Obsession with Au Naturel

my latest woodland find..

Firstly, I’m not talking about makeup I would never dis' that stuff, concealer is probably one of the greatest creations known to man; instead I’m talking about the natural materials out there; the wood, leaves and natural structures in their purest forms. Hence my possibly unhealthy tendency to collect and hoard bits of bark and rocks, (maybe I should’ve done geology?) but there is so much scope to make work from materials like that, take the Land Artists Richard Long and Andy Goldsworthy who create work within the landscape, or the sculptor Guiseppe Penone; who takes the materials out of the landscape into the gallery space. I saw that piece in the Tate a while back and it really is that fucking cool. I don’t know what it is about ‘The Hidden Life Within’ perhaps it is the scale, parallel to a totem pole with the design on the outside; it really beautifully reveals the inner forms within.  

Richard Long

Anthony Goldsworthy

 'The Hidden Life Within'
 “My artwork shows, with the language of sculpture, the essence of matter and tries to reveal with the work, the hidden life within.” –Giuseppe Penone

I like the way you can put the work into an entirely new context and create something totally exciting, just by changing the surroundings.

I made a dress out of natural materials (back when I was determined to do fashion, oh how that’s changed) I wanted to create something that was both sustainable and wearable. Designed from a recycled dress pattern I had made a few years earlier, made in re-used calico, and adorned with bark and straw and pressed flowers encased in recycled plastic. It achieved the effect of being pretty much sustainable however it’s not that durable and has er started to decompose, which I don’t suppose anyone really wants from a dress, although based on price per wear, excluding making time, it’s a cheapy!

Whenever I’m in need of some inspiration I’ll go to the forest, collect some interesting foliage and go make something pointless but most importantly ECO FRIENDLY & SUSTAINABLE!!

Paper, scissors, glue... Now all I want to do is some Cutting and Sticking

Gestalten has a reputation for printing the coolest and some of the most beautiful art books around, and now I am proud to say I own one of them.
This book has been on my wish list for too long and finally I have it in my possession; Cutting Edges; Contemporary Collage is the crème de la crème of contemporary collage reference books, documenting this new heyday of collage in current art and visual culture and quite frankly is the prettiest thing I have ever owned, ever!

 

 

'A Whole Lotta Colour'

Drop, Roll, Slide, Drip..           

..Frank Bowling’s Poured Paintings 

1973-1978    

When I visited the Tate Britain a few weeks back, there was an exhibition of one of the most notable abstract expressionist artists; Frank Bowling.  Sure I could’ve combined it with my other post about the Tate, but I felt that a true great in the field of lyrical abstraction deserved a whole post to himself, plus he seemed to have painted a lot in those five years..

Ultimately Bowling’s style is very aesthetically pleasing, you couldn’t look at the work and ‘dislike’ it, after finding his niche, it was  the colour and material structure of paint which became (and still remains) his main concern.

He began by pouring acrylic paint directly onto the canvas and angling it so that the paint would slowly flow to the bottom. Once realising the promise of this technique, he then built a specially made tilting platform that would enable him to pour paint from a height of up to 2 metres. This way allowed the paint to flow faster in more energetic movements.

He explored layering paint, usually in different colours. So that after initially flowing down in straight lines the different colours would mesh together, resulting in a swirly configuration at the bottom of the canvas.

He first exhibited in New York back in 1973, and has spent the last thirty years developing his practise; adding other materials and more paint. His work pretty much speaks for itself; elegantly simple and honest with no underlying themes; just true aesthetics. 

WHAT'S HOT ON THE MILLBANK BLOCK?

 Since Frieze London is gonna be hitting the capital in less than a month now, I thought I’d get my eye in, and gently ease myself into some art before I get totally immersed in the best contemporary art around. I went to see what’s on at the Tate Britain. Although not as large and imposing as the Tate Modern and not as many rooms nor floors, they still managed to cram a lot of cool stuff in, this is some of the stuff that I really liked..

Karla Black’s sculptures have a powerful material presence, structural materials such as plaster as plastic dominate, but theres also a reference to the body and feminism using substances such as petroleum jelly and lipstick. 'At Fault' was made from cellophane, powder paints, plaster paints, bath bombs, sugar paper, chalk ribbon and wood. The pastel colours evoke saccharin prettiness; undermined by the torn twisted physicality of the materials themselves, like the metallic aftertaste of the sweetner.

Garth Evans

‘Untitled no. 3’ 1975

Rubber

Tacita Dean

‘Majesty’ 2006

 Gouache and photograph mounted on paper

Alice Channer. ‘See-Thru’ 2009.

Gouache, pencil and fag ash on and in paper, in two parts.

Sarah Lucas’ ‘Nud Cycladic 3, 6 & 10’ sculptures, made from tights, fluff and wire, have a faux-marble like appearance and weight to them.  

Paul Nobel. ‘Lidnob’ 2000, grafite on paper. One of the most incredible pencil drawings I have ever seen, such a massive scale!

Classic John Stezaker; 'Masks XIII & XIV'

  

Richard Wentworth

 ‘35°9, 32°18’ , 1985

Steel,  aluminium and cable

This twisted and rickety ladder appears to lean precariously against the wall without quite making contact with the floor, with another flimsier cable-made ladder appearing behind it like a ghostly presence.  The title relates to a grid reference, alluding  to the point at which the ladder is attached to the wall; unclear to the viewer, thus seemingly destined to succumb to gravity at any moment.

 

Bill Woodrow

‘Car Door, Ironing Board and Twin-Tub with North American Headdress’ 1981

Mixed media

Chris Ofili

‘No Woman No Cry’ 1998

Mixed media

Frieze London art fair is from the 11^th-14^th October in London’s regents park, go see it!

It will blow your mind!