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TEAM REX – The biggest graffiti exhibition London has ever seen

Aug 24, ’12 6:18 PM

At the end of this month, TEAM ROBBO will be presenting the biggest graffiti exhibition London has ever seen. ‘TEAM REX – Origin of the Species’, opens to the public at the Red Gallery at 3 Rivington Street in East London (EC2) Shoreditch on 31st August.

We have witnessed an explosive activity and interest in street art over the last few years, but how did it all begin? Many debates search to make a distinction between street art and graffiti, as these two art forms now co-exist – each with its own group of supporters. TEAM REX – Origin of the Species suggests a different angle, a non-competitive and contemplative historical perspective with a focus on showcasing the “graffiti DNA” and its artistic mutations.

Contemporary Talks have had the rare opportunity to get very close to TEAM ROBBO and have followed them from back in 2010, when King Robbo was still bombing the streets of London. Last year, after Robbo’s accident when he fell into a coma, his team have continued to spread his message of collaboration, unity, love of the arts and fearless expression. When looking at graffiti in its essence, without commenting on internal or external politics, financial issues and other implications, it is an artistic expression that takes many forms. To capture the astonishing variety of artistic genius that has evolved, TEAM REX – Origin of the Species is bringing together NYC subway veterans like KEL, Crash, Blade, Mare 139, Duster and Duro with British classics such as Tox, SheOne, Remi Rough and 10 Foot. The International presence includes Russia, Norway, Switzerland, France, Germany and the present number of countries represented is still growing.

“Everyone who thought that graffiti could be boxed in and limited to certain circumstances, will be amazed at how the creative DNA of street/train graffiti, spawned in New York City – developed, spread and mutated around the world, creating a kaleidoscope of art and culture.”  – Prime, Team Robbo

Until the day of the opening we don’t know what the show will precisely offer, but TEAM ROBBO are promising a substantial number of graffiti-based pieces in various materials, techniques, shapes and forms. The show will take over the entire Red Gallery, with three internal gallery spaces and the fashionable Red Market, where live painting events with invited artists will take place. The exhibition pieces are to be hung simultaneously with live pieces on the walls surrounding the Red Market and considering the exploding popularity of Shoreditch’s most enjoyable marketplace and the fairly priced bar, we can expect a huge and jolly crowd.

In this manner, Robbo’s creative spirit continues push the borders of the art scene, locally and internationally. We will ask ourselves questions such as ‘What is contemporary graffiti?’ and bare witness to how graffiti evolves in an exhibition space.

A series of free talks and events related to TEAM REX – Origin of the Species will also be provided – full details are provided on the website dedicated to the exhibition – www.TeamRex.org. We do know that Mare 183 and KEL are flying in from New York to give talks at the Red Gallery on the 29th of Aug and 1st of Sept at around 7 pm.

If you wish to attend the Private View on 30th August and free entry to the after party at East Village, London – you’d better hurry to get your name on the guestlist which is almost certainly going to be oversubscribed. You can apply via the private view link on TeamRex.org: http://www.teamrex.org/privateview

Forget the politics, avoid the media, play positive jams, fill your headspace with positive inculcations – that’s how you privately beat the system. XXXXXXX, true say    Punk Roc    true star – Choci-Roc, Team Robbo

Exhibition opening times 

Team Rex exhibition runs from 31st August until 9th September. Opening hours are Mon / Tues / Wed / Fri / Sat 10am – 7pm | Thurs 10am – 8pm / Sun 11am – 5pm – Entry is free. For special events – see website www.teamrex.org.

The Team Rex exhibition is organised by Team Robbo and Prank Sky Media.

www.TeamRobbo.org, www.Pranksky.com

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Promotional links:::

About TEAM ROBBO

Team Robbo is the driving force behind the global movement which is articulating the cultural hegemony within the graffiti/street scene. The arts collective was formed in 2010 by its founder and inspiration, King Robbo, a champion of the original street art movement who can be traced back to the early days of NYC graffiti in the 80s.

