Modern Art Blog & Portfolio Updates
This modern art blog features the latest additions to Paul Cooklin's growing portfolio of photography and digital imagery along with works in progress, new technologies available to artists and collectors plus general art and design news.
Images are available to buy as prints on various mediums. To purchase a license to use an image for commercial or personal use, please visit the portfolio and select an image to view the license agreement. Digital illustrations have a Royalty Free license, photographs have a Rights Managed license.
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Latest 10 Posts
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Tate Modern - International modern and contemporary art
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
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The Unilever Series: Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster
14 October 2008 – 13 April 2009
Tate is delighted to announce that Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster is the next artist invited to create the Unilever Series commission for the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern in 2008.
Born in Strasbourg, France in 1965, Gonzalez-Foerster now lives and works in Paris and Rio de Janeiro. This will be the artist’s first public commission in the UK and it will be unveiled on Monday 13 October 2008.
Dominique Gonzalez-FoersterSéance de shadow II (bleu) 1998Installation view "Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, P. Parreno, P. Huyghe", ARC Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (1998) Tate © Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, courtesy Esther Schipper, Berlin
Cildo Meireles
14 October 2008 – 11 January 2009
Cildo Meireles is one of the leaders in the international development of Conceptual art,and this Brazilian artist has made some of the most politically telling, aesthetically seductive and philosophically intriguing works in recent art.
Cildo MeirelesEureka / Blindhotland 1970–5Tate © Cildo Meireles
His objects and atmospheric installations from the late 1960s onwards never fail to surprise, ranging in scale from a tiny work in the form of a finger-ring to a vast installation covering 225m². Composed of familiar everyday objects, yet accumulated in forms that we never imagined before, such as the all-red living room of Red Shift 1967–84, or the massive tower of radios of Babel 2001, Meireles's works lead us from an initial feeling of amazement to a deeper level of engagement. Eight of these great installations are on display here simultaneously for the first time, including the labyrinthine Through 1983–9, and Volatile 1980–94, a multi-sensory environment that plays with our response to danger, real or imagined.
The exhibition also includes his celebrated Insertions into Ideological Circuits 1970, by which he devised a method to disseminate messages of protest under the military dictatorship in Brazil. This is Meireles's first major retrospective in the UK and it presents a powerful and intriguing tour of his most memorable works.
Rodchenko & Popova: Defining Constructivism
12 February – 17 May 2009
Rodchenko & Popova: Defining Constructivism will explore the work of Alexander Rodchenko and Lyubov Popova between 1917 and 1929. Arguably two of the Russian avant-garde’s most influential and important artists, they were integral to the stylistic and theoretical underpinning of Russian Constructivism. With over 350 objects, this exhibition charts the evolution of their aesthetics from abstract painting to graphic design and will include their designs for cinema and theatre as well as numerous posters, books, and costumes.Labels: art, contemporary, international art, museum, tate modern
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Posted by Paul Cooklin 7:17 PM
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The Truth About Modern Art
Monday, March 24, 2008
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Opinions and views expressed by Xianru Shen at 3752 Blogs
"Even I can draw better than that! That can't possibly be called art."
I hear this all the time, at museums, on the street, or during casual talks with friends. And usually, I have to bite back my tongue not to leap up in retaliation to such statements, take a deep breath, and remind myself of what's going on here.
We've all seen the political cartoons, the comic strips, the satirical references on late-night TV shows: "modern" art is, to many people, not much more than a splat of paint on a canvas, sold at millions of dollars for no good reason, and fussed over without real basis. Indeed, it wouldn't surprise me if most people think art reached its peak during the realism-infested Classical period of the 1800's, or the light-dappled style of the Impressionists in late nineteenth century. Some might even go so far as to praise the unique brush strokes and skewed perspective of Van Gogh, but many would be reluctant to offer the same appreciation for Piet Mondrian's works that seem to be little more than coloured rectangles from only a few decades later. Has art slowly deteriorated over the ages? Have artists, tired of imitating life, started toying with the general public by trying to make us believe dumping a paint on a canvas is now sufficient to display at museums?
