0: England: London: Monkey Magic 01/ 08/ 2002

Chris Ofili 

At last I go to an exhibition by Chris Ofili, and this time the wait was well worth it. He is best known  for the use of elephant dung which is added in lumps onto the canvas or as supports for the canvas to lean on and for his pornographic images often used in controversial religious themes. His signature painting technique is a combination of layered pattern and fine dots that cover parts of the surface allowing multiple layers underneath to seep through. 

Afronivana: Chris Ofili 

I see the sign, Victoria Miro , and realise this must be it. Outside it looked little more than a warehouse, while inside the room has transformed itself into a large bright open space, a perfect setting for a series of art works called, 'Freedom for a day.' Each canvas is brightly illustrated in red and black, radiating the colours of an African flag, celebrating freedom. The paintings, 'Afronivana' and Triple Beam Dreamer,' celebrate the beauty of an exotic woman lying in a bed of luscious fruit, flowers and foliage, accentuating her sexual allure. 'Afromantics' and 'Afro Love and Unity', are similar in colour radiating red and green colour from a star with lush foliage surrounding a hip sexy Africancouple, which look asif they could be dancing seventies retro or funk. The paintings become part of a one off, spoken word event, 'Freedom', which tells stories, poems and pros, illustrating multiple realities exploring freedom. 

Chris Ofili's Upper Room

The Upper Room.

Upstairs the atmosphere couldn't be more different as you follow a darkened our corridor of walnut wood, where we are taken up stairs to, 'The Upper Room'. There are bleeps of beamed light that highlight your way across the blackened out corridor, directing you towards a dark wooden room that appears like a holy chapel. The sinister setting makes way for large paintings of the 'Rhesus Macaque' (Monkey) As thirteen paintings rest up against the wall, identified by name in Spanish on the elephant dung supports. Almost all the same size and shape and position and yet differ greatly in contrasting electric colours each creating their own individuality. Every painting is lined up the same distance apart, placed directly opposite another. As you enter the room it feels as if you have interrupted on the Last Supper with Jesus. 

Mono Amarillo : Chris Ofili 

92% of our DNA is shared with the Rhesus monkey and the similarities continue with many physical attributes. Psychologically their social behaviour are also like ourselves, yet it is to their sacrifice that the human race has survived as these monkeys were used for vaccine testing for many illnesses. In this instance then we can assume that this asks many ethical questions that can relate to how we have persecuted Jesus and once again we close our eyes on this monkey, of whom we have so much to learn. 

Mono Blanco :Chris Ofili 

Mono Gris : Chris Ofili

Mono Verde : Chris Ofili 

Photo credit: Victoria Miro Gallery  & David Zwirner

0: England: London: Beck's Futures & Circumstantial Behaviour: 03/05/2002

Becks Futures.

A trip to the Mall and I arrive at the ICA who are showing 'Beck's Futures : Tomorrows art Today.' an exhibition that could be considered as an alternative to the Turner Prize, for a younger generation of up and coming artists. After a quick glance around I immediately had a favourite and least likeable and could feel annoyance that it wouldn't surprise me that the work I didn't really like that much would become the winning work - (which of course it did!) 

I'm immediately seduced by the visual adventure portrait in the paintings of Dan Perfect, whose use of space becomes vast and open with dream like characters and semi- abstract doodles that play above a blurred horizon of m are believe. You can read parallel languages held within the imagery that can be defined in relation to film and video games. Music is another important influence that visually echoes sound and movement, suggesting a change in tempo, accent or chord change. Perfect chooses names that read like stories: 'You are greeted by a Warrior who is flying in from the right.' and 'Shimmy over to the White Dragon, but don't get too close to the lava.' Sometimes the title connects with the image and sometimes they don't, instead they provoke the thought that lies beneath your conscious mind. 

Following the trail on the sea floor to a sunken ship: Dan Perfect

Other interesting works are by Kirsten Glass and Neil Rumming whose chosen medium mixes painting with collage. 

Kirsten Glass takes images of models taken from fashion magazines, controlling them, manipulating their bodies, cutting them up as bait. Their beauty is still there, beneath a surface that has become dark and sinister by horror show make up, specks of fake blood and heavy thick black paint that drips and glistens. 