Through exhibitions, auctions and creative events, Team Robbo and its core members have positioned themselves to redefine the landscape of graffiti-inspired art, design and culture in all its forms at the centre of the art market. Following the airing of the award-winning documentary “Graffiti Wars” (last year on Channel 4, UK) which featured King Robbo, Team Robbo’s subsequent art exhibition at Signal Gallery and auction club event at Cargo cemented it in its place as a dynamic and successful arts group, able to galvanize support and loyalty from investors, collectors and a worldwide fan-base.

www.TeamRobbo.org / www.TeamRex.org / twitter.com/TeamRexLDN

About RED GALLERY

Red Gallery hosts exhibitions, live art, literary soirees, symposiums, film screenings, live music and club events. Their vision is to promote an expansive artistic culture and curate large-scale gallery shows (currently touring internationally) covering subjects as diverse as the history of acid house and the future of art in the East End, with exhibitions such as ‘20 years of Acid House’, ‘East End Promise’ and ‘East Pop’.

Over the past 18 months Red Gallery have collaborated with a wide array of artists, art collectives and organisations including; Adam Dant, Bo Ningen, East End Film Festival, Gavin Turk, House of Fairy Tales, i-D magazine, Kid Koala, Le Gun, Noriko Okaku, Onedotzero, Soul Clap, Soundcloud, and Camberwell and Kingston Colleges of Art and Redsonik.

About RED MARKET

The Red Market Pop-Up fuses Food, Drink, Art, Music & Leisure Across 20,000 Sq. Ft in East London

What do you get when East London’s most prominent street, Old Street, hosts and brings together local East London traders, artists and musicians? A unique outdoor ‘Pop Up’, now in its second year and bigger and better combining social regeneration and shared cultural pursuits.

Running from July 6th to September 2nd 2012, The Red Market Pop Up, a fully licensed space open from midday to 11pm daily will transport visitors through East London’s culinary and creative delights amongst a 20,000sq ft outdoor space with various installations including a stage, a summer house, a sand area, table tennis, hammocks, graffiti artworks and petanque pitches.

Building on the success of their 2010 take-over of 1-3 Rivington Street, then a derelict building, the team behind The Red Market Pop Up transformed the area into one of London’s key cultural hubs building relationships with East London’s many creative individuals and organisations. The team today offer low cost space on Rivington Street to artists and internet start-ups whilst hosting a selection of exhibitions, live art, live music, literary events and film screenings amongst other activities.

www.RedGalleryLondon.com


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Art project SEEDS OF BLISS / بذر / גרעינים is defying political, religious and geographical borders in the Middle East

Aug 7, ’12 10:03 AM

Photo: Shula Covo, all rights reserved

The intention of SEEDS OF BLISS   / بذر  /   גרעינים is to bring people in the Middle East together to chew a total of ten tons of sunflower seeds in neighbouring cities. This intercultural cooperation project by interdisciplinary artist Noam Edry, in collaboration with the Haifa Museum and Artis Contemporary, is not about nationality, politics, religion or any other differentiating factor; all participants are individuals living in a Middle Eastern city and they come together with their neighbours to share the pleasure of a tradition deeply rooted in their part of the world. Jordanians from Aqaba and Israelis from Eilat live within 6 km from each other with an equal distance of less than 1 km to the Red Sea. Now we have entered August, which is when the sunflower seeds are ready for harvest and the sunflower seed donations for SEEDS OF BLISS   / بذر  /   גרעינים have reached a total of 3 tons. The artist, who is travelling around Israel for meetings with the country’s seeding companies, is met with great enthusiasm and it should not be long until the ten tons have been raised.

In September, ten people from Eilat will cross the border and get together with their neighbors in Aqaba to chew, spit, drink coffee and socialize for five days at Al-Fardos Café.  Later on, the people from Aqaba will cross the border over to Eilat and continue the seed-shelling with their new friends. To get the Israeli State to approve the Jordanian’s VISA applications is a complicated procedure, but Noam Edry is working on the bureaucracy together with trusted volunteers. Additional neighboring cities to take part in SEEDS OF BLISS   / بذر  /   גרעינים are Nablus-Haifa and Jenin-Afula. All stages of the project are being documented and the 5-day performances will be filmed and publicized in the press in real-time. Though in its early stages, SEEDS OF BLISS   / بذر  /   גרעינים has already received huge TV and press coverage in Israel and is stirring quite an interest worldwide. After the completion of the project, the artist hopes to exhibit the remnants of ten tons of sunflower seeds and the documentation in London, as a humorous Middle-Eastern response to Ai Weiwei’s Sunflower Seeds. “The Chinese are expert craftsmen. Our expertise is to chew and spit” she explains.

