07/02/2010 by bakary.

The Sacred Made Real at the National Gallery was my first venture in an art gallery so far this year.

The reviews were alluring and tantalising. Referred to, simply, as the best exhibition of the year, when it opened in 2009. There was a lot to like… only a few pieces were shown in each room. Each piece therefore was given the space to breathe. Each piece important enough to command your undivided attention. The lighting low and subdued; encouraging the audience to whisper or remain silent. These are objects of devotion normally seen in churches and there was a reverential silence in each room.

In 17th-century Spain, religious art got the realism treatment… whether it was meant to shock, I’m not sure… but realism brought a much needed oomph to the Catholic Church. You were no longer just praying to an icon; you were face to face with a living person, whose very pain and sadness was there for you to see.

The austerity of the works in sharp contrast with some of the goriness on display. The severed ‘Head of Saint John the Baptist’ certainly proved a hit with a couple of children in the room at the same time as me; the blood on the severed neck hinting at the fresh decapitation. ‘Christ on the Cross (’Cristo de los Desamparados’)’ invites you to reflect on the pain which Christ suffered but if you have any doubts, his shadow on the wall will refute these as you see him pulling from the nails; his body slumped forward, helplessly.

The Culture Show’s review of this exhibition drew our attention to a couple of pieces, ‘The Virgin of Sorrows (Mater Dolorosa)’ and ‘Dead Christ’ and these were indeed fabulous in their realism… but ‘The Virgin of the Immaculate Conception’ was one of my favourite pieces. The detail of her drapery and her face meant that you had to look twice to reassure yourself that it was a statue you were looking at, not a real person. As for ‘Saint Francis Borgia’, I simply could not hold his gaze.

Yes, the standard of the works on show was extremely high… but this exhibition was a success because the curator got it spot on. They didn’t want you to simply visit this exhibition; they wanted you to experience it. Simply astounding.

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14/12/2009 by bakary.

I read this week that the Anish Kapoor exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts is now the most visited exhibition of a living artist there.

The galleries were certainly very busy on the day I was there. Luckily, I’d purchased my ticket for the first slot of the day in advance. The queue was already big by the time I got there and it was bigger still by the time I left. But the people who queued, in the rain, would certainly agree that it was worth it.

From one gallery to the next, people were enjoying themselves. Children (and there were a lot there!) were trying to work out what things were and how they worked. Older folks were having fun.
 
 
 
 
  
 
The only two people I overheard who were clearly not having any fun were two die-hard Royal Academy fans… who decided that this was the sort of exhibition that people would say they liked, just because it’s trendy to say so. They’d also decided that there was nothing new there.

Well… everyone is entitled to their opinions, of course.

The thing about Anish Kapoor, I find, is that he makes you marvel at the simplest things. Be it the shape, smoothness or the idea behind each of his works.

The exhibition booklet states that Anish Kapoor’s “exploration of form and space and his use of colour and material have profoundly influenced the course of contemporary sculpture.”

Take Yellow for example.  Literally, we have a coloured indentation in a wall. But the density of the colour and the smoothness of the hole make you stare for ages. You can lose yourself in there.

Non-objects reminds you of those mirrored galleries at funfairs. And yes, they are fun. But they also confuse you and trick you. Where are you? What exactly are you looking at? “I make these works because I feel this is a new spatial adventure. To make new art you have to make new space” (Anish Kapoor).

And Svayambh plays a trick on you too. At first, you find yourself looking at the huge block of red wax. And then you realise that slowly, very slowly, it moves. It moves across five galleries and through the classical doorways, up and down tracks, all day long, leaving wax along the way. When you read the notes, you find out that Svayambh roughly means ’self-generated’ in Sanskrit. And that’s a concept which is dear to Kapoor’s heart. The idea that you, as the artist, come up with the concept of the work… but the art makes itself. “Self-authored sculpture.”

 And then there’s the crowd-pleaser, Shooting into the Corner. Ushered into a small space, people chat with anticipation for the moment when the canon is loaded. Every 20 minutes, a reverential silence descends on the room as the crowd watch the canon being loaded. And bang. Approximately 20 pounds of wax is fired into a corner of the Small Weston Room. The wax piles up into the corner. It’s fun and messy. It’s also violent. And again, art creates itself.
 
 
 
 
 
 
    

Tall Tree and the Eye merges the old (the Royal Academy building) with the new (shiny spheres). And similarly, it also tricks you into bringing the sky )and the clouds) and the earth together. It allows you to explore and play with shapes and reflections. The spheres look like they’re attached to each other randomly… but the perspectives and reflections are no coincidences.

I loved it.

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29/11/2009 by bakary.

How it is by Miroslaw Balka is the latest controversial exhibit from the Unilever seried at Tate Modern.

‘Like its predecessors, it it innovative, bold and challenging‘, says Tate Modern.

You’re invited to walk into a huge container, where you are supposedly engulfed by darkness. A fun thing to do? A way of confronting your fears (do you want to walk into the unknow)? A disappointment?

The container is 1000 x 1300 x 3000. Walking into it for the first time is disconcerting. You can’t quite see. Figures are coming towards you. You don’t know when you’re going to reach the end. Are you in danger of hurting yourself or others?

Once you’ve reached the end, you realise that in fact it’s not totally dark. The best thing however is watching people entering the container, dark forms against the light.

I came out and left it a few minutes before going in again. Shouldn’t have done that. You can quite repeat the first experience. It’s not as dark the second time round and you are aware of where the end is.

Still… it’s fun and a bit disorientating at first.

How it is by Miroslaw Balka is on at Tate Modern until 5 April 2010. FREE.

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28/11/2009 by bakary.

True to form, I made it to the British Museum on 22 November… on what was the last day of The Power of the Dogu exhibition.

