Preview Evening: The London Art Fair 2015

Tuesday 22nd January: 6 - 7:30pm Preview Evening

Walking around an exhibition of exhibitions is like navigating some kind of bizarre maze which doesn’t have a prize in the middle. Anyone who has ever been to an event at London’s Business Design Centre will know that it is a very, very big place: a mixture of different levels, spaces and uses already makes it a hybrid kind of venue – but with the addition of around one hundred participating galleries, each curating their own small stand within the space, the microcosmic vibe about the show was certainly a little bit overwhelming. Now in its 27^th edition, The London Art Fair typically launches the art world’s year by presenting a selection of Modern British Art from a selection of different galleries – covering the period from the early 20^th century to the present day. The event stands as a platform to encourage and support collectors of all levels, and even on the preview evening before the main event’s opening, there were a few neon, circular dots obscuring the prices under each work’s title.

Warmed by the hundreds of temporary spotlights, the tension between loving art and collecting art always seems to hang in the air of these kinds of events. Of course, seasoned art-fair attendees embrace the entire structure of it all, using the show as an opportunity either to develop their own private collections, or (in the case of the gallery curator / event exhibitor) promote the work they so love and support by showing and actually selling some of it. But that other group of attendees can often be found awkwardly wandering the rows of exhibition stands feeling overwhelmed, confused and kind of out of place - despite being surrounded by a lot of very interesting art. It’s the trade show element of the art fair structure which momentarily presents art in a context that not all of us are particularly comfortable with: the art market.

I’m going to make an effort over the next few months to really widen my scope in terms of the art events I attend. I want to learn more about the market that continues to support the creation of new work (regardless of medium), in the hope that one day, I can confidently support new art by purchasing some myself.

3D Printshow London 2014

Over the summer, I've been working on sourcing and curating a gallery of 3D printed arts and fashion pieces to contribute to 3D Printsow London 2014. I'm the Content Curator for the event, which means that I create some of the galleries (arts, fashion, architecture, food), as well as scheduling the conference program (taking place over three stages across three days). The event took place last month, and I've put together some of my favourite pictures form the gallery space:

 

I've been obsessed with the work of Pussykrew for months, so it was such a pleasure to research, handle and exhibit their work at such a major cross-disciplinary event. What's particularly fascinating about their work is the way that they laboriously finish the pieces- which has attracted the attention of a lot of the 3D printing industry. A good finish is notoriously difficult to achieve from a 3D printer, so a lot of people regard Pussykrew's sanding, buffing and painting as 'cheating'. They're wrong though - these sculptural piece bridge the gap between digital and tangible - between virtual and physical.

 

Both Dorry Hsu & Ge Bai's work involves 3D printed accessories worn on the head and face. Dorry's masks are colourful, technical and incredible beautiful: inspired by the forms of beetles and insects, the collection (named 'The Aesthetic of Fear') demonstrates the incredible capabilities of 3D printing. I'm also thrilled to see her work being recognised more and more in recent months. Ge Bai's work was premiered at this year's graduate fashion week, and the 3D printed eyewear pieces were brilliantly juxtaposed by some very classic knitwear looks and lines.

 Sophie Kahn's work is as a world-renowned digital artist presents a modern day idea of the self-portrait. 3D printed from glitched and broken body scans of herself, one might suggest that her work is the ultimate 'selfie' - however, there's a lot more to it than that. Her sculptures offer a vulnerable insight into the artist's perception of herself, which in turn reflects the common anxieties caused by digital technology across entire generations. It was a pleasure to curate her personal work into the exhibition.

This is only a very small selection of some of the incredible pieces that we managed to collect for our flagship 3D printing event in London (please contact me directly for more information). I'm currently working on our Paris show happening in a few weeks - after which we'll be in Berlin, New York, Madrid, San Fran, Dubai and a few more places. We'll also be running a series of high-level international conferences before the New Year - so keep an eye out.

Perhaps the best part of the exhibition was showing my Dad around though :-)

Prue Stent & Pink

I've become obsessed with pink material.

As artist (I think?) Prue Stent illustrates, pink material is an very general concept which can be interpretted in loads of different ways. Painted nipples, water-filled condoms, lip gloss, melons, donuts and balloons all count. But her work explores a whole lot more than aesthetics - it's very much about a vulnerable kind of private femininity. And a critcally sexualised one at that.

The images which actually include pink material are probably my favourite. But you gotta check out the rest of her work on her website.

