Posts

Attua Aparicio: The Ralph Saltzman Prize 2024

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Intriguing exhibition at the Design Museum on the work of Attua Aparicio who has been chosen as this year’s Ralph Saltzman prize winner. The prize goes to someone whose work points to a new direction in design and Aparicio was chosen for her creative approach to waste materials. Aparicio mainly works in ceramics but had started including borosilicate glass, which is used in industry and is not recyclable, in her work. In some cases this is applied to found ceramics or failed pieces from ceramic factories. I am a sucker for both ceramics and glass so I loved this work aesthetically as well as finding her ideas fascinating. Closes 15 April 2024  

How to Build a Low-Carbon Home

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Useful small exhibition at the Design Museum focusing on how three traditional building materials are being used to build sustainable homes. The show looked at wood, straw and stone describing new methods of using them which often boiled down to making bricks with them. I liked the section on engineered timber ie wood pieces processed into a strong composite from which it has been possible to build a 7 storey tower block in 27 days. I will admit though that my photos aren’t that exciting! Closed 20 March 2024

Skateboard

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Interesting exhibition at the Design Museum on the development of skateboarding. OK I admit this was a stretch for me but, I was there and as you know I’ll go to see anything. That said you can always learn something. The show looked at the technical developments in skateboards since the 1950s with an emphasis on how design was driven by skaters themselves. It also looked at the social changes in the sport culminating with its inclusion in the Olympics. I’ll be honest the technical side made me gloss over but it did show me that skateboards had changed more than this non-user had imagined. Have pictures of the earliest pieces in the show, basically a plank of wood with roller skate wheels, to one of the most recent marking the listing of the skating area on the South Bank which I walked past later in the day. Closes 19 May   2024    

REBEL: 30 Years of London Fashion

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Compelling exhibition at the Design Museum Looking at British fashion over the last 30 years. The show marked 30 years of the British Fashion Council’s NEWGEN scheme to support fashion talent. Over 300 designers have been through the scheme with Alexander McQueen being one of the first to benefit from it. The show was arranged in themes  which make London unique as a centre for fashion ranging from art schools, through clubs and fashion infrastructure. I must admit a lot of the clothes weren’t to my taste but I guess I am not their target market. That said there were some beautiful things, this classic dress in a stunning yellow and who can resist butterfly shoes. There were some innovative displays including a catwalk towards the end and a queue from a club which included Sam Smith’s inflatable Brits outfit and Bjork’s swan. Closed 11 February 2024.  Review Telegraph

Pesellino: A Renaissance Master Revealed

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Interesting online lecture from ARTscapades looking at the recent exhibition at the National Gallery focusing on Pesellino. I had already done a talk by the curator and the lady who restored the two main panels in the show as well as seeing the show itself but this lecture was being done by Richard Stemp and it’s always worth hearing his take on a subject. The added insight he brought was to compare the two panels in the life of David in the show to the chapel of the Magi by Gozzoli in the Medici Palace which I love. Rather than my assumption that Pesellino had been inspired by the later Stemp pointed out that the chapel was of a later date so Gozzoli was probably influenced by the panels which were possibly made for the new palace rather than to ark a wedding.   A complex argument but anything Medici related has me hooked. He also took us through the other works in the show, clearly telling the stories in the small   predella panels and discussing how the Pistoia Santa Trinta a

Russell Young: Dreamland

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Glamorous exhibition at the Maddox Gallery in Berkeley Street of new work by Russell Young. At first glance these works were just a homage to Andy Warhol and on reading the commentary they partly were, using his method of stretching screen prints, however they were enhanced by using pigments to reflect the light of California and sourced from around the world then covered in diamond dust. Like Warhol they comment on the role of celebrity in our society and I liked the description in the commentary that they are “a dissection of the American Dream and the dark side of fame”. I’m always up for dissecting the American Dream. I love the way the sparkling dust played with your eyes heightening the effect sometimes given by the screen printed enlarged image. I thought the ones of a single face worked better than the group pictures. Closed 7 February 2024 Review Evening Standard

Worlds Beyond : Group Exhibition

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Mixed exhibition   at Unit featuring contemporary artists working in abstracts. The commentary described this as a group show which “guides viewers through an immersive experience that connects form and space”. I’m not sure I got that although for a while I did think the building noise coming from a room next door might have been part of it. I’m afraid I didn’t relate to the paintings in the show. I liked their bold colours but found them a bit impenetrable. I much preferred the textile work which seemed to lend itself to abstract ideas. My favourite was Allison Reimus’s patchwork quilt like pieces which had a geometric abstract effect. I also liked Betty Leung’s more sculptural work -and how she used specifically printed fabric for them. Closed 3 February 2024