Modern Chinese Ink Paintings

May 19, 2012

Currently on display at the British Museum, this exhibition traces recent developments in this traditional Chinese art form.

Historically, painting has occupied a privileged place in China as one of three highly prized forms of expression. Along with poetry and calligraphy – collectively known as the “three perfections” – Chinese painting draws on a rich matrix of motifs and techniques. However, as exhibition demonstrates, ink painting is very much a living form, even as it remains true to its origins.

The most clear example of this is the way in which contemporary artists stick to the traditional subject matter of Chinese ink paintings; natural forms of landscapes, flowers, and rocks feature prominently. When they diverge from this formula, for example, to caricature an intellectual, it is usually possible to find a historical precedent, something this exhibit does very well.

Within this framework, artists like Liu Dan and Liu Kuo-Sung push ink paintings in directions which are actually quite radical. Liu Dan, for example, realistically enlarges rocks and flowers to such an extent that an element of ambiguity is introduced into their interpretation. Liu Kuo-Sung’s more playful work also introduces ambiguity, but he does so through techniques which are both minimal and expressive.

This exhibit has some forty works on display and contains examples from several artists (notably Zhang Daqian), and yet it feels quite small. Hopefully the British Museum has more to show us in the future.

Modern Chinese Ink Paintings are on display until the 2nd of September in room 91 of the British Museum.

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Mahler: Symphony No. 5

May 18, 2012

The Philharmonia Orchestra’s blurb warns that Mahler’s Fifth Symphony is ambitious, complex, and misunderstood. “How delightfully pretentious, how high-brow,” I said, triumphantly clicking through to purchase tickets, fully prepared to spend an hour and a half in a state of utter confusion. “I’ll bring the wife too, she’ll hate it!”

To start things off, we had some Wagner: the Prelude from Act I of Parsifal. “Wagner, he’s for children. I’ve seen his anime,” I thought. It was a suitable compliment to the main event.

Symphony No. 5 is very cinematic. It switches gears quite frequently, making it like an action flick. Think Batman. A very high-brow Batman. From the dramatic, percussive opening, the basic game plan is one of short pleasurable segments interspersed between loud, bombastic bits in which you are forced over a series of emotional precipices. Anyone who has cohabited will know what this is about.

Speaking of women, I was distracted by a pair of young, raven-haired lesbians sitting a bit further ahead of us, both of whom seemed to be enjoying the performance and each other. “How lovely for them,” I mused, “to find someone else who is not only a lesbian, but also likes Mahler.”

I imagine them having a row in a tiny London flat, hurling plates and crockery at each other. They pause to catch their breath, then they are back at it, scratching and tearing each others hair out. One of them locks herself in the loo. The other tiptoes into the kitchen to eat the last Yoplait, even though she knows full well that its being saved for a special moment. Then they are at it again!

It’s dangerous being a lesbian. It’s dangerous listening to Mahler too. The wife loved it.

The Philharmonia Orchestra performed Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 on the 17th of May, 2012, at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall.

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The Inward Journey of Alice Boyle

May 16, 2012

In this exhibition of new paintings, Alice Boyle’s visually compelling expressionism suffers from overdetermination.

Lost by Alice Boyle

Boyle covers her canvasses with thick layers of bright colours, embruing them with both a rich texture and and an eye-catching vitality. The use of colour is reminiscent of Marc Chagall, but the paintings are pushed in a more abstract expressionist direction.

Each painting has been given a title by five different people. This is a strange case of overdetermination – surely the viewer doesn’t need to have anyone mediate their interpretation of abstract paintings, let alone five. Apparently the basis for this comes from the Jungian concept of the collective unconscious, and explores the “importance of myth to humankind in the demythologized world we now inhabit.”

It is hard to credit the notion that we inhabit a world which is demythologised in any meaningful way. Surely, even for a Jungian, the concept of a myth embeds something which is eternal in nature. This is why media semioticians can have so much fun with contemporary popular culture.

Furthermore, it is not clear how the presence of slightly cartoony figures superimposed on the otherwise abstract canvasses elucidates mythological processes. Together, all these factors betray a muddled concept which underlies an otherwise fine execution.

The Inward Journey is on display at 3 Bedfordbury Gallery in Covent Garden until the 21st of May.

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The Fall at The Coronet

May 13, 2012

It must be said that The Fall are one of the greatest bands of all time. Few can match either the quantity or the quality of their output, which spans five decades. It must also be said that “The Fall” means Mark E. Smith (MES), and MES is a madman.