Photo: Shula Covo, all rights reserved

Noam Edry describes her recent visit to Aqaba in her own words:

“I came with my photographer and the people in Aqaba adopted us immediately. Hasan, the owner of Al-Fardos café, hosted us and treated me like a real friend. Hasan introduced me to his friend Nabih, the manager of the mosque, and single-handedly they put together a team of ten very trustworthy and responsible Jordanians, who understand the nature of this project.”

Every evening the artist got together with Hasan and people from all around Aqaba to enjoy the friendly atmosphere at Hasan’s café, where the conversations flowed naturally accompanied by sunflower seeds, shish and coffee. Although the city has plenty of entertainment to offer a visitor, it was nothing that could beat the contentment of simply chilling out, talking about life and discussing the beautiful possibilities of SEEDS OF BLISS   / بذر  /   גרעינים. Throughout the evenings people discreetly joined the group with a passport in their hand and expressed their wish to participate in the project, which put the artist in a very humbling position.

Noam Edry has been studying Arabic in order to better communicate with her volunteers. Thanks to the abounding conversations that have taken place during the initial stages of the project, all happening in a sunflower seed chewing spirit, the nature of SEEDS OF BLISS   / بذر  /   גרעינים is becoming increasingly organic and collaborative. The starting event will take place on 23 August 2012 in the artist’s birthplace of Kibbutz Ramat Yohanan, a small communal settlement in the North of Israel, with the participation of the neighboring Arab-Bedouin villages of Ras Ali and Khawaled. Together they will chew the first few kilos of sunflower seeds.

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[More on Noam Edry]

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Interview Series 2011

Part 1 – A constant battle for the freedom of speech in a web of taboos and envy

Part 2 – From sharp-edged politics to an S&M club and back again

Part 3 – “I Am the Terrorist”

Feature on Childhood

Born a War Painter

Reviews

Museum of Art, Ein Harod, Israel, 2012

Goldsmiths MFA 2011

 

Noam Edry was born in 1982 in Israel in a communal settlement and raised in London. Her work explores questions of identity, mechanisms of power and domination and their physical relationship to the human body. She works internationally on ambitious projects that often involve a large number of participants, merging the physical with the political; the body and the private space of the individual function as allegories to the social and political sphere. Edry completed her Master of Fine Art with Distinction at Goldsmiths, University of London (2011) and a BA of Fine Art at Bezalel Academy of Art & Design Jerusalem (2005), she studied painting at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts de Paris (2003-4) and acting at the Nissan Nativ Acting Studio, Tel Aviv. Her recent solo show at the Ein Harod Museum, Israel titled “The Silver Salver” (2012) explored the relevance of national Israeli emblems and involved living sculptures; actors and actresses who dressed up as exported fruits and vegetables in a reconstruction of a bloody battle field. Artis Grant recipient 2012, shortlisted for the Red Mansion Art Prize (2011), Israeli Arts Council Grant recipient (2008), winner of the Bremen Art Grant (2008), winner of the International Jewish Artist of the Year Award (2004).

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Brutality at the photographer’s analogue paradise

Jul 8, ’12 11:35 PM

There is a photographer’s paradise called Double Negative Darkroom in Hackney, 178A Glyn Road E50JE. Sebastian Sussmann, photographer and photographic printer dedicated to analogue processes, started Double Negative Darkroom in the summer of 2009. The old school haven equipped with authentic necessities, including an original camera obscura and technical knowledge from past times, is steadily developing with the help of a few passionate individuals. CT was invited to “DND” by  American photographer and collector Brad Feurhelm during the documentation of his collection on Brutality. 

Being the former director of Daniel Blau Gallery in Hoxton square, Brad Feuerhelm, is now devoting his time to the international photographic company Ordinary-Light, with a main focus on presenting the history of the photographic medium and on the collection of the same, although there is also an interest in contemporary photography. The name Ordinary-Light is deceiving, since Brad Feuerhelm is a big fan of all things obscure, such as vintage astrological imagery, Czech surrealist work (Waclav Chochola), experimental collages (and an abstract gelatin silver print) by Edmund Teske, smoking children soldiers with a Kalashnikov, microphotographs of vegetable cells, atomic explosions, China in the 1860s, etc. The vast collection of thousands of images are presented in thematic shows and at a number of art fairs.

