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Reviews
The sound of fruit - JULIAN WOODCOCK
Deda, Derby
23 January 2007 - 27 March 2010
As an art form painting has been around pretty much since Lascaux and the biggest single handicap when looking at anyone’s paintings between now, then and the middle bit is the frequently unhelpful problem of comparison. It is very, Read on…
Reviewed by: Tom Hackett »
A Site on the Edge of Public Memory.
The Rea Garden., Digbeth, Birmingham.
11 September - 11 December 2009
Engulfed by nature and lost to the city of Birmingham for almost twenty years The Rea Garden in Digbeth has now entered a new and more prosperous stage in its evolution. Reformed by creative trio, Arlene Burnett, Paul Newman and Leon Read on…
Reviewed by: Laurie Cantwell »
Brick by Brick: small scale wall works by 24 artists
Foundry Lane Studios, Newcastle upon Tyne
21 January - 6 March 2010
Essay by Emma Cummins Occupying the space of a single wall, Brick by Brick intervenes with the existing architecture of Foundry Lane Studios to create a project which conflates site specific objectives with a unique collaborative Read on…
Reviewed by: Nick Kennedy »
Psychic Geography
Workplace Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne
23 January - 20 February 2010
Psychic Geography unites the work of nine emerging and established artists in a deliberately ambiguous assemblage of painting, sculpture and video work. Simultaneously encouraging and eluding theoretical verification, its title Read on…
Reviewed by: Emma Cummins »
Michael Landy's Art Bin
South London Gallery, Peckham
29 January - 14 March 2010
I’ve always been an admirer of Landy’s work, ever since he destroyed all his possessions in full view of the public in a laborious factory-style procedure in 2001 entitled Breakdown. His willingness to share his most intimate Read on…
Reviewed by: Sam Clift »
The Meaning of Style
Nottingham Art Exchange, Nottingham
16 January - 10 April 2010
After watching the Channel 4 Series ‘Tower Block of Commons’, raising issues of gun and gang crime and the stereotypes that tower block residences are unfairly titled with, this exhibition at the NAE seemed fairly apt. ‘The Read on…
Reviewed by: Amy Shaw »
Pawel Althamer: Common Task
Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, 12 December - 7 March
A group of men from the Brodno housing estate in Warsaw don gold lamé jumpsuits and accompany artist Pawel Althamer on a journey to Mali in West Africa. Visiting the Dogon people, they join in traditional dances and try to persuade local Read on…
Reviewed by: Tracey Warr »
New Work Scotland Programme 2009/10
The Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, 5 December - 31 January
In its twenty-six years the Collective Gallery has always aimed to pacify those dreaded first few years out of art college, providing a platform for exhibiting and a peer group. Ten years ago then director Sarah Munro devised The New Work Scotland Read on…
Reviewed by: Rosie Lesso »
Emergency 4
Aspex, Portsmouth, 14 November - 24 January
The opportunity pages of this magazine contain a cornucopia of notices inviting artists to submit work for juried exhibitions. One of the most outstanding is Aspex's 'Emergency' competition, now in its fourth incarnation and boasting a stellar Read on…
Reviewed by: Peter Bonnell »
ArtSway Open 09
ArtSway, Hampshire, 21 November - 24 January
Upon entering the main room at ArtSway Open 09, the artworks inhabit the space in a composed and respectful wait. Even the piece placed in central position, a large sculpture reminiscent of a wooden telescope, does not steal the viewer's attention Read on…
Reviewed by: Eleonora Schinella »
Conrad Ventur: Forever and a Day
Rokeby, London, 13 January - 19 February
In the documentary on Ray Johnson How to Draw a Bunny (2000), Billy Name remembers the first time Andy Warhol came to the regular 'hair salons' he improvised in his flat covered with silver foil from floor to ceiling. "It was when Andy just got the Read on…
Reviewed by: Coline Milliard »
Where Three Dreams Cross: 150 Years of Photography from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
Whitechapel Gallery, London
21 January - 11 April 2010
Where Three Dreams Cross presents photography of the Indian subcontinent between 1860 and today, with special emphasis on all images being created by native-born artists. Inevitably, this conjures up questions of self-representation beginning Read on…
Reviewed by: Nette Hargreaves »
Testing Grounds
South Hill Park, Bracknell
31 October 2009
Strange noises resonated through the historic building of South Hill Park, Bracknell on the 31st of October. These noises came, not from Halloween revellers, but from artists experimenting with performance and sound. Testing Grounds, a live art Read on…
Reviewed by: Alice Brooke-Smith »
Jim Goldberg: Open See / Sara Ramo: Movable Plains
The Photographers' Gallery, London
16 October 2009 - 17 January 2010
I recently took a trip up to the Photographers Gallery in Central London where I saw exhibitions by Jim Goldberg and emerging Spanish/Brazilian artist Sara Ramo that certainly affected me both intellectually and on a more emotional level, at the Read on…
Reviewed by: Christopher Collier »
For the blind man in a dark room looking for the black cat that isn't there
ICA, London
3 December 2009 - 31 January 2010
