Blog — Page 136 of 282

Gilbert and George – The Great Exhibition @ Astrup Fearney Museum

Gilbert & George are two constituents that form an artistic symbiosis the total of which is much more than the sum of its individual ingredients.

Actively challenging the status quo, the perception of what is acceptable and not giving a toss about conventions for over fifty years, they have never lost relevance and always blazed their own trail, which has not only opened but kicked down doors not only for new generations of new artists but also redefined how one can make the centre of one’s own art without falling prey to the notion of merely l’art pour l’art.

Two lives dedicated to not only art but living creativity to their fullest and a total commitment to their own version of truth – a reduction that resulted in enlightening and inspiring myriads of followers.

With large scale floor to ceiling artworks that run the gamut from surrealism to propaganda and ironically and at times sarcastically using symbols and thereby subverting and often diffusing their meanings.

Question everything seems to be the maxim of the two as they tackle wealth, sex, political and religious views in equal measure, while always retaining a sense of beauty and conveying emotion.

Eventually and early on, they became their own medium, the message and inseparable from their art, which resulted in performance art and them becoming centrepieces of their uniquely large and often brightly coloured complex images, often consisting of monumental mosaics comprised of big individual panels.

What I have always liked about Gilbert & George is that their art always allowed for the recipients to find their own truth, which they merely trigger with a visual impulse. In that sense, the viewer becomes an active part of the art and makes it even more interesting.

Gilbert & George The Great Exhibition is a collaboration between the LUMA Foundation and Moderna Museet, Stockholm in collaboration with Astrup Fearnley Museet and an ode to five decades of change and challenging taboos, morals and moralism.

Comprising works from the early 1970s to 2016, the exhibition and accompanying catalogue exemplifies in an opulently illustrated manner how Gilbert & George’s methods and emissions have evolved while using their own personas as object and subject.

An ode to some of the most visible artists on this earthround and another strongpoint of Astrup Fearney Museum after the recent fantastically curated Anselm Kiefer exhibition.

‎Curated by Daniel Birnbaum and Hans Ulrich Obrist, the exhibition will run from Sep‎ ‎13‎, ‎2019 - ‎Jan‎ ‎5‎, ‎2020 and the limited catalogue can be obtained from the museum’s website.

Into the Night

Prestel Publishing

If you pay close attention to the portrayal of night clubs and specifically cabarets, the artistic portrayal thereof plays an integral part in creating both perceptions and images.

No matter if it is the iconic 1920ies jazz clubs or cocktail bars, the etablissements that dominate the night have been hotbeds for creative expression.

Into the Night explores the history of cabarets and clubs from the 1880s to the 1960s and not only highlights and conveys what it must have been like to meander through the clubs in Berlin in the era of Weimar and jazz clubs in the new world, but also sheds like to less explored terrain like Africa’s exuberant night club scene of the 1960s.

It becomes apparent that cabarets and to some extent clubs were much more than bohemian places to congregate and indulge in debauchery but veritable alternatives to established museums when it came to pushing boundaries, experimentation and, most importantly, forums to foster collaborations and performance art.

The artwork and posters depicted in this tome paint a comprehensive picture of the ambience and ethos of the clubs, with each depiction telling stories about the DNA of the place it represents.

It also shows that no matter how glamourful spaces are depicted, it is the atmosphere that attracts people and a “je ne sais quoi factor” that at times is not tangible and is difficult to capture in any other form than being part of the action.

However, the book is a welcome reference for anyone interested in interdisciplinary art and how one fact informs the other and thereby ultimately creating a total that is much bigger than the seemingly unrelated sum of the individual constituents would suggest.

Virgil Abloh: Artwork

Prestel Publishing

Louis Vuitton’s creative director Virgil Abloh is a phenomenon by any standard. A phenomenon beyond hype and marketing. Abloh’s creative output seems boundless and is unleashed in an unparalleled abundance, with most of his emissions being sold out immediately.