Deep Tissue : Kirsten Glass

Neil Rumming directs a familiar ready-made form that takes an iconic logo or motif and then adds his own imagery within it. This becomes obvious in his work, 'Stallion' that uses the Ferrari horse and 'Bunny' that uses the Playboy emblem. The visual information becomes a visual contradiction as techno pattern, pop and heavy duty abstraction merge with fiery waves of block colour highlighted in fluorescents that mix with photographic details of teeth, bone, muscle and tissue. At a distance the images allows you to recognise a cross-section of a form that can reveal skeletons made of diamonds or multiple gatherings of flowers. Somehow the effect becomes both vulgar and beautiful, enticing the viewer with interest.

 Stallion: Neil Rumming

It's hardly worth mentioning (my least favourite) Toby Paterson, whose work speaks for itself, (or not) in 'We fall in pattern's too quickly.' A piece that has a couple of square and oblong shaped panels of MDF that have been painted in different tones of grey and off-white. On the floor below there is a pile that seems to be part of the same piece that has slipped off the wall into a pile on the floor. It looks closer to a pile of rubbish left from a builder than a piece of art in a gallery. Sorry, I did forget to mention that there are bands of colour, orange, blue or yellow that highlight the edge to a piece of fallen debris and he also makes architectural models and sketches.

We fall in pattern's too quickly: Toby Patterson / Image from Telegraph

Sam Taylor Johnson Retrospective

Circumstatial Behavior

The Sam Taylor Johnson Retrospective searches human behaviour in relation to their circumstances, while echoing the mutterings that lie within the individual's subconscious. Her works are of 360 degree photographs in series: 'Five Revolutionary Seconds' captures sequences of moments that have been shared within a certain space of time. These private moments of intimacy, alone deep in thought or close with another, unravel the experiences of the mundane, held within an every day occurrence of life. The separate events are frozen together, coexisting within different frames of time. Similarly the photographical series 'Soliloquies' shows a main photograph with a panoramic relief that puts the individual into context, revealing their true being. I love these photographs, so full of emotion and I love how the the room becomes fragmented so that we can catch glimpses of moments all around us all simultaneously. 

Five Revolutionary Seconds: Sam Taylor Johnson

The 'Third Party' is a film where we are the voyeurs, invited to speculate, guessing a possible outcome or result. There are six cameras that hold the same view point which roll film continuously, while a further camera is hand held moving around in the available space. The effect of this technique makes you feel that you are actually in between the characters as you follow their gaze and thoughts as the react with one another.There are two young people who are attracted to each other, flirting in the corner of the room. A man is watching, irritated and annoyed, after a time he approaches the woman and tells her to leave, she then replies: 'five minutes'.

Still from 'Third Party: Sam Taylor Johnson. 

The Tate Modern 2000

Old Man at The Tate Modern

In May 2000, The Tate Modern, was first opened by Her Majesty The Queen. Housed in the old Bankside Power station that closed in 1981, it became one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the world. It’s situated directly opposite St Paul’s across the Thames, linked together by the Millennium bridge. The first exhibit in the Turbine Hall was Louise Bourgeois’ instillation of a giant spider. Although it had been open for a few months the crowds continued to flock, ( unlike the Millennium Dome, which has also opened becoming more of a white elephant than a tourist attraction.)

The Tate Modern's conversion of Bankside Power Station keeps many of the original features, mixing raw materials of glass, steel and wood. The giant entrance slopes into the womb of the building welcoming you to a vast cross section of global art. The art of the last hundred years are no longer placed chronologically, instead works are placed under the heading of four themes: 1, Landscape, Matter and Environment. 2, Still Life, Object and Real Life. 3, History, Memory and Society. 4, Nude, Action and Body. This allows the likes of Claude Monet's paintings of 'Water lilies', to be placed beside Richard Long's Stone Circle.

I liked this new way of ordering the art work, as it can show more within the influences within  history as similar issues remain an important focus in society today. I had seen a large proportion of this work previously as has been rotated within what today has become known Tate Britain.

The building of the Tate Modern is just as much of a work of art as the art inside it and the panoramic views of London that peak in between the works speak for itself. As for the millennium bridge that stretches across the Thames, linking the Tate Modern at Bankside with Central London across to St. Pauls - it looks very high tech, yet people are still unable to use it due to the extreme movement causing the whole structure to sway. 

Louise Bourgeois, Spider in the Turbine Hall

Photo credit: Tate Modern