I must admit knowing nothing about ancient Japan or Dogu. But I’d seen a review of the exhibition and found these small ceramic statues attractive and intriguing.

They are crude, simple representations of the human form. Some clearly represent fertility and could have been intended to help secure safe childbirth. Other were found buried next to infants; child mortality being rife at the time. A few are known to have been buried in the community ground when it was time to abandon the village, suggesting a nomadic lifestyle.

Embellished and decorated, plain and crude. Whatever they are, these stunning clay statues are truly fascinating and I guess part of the attraction is not knowing for certain what their purposes were.

One of the reviews I recently read suugested that influences of the Dogu can be found in the work of artists like Picasso and Ernst. I can see that. I can also see that they are not dissimilar to wooden statues used in rituals in Africa. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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13/11/2009 by bakary.

Welcome to the September 2009 Tube map.

You’re probably aware of what a massive PR crisis this has been for Transport for London.

Normal service will resume with the next edition of the map we’re told. You know… maps with a river running through the city. Maps with South and North London clearly demarcated. Maps with zones so you know which tickets to purchase. Maps… which make sense.

Bet you the bright spark which came up with riverless London isn’t a Londoner. I bet you. They can’t be.

Anyway, I digress… the best thing about the controversial map is its cover, designed by our favourite artist, Richard Long:

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26/10/2009 by bakary.

The recent Corot to Monet exhibition at the National Gallery wasn’t very exciting, sadly.

There was a bit about how the Barbizon school was responsible for moving art towards realism. Suddenly, painters were making nature the subject of their paintings.

Jean-Francois Millet extended the idea from landscape to figures. His paintings were reflecting real life: peasant figures and scenes of peasant life, for example.

The previous trend was for painters to incorporate a sense of poetry into their works. They used their imagination and memory to work on pieces, sketching outdoors and working on the paintings back in their studios. What we have as a result are poetic paintings with few realistic details.

‘Beauty in art is truth based on the impression we have received observing nature’ (Corot).

Boudin taught many Impressionists to paint outdoors and they famously took hold of the concept of painting in situ. ‘The Beach at Trouville‘ by Monet even has grains of sand and shells embedded in the paint surface.

And that’s about it. Many paintings and little substance. And a few paintings which failed to justify their presence in the exhibition. Still, it’s always nice to spend some time in an art gallery…

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23/10/2009 by bakary.

Bassekou Kouyate is the Ngoni master. (It must be true… it’s written on Mr Kouyate’s outfit!). He’s also a fun and fantastic musician and so I couldn’t believe my luck when I found out the band was playing at the Jazz Cafe in Camden… and there were still a few tickets available!

A Ngoni looks like this:

It’s an ancient forgotten instrument which Bassekou Kouyate has made his own. Keeping elements of traditional Malian music and songs, Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba are giving the Ngoni a new lease of life, through an amp!

The band soon had us singing and dancing. They were quite chatty as well and even though a lot of the dialogue was in French, the audience responded. And it was all very good humoured… which is just as well because it could have ended up as a disaster.

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba on stage, having fun and playing great music: fun.

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba on stage, having fun and playing great music, with Damon Albarn joining in with a melodica: not fun. (For goodness’s sake Damon, what were you wearing? A red USA baseball cap… why? And shouldn’t you have in bed? You looked ready for it).

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba on stage, having fun and playing great music, with some random guy from the audience with a woolly hat: not fun. (Guy with the woolly hat: did you think you’d turn up at a open mic event?).

Seriously… there were a couple of embarrassing moments. A few whispers around me. Yet, Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba kept the show going and if they were a little frustrated and impatient, they didn’t show it. I take my hat off to them! It was a superb show! 

And as the playlist was on stage when we got there… you can have a look at it now and play the tracks at home to recreate the evening… but be warned… you’ll have to provide your own people with hats…

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23/10/2009 by bakary.

This month has been crazy busy… so much so that our first anniversary has come and gone. Ooops.

A good sign? Er… no… we missed a party opportunity!

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16/10/2009 by bakary.

The One And Other art project on the Fourth Plinth, in Trafalgar Square, came to an end on Wednesday. It’s only been a couple of days but already Trafalgar Square hasn’t been the same.

One hundred days, with one performer an hour twenty four hours a day. I only managed to catch about five minutes most days on my way to work. And I always made sure to look at what was going on and who was doing what.

I was there for the last change over. Pink balloons giving way to red balloons.

And yesterday, they started to dismantle things.

Thank you Mr Gormley. It’s been fun.

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14/10/2009 by bakary.

I went back to Canada House last night for the screening of Before Tomorrow.

I knew nothing about the film, apart from the small synopsis which sounded intriguing: “Before Tomorrow is the story of a woman who demonstrates that human dignity is at the core of life from beginning to end, as she faces with her grandson the ultimate challenge of survival”. (Source: http://www.beforetomorrow.ca/)

Adapted from the novel For morgendagen (by the Danish writer Jørn Riel), the story captures what happens when a secluded Inuit tribe comes into contact with Europeans, with catastrophic effects.

It certainly made me aware that we all have a responsibility when visiting other countries and coming into contact with people. Who we are and what we do affects other people and their way of life. And not always in a good way. It also powerfully makes you wonder what you would do when faced with the hardest decision you will have to make for yourself and the ones you love…

Such a sad story. So sad…

Before Tomorrow could almost give Breaking the Waves a run for its money as the saddest film I have ever seen.

The scenery however was astounding and you can tell that these people are proud of where they live and that they don’t take the beauty around them for granted. Yes, it’s stunning… but the conditions there are so harsh.

There’s one more screening at Canada House next week (contact Canada House to register for tickets):
Passage, 20 October 2009

North West Passage is on at the NMM until 3 January 2010.

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