Virtual reality

I have a really fun job, in which I research amazing fashion, arts and architectural content produced via 3D printing for a global series of exhibitions.
One such body of work I've come across recently is that of Berlin based collective Pussykrew. With heaps of interesting experience within the digital media, music, VJ sets and animation modelling, their recent 3D printed work makes the hyper real forms from their virtual animations into physical structures.

A fascination with 'tumblr aesthetic' (which I researched at great length last year on this blog) as well as an interest in virtual, contemporary landscape (via a blog I curate) has certainly prepped me to appreciate the work of Pussykrew. Do check out the stunning animation that heads up their website HERE, or read through the documentation of their 3D printed artwork HERE.

#PaddlesON

Last night saw the UK's first auction in which Digital Art was available for purchase. In collaboration with Phillips and Tumblr, Paddles On! received a very mixed reaction. With some lots selling for way over their estimate (around the £20k mark) while others didn't even sell at all, the discussion of where this kind of work belongs within the market place continues to develop. After Saatchi and Google +'s Motion Photography (gif) exhibition earlier in the year, the continued tension between contemporary digital practice, traditional selling structures and established institutions is only lengthening this strange in-between time. Changes are certainly starting to take place, and it will be fascinating to watch the development of Digital Art sales.
More on the matter here, which I wrote a year ago.

Arcadia Missa & Preteen

I'm a freelance writer, and I write about things like fashion, tech and art. When I'm asked to review art shows, it's expected to see something 'new': an interesting new aesthetic, material, or take on a concept usually suffices. Despite all these original visuals, it's kind of rare to actually feel something new. But that's exactly what happened when I went to review 'It Been Four Years Since 2014' at Arcadia Missa with Preteen Gallery in Peckham earlier this month. The initial reaction of "huh?"/"wtf is going on" slowly evolved into a realisation that the work presented in the show was not art as I knew it. At uni, we learnt about 'movements' and about how new, paradigm-shifting shows happened in the art world - yet I have never experienced that feeling of excitement at a show myself. Until now. It's weird, but check out my article on aqnb.com about the show, and if you can, you should go and see it.

http://www.aqnb.com/2014/06/19/its-been-four-years-since-2010-arcadia-missa-reviewed/

flat textures

I've got a real thing for materials, materiality and textures - and I love how these (rather general) concepts can be explored on a flat plane. Painting and photography have a lot in common, and while the internet continues to establish itself as (probably) the most important platform for aesthetic and visual discovery, we're all going back to flat. What I mean by this is that what we see on a computer screen does not have a texture: it stands as a flat image. Despite this, an understanding of lighting, texture and movement can still be achieved. A few weeks ago, my friend Will and I took some photographs of the inner, reflective surface of a photography lighting umbrella. Placed in a totally white studio (a shelf space painted white on all sides), we added some different coloured cards to change the appearance of the otherwise silver material, and the results are stunning.

Along the same lines, I recently came across these incredible paintings by artist Yrjö Edelmann. His magic conjurings of trompe-l'oeil images are deceptively placed in a realm somewhere between reality and fantasty - but the images of his work look incredible on a computer screen. The evident textures aren't entirely dissimilar to the images of some shiny material that we produced, and of course, both share a very particular flatness in contrast to their textures.

Saatchi & Google+

I took a trip uptown last week to have a look at what gif. files look like on gallery walls (rather than on a monitor). Needless to say, they look bigger. And brighter. I'm really not sure whether they look better - but then again, art doesn't always look it's best out of context, does it?

The Saatchi Gallery seem to have dressed up an expensive marketing campaign as a progressive art exhibition. The Motion Photography Prize, in association with Google+ and Saatchi Art, is a global, open entry competition celebrating this new medium. This celebration comes alongside a new gif making app from Google+, and all around the opening space were reminders. An impressive line-up of judges were called (Baz Luhrmann, Shezad Dawood, Tracey Emin and Cindy Sherman) to pick a winner - but the majority of guests at the opening were more interested by the free booze. I mean, everyone at art openings is interested in free booze - but this art opening was especially booze-focused. 

The evening was absolutely packed and there was definitely an excitement in the air - perhaps it was because there's something that feels really exciting about welcoming a new art medium into public consciousness. The works themselves didn't seem particularly exciting, but the snippets of overheard conversation among guests certainly were. The winner of the prize, Christina Rinaldi, was shaking with excitement when I chatted to her, however. SHe seemed quite bemused by the whole situation, and it was a pleasure to congratulate her.

Mind mapping

Just an example of how I work around a brief.
This was a curatorial brief during uni, in which we had to create a show proposal based around the theme of a lacuna. A lacuna is a gap, a break, a space. I decided to build from this idea by identifying the lacuna that many young people go through between university and finding that dream job.