Below: CT’s documentation of the collector documenting the documentation…

The commercial catalogue on Brutality does not only consist of historical evidences of brutal incidents, but challenges the interpretation of brutality with the inclusion of images such as ordinary portraits of murder victims and ladies reading the newspaper on the day of Kennedy’s assassination next to a newspaper stand. In this way, the collection invites the viewers to take a step out of the savagery and consider the consequences of brutal actions and to contemplate the fragility of human existence.

On 8/9 of September Double Negative Darkroom is hosting a wet collodion course with Manchester-based John Brewer, who is specialized in historic photographic processes, particularly wetplate collodion, cyanotype, platinum/palladium and gum bichromate. There are at present six places available. John Brewer’s on the wet collodion course: “Images can be made on clear glass, coloured glass, metal and acrylic. Because of the nature of the process each image is unique and non reproducible, it is a one of a kind. The process from clear glass to the finished image, sealed with a nineteenth century lavender varnish takes around twenty minutes or less. Plate sizes can be from 5″x4″ up to 12″x15″. I can also offer a framing service.”

Below: From John Brewer’s personal portfolio

Double Negative Darkroom are entirely committed to B&W processing – all formats, Colour – bleach, bypass and Xpro – all formats, Fine Art B&W Handprinting, Liquid Emulsion and Lith Printing, Alternative Processes – Salt, gum, Cyanotype, Albumen, VDB, Enlarged negatives for all alternative process and contact printing, Portrait and photographic services, Traditional darkroom and alternative process courses/workshops, Photo Studio hire – specialist analogue space, Large format camera hire, On-site processing and proofing for studio clients.

Sebastian Sussmann explains the aim of DND, in his own words: “One of the purposes of the studio and the gallery is to help drive and energise the burgeoning analogue photo community we started building when Double Negative moved from the Wick to Homerton. Currently there are over 30 darkroom members, a mix of artists, amateurs and professionals. I’d like the space to be just as much somewhere where people can do studio shoots (on film) as it is a place for learning, experimenting, exhibiting and meeting like-minded people. “

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Swedish old school digital artist Claes Ericson

Jun 5, ’12 3:41 PM

 

Click to play hello to school up in the sky

Title aliention

Title 12

Title askf

Title eating dinner


Title aggressive inlines

Title color beach

Title blupp2

Title blupp3

Title from heaven

Title uncanny

Title car crashes


Title hoses

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Protected: Red, red, red

Apr 22, ’12 10:04 PM

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Gilda Williams @ ICA ::::Gothic Art: Beyond Motif

Apr 1, ’12 11:04 AM

Sunday , 12/6/11 , 5:00PM

This is a recording of part 1 of 3  in the panel discussion.

Quotes from introduction

“I am also interested in the art historical origins. Not so much really looking in dept in presenting here those theories, but I am interested in the idea that is gained from the art historical origins which the renaissance talked about; medieval architecture as Gothic, as being a cultural force that is out of one’s control. It is a cultural force that is forced upon you, that is inherited from the past and that you need to somehow cope with. “

“Just because no one is expecting it I think I’ll just take a few ideas around the Gothic. The Gothic is a really interesting word because it not only gains new meanings, but it loses others over history and there are some wonderful meanings that it has had in the past that are kind of fantastic. Of course the Gothic was really important for Bauhaus for example. Not the Gothic, the literary Gothic, the way we think of it now, but the idea of a Gothic cathedral is taken as a symbol for this new community of artisans for Ruskin, who is to this day, I think, one of the most interesting theorists surrounding the Gothic.

He said that what is interesting about the Gothic; the reason the Gothic cathedral is so wonderful, is not the stained glass. It’s because it is a wonderful model of a community of artists. Everybody is working on their glass, their carvings, and their floors and it is what you see embodied in this building. He is not even interested in the Christianity and so forth; he is interested in this place for being a place where artisans can come and join and work. There are different varying levels; there is this good carving and the not so good; it doesn’t matter. If you’re an artist you can find a place there. Beautiful! Beautiful idea around the Gothic, which is of course the one that has sort of been shed today. And of course this is the symbol, the idea of Gothic, which made it beautiful to the Bauhaus, which is, I repeat, is lost.”

