their own metaphor.

Anki King enjoys paint as a living, physical and sensual medium. She describes it as “a collaborative process”. Her work emits enjoyment of discovery and surprise from the process itself. The colors are muted, but the strong and varied brush strokes make the visual experience forceful and lively.

Opening receptions: Saturday April 19, 6-8 PM
and Sunday April 20, 2-4 PM.

Something Unexpected Art Gallery
152 Main Street
Nyack, NY 10960
Phone: 845-358-1196 / 845-709-1756
Web: www.something-unexpected.com

Sculpture, Video Installation and Painted Photography
By Rachel Harrison (maybe the best of the show)

If you want to see the state of American Art don’t visit this show, make time to visit studios when there are open studios, which is something these curators never appear to do. Almost nothing is this show can be classified as art, frankly I saw more artistic expression on “Project Runway” than inside the Whitney Museum or the Armory. As for the additional exhibits in the Armory, the actual rooms are more impressive than the things displayed within.

This Biennial is more to do with who you know than to do with art. Apart from a few artists, most of the stuff found here is not done by artists, but by participating want-to-be artists, who failed miserably in showing any kind of artistic expression.

The installations, the sound effects, the videos can be summarized as “What are they thinking, are they thinking at all?”

If this show reflects American Art, then I put my money on Contemporary Chinese or Japanese Art. But as this show does not represent the new and inspiring work by contemporary American artists, I hope the Whitney hires better curators for their next Biennial.

From March 6 to 23, installations and performances will be presented at the Armory, 67th St. and Park Avenue.

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street
New York, NY 10021
Website: www.whitney.org

By M.A.B.

Averroé, 1967 © Giulio Paolini

In connection with Moderna Museet’s 50th Anniversary in 2008, three exhibitions will focus on cultural ‘hotspots’ around the world in the 60’s: Rio de Janeiro, Milan/Turin and Los Angeles. The idea is to explore the period when Moderna Museet was created from an international perspective, by featuring a representative selection of works of art, architecture, design, literature, film and music never before shown together in Sweden.

Curated by Luca Massimo Barbero, Time & Place: Milan/Turin, 1958-1968 investi­gates a decisive moment in Italian art, focusing on these two cities as emblematic places of birth for a new identity. The exhibition explores the shift from the ‘Infor­male’ to the Arte povera, in a unique selection which gives a contemporary reflection of the period.

Proposing a radically new perspective, Time & Place: Milan/Turin, 1958-1968 is intended to concentrate on issues developed by this environment, such as the mo­nochrome, the zero degree of signs, and the tabula rasa of conceptual practice.

The Italian avant-garde was recognized, already in the 1960s, by former Moderna Museet director Pontus Hultén, who acknowledged the leading roles held by Piero Manzoni and Lucio Fontana, who in 1967 presented a solo show at Moderna Museet.

In the first section, the exhibition presents the situation ‘beyond the Informale’, with the birth of Italian experiences, internationally known, of formal and chromatic re­duction, through the use of monochrome and the conception of space in researches beyond the surface: next to Lucio Fontana and Piero Manzoni, artists such as Enrico Castellani, Dadamaino, Gianni Colombo, Agostino Bonalumi, Paolo Scheggi, Mario Nigro, Rodolfo Aricò are represented.

The second part of the exhibition has a documentary tone, presenting the moment of artistic transition from Milan to Turin, reconstructing seminal events and exhibiting sculptural objects, photographs, invitation cards, catalogues from the period. This section will also explore the importance of the new sculpture as object, presenting, among others, Manzoni’s Linee (Lines) and Merda d’artista (Artist’s Shit), sculptu­res by Fausto Melotti and Lucio Fontana, works by Vincenzo Agnetti and Gastone Novelli together with pieces by Valerio Adami, Enrico Baj, and Lucio del Pezzo.

The third part features artworks which anticipate and conflate the developments of Arte povera, an approach based on incorporating unconventional materials with a prevailing conceptual dimension. This is a crucial moment when the frame of refe­rence is moved from post-war Milan to the pulsating social reality of Turin, which sees the emergence of future masters such as Giulio Paolini, Luciano Fabro, Miche­langelo Pistoletto, Mario and Marisa Merz, Gianni Piacentino, Carolrama, Alighiero Boetti, Giuseppe Penone, Giovanni Anselmo, Giorgio Griffa, Paolo Icaro and others.

In connection with the exhibition, Moderna Museet will also host a programme of films by Pier Paolo Pasolini, Michelangelo Antonioni, Federico Fellini and other Ita­lian film-makers.
Curator: Luca Massimo Barbero, Venice, Italy.

Project curator: Cecilia Widenheim, Moderna Museet.

Moderna Museet
Skeppsholmen, Stockholm
Phone: +46 8 5195 5279
Website: www.modernamuseet.se

Adan Neate, ‘Fragile’ Self Portrait 2007

When Adam Neate was still an unknown artist leaving his painted cardboard works out on the street, he wrote to Ron English in New York to say how much he admired his work.

For the first time, THE ADAM AND RON SHOW brings together these two urban art painters, both masters of their own style, in a major heavyweight show at the Elms Lesters Painting Rooms.

The exhibition will include a 50’ site-specific painting by Ron English, recreating Picasso’s Guernica. Over the past few years, Ron has created dozens of versions of Picasso’s masterpiece, transforming the original Spanish civilian characters into Disney characters, Peanuts characters, soccer players, schoolchildren, and many others. As part of this series he painted the world’s largest version of Guernica at the Station Museum in Houston, being one foot longer and one foot wider than Picasso’s original and featuring schoolchildren playacting the violent scene of the original.

