Kinbaku, 1980-2000
© Nobuyoshi Araki
Kinbaku is, for those who might not know yet, the Japanese word for “bondage”. And if you read the wikipedia article, clearly, bondage in Japan is regarded as a highly delicate Art. It’s sexual, yet not as dirty as western folks might think: forget the clichés of dominatrix wearing leather and cheap vinyl costumes. Concentrate on geisha beauties, silk kimonos… and ropes. Lots of ropes.
HA! It’s done! And I love my portrait!
So yesterday I went again to Pick Me Up Festival, and was the first to book an appo with Damien, who, as I expected, turned out to be a lovely guy.
Damien Florébert Cuypers
Tracey Emin
Pastel (I think. oops!)
I went this morning to Pick Me Up Festival at Somerset House: I’m very glad to say that I did buy two artworks by Malika Favre (letters C and V from her sexy Kama Sutra alphabet) AND this portrait of Tracey Emin by Damien Florébert Cuypers, another French illustrator presented at the fair. This drawing is part of his crayonettes series, i.e. quickly made drawings. I really liked the portraits he made of various art world figures such as Hans Ulrich Obrist, Jay Jopling, Grayson Perry and yes, Tracey Emin. Damien is also quite famous among the fashion world, as he regularly collaborates with the French edition of Grazia, and produces one minute portraits of fashionistas (à la Sartorialiste).
I cannot wait for April 25, for I want Damien to make MY portrait (and it will cost me only £25, bargain really). Every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday during the Art fair, Damien will be taking residencies (and make one minute portraits) from 2pm to 5pm. über cool.
The Crouching Deer, Malika Favre
21×30 cm. 4 colour screenprint
Printed on Mohawk superfine 270gsm
Limited edition of 25
It starts today and ends on April 28: the annual edition of Pick Me UpFestival, an Art Fair that is dedicated to Graphic Arts. Talks, various events, special guests: it’s THE place to be if you want to get the opportunity to see what’s new/what’s in, meet superstar illustrators, and get your hands dirty by participating in one of their workshops (I’d love to got to to Sarah Hyndman’s Type Tasting, Modern Toss’ F***yeux Tapestry; check Jonathan Jones’ s latest blog entry about it here).
This year, among the “Pick Me Up Selects”, there are several petits Frenchies: Damien Florébert Cuypers, Jean Jullien and “Paris-born London-based” Malika Favre (picture). A friend of mine from Paris asked me to check out Malika Favre’s booth for she is presenting her Kama Sutra Project, a very kinky way of learning your alphabet -definitely NOT for kids though-. I must admit I’m seriously thinking of acquiring my initials: “The Crouching Deer” and “The Venutian Kiss”, oooh la la!!
No, not really. It’s just that last weekend, I was wondering which exhibition I could review, and having already done the major ones (David Bowie Is, Ice Age art: Arrival of the Modern Mind, Lichtenstein, Man Ray Portraits, Kurt Schwitters and the Light Show), I thought I could do some exhibitions that did NOT require to get advance tickets and would NOT include too much CROWD (and KIDS), or even better: FREE exhibitions.
So, I picked Poster Art 150: London Underground’s Greatest Designs at the London Transport Museum (£15, but then you can use the ticket for an entire year. G.R.E.A.T. #spottheirony) and Lifework: Norman Parkinson’s Century of Style at the National Theatre (Lyttelton exhibition space, 1st floor, FREE!).
Aaaaaaahhhhhh…. HANGOVER: how many times have we woken up on a Sunday morning (erm… afternoon more likely), feeling like our head is about to explode?…
Arnaud Maguet’s “Trou Noir” is about that experience. On a black Chromolux paper, he placed a glass of water in which he dropped an Aspirin effervescent tablet. In the end, all you have left is a white powdery sediment, the only physical remaining trace of a wild night out.
Arnaud Maguet’s works are rock’n roll. No surprises he’s friend with Olivier Millagou. They both share a keen interest in music (Arnaud is himself a musician) and surf culture. So yeah, they’re über cool.
Arnaud made a series of “Trous noirs”. Cos’ the thing is with a bad hangover, you feel rough for a while, then you quickly forget about it, and soon enough, you’re on your way back to the pub. You know EXACTLY what I’m talking about.
NB: “Trou noir” = “a void into which things vanish permanently” (free dictionary definition): like memories of the night before, your dignity…
And that’s not just me saying: figures prove it.
At least we’re good at one thing: attracting tourists. The Louvre, Centre Pompidou and Musée d’Orsay are in the top 10 of the “Top 100 Art Museum Attendance” 2012 list. Let’s face it though, as far as the Louvre is concerned, I wouldn’t say that its appeal is due to its brilliant programme of temporary exhibitions. Nope. Visitors go there just like they go to the Eiffel tower or Montmartre. And they’re of course only interested in the Mona Lisa. SHAME, really. For I’m 100% sure that the portrait (a mere commission by the way) would have remained pretty obscure if it had not been stolen in the 1910s).
ANYWAY.
The April edition of the Art Newspapers (Art Market section, p.15) gives us an exhaustive survey of what was über cool to see last year. Yet again, the magazine has a rather not-so-idyllic analysis of those impressive figures: notably the fact that it’s risky to have some masterpieces transported all around the world (conservation issues, especially when you deal with Old Masters). The Louvre will never EVER again lend its Mona Lisa, as the wooden canvas came back from Japan with cracks on its surface. Even Dubaï will not be allowed to get it, despite all the money promised by rich Middle East oil moguls (the Mona Lisa is not a bloody whore after all).
I’m still rather surprised to realise that museums work very well during financial crisis. Tickets cost a lot. I still haven’t found a job, and I must admit that buying tickets or membership cards is a serious investment. People go to museums because they’ve read good reviews, because it’s THE must-see exhibition, because the-weather-is-so-bad-we’d-better-stay-indoors, because I-want-to-be-able-to-talk-about-the-show-with-my-friends-over-a-cappuccino-in-a-trendy-café-in-Stoke-Newington…
Sounds like I’m complaining. I should stop thinking of the why’s.
So yeah, good news for the Art market in general: business seems to be flourishing. Some commercial art galleries (not the large ones) were hit badly a few years ago, but overall, the Art world is recovering. TEFAF went fine apparently. Auctions? Someone bought recently for more than 30 times its estimate an ugly painting owned by Adolf Hitler (an anonymous Austrian bidder, surely for its historical value, right?… Or some dodgy memorabilia).
The Art world is doing very well… without me. *SIGH*
David Bowie Is @V&A: exhibition review
Right.
Where do I start? I was quite looking forward to this blockbuster retrospective exhibition. So much fuss about it, how quickly tickets sold out etc.
And yet, at the same time I was dreading it. I knew it would be packed, and that I would not stand having to follow the crowd’s awfully slow pace.
Great show.
And not only because:
Unity in Diversity (2013)
Pencil crayon on paper
235 x 181 cm
Courtesy the artist and Jack Bell Gallery
Blog at WordPress.com.
Theme: Esquire by Matthew Buchanan.
