Venice Biennale 2011 - Roundup

Three weeks after my trip to The Venice Biennale all the little thoughts and the sensory delights are beginning to settle into place. Here is a fragmentary summary of a few of my favourite shows and works.

America's offering Gloria, features work by Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla. Every now and again a deep, ominous rumbling and squealing can be heard across the Giardini, in fact it is a piece of performance that takes place at set intervals outside the American Pavilion. An upturned desert tank sits with its massive caterpillar tracks in the air; affixed to them is a running machine on which an olympic athlete, in American colours begins to run. As he does so the tank tracks begin to turn and grind. It's an uneasy sight - surprising and funny, but then the clean-cut perfection of the athlete is uncomfortable - in a Leni Riefenstahl way. The tank makes blunt reference to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it is rendered impotent, animated only by this American fantasy of the strong, healthy, clean-living winner running to go nowhere.

'body in flight (american)' by allora & calzadilla from designboom on Vimeo.

Inside the show two further performances take place. Sculptures of aircraft seating, made by cutting-edge rapid prototyping techniques, stand in the gallery spaces, at regular intervals highly trained gymnasts perform meticulously controlled set pieces using the sculptures. These references to  9-11, these fragments of aeroplane - is this an act of reclamation? Or is it an act of futility? A film in another room shows a series of vertical poles in open landscapes against which more of these superb athletes hoist themselves horizontally like human flags. It is a seriously thought provoking exhibition and has stayed with me nagging at notions of national pride and atrocity.

Hew Locke - Starchitect

Artsway's New Forest Pavilion in Dusoduro showed some memorable work. The venue partners with other galleries in the UK to create residencies and the works on show are the results of these projects. The artists represented this year are: Gayle Chong Kwan, Dave Lewis, Hew Locke, Mike Marshall, Christopher Orr and Sophy Rickett. 

I particularly liked Hew Locke's Starchitect installation which transforms the space into a fantastical grotto of kitsch sculptures constructed from all kinds of cheap treasure and objects. Mike Marshall's beautiful and poetic film piece A Prism Splits Light shows Vietnamese migrant workers picking olives in Cyprus. Christopher Orr's works explore the Romantic and the Sublime in painting utilising a deliberately anachronistic style. Sophy Rickett's The River shows an installation of documentary style film and sound pieces which record an evening spent with people who are waiting to see of the 'Severn Bore' - a little tidal wave that sweeps the Severn River each year, a surprisingly warm and distinctly British gathering.

David Casini

Upstairs from Artsway in the stunning Palazzo Zenobio there a series of five works by artist David Casini, installed in one of the superbly elegant rooms. Casini's delicately constructed sculptures sit underneath glass domes like Victorian specimens, spindly architectural forms grow out of and yet set up a contrast with natural materials such as coral. These delicate little structures have quietly impressed themselves on me and I keep conjuring them in my mind's eye in their exquisite setting.

Hans Op de Beeck - Location 7

One of a Thousand Ways to beat Entropy, supported by the Courtauld Institute shows the work of four artists. I particularly liked the work of Hans Op de Beeck, Location 7 a suburban home has been reconstructed in full detail as an installation, but every object, including the garden which can be seen through the window is made of dark grey concrete, even the rumpled bedsheets are solid. An evocatively sad piece of music plays and a stultifying pathos imbues the scene. It is a remarkable piece of work.

Grayson Perry - The Walthamstow Tapestry

Penelope's Labour:  Weaving words and images is a must-see for anyone at all interested in textiles and especially weave. This beautifully curated show is in the San Giorgio Maggiore Exhibition Centre. Alongside the finest historical tapestries and carpets new work, often made on high-tech state of the art looms is on show. You can see Grayson Perry's stunning The Walthamstow Tapestry and Mark Quinn's ultra contemporary weaving which reference flowers and flora. I was utterly fascinated by a delicate yellow silk wrap which had been entirely woven from the spider silk of the Golden Orb spider. This is a sophisticated and beautiful show. There is a lovely catalogue to accompany the show - I'm kicking myself that I didn't invest!

Venice Biennale 2011 - Penelope’s Labour: Weaving Words and Images from ikono tv on Vimeo.

Here is a link to my Flickr set of images from The Biennale.