 

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Born a War Painter

Jan 20, ’12 7:29 PM


Mother’s Day drawing at the age of 3, Edry’s earliest recollection of overpainting

”It is pretty amazing, looking back at life, how I have always had the privilege of being supported. Sometimes I don’t believe in myself, but when there are so many people who do believe in you, it strengthens you to continue on the artist’s journey.” – Noam Edry

In 2008 I got to know a Canadian abstract painter in his mid twenties whose parents dedicated the entire basement to his artistic endeavors. The first time I entered his studio I felt as if I had stepped into a dream world. There were hundreds upon hundreds of huge high quality canvases stacked along the walls like CDs at HMV. They were all beautiful and experimental abstract paintings, strongly influenced by Gerhard Richter. Wandering around in Wonderland, I stumbled on a mountain chain of used oil paint tubes. Luckily enough, I was wearing the epic studio guest-slippers, which were already covered in a Pollock pattern, including the soles. I suspect that those canvases have multiplied themselves without leaving the house, because it doesn’t matter how well you are taken care of by your family and other supporters; in order to succeed as an artist, you need to have Edry’s almost frightening impetus and a determination to keep on going no matter what anyone says.

Edry’s childhood is a wonderful story to be told: At the age of three she was discovered by the local kibbutz artist, who worked as a handy man in her kindergarten. When the man was called in to work, he always found her in the middle of a new drawing and started calling her ‘the painter’. Eventually the very young artist was invited by the experienced artist to have private lessons.

“I remember going to his studio and being totally fascinated by the smells and the colors, thinking ‘Wow, this is what a real artist does, I want to be a real artist!’ He tried teaching me to paint with aquarelle, in a specific technique which I found very rigid. I didn’t understand why I had to paint in his way. I found it very hard, but I also enjoyed the privilege that he was giving me.”

Most kids enjoy making cards for birthdays and special occasions and they are always really sweet with glued on deformed hearts and misspelled declarations of love. I can’t recall ever having seen a child covering a Mother’s Day card in a crayon colored square grid, but I didn’t go to daycare with Edry. For Mothers Day, when she was three, the daycare provided the kids with a square sheet of paper mounted on a wooden frame. Edry started drawing circles and thought it looked really nice, but decided to add a grid and at this point there was no return. The three year old had to keep going, exploring and pushing the limits until the point where the whole white square sheet of paper was full of crayon colors. Smiling at the memory, Edry said “I think that is my earliest recollection of ruining a painting; of over-painting“.

By recommendation of the painter, Edry’s parents bought Windsor and Newton watercolors and the specified brushes for their four year old daughter. One year later it was time for the family to move to London and in their new house, a little painting cove was built inside one of the wardrobes. Whenever the five year old decided to paint with her high quality materials, she would open the door of the wardrobe, sit down and paint. On occasion the little artist would be critical of her creation and throw it in the bin, but it was always rescued by her father.

The most fundamental requirement to achieve success in any field must be to have a limitless interest, a sincere passion for the subject, unless the ultimate goal is financial gain. One of Edry’s pre-school teachers was studying psychology and one day she conducted an experiment on the children. She gave them all a lump of clay and recorded the amount of time they were playing with it. Later on, Edry’s mother was told that everyone abandoned the lump of clay within 2-5 minutes, except for her daughter, who spent half an hour battling with this lump, sculpting it and molding it with her tiny little hands.

“My parents always recognized this gift that I have and they always made sure I had the room to do it. When we lived in London in our second house, we had this wonderful dining room with wooden paneling all over, including the ceiling and a beautiful fire place. They sacrificed the whole room and made it into my studio. I painted enormous paintings inside“.