Meaning Making Experience: upcoming

I'll be speaking in Copenhagen later this year for Sharing is Caring at MMEX.

The session will explore the benefits of open collections and resources for knowledge sharing in the GLAM sector - and what opportunities such an approach can give users.

Stoked, I've always loved Denmark.

Faith Robinson

‘Navigating Networks: considering changes in user behavior’

The developed and established structures in place regarding user interaction with GLAM sector resources are certainly effective. However, as the digital continues to effect contemporary approaches (in many general and specific ways), how can institutions adapt to facilitate engagement with their resources? This ignite is a case study of personal experience with these new challenges. 

How to Sleep Faster ep. 3

Please check out this online exhibition:
How to Sleep Faster ep. 3
from
Arcadia Missa

I wrote a review of it for aqnb.com (here) - and it was such a pleasure to explore and write.

For more examples of my contemporary art history / tech writing, go here.

Credit Card Curation

Credit Card Curation

HERE

Anything can be curated and anything is a gallery. Cool idea huh?
Let's not mention the feminist abstract porn reference here.

Too late.

Lawrence Lek - material structures

I'm really interested in these dynamic material structures by artist Lawrence Lek. The organic, fluid forms and connections between shapes makes me think of naturally occurring exoskeletons and biomimetic constructions. I'm becoming more and more interested in innovative material structure - particularly as a result of my research into the potential of 3D printing and new tech materials. Super interesting and inspiring on many levels.

3d design, real world

These images look like CAD vector drawings that have been put into real-life environments:

DAVID MESGUICH

images

I've been noticing more and more similar art projects over the past few months; it's interesting that within an increasingly digital, virtual culture, aesthetic inspiration for physical art works can be taken from computer aided design.

magma

A good gif is completely mesmerizing.

This one is pretty special if you ask me.

Can't find the source, sadly, but its really exciting to see this medium being taken seriously across a variety of creative disciplines.

Silvia Weidenbach

This graphic is gorgeous.

Gurn

Picasso's Guernica

Charon: Sterling Crispin and 3D Printing

Charon, by Santa Barbara-based artist Sterling Crispin, is a 3D printed sculpture based on a flightpath performance involving an autonomous quadrocopter (and sensor tracking) and human interaction.

In the past, the concept - and thus the performance as enactment of that - has always stood as the most important part of a piece like Charon. The visible, documented (video) activity of Crispin interacting with the flying drone does very well to illustrate the tension between human and robotic agency as a means of making sense of the world. This theme constitutes the subject of much of Crispin's interesting work; throughout his practice, ideas of techno/life-forces, spirituality, entropy and virtual reality are explored, often by paralleling the human and the robotic (as in Charon). However, the possibility to make a material object out of this flightpath - as a 'shadow of this boundary crossing' (Crispin) - has been realised through the process of 3D printing. I'm really excited about how this technology can allow for a new kind of materiality - which is often simply a means of making data visible and three dimensional. Again, this work follows a developing tradition within 3D printed art of utilising organic forms within a technological context. I think the resulting sculpture stands as a beautiful art object that manages to bring the immaterial, spirit-like quality of Crispin's work into physicality. And there's certainly something rather magical about that.

Charon

Quadcopter, motion capture system, OpenGL simulation, 3D print, flat screen television
2013



Matthew Plummer-Fernandez

3D Print of algorithmic interpretation of a photograph

Venus of Google

Matthew Plummer-Fernandez

As part of my attempt to development my understanding and appreciation of 3D printed art, I've begun to research some interesting projects.

This commission incorporates the creation of his own image-comparison algorithm (as 'software') to 'sculpt' an image found on Google by using Google Image search as a translator. It is then digitally prepared for 3D print production.

Plummer-Fernandez's sculptures are far removed from the idea of a 'traditional', hand-crafted work; formed entirely out of information and produced entirely through machine and technology, they challenge the idea of the artist as well as the materiality of what the artist produces. One could go so far as to suggest that Plumber-Fernandez shifts the role of the artist by placing 'artistic direction' in the non-existant hands of the Google Image search algorithm - and this is a really thought-provoking, conceptual idea.

 The material, 3D printed result is visually rich and in many ways, unrecognisable as a traditional art object. It looks somehow super-imposed into real life.

This process can be applied to any image/object:

These pictures remind me of some work previously featured on gear talk by artist Katja Novitskova:

Digital fabrication is made explicit in these works - so much so that it completely forms the subject of some pieces.