Karla Black - Scotland + Venice

The Venice Biennale is a lot like the most fantastic sweet shop, one is horribly spoiled for choice. It takes some while to digest the fayre and come to a sensible conclusion about what one has seen and experienced.  Possibly my favourite confection was sculptor, Karla Black at the Scottish Pavilion. I'm using that analogy for good purpose, because the work itself actually does have the feeling of confectionary or 'Lush' cosmetics.

I had trouble finding the Scottish Pavilion, it is placed in a confusing little maze of streets and on my first attempt I found it just as the door was locked for the evening. Undeterred, I headed back the next morning and it STILL took me ages to find it...and then climb the endless stairs. I wasn't feeling terribly well disposed for a positive experience, but even before I reached the door I could smell the artwork - fizzy, fruity, soapy cosmetics. Walking in to the show I was confronted with an absurd and lovely landscape of pastel colours, towers and bulbous paper forms, powdery sugar like pigments, oversized cellophane wrapping and drapes of plastic. The network of little rooms either side of the main gallery space housed paper works suspended in space and fields of brown soil populated with big sculptural blocks of soap.

Karla Black calls these works 'almost objects' and considers them to be '...caught between thoughtless gestures and seriously obsessive attempts at beauty.' They are unashamedly about material, physical stuff - they are thoroughly sensual and tactile. The main space at the 15th Century Palazzo Pisani which houses the show is decorated in unusual ice-cream colours, I asked the attendant if Karla Black had responded to this with the work, but she assured me that the connection was purely serendipitous. If so, it's a lovely, playful exchange.

The show made me happy...is that ok??  Playful, honest joyfulness is relatively thin on the ground in the artworld - it feels almost wrong. I was delighted with the femininity of the work - feminine not feminist, it manages to transcend the angst of feminism and the issues of being a female artist, it is effortlessly confident and assertive. On a deeper level Black is using ideas about psychology and quantum science, and these concepts are perfectly realised in the work but cleverly balanced with its pure materiality.

Tim Davies @ Venice Biennale

The Welsh Pavilion has found a new home for the 54th Venice Biennale. Having been slightly off the beaten track on Guidecca for previous manifestations it now nestles between the two main exhibition spaces, Arsenale and Giardini at The Ludoteca Santa Maria Ausiliatrice, Castello. It's a fantastic location and a great space, a 16th Century ex-convent now run as a community centre.

The first artist to occupy this new location for Wales is Swansea based, Tim Davies. Davies was  a popular choice from the proposals submitted for representation and he has produced a solid and cohesive body of work including two new video pieces made especially for the show which directly reference his experience in Venice. Other works are from his portfolio including two video works along with his Bridges series of altered postcards. Davies has worked alongside his long time colleague as curator for this show, Tom Rowland. The curation of the show is subtly evident as remarked on by Dai Smith, Chairman of The Arts Council of Wales, in his opening speech, it has a symphonic quality which gives the work a building rhythm within the architecture.

I have always enjoyed the materiality of Davies work and the meticulous processes he uses in bringing it into being, so I was pleased that the show was not solely focused on video works. Bridges (2009 - 2011) is a series of 60 framed postcards of bridges in different locations, the artist has, by meticulous scratching, isolated each bridge from its landscape in so doing, drawing attention to its function and significance. The collection sits particularly well in Venice with its endless canals and little bridges, something one is only too well aware of when negotiating the labyrinthine streets.

The older works showing are films, Cadet (Running and Parade at Cardiff) 2010 and Cadet (Standing at Aberystwyth) 2006 both of which take the War Memorial and young cadets at Remembrance Day services as their subject in a reflection on the senselessness of losing young lives to war.

Tim Davies - Drift (2010)

The most iconic of the new works is arguably a new piece of work called Drift (2011) the film focuses on Davies hand as he travels along one of Venice's canals gently touching the surface of the water, we can see the reflection of the Venetian buildings, and the intervention of his hand touching the water constantly disturbs the image. It is beautiful, tender and meditative. I was quite enchanted on first viewing, however on subsequent viewings something unsettling began to emerge for me. Partly a little ripple of feminist disquiet - something about the nuances of the action, but also something about dilettantism - especially in the context of Venice as a destination on the Grand Tour. Maybe there is also a comment on the Biennale itself as an event with which visitors interact often quite superficially, seduced by its prestige, pedigree and the romanticism of its location.