 

 

Edry’s political engagement became evident one day at the orthodox Jewish school she attended in London. It was a strictly religious school, but it was her only option as a Jewish woman in London and despite not being religious, she was fascinated by the opportunity to get an insight into her culture and identity. Early on Edry was discovered by the art teacher Hinda Golding, who gave her leave from various classes to paint massive scenery billboards for the school play. The artist struggled to find her own identity within the school uniform and uniformity of thought, and decided to shave her head at the age of 14. It was a feminist gesture provoked by the conservative policies of the school, in which the male Morning Prayer went ‘Blessed be He for not making me a woman’, and the women’s version went ‘Blessed be the Lord for making me as he made me, according to his will.’

The girls had to pray every week at a general assembly, segregated from the boys. They stood quiet and still, because they were not allowed to join the men. One day Edry had enough and told the girls ‘Ok, we are going to sing today. Take it after me, I will start and you will follow.’ As the leader of the service announced the name of the prayer she had chosen, she started singing and everyone joined in. Once the girls started singing, the rabbi didn’t know what to do. They were not allowed to hear a woman’s voice, so they had to join in.

“From having this monotonous drilling on with mumblings of speech, it became a full sing along prayer. Everyone was shocked afterwards, wondering what had just happened. I was called as the representative of the girls to speak to the Head of Jewish Studies. He asked me ‘So, what do you want?’ I found myself sitting there negotiating the terms for the entire female congregation. I couldn’t say that I wanted women to be equal members of the prayer, because it was still a conservative school, but what we did achieve was to have an all-female prayer as well, where we could sing aloud and do what we wanted to do.” 

 

 

At the age of 17 it was time to say goodbye to London and go back to Israel. From painting almost non-stop and selling works, Edry had to lock up her passion and learn how to serve the country. In order to say goodbye to London, she spent an entire month sketching a different favorite location every day. Her father would often accompany her for safety reasons and sometimes her siblings joined in as well. The series was called ‘My kind of London’. One day when Edry was sketching her own house, a person walking by took a liking to the drawing and asked her to come and sketch his house. The trend spread and the commissions started pouring in, but it was time for the family to leave the UK.

Back in Israel everything changed. After a fortnight of basic military training followed by a few weeks of specific training for her unit, Edry became depressed and didn’t understand why. “I had never been depressed before, I just felt completely lost. The meaning of life escaped me entirely. When I finally made the connection, I smuggled some art materials into my army post. It was completely forbidden. I had nothing to paint, other than four walls. I don’t remember if there was even a window. I sat there and sketched my left hand”. However interesting it is to sketch hands, the day comes when you get sick of it. Eventually, Edry gathered the courage to venture outside to sketch the surroundings of the military base, which was situated on the edge of a cliff. The military base, the netting, the atmosphere, the military camouflage and the fishermen were among her subject matters. When it leaked out that Edry was breaking the rules, the commander was very encouraging and gave her permission to use his office as a studio when he was away. Colleagues from the UN were given drawings as a gesture of good will and they still follow Edry’s career.

 

Noam Edry, Study of my Hand 2000 I and II, pencil on paper, 30 x 42 cm

 

With regards to her present preoccupations, a series of commissions from Israeli art museums, Edry says “The most important thing to me is to not conform, but to stay true to who I am. What is the point of art if it doesn’t engender social change? How long can an artist be preoccupied only with the inner crevasses of the soul and not be a socially productive human being? I strive now to blur the boundaries of what is art and what is social. I wish it will have some kind of effect beyond the art institution“.

::::ContemporaryTalks.com 20 January 2012

 

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[More on Noam Edry]

_____________________________________________________________

Interview Series 2011

Part 1 – A constant battle for the freedom of speech in a web of taboos and envy

Part 2 – From sharp-edged politics to an S&M club and back again

Part 3 – “I Am the Terrorist”

Feature on Childhood

Born a War Painter

Reviews

Museum of Art, Ein Harod, Israel, 2012

Goldsmiths MFA 2011

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Powerful drawings of worldly wisdom

Dec 11, ’11 10:15 PM

In Berlin artist Christian Moeller’s own words: “I create a picturesque room, by making the invisible visible. My works that appear very dramatic are always also directed to the shady sides and the mental abyss of the human existence, with all their facets: What lies in the secrecy and poses questions to me. They address subjects like destruction, pain, violence, horror and chaos. My worldly wisdom is the agitated one in which you cannot breathe.”

