Update Update

Lots of writing out and about at the moment (gosh whenever I write that explaining update delays it makes me cringe and think of this Cory Arcangel project!!)

So here are 10 things I have written and seen and recommend to all - aside from The Book of Hearts which has made appearance at Grand Central Station, Artwords and Scribbler (as well at the Observer magazine and Independent online)

1 I was turned on by these exhibitions: Gauguin at Ordovas, William Burroughs at Photographers Gallery, Stephen Willats at Raven Row, Cecile B Evans online AGNES piece for the Serpentine, Christian Jankowski at Lisson and the incredible Heath Bunting piece 'Skint' in the Contemporary Art Society show at Whitechapel

2 Interviews with Simon Denny and Nate Boyce respectively for Postmatter.com

3 Cover feature interview with Bjarne Melgaard about his Gavin Brown show for the Man/Boy issue of Sleek

4 The Return of Paris for Artsy

5 Top 10 Girls on Show for Dazed Digital

6 How art is getting to grips with on and offline space for Artsy

7 My Dazed Q&A with Ed Atkins now online

8 Piece on my September show at V1 Gallery included in issue 1 of Riposte

9 Issue 9 of Twin magazine on shelves with interview I did with Kerry James Marshall, pieces on Philip Lorca di Corcia, Nicola Tyson Copenhagen art scene and a curated exhibition project from Henry Kinman.

10 Interviews with Camille Henrot and Collier Schoor in the girls rule issue of Dazed

Image Tales of Paradise: Gauguin installation view, Photography by Mike Bruce at Ordovas 

The Book of Hearts press

Some nice online plugs for the new book. Vogue.com gave it a little mention and there was an exclusive preview and interview at nowness.com - screengrabbed above - For the full slide show click here

It was also named by The Independent as one of the top 10 best buys for Valentines day!
A few other nice mentions on Complex, Hypebeast, Wgsn and A Little Bird.

Buy the book at amazon or from laurenceking.com

The Book of Hearts

My next book is about to be published! The Book of Hearts

What is a heart? A symbol? An organ? A metaphor? The heart has been an object of fascination since people first became aware of the thing beating in their chests. This book examines the breadth of visual interpretations of this symbol.

The first image of the heart was in a picture of a woolly mammoth on a cave wall, created around 10,000 BC. The more traditional heart shape as we know it today probably evolved from the image of an ivy leaf – a plant that represented sensuality and immortality in ancient Greece. The indented heart shape was really established in the fourteenth century, being used in over 160 trademarks for paper manufacturers, devloped from stylized leaves. For centuries, the symbol and word were intertwined with ideas of passion and love. By the nineteenth century the heart had become a cliché – only reinvented in the 1960s and 70s, when it began to be used in pop cultural imagery.

From the Sacred Heart cult to the invention of the Valentine, from heart tattoos to pictograms. This collection of heart imagery highlights how a universal symbol can be creatively interpreted and constantly reinvented.

Featured artists include: Julie Verhoeven, Scott Campbell, Noble and Webster, Rob Ryan, Aleksandr Mir, Keith Haring, Anthony Micaleff, Yinka Shonibare, Angelique Houtkamp (cover image above), Marcel Duchamp and Hellicar and Lewis (image below)

Best in Show 2013

Time for the annual year round up again.
1 Mike Kelley at PS1

2 Michael Landy 'Saints Alive' at The National Gallery

3 'Jimmy Merris Sings The Blues' at Seventeen Gallery

4 Martin Kippenberger 'Sehr Gut' at Hamburger Banphof

5 Danny McDonald at Cabinet

6 Wolfgang Tillmans 'Central Nervous System' at Maureen Paley

7 Re-View: Onnasch Collection at Hauser and Wirth London

8 Philippe Parreno at Palais de Tokyo

9 Pierre Huyghe at Centre Pompidou

10 Cameron Jamie at Kunsthalle Zurich

Also notable: Thomas Zipp 'Comparative Investigation About The Disposition of the Width of a Circl' in Venice; Scott Treleavan at Invisible Exports; Travess Smalley at Higher Pictures; Alex Hubbard at Maccarone; David Horvitz at Chert Berlin; Ian Tweedy and N Dash at Dover Street Arts Club 

Show I've been most gutted to miss: Isa Genzken at MoMA (and I'm also sad there arent more women and group shows in my top ten)

This year I've curated 'Toot Toot Tootsie Goodbye' at V1 Copenhagen and 'Is That All There Is?' screening at Import Projects

A Year in Art (my column from current issue of House magazine)

Top 10 Books for Christmas

I admit there is nothing notably festive about my selection but here goes. Apart from my last book 100 New Artists or course.

1 The Hidden Mother by Linda Fregni Nagler (MACK) (pictured above)

2 The Parapornographic Manifesto by Carl Michael Edenbourg

3 Xerography (catalogue from exhibition at Firstsite, Colchester)

4 Inner Planets by Cameron Jamie (Kunsthalle, Zurich)

5 Buffalo Zine No 2 - its a magazine but it really is incredible.

6 Art and Queer Culture (Phaidon)

7 My Mirage by Jim Shaw (JRP Ringier) admit it came out a year or so ago but its such a good present.

8 It's Nice That Annual 2013

9 The Holy Bible by Broomberg and Chanarin (MACK)

10 Elad Lassry: 2000 Words (The Urs Fischer and Josh Smith in the series are also very good)