The final work in the show is Frari (2011), a film made from collaged stills taken in the bell tower of the Campanile Santa Maria dei Frari. It has a painterly quality as the film builds through semi abstracted images. The soundtrack provides a tension and reminds us of the performative element involved in making the work. Of all the works it is the least didactic, it feels to be more about pure experience.

Tim Davies deserves this opportunity to represent his country and he has made a solid show for this new space which talks about place without tipping into the dangerous territory of sentimentality.

Collect: The International Art Fair for Contemporary Objects

Stephen Bird - War on Pottery - seen here

I went back for a proper look around at Collect on Saturday, it's a real treat to see so much top quality work in one venue, I really enjoy the international aspect of the fair. Jewellery had a strong presence this year along with ceramics; textiles generally seem to be less well represented, however two Fibre Arts Wales members were showing, Laura Thomas with Ruthin Craft Centre and Michelle Griffiths with Lesley Craze Gallery. I was also delighted to find some pieces by ceramicist, Stephen Bird at the Bluecoat Display Centre stand.

Bettina Speckner - seen here

I really like Galerie Ra and Galerie Marzee, both Dutch based jewellery specialists. At Galerie Ra I made my (purely) fantasy purchase - a brooch from Bettina Speckner! Gallerie Marzee have a plan chest alongside their main display full of exquisite pieces from their gallery artists.

Galerie Marzee at Collect 2011 - seen here

Collect 2011

Tanya Gomez - Submerge - seen here

I'm off to London tomorrow to go to this years Collect at The Saatchi Gallery. Watch this space for updates...here's a preview of the catalogue - strangely they have added some very cheesy background music so be ready with the mute button!

Made by Hand - Tredegar House

Julia Parry Jones - Embellishments - seen here

I went to visit Made By Hand, a brand new craft fair for Wales at Tredegar House in Newport today. Organised by the same folk who bring us The Contemporary Craft Fair at Bovey Tracey in Devon, it's  fabulous to find so many of Wales' and the UK's top makers showing their work under one roof. Definitely worth a visit if you can make it this weekend - it's on until 5 December, excellent opportunity to support the exceptional work of our craft community with your Christmas purchases. Congratulations to weaver Laura Thomas for being awarded Best Welsh Maker at the fair yesterday, and Cardiff's Ruth Harries for collecting Selvedge Magazine Award for Textiles - both members of Fibre Art Wales.

Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru 2010 - Blaenau Gwent and Heads of the Valleys

Roger Cecil - part of the special exhibition staged within Y Lle Celf

I went to the opening of the National Eisteddfod of Wales on Saturday evening in Ebbw Vale, we were a bit late arriving so missed the formal speeches. The show includes a special exhibition of paintings from Valley's artist Roger Cecil.

The winner for the Gold Medal for Fine Art was Simon Fenoulhet for his light installations.

Simon Fenoulhet

The winner for the Gold Medal for Craft and Design is Natalia Dias for her collection of allegorical ceramic pieces which take the heart as a central motif. Dias is Portuguese and currently lives in Cardiff.

Natalia Dias

Here are a few images from the show:

Anne Gibbs

Sarah Ball - Portrait 1

Rosemary Edwards - Ty Coch a Ty Gwyn

Chris Nurse

Tim Davies @ The Venice Biennale

Tim Davies - Scatter - Seen here

Tim Davies - Figures in a Landscape - Glynn Vivian Gallery

Tim Davies - Wreath Maker 1 (DVD still) - seen here

Swansea based artist, Tim Davies, will be representing Wales at the 2011 Venice Biennale of Art.

Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru 2010 - Blaenau Gwent and Heads of the Valleys

This year, the National Eisteddfod of Wales is being held at a site in Ebbw Vale in the south Wales valleys. My friend Louise Bird was chosen to show work this year and I went to help her install it yesterday - it was a long day, the piece is called Iota and consists of 160 metres of deep sea fishing line crocheted along its length with little rosettes that Louise calls 'Iota'. Y Lle Celf - The Arts and Crafts Pavilion this year is a spectacular build. Normally it is held in a standard white marquee, but for 2010 a huge concrete basement from the old steelworks that were located at the site as been converted and covered with a huge pavilion roof. It is really spectacular.