On Friday, Smith, his wife, and three others nobody really cares about played at the Coronet – an unfortunate venue by Elephant & Castle where they really don’t like chewing gum. The question on everyone’s mind was: What would MES do? I can now tell you.

He stalked around the stage like a goblin in a leather jacket, rubbing his hands with invisible soap. He yelled incomprehensible gibberish into every microphone he could get his hands on, sometimes using several at a time. He switched his guitarist’s amplifier on and off, and turned the bass up to unhealthy levels. In other words: just as expected.

What was unexpected was quite how strange the whole affair is to watch. One got the sense that the crowed wanted to see a monkey in a cage, and MES was willing – if not happy – to oblige. This is the point where “The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall” just becomes frightening, as the crowd and MES seemed to have little interest in anything other than being angry “before heading off to the retirement home.”

And that is a shame. MES’s insanity can obviously yield some amazing results. Unfortunately, the tendency of everyone to indulge the whims of an increasingly eccentric old man has made him difficult to connect with as a performer. This situation isn’t helped by the song selection, which, when coupled with the ill-tempered performance leaves the music devoid of any sense of dynamics. If you are the type of fan to prefer the openness of “Hip Priest” to the bombastic pressure of “Wolf Kidult Man,” you are out of luck.

The Fall performed at The Coronet on Friday the 11th of May, 2012. You can find video and the setlist from the performance at the Reformation fansite.

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Let Us Prey at Beach London

May 12, 2012

This small exhibition of heavy metal inspired work by French (just the one name) is wonderfully presented if somewhat lacking in ambition.

French’s art is very traditional both in terms of its technique and in terms of its subject matter. The images are presented cleanly and with a high degree of precision, in stark, black-on-white illustrations. This presentation moves the work away from both the dripping indecipherability of black metal and the over exuberance of traditional British metal. It remains very classical.

French incorporates and exploits old metal motifs: goats, pentagrams, and yes, skulls. This firm embedding in metal iconography feels somewhat limiting. While it is true that there are images of zombie terrorists that serve to update metal’s horrors, that territory is already covered by GWAR‘s comedic metal.

It would be good to see French taking some more risks with his work, so that rather than viewing a metal image done by French, we are instead looking at French’s interpretation of a metal image. The drawings of eagles, of which only a few examples are on display, and the flute player are a strong step in this direction.

Ultimately, your opinion of Let Us Prey hinges on how you generally feel about metal. If you are ambivalent, then this is unlikely to make you reassess the genre. In that case, try to remember you need Satan more than he needs you.

Let Us Prey is on at Beach London, just off Brick Lane until the 27th of May.

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Four the Love of Art

May 9, 2012

For this week only, the Gallery in Cork Street hosts a combined exhibition of four artists with very different styles.

Zebra and Girls

The artwork on display covers a range of forms and media, from Anna Coroneo’s abstract organic shapes to Natalie Tkachuk’s geometric photography. In between there are paintings and illustration by Carly Casey and Kareena Zerefos respectively.

Even though the works are very different, they share a whimsical sensibility which allows them to be displayed together. This sensibility is both the strength and weakness of the art; nothing really provokes. Instead, each piece has to be judged on its aesthetic merits. This means that everyone will prefer one artist over the others – a group exhibition in the age of The X-Factor demands that we make this kind of judgement.

That being the case, it would seem that today Zerefos has the strongest work on display. However, the polysemic nature of abstract work means that it is Coroneo’s work that offers the greatest longevity.

Four the Love of Art is at The Gallery in Cork Street until 12th of May.

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Jeremy Deller: Joy in People

May 7, 2012

This exhibition of artwork by Jeremy Deller presents a challenge because of its scope. Not only because it spans twenty years of his work, but also because of the variety of subjects it tackles. There is music, war, wrestling, miners, and bats. So what is it all about?

Fortunately, the answer is given in one of the earliest works on display, The Uses of Literacy which takes its name from a book by Richard Hoggart. Hoggart is a seminal figure in the field of cultural studies, which tries to elevate popular culture as a field of study to the same level as high culture.

Cultural studies was a protest against the privileged position of one class over another, and Deller’s work contains a similar complaint. “Hell is Other People’s Money,” explains an embossing machine by the exit. It is this focus on class which gives both cultural studies and Deller’s work its Britishness, as much as the subject matter it considers.

But Deller’s work is also a celebration of popular culture. Unlike cultural studies, which can suck the pleasure out of anything, Deller approaches his subjects with real affection and yes, joy. In Acid Brass, a brass band performs The KLF’s “What Time Is Love?,” thereby connecting Acid House with Brass Band music, while simultaneously broadening their appeal. I can’t recall reading a cultural studies text which has achieved the same feat.

