A Late Renaissance Moment

Exhibitions get quiet over the Christmas New Year period so I'm finding myself wandering back to the National Gallery a lot at the moment. In particular I'm having a late Renaissance moment. Feeling Salome by Cesare da Sesto (top), Michelangelo's homoeroticism and canvas exposure in The Entombment (middle) and of always and forever the weirdness of Allegory of Venus and Cupid by Bronzino (bottom). I also got very excited about going around with Thomas Dozol and looking at all the portraits with pitch black background.

What to see in London this week

Thursday November 15 is a night a damn good night for London art. There are three openings all in East London and an after party at Bethnal Green Working Men's Club at 9pm - where I am DJing in fact. These are the three are musts. All are open between 6-9pm on the opening night.

Thomas Dozol 'Côtes d'Azurs'

French Riviera , 309 Bethnal Green Road, London  E2 6AH
until Dec 16 2012

CHIMERA Q.T.E.

Curated by Attilia Fattori Franchini

Cornelia Baltes, Nicolas Deshayes, Adham Faramawy, Jack Lavender, 

Berry Patten, Sabrina Ratté, Travess Smalley, Oliver Sutherland

Cell Project Space, 258 Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 9DA
until Jan 13 2013 (closed Dec 17-Jan 3)

Tiling 

Curated by Tim Steer

Laura Aldridge, Larry Bell, David Berezin, Andy Boot, David Raymond Conroy, Timothy Davies, Mark Soo

Seventeen Gallery, 17 Kingsland Road, London, E2 8AA

until Dec 22 2012

The end of The Dark Cube

The show has closed - followed by a brilliant performance lecture by this year's Emdash award winner Cecile B Evans at the Palais de Tokyo, which was documented by Purple Diary. Her 'lecture' played with ideas of interpretation, association and the impossibility of things. She used The Dark Cube as an example - speaking on the show like a wikipedia entry before it collapsed on itself. It was the best closure to an exhibition I have ever experienced.

The show was also covered in the following places:

Interview magazine

Sleek

Twin

Dazed Digital - profiling Scott Treleaven

Purple Diary

And you can see some documentation here (thanks to artist-photographer-filmmaker David Ledoux)

Harry Burden 'Dirty Fucking Hippies' (2012) details

Antoine Catala 'Fantastique' (2012); Ben Sansbury 'Changing Change' (2012)

Scott Treleaven, 'The Body Electric' (2012)

 

Oliver Laric 'Chippendale Cube' (2012)

Clunie Reid 'World Without Images' (2012)

Thomas Dozol 'I Can Barely Hear You' (2012)

Scott Treleaven 'Walking With Thee' (2012); Jeremy Deller 'Did He Change Your Life?' (1994)

Juliette Bonneviot 'Stepanova/Popova/Adidas/Puma/Umbro/Reebok/Nike' (2012)

Kasper Sonne 'Untitled Carpet No 3' (2012)

Anne de Vries 'Trance Tracks' (2012)

The Dark Cube closing party

The Dark Cube closes Monday night and it should be a blinder (though hard to beat 5000 people coming for Nuit Blanche at the opening...). Leslie Kulesh (and myself) are DJing. Thanks to a 400 watt black light cannon the works are in full hardcore glow. Above is a sneaky look at much of the sowkr (i'll upload the whole lot after the show closes) and details of the closing party for all and sundry.

Coming Soon! The Dark Cube at Palais de Tokyo

THE DARK CUBE curated by Francesca Gavin

Juliette Bonneviot / Harry Burden / Antoine Catala / Anne de Vries / Jeremy Deller / Thomas Dozol / Oliver Laric / Clunie Reid / Ben Sansbury / Jeremy Shaw / KasperSonne / Scott Treleaven

Vernissage: October 6 2012 6pm-12am DJ Emma Sutton (FuseBOX)

Finissage: October 15 2012 Public 8pm-12am Virtual DJ set by Dave Maclean (Django Django)

A black or UV light emits ultraviolet radiation and little visible light. It creates an effect of fluorescence on colours and materials. ‘The Dark Cube’ exploits this effect by showing paintings, photographs, prints and sculptures in darkness, illuminated only by these purple glowing lamps.

The show was initially inspired by 1960s Black Light posters, initially created as representations or aids to hallucinogenic drugs. Alongside references to failed rebellion, this group exhibition touches on wider ideas around illumination and darkness, veiling and unveiling. Part of the aim is to demonstrate the relationship of contemporary ideas and aesthetics with defunct or less used forms of technology.

The Dark Cube is also a response to the cavernous nature of the Palais de Tokyo, and the flipside to the Garden of Eden’s idea of a forbidden space. In northern European art The Garden of Eden was depicted as a lush forest glade, while in the south a desert oasis. In our modern times creating a landscape of electronic phosphorescence is our new utopian Eden. The exhibition switches the normal viewing experience under day or white light on its head. It becomes an X-ray of the white cube.

The Dark Cube is part of a series of exhibitions and events GALERIE UTOPIA / THE FORGOTTEN BAR PROJECT: The Garden of Eden presented by Tjorg Douglas Beer being held at the Palais de Tokyo September to November 2012 (http://www.galerie-utopia.com) 

https://palaisdetokyo.com/en/exhibition/modules-fondation-pierre-berge-yves-saint-laurent/galerie-utopia-forgotten-bar-project 

Image: Harry Burden 'Dirty Fucking Hippies' (UV) 2012

Frieze Week ahoy

Frieze week is about to begin. Obviously there are tons of things on every single night and I'll write a round up at the end on my thoughts. However these are some open for all options to come to:

Sunday 9 - Thomas Dozol 'I Is Now' @ White Cubicle Toilet Gallery at The George and the Dragon 8-11pm

Thursday 13 - Seana Gavin 'Alternate Dimensions' @ B Store 630-830pm
(Image Seana Gavin 'Lost in Space' above)

Saturday 15 - Oliver Laric and On Value @ Seventeen Gallery 6-8pm

Also check out Paul Pieroni at Lucky pdf at Frieze itself on Thursday (or enjoy all online), Cory Arcangel at Lisson Gallery and definitely visit Sunday Art Fair.

Best in Show: New York

After a week in NYC having the best time with Blake Mawson, Thomas Dozol (image above) and Jeremy Shaw these are my art highlights:

1) The SSION gig at PS1

2) Night Vision (Image by Robert Frank below) at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

3) Wolfgang Tilmans work chosen by Beatrix Ruf at Andrea Rosen

4) Pair of Kara Walker shows at Sikkema Jenkins + Co and Lehmann Maupin