Artists, Louise Bird and Carwyn Evans behind Iota

It took us 9 hours to hang the work - up and down ladders and ramps, it spans the space from the roof to the floor. Next door to us Good Cop Bad Cop came in to hang a wonderful set of works - the latex skin from a series of chairs and a table - I don't know what it is called yet...

Good Cop Bad Cop

I was also excited to see some of Andre Stitt's new paintings, which I have only seen online and in print thus far. Originally from Northern Ireland, Stitt is an internationally renowned performance artist who has been based in Wales now for many years. In the last few years he has been developing a practice as a painter.

Andre Stitt

I'll be going to the opening tomorrow night - so watch this space for an update...

More pics here.

Collect 2010

Collect 2010 international art fair for contemporary objects was held at the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea for the second year over the weekend. I really enjoy the event, it's great to get this international perspective on craft objects. I'm not terribly keen on the Saatchi Gallery as a venue for the fair, the grand vision of the space is quite hard edged and somehow felt at odds with the intimacy of looking at beautifully crafted work. The event is unashamedly about selling however, and the work is expensive - so perhaps the Saatchi venue ultimately lends a bit of a hard-sell business edge to the proceedings. Being a complete pauper however, I am in no danger of being seduced into buying, so I am free to simply enjoy the work in and of itself!

Iris Eichenberg - Tranenmeer - seen here

One of the galleries that has stayed in my mind is Galerie Louise Smit based in Amsterdam. I liked a number of the makers, especially a very conceptual collection, Pink years later by Iris Eichenberg. Influenced, I would imagine by Louise Bourgeois, the work teeters between sexiness and repulsiveness using materials like fleshy pink plastic, gold, copper-plated silver, wool, rose quartz, tiny beads, ladies tights and girly ribbons. The elegant woman manning the stand showed us how to wear the pieces; with her elegant slim neck she could make a pair of flesh colour tights look amazingly glamorous!

Origin: The London Craft Show (part 2)

Grace Girvan - pebble brooch

On Tuesday morning we visited part 2 of Origin at Somerset House. It was the start of the week for the exhibitors so everyone was feeling chipper! I was very pleased to find some of my favourite jewellers there.

Grace Girvan - Pebble bangle

Scot, Grace Girvan showed her pebble and silver pieces, I believe the pebbles are from the Orkney's. I absolutely loved this piece which was also styled as a brooch. There is a pebble in each of the silver settings, on either face of the piece - as a brooch it is designed to have a secret stone which is worn next to the wearer's clothes. Grace was trained in Edinburgh, alongside so many of the very best jewellers currently working.

Beth Legg is another Edinburgh alumni, I had not seen her work in the flesh before and it was much finer and more beautiful than I had realised.

Beth Legg - Six Whins Neckpiece - seen here

We also enjoyed seeing Ruth Tomlinson's exquisite Encrustation and Hoard collections, delicate and weathered, as though recovered from a shipwreck or an archaeological dig.

Ruth Tomlinson - Encrustation collection - seen here

Basketry at Origin 2009

Lee Dalby - Bamboo walkway

Origin 2009 has featured contemporary basketry alongside the main craft fair. A series of interventions both inside and outside of the pavilion provided a showcase for makers working within the discipline and aimed to expand perceptions of the craft.

A workshop hosted by Hybrid Basketry was taking place within the show and allowed visitors to try their hand and contribute to a woven sculptural installation.

Hybrid Basketry workshop


Laura Ellen Bacon - installed on the external faces of the Origin pavilion

Origin: The London Craft Fair (part 1)

On Sunday afternoon, I went to week one of Origin at Somerset House - a showcase for exceptional contemporary craft organised by The Crafts Council. The fair runs over two weeks with a change over of makers on the middle Monday.

Helga Mogensen

My favourite maker of week one was Icelandic Jeweller, Helga Mogensen. These tiny chairs were placed on the floor of the stand against the back wall - very subtle and intriguing. Helga's jewellery is equally intriguing using found materials such as driftwood and panels of fish skin which has qualities very much like leather. Beautifully made and subtly conceived.