CT took a closer look at some of Christian Moeller’s ball pen drawings. They are all untitled and dimensions are 14,8 x 21 cm and 12 x 29,7 cm. Moeller’s visual language is dominated by vast amounts of confidently directed energy, in painting as well as in drawing. The balanced compositions dictates the eye, entices the mind and upsets the body; like a firm grip around the neck slowly choking you. That which is not spoken of – don’t worry be happy – and perhaps that which cannot be explained, is communicated and experienced via Christian Moeller’s work.

 

 

above a spiky lady, in heart patterned PJs and a massive syringe wrapped around her shoulder, is holding a box above somebody’s head. the person is either looked after or abandoned by an angel. black matter is distorting the head of the syringe lady. a bird is frozen in the air with its wings spread out and the angel’s wings are spread out as well. the pattern is repeated in the movement around the box. is the syringe lady an eros(a) delegating emotional burdens? this could be a comment on the concept of love – or a comment on the contradictions in human behavior…

 

above a giant toaster is rushing through town, spitting out burnt slices of bread. the plug is inserted in the impossible wall and two mechanical arms enter the picture. one mechanical arm is either supplying an open coffin with flowers or depriving it of the same. a black rock-shaped object seems to have flown out of the coffin and ended on the side-walk. abstract horror reality… uncanny… here, the lack of rationality in combination with the dominating mechanics paints an image of a hollow society in which the inhabitants are ruled by systems and accidents.

 

Christian Moeller, Untitled, 14,8 x 21 cm, ball pen on paper

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above pretty straight forward…

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Christian Moeller, Untitled, 14,8 x 21 cm, ball pen on paper

 

above coming together in this drawing is a gigantic girl in a heart patterned dress with syringes in her hair (and a flower), a tiny little man and the devil himself. the girl is firmly pointing in two directions and her enormous proportions suggest that she is either a goddess (of addiction and love) or incredibly full of herself. hyyyybris?

 

Christian Moeller, Berlin art, contemporary drawing

 

above an ordinary suburban spot revealed of its undercurrent energy forces… (ever wondered why you feel funny in certain locations?) subjective or objective; the dark forces of anxiety, horror and pain distorts and interferes with the space and with the viewer. this is physically penetrating and mentally disturbing, yet too strong and powerful to resist.

 

Christian Moeller, Berlin

above spiky lady has grown bigger, darker and… no, she has transformed into a monster with two tired/pleading eyes staring at the viewer. it is raining and two people are staring at the creature. the man is holding a heart balloon, possibly rallying for peace and love along with the lady behind him who is standing in a field of flowers. the monster’s right arm seems to be disintegrating in the rain. poor little monster, its body resembles a tree trunk covered in aim targets and the balloon man, who looks a bit like a nutty professor, is expecting victory.

Christian’s website:: www.christianmoeller.eu

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Georgia O’Keeffe never goes out of style

Nov 28, ’11 12:48 PM

“Nothing is less real than realism. It is only by selection, by elimination, by emphasis that we get at the real meaning…”

 

Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) is mostly known for her flower paintings with which she sought to share the beauty she witnessed, through magnification. In a letter to William Milliken, director of the Cleveland Art Museum, she wrote: “I do know that the flower is painted large to convey to you my experience of the flower.” At the age of twelve, O’Keeffe had already decided to become an artist and up to her death at the age of 98, art was her primary language.

Upon reading Wassily Kandinsky’s Concerning the Spiritual in Art in 1914, O’Keeffe experienced a sense of unity with Kandinsky’s belief that an authentic artist is creating art from an “internal necessity” and revealing new ways of understanding the world. Kandinsky, who painted rich abstract art full of color, form and lines, has been credited with painting the first abstract works. O’Keeffe went from abstract towards more representational works in the 1920s, contemplating objects and places mainly in nature and architecture. She painted her emotional/spiritual interpretation of the world which was in her eyes never limited to the mundane level. Although O’Keeffe is generally not considered to be a metaphysical painter, she was aware of the currents of mystical thought in the 1930s through personal contact with the theosophical teachers A.R. Orage and Jean Toomer.

Abstraction White Rose, 1927, Oil on canvas, 36 x 30 in, Copyright Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

Some art historians believe that O’Keeffe moved away from abstract painting in order to distract the theorists who at the time were interpreting her work from a Freudian perspective. O’Keeffe never admitted to painting female genitalia, although her sensual art was often interpreted in this way. According to the artist she was revealing vital parallels between animate and highly sensual forces in nature and humans.