That is not the case.
There are many interpretations out there, but modern art, in my opinion, has tried to capture the abstracts in life. And to capture that which has to definite shape, and no definite image, it makes sense for artists to use only the most basic of the elements and principles of art to convey these concepts. Colours and simple shapes are not meant to encapsulate still life, but rather invoke emotions, thoughts, and memories. It's true that the same can be achieved through an intricate, realistic picture. But the appeal in modern art is that for the first time, artist are trying to call forth the same impact art has always had on people by using another route, another method, and another style.
It's not art because someone smacked a paintbrush against a canvas. It's art because it was done deliberately; because the artist felt that that was the most effective way to capture, in as tangible a way as possible, what is not only intangible, but fleeting. A feeling, a message, or an experience. The goal of art has, and should be, to communicate. Furthermore, modern art isn't just cubism and minimalism, which seem to be the only ones ever referenced. There are other styles that also define this era, such as surrealism and abstract expressionism that are worth closer looks.
I can't argue that even the most veteran of artists can convince everyone that a paper with nothing but coloured strips drawn onto it or a sculpture that doesn't seem to represent any recognizable image is the most impressive of artistic legacies, but I think it's important for people to at least recognize their merits as art.
That brings up another point: why are most people today so out of tune with the artistic world, and its movements? Why is the average person so quick to criticize? One reason might simply be the way modern society works. Millions of people tune in to watch the Academy Awards, keep up with the latest TV shows, or read fashion magazines, but how often is world of art and its slow revolution ever discussed within earshot, unless you go looking for it? Art awards are given out frequently without any big public notice, museums are hardly ever as crowded as movie theatres, and people simply are not informed. So is it any surprise that without proper knowledge, once they were faced with something that isn't their traditional idea of "art", many people wrinkle their noses and consider it trash? This has happened many times in the past, through art history, and it continues today.
Maybe the flaw lies in our educational system. Maybe it's a larger societal problem. Maybe it's not a thing to be worried over at all. But to me, it seems that there needs to be an effort in educating most people at least in the basics of art, what's going on with art revolutions, and how to look at different kinds of art, because art has always been, and always should be, an important part to life, culture, and how we view the world.
For more in-depth discussions about modern art, and recent art happenings, visit:
http://www.paulcooklin.com/blog/2006/03/modern-art_26.htmlLabels: 1800’s, art, canvas art, modern art, Piet Mondrian, Van Gogh
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Posted by Paul Cooklin 11:08 PM
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Why Frieze is hot
Sunday, October 07, 2007
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London’s Frieze fair is the hippest place to be this week: and the art will be pretty good, too.
Visitors
Frieze Art Fair takes place every October in Regent’s Park, London. It features around 150 of the most exciting contemporary art galleries in the world. The fair also includes specially commissioned artists’ projects, a prestigious talks programme and an artist-led education schedule.
Admission - Opening Hours
Thursday 11 October 11am-7pm
Friday 12 October 11am-7pm
Saturday 13 October 11am-7pm
Sunday 14 October 11am-6pm
Box Office & 24 hour credit hotline: See Tickets
Tel +44 (0)870 890 0514 Group Bookings +44 (0)870 899 3342 Book tickets here
Frieze Art Fair Tours
For an insight into the art works on display and an introduction to the fair itself, professional guides will provide an overview of Frieze Art Fair and its history introducing you to the highlights of the exhibition looking at art works in more detail.
Tours last for approximately one hour and are limited to 12 places. Group guiding systems are provided by Acoustiguide. Tickets are now available.
Since we live in a democracy, you are notionally free to choose where you go between Thursday and next Sunday. If, however, you live your life in the manner of most modern citizens, guided by the frantic proddings of the zeitgeist, pushed this way and that by the rhythms of cool, then you actually have little say in the matter. If you don’t want to be the only square in your village, you need to go to Frieze. Everybody else will be there.
