Cristina NualART

Tag: London

Heroes and Villains in Public Sculpture

MaggiHamblingsOscarWildefooter_photocnualart One thing that has surprised about Vietnam (not that I’ve seen the whole country, I only just got here) is the lack of public sculpture. That’s probably a good thing, because the last thing a struggling country needs, in my opinion, is to put lots of public funds into squares and parks when the majority of the people’s basic needs aren’t met. Nonetheless, I was expecting to see monumental memorials and grand homages to political leaders, like the massive, rather elegant megaliths in Poland or Turkey. Maybe I have just not found them yet, and public sculpture is one of those things that often goes unnoticed anyway. Another bronze man on a bronze horse can pass you by more discretely than a boat in a giant glass bottle…

And speaking of the Fourth Plinth, near Trafalgar Square in London lies one of my favourite public sculptures: ‘A Conversation with Oscar Wilde’  by Maggi Hambling. The title couldn’t be more inviting!

The piece is brilliant. Nice situation (though the sculpture has moved from next to St. Martin’s church to the pedestrian street behind it), the roughly drawn portrait that is Hambling’s trademark, the tactile black marble, and the dual role as mock tombstone and public bench, this is clever. Sitting next to a witty conversationalist, crafted by the powerful Maggi, you couldn’t be in better company. To me, this is heroic sculpture, and not those casts of hieratic politicians. Art doesn’t get more interactive than this – and it doesn’t even move or have a switch anywhere! Smart…
99_Hambling

0 comments © Cristina Nualart 9 September 2010

Out of order

96_OutOfOrder
In Kingston-upon-Thames, just outside London, on the corner of Old London Road and Eden Street, lies one of the most quintessentially British works of public art. ‘Out of Order’ is a sculpture by artist David Mach, made in 1989 from 12 ‘tumbling’ telephone boxes. The artist used the Kiosk 6 version of the classic red telephone box, a 1935 design much improved from the original K1, originally produced from concrete in 1920. The K6, designed by architect Sir Giles Scott, was the first phonebox that was used as standard across the UK.

Mach’s sculpture feels like it belongs to the country’s iconography as much as the telephone boxes, precisely because the ubiquity of the phoneboxes is transferred to the sculpture. It is by far one of my favourite artworks, and one of few public sculptures that really makes you smile and go all nostalgic at the same time. Fantastic!

0 comments © Cristina Nualart 10 August 2010

Joana Vasconcelos: hand crocheting and kinetic sculptures.

95_JoanaVasconcelos_photocnualartI saw Joana Vasconcelos‘ exhibition in Haunch of Venison a couple of weeks ago, and I wasn’t planning to write about it because a) I’m busy with major work, and b) this show deserved to attract lots of media attention. But having just come across a really badly written review of it in Fadart, I am compelled to say something. The easy way to say it is: GO! This is a phenomenal exhibition full of energy, joie de vivre and fun. Not only does it tickle your laugh-glands, it also provokes a good number on ideas surrounding the interaction of art and home decoration, the history of feminist art (Judy Chicago comes to mind), irony (a good post-modern theme to waffle about), cross-disciplinary practices (art vs. craft?), and the replaceability of contemporary art (see the dog-machine).
94_JoanaVasconcelos_photocnualart

Best of all, it’s totally kitsch. Tribally kitsch. And it’s impeccably hand-made. Any artwork that oozes skill is usually awe inspiring. Here, the sculptures tattooed in fine crochet will be admired by even those who actually know what a crochet needle looks like.

 

0 comments © Cristina Nualart 5 August 2010

The skin of art spaces

Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto has exposed the art viscera inside the Hayward gallery, London. I won’t digress much talking about the playful exhibition, other than to say that it’s fun, but not the best I’ve seen there. What I will comment on, too insignificant for the media to notice, is that they’ve used an alternative way to present exhibition information (different to little white cards stuck to the wall). In the A5 guide given with each ticket, you can find clean infographics with arrows pointing to relevant piece of text to learn about each sculpture. Fellow wanderers of art spaces, you, like me, have often struggled to find the right information accompanying each work. The simple solution (where signs cannot be places on the artworks themselves), is to use visuals. Well done Hayward!
90_ErnestoNeto_photocnualart

91_ErnestoNeto

0 comments © Cristina Nualart 19 July 2010

High culture art marketing in low culture spaces

Those of you in London some weeks ago may have noticed these adverts in the Southbank space were graffiti and skateboarding interrupt the train of high culture spaces like the National Theatre, Tate Modern, Hayward gallery, et al. Yes, it is contemporary auction house Phillips de Pury (in alliance with Saatchi gallery, of course) putting up posters on pseudo-derelict youth hang out places.
PhillipsDePury_photocnualart

I’m sure it gives kudos more effectively than advertising the village fair’s home-made flapjacks in Tatler… However, seeing as Saatchi was also behind the advertising campaign, I didn’t think hi-art branding would continue to invade our plebeian realms. But I was stunned this week to see a red bus go past me, well in the outskirts of London, with a large side-panel paid for by Gagosian gallery, to get crowds (is that what they want?) flocking to their current Picasso exhibition. I was so confounded by the sight, that I couldn’t even pull out my camera and take a photo of it. If you missed the bus, you’ll just have to take my word for it. If you do see it, snap a photo and let me know!

I didn’t think ads on red buses were anything other than for breakfast cereals, second rate Hollywood films and yet another mobile phone. In our hyper-saturated world of force-fed culture consumerism, I will, however, praise this ad:
EqualPay_photocnualart

 

0 comments © Cristina Nualart 10 July 2010
Older posts

 

Unless otherwise specified, text and images © 2012 Cristina Nualart