One of many exhibitions that I have attended in the last few weeks that really stands out for me was For the blind man in a dark room looking for the black cat that isn't there at the ICA. The title is derived from a quote attributed to Darwin Read on…
Reviewed by: Christopher Collier »
Measure and Purpose
Surface Gallery, Nottingham
9 - 13 February 2010
The idea of pseudo-scientific artwork is one that intrigues me greatly, as it embraces the oddly linked worlds of art and science in their lust for knowledge, explanation and understanding. At the same time however, there is a certain gauche Read on…
Reviewed by: Susie Cochrane »
Unfinished Business
Waterside Project Space, London
6 February - 4 March 2010
The new exhibition at the Waterside Project Space between Islington and Shoreditch on Wharf Road is one of the strongest at Waterside that I can remember and was definitely worth a visit. Unfinished Business is characterised by its absences and its Read on…
Reviewed by: Christopher Collier »
Measure and Purpose
Surface Gallery, Nottingham
9 - 13 February 2010
Measure and Purpose is an intriguing exhibition that combines a series of different materials such as ceramics, painting and technical displays. It engages with the concepts of pseudo-scientific study and the human drive to integrate with Read on…
Reviewed by: Sarah Finch »
What Structures, Kate V Robertson
Intermedia, CCA, Glasgow
12 - 19 February 2010
… I watched enthralled from the empty deck as, every day, for the space of a few minutes, in all quarters of a horizon vaster than any I had ever seen before, the rising and the setting of the sun presented the beginning, development and Read on…
Reviewed by: Alex Hetherington »
The Never Ending Multi-story
Airspace, Stoke-on-Trent
21 November - 18 December 2009
The Never Ending Multi-Story - Airspace The Never Ending Multi-Story is a collaboration of four artists, each exploring the idea of alternative existences to that which they have become accustom to. With each artist recently graduating Read on…
Reviewed by: Stacey Booth »
Naomi Terry: 'In a City Not Too Far Away...'
The Wasp Room gallery, Nottingham
4 - 21 February 2010
Naomi Terry: ‘In a City Not Too Far Away…’ TETHER, The Wasp Room gallery Artist group Tether have a relationship with cardboard. In past exhibitions we have seen gigantic cardboard antlers from artist Deborah Swann and Read on…
Reviewed by: Susie Cochrane »
Strangeness and Charm
Viktor Wynd Fine Art Inc, London
5 February - 14 March 2010
What an intriguing place is Viktor Wynd Fine Art Inc. Both shop and gallery; library and museum; art setting and theatrical backdrop. To step through the front door on Mare Street is to enter an alternate world. I feel like Alice, and this is my Read on…
Reviewed by: Zoe Finch »
Theo van Doesburg and the International Avant-Garde
Tate Modern, London
4 February - 16 May 2010
Theo van Doesburg was one of the leading figures in the development of geometric abstraction, founder of the De Stijl group and editor of the magazine of the same name. He developed contacts with such artists as Bart van der Leck, Anthony Kok, Read on…
Reviewed by: Jack Hutchinson »
Kinetica Art Fair
P3, University of Westminster, London
4 - 7 February 2010
I woke up this morning with toothache. Should I go to the Kinetica Art Fair or make an emergency appointment with the dentist? Rashly, I chose the former. If I didn’t go now, I’d miss it completely and the dentist Read on…
Reviewed by: Janet Cooper »
Book Review: The Preston Market Mystery Project - John Newling
Preston Outdoor Market, Preston, Lancashire
21 November 2006 - 27 June 2007
"Nothing exciting ever happens in Preston..." Unsure expectations and a niggling curiosity is what I felt before receiving this book. An artist who I had vaguely heard of but no deep understanding of. No works of his had Read on…
Reviewed by: Lisa Gorton »
Part 1
Surface Gallery, Nottingham
10 - 14 November 2009
Sixes and Sevens is the collective name for a group of recent graduates from Nottingham Trent University. I have to declare an interest here, given that I’m a lecturer on the Fine Art course from which they came, but owing to the Read on…
Reviewed by: Joanne Lee »
To be Confirmed
The Bristol Gallery, Bristol
16 January - 25 February 2010
To be Confirmed is the latest exhibition at The Bristol Gallery, that opened with 5,000 square feet of floor space last September. The concept behind To be Confirmed is that of the post modern world, ‘there are after all no right or Read on…
Reviewed by: Theo Wood »
Lobby
Cell Project Space, London
7 November - 6 December
'Lobby' brings together eight artists with common interests and approaches to making; the press release mentions issues of social space, architecture and the built environment. In fact, the press release is heavy with the promise of social critique Read on…
Reviewed by: Fay Nicolson »
Meet Pamela
Project Space Leeds, Leeds
20 November – 27 February
Each time I visit PSL it appears to be another space entirely, its generous proportions sectioned off to adapt to its current exhibition. Recently, upon entering, one can choose between two spaces: to the right, 'Signs of Life,' a joint show of work Read on…
Reviewed by: Lara Eggleton »
Mark Pearson: BAR VUG GUM
Moot, Nottingham
13 November - 13 December
Macho, Male, Chauvinist, Brutalist Aside from being a clever way to enliven the standard press release, these prodding, funny, provoking terms are meant to lead us astray - assigning these negative sounding words to the artist's practice is Read on…
Reviewed by: Bruce Asbestos »