Helga Mogensen - Fire and Ice - seen here

I enjoyed seeing Naori Priestley's work again too. Naori had three pieces in Oriel Myrddin Gallery's Crafted - Contemporary Craft and Fine Art show earlier in the year. She had a few new pieces, witty and eccentric - I liked her embroidered shoe/socks - but alas I have no image!

Naori Priestley - Garda's Red Shoes - seen here

Oriel Myrddin Gallery will be a curating a show in spring 2010 which will include work from ceramic artist Mizuto Yamashita. Her charming, miniature scale townscapes and tiny ceramic buildings, cars and gardens are delicate and understated; reminiscent of invented childhood fantasy worlds.

Mizuyo Yamashita - seen here

Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru 2009

David Nash Cracked Box

I went to the National Eisteddfod of Wales in Bala, Gwynedd in north Wales yesterday. The sun was shining, which was a bit of a novelty this summer. I went with Meg and Mary from the gallery to see Y Lle Celf (Arts Pavilion) selected this year by Iwan Bala (Artist and Curator), Jane Gerrard (Ruthin Craft Centre), Adrian Plant (Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery).

This year there was a conspicuous lack of craft; it was disappointing - I felt the show's vitality suffered in its absence.

The David Nash sculptures in the first section were lovely, especially Cracking Box. The film of his wooden boulder project was delightful too. I remembered seeing his work at the fated Centre for Visual Art in Cardiff in 2000 which was a beautiful show.


Jools Johnson God is in the Detail

I came away impressed by three very modest works by Jools Johnson called God Lives in the Detail; tiny constructions that suggest architecture or city spaces. The works are made of recycled computer parts. I liked the scale of the work, the understatement, the memory it provoked of childhood ingenuity. I loved the slightly 'Star-Wars' feel of it. It was also a little bit sinister.


I enjoyed the a chrefft stand too in the main exhibition hall - Particularly Steffan Jones-Hughes' little mussel shells with tiny prints inside.



Steffan Jones-Hughes seen here

When I looked on Steffan's website I also found this image which I really like.

Steffan Jones-Hughes seen here

Venice Biennale 2009

4 June. My first time at the Venice Biennale...I thought three days would cover it. It Didn't.

I saw maybe half of what I had on my list. I had gone to attend the opening for the Welsh pavilion, and fully intended to see all the other UK offerings. I managed the Northern Irish pavilion and the New Forest pavilion. I walked in confusing patterns to find the Scottish pavilion but failed. I didn't manage to gain entry to the Steve McQueen in the English pavilion - it was choc-a-bloc. I did see him in the cafe, but was much too British to snap his picture.

We recently had a show in the gallery called Crafted - Contemporary Craft and Fine Art, our publicity described the objects in the show as "...expressing a new mood of exchange, between contemporary craft, art and design" perhaps my eyes were particularly attuned, but much of the work at the biennale also seemed to be blurring these boundaries.

The 53rd international Art Director, Daniel Birnbaum has named the Biennale Making Worlds/Fare Mondi

Here are a few things I particularly enjoyed.

Pae White - Birdseed Chandelier


Irina Korina - Russian pavilion


Moshekwa Langa - South Africa


Zoran Todorovic - But if you take my voice, what will be left to me? - Serbia

I think my favourite piece was the installation Human Being by Cameroon artist Pascale Marthine Tayou. Emulating the activity in a small African village, wooden huts, piles of found materials, video; constructed, sewn and knitted objects; noisy with ambient sounds and chaotic with items. The piece is pulled into focus by huddles of small characters or 'families' - maybe working, talking, buying, selling - often under standard lamps. Find out more

Pascale Marthine Tayou - Human Being

Fiona Tan's Disorient at the Netherlands pavilion was another favourite, a beautiful video piece exploring ideas about travelling and journeys, and particularly in relation to Venice, ideas of 'the merchant'. Find out more


Fiona Tan - Disorient

Also a double screen work called Rise and Fall; poetic and melancholic, investigating the passage of time.




Fiona Tan - Rise and Fall

This piece from the Moscow based conceptualists Elena Elagina and Igor Makarevich had a strong personal resonance also.


Elena Elagina and Igor Makarevich - Cupboard

My Flickr page has lots more images.