To achieve the intense, soft and sensual shapes, O’Keeffe preferred dense canvas fabric with a close, fine grain, which she primed carefully on both sides with a special primer. Despite the fact that O’Keeffe stubbornly stated that she was painting forces in nature and humans, which are not in any way restricted to or only inherited by the female sex, she was celebrated by feminists in the 1970s.  O’Keeffe rejected their celebration and refused to cooperate with the feminists, because she found that they didn’t understand her work.

In 1925, O’Keeffe moved into a two-roomed suite on the 28th floor of the Sheraton Hotel with her husband, photographer and modern art promoter Stieglitz. They were among the first to live above the roofs of Manhattan and the impressive view inspired O’Keeffe to paint the cityscape. Her male colleagues advised her not to venture into architecture, but the opposition did not discourage O’Keeffe. Despite the sharp edges and right angles, her approach to painting did not change; what we see in these paintings is not a representation of reality, but an emotional response to the spectacular view outside her windows. She said “One can’t paint New York as it is, but rather as it is felt.”

Cow’s skull with Calico Roses, 1932, Oil on canvas, 91.2 x 61 cm, Copyright Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

In the summer of 1917 O’Keeffe discovered New Mexico’s dramatic open spaces with desert landscape and intense light and she wrote to her husband “…it is not a country of light on things. It is a country of things in light…” When she experienced difficulties in her marriage 1929, New Mexico was the place which allowed her to distance herself from all aspects of the big city. The landscapes of New Mexico presented a challenge to the painter, who took on the challenge with great curiosity. From 1929 and onwards, O’Keeffe would regularly spend a part of the year in New Mexico, until finally settling down in her first house, Rancho de los Burros, in 1940.

On her desert walks, O’Keeffe picked up sea shells, rocks, and skulls, pieces of wood and sun-bleached bones and took them home. When the desert trophies started appearing on her canvases, the critics drew parallels to death and resurrection, but for the artist the remnants of deceased animals revealed something else. In her own words: “The bones seem to cut sharply to the center of something that is keenly alive… even tho’ it is vast and empty and untouchable – and knows no kindness with all its beauty.” O’Keeffe painted close-ups of other objects in the desert, such as rocks, trees, cliffs and mountains, for more than four decades.

Early Spring Trees Above Irrigation Ditch, Abiquiu, 1950, Oil on canvas, 30 x 26 in, Copyright Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

Untitled (Tree), 1940s/1950s, Graphite on paper, 10 ¼ x 8 in, Copyright Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

From the 1950s to the 1970s, O’Keeffe traveled around the world, visiting Europe, India, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the Far East. The view from the airplane inspired her last two major series, Aerial Views of Rivers and Sky Above Clouds. These works were perhaps O’Keeffe’s most quiet, light and meditative works. The subject matter called for huge canvases and the fourth and final work in the Sky Above Clouds series was over 7 meters wide and almost 2.5 meters high. The painter who was 77 years old had to convert the double garage into a second studio, in which she worked from 6 am to 9 pm to finish the picture before winter arrived. The last trip went to the Pacific coast of Costa Rica in 1983 at the age of 96.

The Brooklyn Museum in New York staged the first retrospective of O’Keeffe’s work in 1927 and throughout her career O’Keeffe received recognition in numerous ways. On January 10, 1977, President Gerald R. Ford presented O’Keeffe with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor awarded to American citizens. Although she experienced physical complications in her mid 80s, O’Keeffe was able to create new artworks with the help of her assistant, confidante, pottery instructor and business manager Juan Hamilton. In her late 90s, O’Keeffe became increasingly frail and died in Santa Fe at the age of 89. 

Sky Above Clouds I, 1963, Oil on canvas, 36 x 48 in, Copyright Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

References

Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, ”Georgia O’Keeffe, Flowers in the Desert” (Taschen Basic Art Series) by Britta Benke, “Ansel Adams and Georgia O’Keeffe: On the intangible in art and nature” by A Hammond, “Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986)” by Lisa Messinger (www.metmuseum.org), Wikipedia.org

 

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