On paper, it’s just an art fair. But then, on paper, Michelangelo’s David is just a lump of stone. On paper, the Taj Mahal is a building, and Helen Mirren is an actress. When it comes to describing exceptional cultural phenomena, the English language is occasionally out of its depth. And “art fair” is a particularly unfortunate example. It’s the way word two seems to undermine word one that annoys. I’m not saying Frieze isn’t, technically, an art fair. My point is that this glum definition doesn’t begin to capture the drama and buzz of the event in the tent.
For four days in October, the Frieze Art Fair transforms London into a mecca, and collecting into a hajj. People fly in from Miami and New York, from LA and Chi-cago, from Berlin and Zurich, and now, I see, from Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo. Hotels are packed, restaurants booked. You can’t get a limo for love nor money. But the most remarkable thing about Frieze is that it has achieved all this from a standing start. Five years ago, it didn’t even exist.
If you’ve been to the Ideal Home Show or the Motor Show, you will recognise the basic setup. People who want to sell you something rent a venue, jolly it up and fill it with their wares. You are then invited to join them, and are flogged as much of the stuff as your weaknesses will allow. It’s what happens at all trade fairs. But Frieze’s first organisational masterstroke was to locate these familiar exchanges in a venue that was excitingly unfamiliar. Where the typical trade fair takes place in the sucked and spat-out misery of Olympia or tatty old Ally Pally, Frieze happens in a specially designed tented pueblo, a kind of temporary Brasilia made of tarpaulins, situated for some fantastical reason in the unlikely horticultural expanses of Regent’s Park. Marching up to this huge and noisy big top makes you feel like an excited kid being taken to the circus by his nan. And the people selling stuff inside are a different crowd from the ones you are probably used to. Art dealers follow a specific sartorial rule book. The men dress like Mormon missionaries, in dark suits and crisp white shirts, while the women wear only Prada.
The second defining decision made at the outset by the organisers was to deal exclusively in contemporary art. Not modern art, contemporary art. No Picassos, no Henry Moores; no repetition from any of the old-timers. The rule-makers are hardliners on this subject. Only new art from around the world is allowed in. If you’re up with Frieze, therefore, you’re as up as you can be with art. There is nothing fresher than this.
It was all planned and enforced by two absurdly young and adventurous cultural entrepreneurs. One of them, Amanda Sharp, lives in New York, and I know nothing about her. The other one, Matthew Slotover, I’ve encountered a few times, and I can happily confirm that he looks more like my paperboy than the creator of the definitive 21st-century art event so far. As with many contemporary millionaires and internet revolutionaries, he seems far too callow and casual to have achieved what he has.
The name “Frieze”, he confesses happily, was discovered by chance in a thesaurus. He was looking for synonyms for “art”, and there was “frieze”, meaning a horizontal band of carved reliefs. By a curious coincidence, it’s a homophone of the pioneering exhibition mounted in a London warehouse by Damien Hirst in 1988. Freeze was the event that triggered the whole Brit Art thing – and the entire dramatic turnaround in British art taste that was to culminate in the opening of Tate Modern can be traced back, I suggest, to the original Freeze show. So, it was a good name to stumble across.
Before Frieze the art fair came along, Slotover and Sharp ran Frieze the magazine, and that, too, was an impossibly hip blend of obscure thoughts and elegant ads. They started thinking about an art fair in 1998. But it wasn’t until the day Tate Modern opened, in 2000, that they knew they had to go ahead with it. “The whole of the international art world was here,” Slotover says.“They had never come before. But we looked around and thought, they will come to London.”
Bravely and perspicaciously Slotover and Sharp remortgaged their houses and began planning the Frieze Art Fair in the exact detail that characterises their approach to this day. And from the moment it untied its tent flaps in October 2003, it was clear that the zeitgeist was behind it. The figures speak for themselves. In 2005, 47,000 visitors were lured into the great marquee, and spent £33m on art. The next year, the figures were up by 35%. They’ll be up again this year, and next year, and the next. But by how much, we will never know, because, last year, Frieze stopped releasing the details. I suspect they were embarrassed by them.