Opulently illustrated with close to two thousand photos and illustrations of his fashion and further underpinned by a large number of essays that explore not only the status quo but how it all fits into the canon of art history, streetwear and the significance race plays.

The book complements a recent exhibition (“Figures of Speech”) and does not only zero in on the man but examines his collaborations, influences and how what seems to be straight forward on the surface is informed by a melange of disciplines that under his orchestration masterfully interact.

Luminaries from the realms of design, art, architecture and fashion are given a voice to comment on his output and the fact that never-before-seen early footage is unearthed, paint a more comprehensive and multi-faceted picture and a fare deeper breadth than what his trademark Off-White, NikeLab and other collections might suggest.

The curation of the book and the attention to detail alone makes this tome more than a mere adornment for the coffee table, no matter what your sentiments about Virgil Abloh might be.

The book is testament to the fact that Abloh is much more than a fashion designer but a visionary, genre bending and cutting-edge leader in diversity whose newness is backed by a curriculum vitae spiked with experiences that run the gamut of fashions and all facets of design – from interior to graphic. It is interesting to see where his copycat and reappropriating approach is derived from and how he manages to forge new subcultural identities.

No matter if you are a streetwear aficionado or which spectrum between art and commerce you place yourself at, there is no denying that there is more to his work than hypebeast-ianism.

---

Image from Prestel website

The No Meat Athlete Cookbook: Whole Food, Plant-Based Recipes to Fuel Your Workouts—and the Rest of Your Life

The Experiment

I live a pescatarian lifestyle ninety five percent of the time – not religiously but as something that has naturally evolved and has proven to be beneficial on many fronts.

While living meat free in 2019 with the abundance of options easily available has become much, much easier than say twenty years ago, variety and thoughtful new recipes are always welcome in my household.

Penned by Matt Frazier, a health coach and yoga teacher, who teamed up with seasoned food writer Stefanie Romine, one hundred and twenty-five vegan recipes are laid up with a focus on variety, nourishment and affordability as well as covering the bases as far as breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, drinks and sweets are concerned.

Needless to say that one does neither have to be an athlete, a chef nor a hardcore vegan to enjoy the recipes as most are easy to replicate and the book is free of ideology, i.e. informed by an approach devoid of guilt tripping carnivores and only appealing to elitists.

I specifically like the wide range of sauces and dressings that are they key to spicing up any plant-based diet. It does not hard that the book also offers not only a sound foundation for athletes that are looking for nutritional fuel to optimize their performance but also a good starting point for ones ready to kickstart and branch out with their eating habits and looking for a fun and practical  guide into some new areas of plant-based cooking with accessible ingredients, easy cooking techniques, and flexibility for certain dietary restrictions, such as no-oil and gluten-free options.

Art Lover’s Guide to Japanese Museums

Yale University Press

Wow!

I love Japan, Japanese art and Japanese museums but I did not expect such a quality book - in both content, and physical quality. Not unlikely the quality standards one is used to when it comes to Japanese emissions, the guide is an experience that starts with the high quality and texture of the paper and binding as well as the fact that it is a superb reference guide to the very many fine museums, all throughout Japan.

Anyone who has had the fortune to visit Japanese museums would attest that most of them play a league above what you can see in the west, however, the intricate and often rich collections make it at times hard to navigate them, especially when it comes to shodo calligraphy, museums solely dedicated to flower arranging and the printing on woodblocks, lacquerware, tea ceremony events and what is by Westerners often perceived as fringe activities like the appreciation of incense and kabuki.

The Art Lover's Guide to Japanese Museums acts as many things - a cleverly put together personal guide, a trusted companion for explorations and a reference that is easy to access and a resource that will prove to be essential for both the uninitiated first-time visitor as well as the hardcore Japanese art aficionado.

While my sight has been firmly set on visiting Naoshima island to visit Benesse House and explore the individual other museums, having been introduced to the Art Lover’s Guide to Japanese Museums added quite a few pit stops in between that have instantaneously become integral to my bucket list of art spaces to visit.

A beautiful guide that will be used frequently.