Ron English, Brown Cow Girl

Adam Neate is a fearless painter who is constantly experimenting with styles and techniques, and continually pushing forward with his work. Paintings selected for this forthcoming show will demonstrate how he is mastering the mediums of both cardboard and canvas, with complex layering and bold use of paint. As well as a series of his coveted self portraits, the show will include a collection of his narrative, social documentary paintings. His fluid brush strokes, and impeccable line are apparent in both his two dimensional pieces and his multi-layered three dimensional works.

Adam Neate’s extraordinary development in the past 12 months has not gone unnoticed by international collectors, and his works are contended by major collectors and celebrities and lauded by international critics. Neate’s work has recently sold impressively at both Sotheby’s and Bonham’s auction houses, exceeding original estimates up to tenfold.

Adam Neate
ADAM NEATE first came to the public’s attention by bounteously leaving thousands of his paintings on the street of London, for people to take, or leave, at will. Since then he has rapidly become Britain’s most exciting young artist and a much heralded painter at the forefront of a radical new movement in contemporary art.

Whilst the world is sitting up and taking notice of a host of emerging urban/ graffiti artists - Neate is a street artist with a difference. His work is technically expert and has won him acknowledgement from Tate, National Portrait Gallery and The National Gallery.

Last August, Adam’s first one man show at Elms Lesters, the sell-out exhibition entitled PAINTINGS. POTS and PRINTS demonstrated his masterful use of different materials, garnering global interest; Adam’s works have been included in major auctions of Contemporary and Urban Art in the past months.

His gallery pieces, the majority of which are still painted on cardboard, have immediacy and a raw energy, through the use of aerosols, marker pens, and acrylic and gloss paints.

Ron English
RON ENGLISH first hijacked billboards when he was an art student as a way of displaying his art to as many people as possible – it was later that he realised he could make political statements by the same means. Since then Ron has ‘pirated’ or ‘liberated’ over one thousand billboards, replacing existing advertisements with his own hand-painted “subvertisements.” getting his own socio-political messages across. He is recognised as the father of AGIT-POP, a hybrid of Pop Art that is fuelled by a more personal, hands-on socially responsible attitude.

His gallery works on canvas contain an equally biting commentary whilst being flawlessly painted in a hyper-real style, loaded with the iconography of his generation.

His paintings have been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide and his work is included in prominent collections, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Paris and the Whitney Museum in New York; few of them were also featured in Morgan Spurlock’s film ‘SUPER SIZE ME”.

His film “POPaganda: The Art and Crimes of Ron English” was released in 2006.

Elms Lesters Painting Rooms
1-3-5 Flitcroft Street
London WC2H 8DH
Phone: +44 207 836 6747
Website: www.elmslesters.co.uk/

Frida Kahlo, Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird (Autorretrato con collar de espinas y colibrí), 1940
Oil on canvas. 24 5/8 x 18 7/8 inches
Nickolas Muray Collection, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin.
© 2007 Banco de México Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust. Av. Cinco de Mayo No. 2, Col. Centro, Del. Cuauhtémoc 06059, México, D.F.

Mexican artist Frida Kahlo’s stature as one of the most original, remarkable and soul-stirring artists of the 20th century is confirmed by an upcoming exhibit that examines the full range of her talents.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Kahlo’s birth, the Philadelphia Museum of Art has organized the first major display of her work in the U.S. in nearly fifteen years. Rendered in vivid colors and realistic detail, the more than 40 of Kahlo’s self-portraits, still lifes and portraits date from the beginning of her career in 1926 until her death in 1954. Many of the works come from more than 30 private and institutional collections in the U.S., Mexico, France and Japan, with several of them on view in the U.S. for the first time. Visitors will also see a selection of nearly 100 photographs of Kahlo and her husband, Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, taken by international photographers of the period, including Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Lola Alvarez Bravo, Gisele Freund, Tina Modotti and Nickolas Muray, and personal snapshots of the artist with family and friends, for example, André Breton and Leon Trotsky.

Philadelphia Museum of Art
26th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA
Telephone: (215) 763-8100
Web site: www.philamuseum.org

The Dead Girl, 1938
Juan Soriano, Mexican
Oil on panel
18 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches (47 x 80 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Clifford, 1947
1947-29-3

Fragile Demon: Juan Soriano in Mexico, 1935–1950, the first exhibition of its kind in a major museum in the US, examines the early work of one of modern Mexico’s most intriguing artists. Although Soriano (1920–2006) played a pivotal role in the development of Mexican painting and sculpture from the 1930s until his recent death, his art is almost unknown outside of Mexico. While recent exhibitions of Soriano’s works have examined his paintings and sculpture from 1950 forward, few have focused on the artist’s paintings from the 1930s and 1940s. These works—portraits of friends and family, images of children, still-lifes, and landscapes—offer a distinctive variation on the themes and artistic styles that preoccupied Soriano’s contemporaries. When Soriano moved to Mexico City in 1935, he began visual and personal dialogues with Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Jose Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, among others. In his own works, Soriano responded to the works of these prominent Mexican artists, while he drew upon his deep interest in popular and indigenous arts, as well as Cubism, German Expressionism, Fauvism, and Surrealism, to create a personal style of romantic realism.

Philadelphia Museum of Art
26th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA
Telephone: (215) 763-8100
Web site: www.philamuseum.org