I spotted Jude, Gwyneth, Elton and Nigella at last year’s Frieze. Jude and Gwyneth were definitely buying, as, I presume, was Elton; and if Nigella wasn’t, then her husband, Charles, whom I also saw, must have been. I think I noticed Claudia hurrying past, too, and Kate would have been there, because Kate goes to everything. Tracey was around, of course, and although I didn’t see Damien, I couldn’t miss Jake and Dinos, because they were plonked right in the middle of the thing, churning out ludicrous portraits of anyone prepared to fork out £4,000 for the pleasure. I wanted to have mine done – who wouldn’t? – but the queue was too long.
Those were just the recognisable faces in the crowd, the A-, B- and C-listers whose presence so handily signals a cultural success. Then there were all those anonymous visitors who, judging by the cut of their thongs and the swing of their bling, constituted a large percentage of the nation’s groovers: the young, the fresh, the giggly. If Al-Qaeda decided to take out the Frieze tent, they would undoubtedly take out most of Britain’s happening types.
But the hipness of Frieze is certainly not why I, a longtime abhorrer of art fairs, approve of this event and, indeed, delight in it. I like Frieze because it gives so much away. I don’t mean the leaflets and baseball caps you come out with. That happens at all trade fairs. Frieze deals in a different kind of freebie. One of the best things the fair does is to commission work by artists who are not directly involved with a particular gallery. This year, the venerable American trouble-maker Richard Prince will be showing a full-size recreation of a macho 1970 car called a Dodge Challenger. The original Challenger was a mass-produced piece of flash that guys liked. But Prince has reversed its usual manufacturing process by building his model entirely by hand, from scratch. What’s being challenged, therefore, is the nature and value of an original – a key art-world question. And seeing it being asked at Frieze is like going to a motor show and finding a poster covered in road-safety warnings. All the Frieze commissions this year seem to be biting the hand that feeds them by asking awkward questions of the event itself. Elin Hansdottir has set up a lighting system that ensures your shadow is split up into its constituent parts as you enter, as if you don’t really exist.
All these performances share a questioning mood. And that applies to Frieze in general. On the surface, it’s an art fair, but beneath that it’s an art-world conspiracy to subvert the system. In my favourite conceptual manoeuvre, Gianni Motti has asked one of the policemen patrolling Frieze to take a regular public break from security to practise yoga. That I really want to see. And it’s why a hardened art-fair hater like me will be at the head of the queue on Thursday, making sure I get in before you.
Frieze Art Fair, Regent’s Park, NW1, October 11-14.Labels: art, Frieze
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Posted by Paul Cooklin 6:42 PM
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100% Design - Earls Court London
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
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If you go to only one exhibition this year… 100% Design at Earl’s Court. “100% Design is the UK's premier contemporary interiors event for the contract market. There is no other show that connects the worlds of architecture and design with innovative, contemporary interior products, creativity and an exciting mix of new and established talent.” Entry is FREE Take a look at the Exhibition’s website: http://www.100percentdesign.co.uk/Labels: art, contemporary, creativity, design, earls court, interiors
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Posted by Paul Cooklin 12:57 PM
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Photographing Britain
Thursday, June 14, 2007
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EXHIBITION: How We Are: Photographing Britain
A treasure trove of stunning images, this exhibition takes a unique look at the journey of British photography. The images in this exhibition have come from the length and breadth of the UK and present the extraordinary variety and depth of one-and-a-half centuries of image-making.
To coincide with How We Are: Photographing Britain, Tate has partnered Flickr to create "How We Are Now", a project which invites you to add your photograph to the exhibition. Your photograph will displayed* at Tate Britain, on Tate Online and on The Observer's website, and a shortlist will be chosen to be be displayed in the exhibition's final month and archived online. Visit How We Are Now for details and full terms and conditions.
*Terms and conditions apply
Supported by Wallis Annenberg and the Annenberg Foundation through the American Patrons of Tate
Media partner: The Observer
Tate Britain, Linbury Galleries
Until 2 September
Find out more
Book online
Read the TATE ETC. ArticleLabels: art, photography, tate britain, tate online
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Posted by Paul Cooklin 9:53 PM
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