Jeremy Deller: Joy in People is at the Hayward Gallery until the 13th of May.

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Wild Swans at the Young Vic

May 2, 2012

Alexandra Wood’s impressively staged adaptation of Jung Chang’s book tells the story of a family set against the backdrop of China’s rise.

From start to finish, Wild Swans presents some wonderful visuals. In a move which parallels the opening of China itself, the stage gradually opens up as the play moves through different stages of China’s history, from its pre-revolutionary beginnings, through the Cultural Revolution, to the emergence of modern China. China’s growth, onstage and off, is accompanied by an impressive amount of pageantry, and requires a considerable amount of manpower to achieve.

The production, like Maoism, relies on the masses to get things done. Therefore, this adaptation of Wild Swans offers an essentially Maoist staging of the play. The staging contrasts with the anti-Maoism of the plot (predictably, one character seeks to escape China because of the lack of free expression). However, next to the rich backdrop of Chinese history, the plot and characters feel flat and somewhat forced. It would be fair to say that the anti-Maoism of the text is completely undermined by the spectacular Maoism of the production.

To be really fantastic, Wild Swans could do away with the story entirely, presenting instead an hour of scene changes, videos, singing and choreography. That, however, would be the Beijing Olympic ceremonies, which is something London refuses to match.

Wild Swans is at the Young Vic until the 13th of May.

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Ron Mueck at Hauser & Wirth

April 29, 2012

Ron Mueck’s work boils down to a play on scale. Tangentially it raises some questions about the role of art and the problem with realism.

Woman with Sticks

Mueck is quite well known for his extremely realistic sculptures, four of which are on display in this exhibition. The figures could be alive (or once-alive in the case of the giant chicken), except for their stillness. The details – from the veins within the flesh to the tiny arm hairs – have been created in such a way that the works jump the uncanny valley. Instead of recoiling from the figures in disgust, one is tempted to touch them in such a way as to force them to reveal the life within. The fact that the figures are only a quarter of the size they should be is secondary to their realistic appearance.

Mueck’s use of scale is one of the two factors that makes up the very thin line separating his work from the displays at Madame Tussaud’s. Mueck’s people are either too big, or too small. The other factor is that his sculptures feature normal people instead of celebrities. Im not entirely sure I like this decision. After all, wouldn’t a nude Rihanna with Sticks make for a meditation on the eternal feminine that is at least as compelling as Mueck’s middle aged hobbit?

The other effect of Mueck’s scaling is a bit more subtle, and it has to do with how we react to his work. To call a fourteen inch sculpture of a teenager extremely realistic is to overlook the fact that a fourteen inch teenager has no basis in reality. This is a problem with realism generally, in that it invokes a myopic tendency to focus on the elements which are closest to reality at the expense of those which are completely absurd. This is true for video games where technological advances have made for depictions of soldiers and warfare that are graphically realistic, and laughably unrealistic in all other aspects.

Technically, the work is very good, and admission is free, making it a bargain when compared with Madame Tussaud’s. While you cant pose with President Obama, you can make do with the giant dead chicken.

Ron Mueck is at Hauser & Wirth until the 26th of May.

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Hexen 2.0 at the Science Museum

April 28, 2012

Suzanne Treister‘s exhibition at the Science Museum, Hexen 2.0, considers the evolution and development of cybernetics in a diligent an enlightening fashion.

The term ‘cybernetics’ here refers to networks of communications and automatic control systems in both machines, animals, and societies. It is both neurological and sociological; within the context of the exhibit, both the internet and the human mind fall within the purview of cybernetics. The notion of cybernetics is particularly relevant today as we find increasing evidence that people tend to ‘off-load’ work from their minds to the internet and other electronic devices. One potential example of this is the way in which GPS devices may harm our sense of direction.

However, the contemporary cybernetic situation is only one component of Hexen 2.0, as the exhibit carefully traces the weird history of cyberneticism, starting with the postwar Macy Conferences. In doing so, Treister effectively demonstrates that the pervasive networks which constitute a cornerstone of contemporary life come from some very strange places indeed.

The exhibit consists of video, manipulated photographs accompanied by short biographies, and a series of tarot cards. The tarot cards are the most effective component as they are simultaneously playful and very serious. One cannot help being impressed with the amount of research that went into their production, while the tarot format foregrounds both the esoteric nature of cyberneticis and the weird personalities that have been responsible for its development. Even RMS gets a card.

Hexen 2.0 is on at the Science Museum until the 1st of May. It has also been reviewed over at WMMNA.

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