tART at A.I.R.

Artist, New Yorker and more importantly friend, Anna Lise Jensen, is presenting new work in a group exhibition with the tART collective at A.I.R. Gallery in DUMBO, Brooklyn. Welcome Home: Volume One is a series of projects that documents her experiences with federal interior spaces and features the lovable and delightful Alice and Alvin. The show runs to the 29th August at 111 Front Street, #228 and the gallery is open on Wed-Sun 11am to 6pm.

Anna Lise is also the founder of HOST who is organizing the community garden project I am working on and her sterling work has gained the support of the community garden committee at West 104th Street, Manhattan and the ball is rolling for wall space in the garden for my wallpaper installation as well as my obelisk structures - more news coming soon.

When in Paris...

Hit Colette and pick up the collection of vinyls commissioned exclusively by Curated By Colette from the likes of KAWS, Jeremy Scott to my favourite, Greg Foley - you'll be the kid with the coolest stickers in town.

Artistic Attire

I found the article, 'How Artists Must Dress' by Roger White, in Issue Seven from print and web journal n+1 more entertaining than educational - especially "... a stripe painter may not wear stripes" - I wonder if the same apply for polka dots? Take note Damien.

VELARDI for INTRODUCING

Check out the new issue, Just What Is It That Makes Today So Different So Appealing? from curatorial platform, INTRODUCING. My Campaign series and new Door Knockers series feature as well as a specially commissioned trailer for the issue. Join the INTRODUCING mailing list here. Enjoy!

Zürich Rekapitulation

While in Switzerland I have been working on a web-based project which launches next week - more on that later - and this has delayed my much anticipated tales from Zürich and Basel, where the Renzo Piano-designed Beyeler Foundation blew me away. Although not large art districts, there is a high quality of art going on in Zürich and it was refreshing to see a focus on young contemporary Swiss artists from all mediums. This was prevalent in the Aussersihl district, a hang out for young curators and gallerists. I was staying in the industrial area of Löwenbräuareal and Umgebung with the ex-brewery of the Migros Museum and Kunsthalle, housing the likes of Hauser & Wirth, Bob van Orsouw and the Migros-own sponsored spaces. Highlights included Paul McCarthy at Hauser & Wirth, Philippe Parreno at Kunsthalle and Christoph Ruckhäberle at Migros Museum, whose paintings I wanted to ship home with me. 

In the innenstadt rechts der Limmat and its leafy neighbourhoods, one can find gallery-converted city villas, my favourite being the beautiful space of semina rerum by Irène Presiwerk that was so individual and a triumph above commonplace white cube spaces. Only a few blocks away lies the Kunsthaus Museum of Modern Art, showcasing a retrospective of german-artist Katharina Frtisch filled with large-scale sculptures fused with images of her native surroundings and Pop culture. 

And to conclude, I couldn't end without commenting on the subject of food. A Zürich landmark, the Kronenhalle restaurant is much more than a restaurant. Original works by Klee, Chagall, Matisee, Miró, Kandinsky, Braque, Picasso and many more early-twentieth-century masters line the walls of the wood-panelled dining room as you dine on exquisite Swiss cuisine - try the veal and potato roesti and toast to the founding matriarch's taste in fine art.

Zürich Kühl

In the land of time... there has been no time to blog with all the art, food and art with food consumption that has been going on, but more on that later . So for now, enjoy the art at Groeflin Maag Galerie and their resident dog!

The Golden Pretzel

I'm in Zürich to check out the art scene, however like every new city I visit I confess to explore with my nose first and feet second. So what better way to wander through innenstadt rechts der Limmat, the Old Town, than with a deliciously moorish pretzel from whole-in-the-wall-bakers, Vohdin Urs who date back to 1626. It was the perfect accompaniment as I walked from the Helmhaus, featuring a group show of contemporary art by Swiss artists and creatives to the Cabaret Voltaire, the birth place of Dadaism - more art and food coming soon...

Spinach never tasted this good

Check out the extravagance from the past to the present that hits London by means of Jeff Koons with his Popeye series (left) at the Serpentine Gallery and Baroque: Style In The Age of Magnificence (right) at the V&A. Koon's glorification of American consumer-culture through highly-polished painting and sculpture ties neatly with the coveted style from the eighteenth-century that encompassed not only art, but architecture, design and society: a way of life. South Kensington can pay claim this month to housing the best collection of art work in the world, and at a time of recession this is no mean feat. It is precisely this triumph that bares stronger weight than the art work itself. This is not just Pop Art - it's Pop Art made by one of the world's highest-paid living artists - a personality of the twentieth-century that parallels the greats as Rubens and Bernini 300 years ago with their rare works on display. It is too easy to treat these movements as superficial expressionism and what better way to realize this than to see it, past the façade, with your very own eyes. Enjoy.

My video 'Fortune Teller' is currently being exhibited in the group show, Bloodsport: The Illusion Of Abstract Gambling in Hydra, Greece. Curated by Dimitrios Antonitsis and presented at Hydra School Projects - the show runs from the 16th June to the 4th October - click here for more info. More images coming soon.

Follow the Line

The late Sol LeWitt has always been an artist I have admired with his obsessive practice and execution of abstract form, colour and lines in the shape of his dynamic wall drawings. I seem to be following these lines wherever I go - causing no harm to my stripe fascination - having had the chance to see one of his last installations he designed himself before he passed away at the incredible retrospective at Mass MoCA, North Adams, USA, at the beginning of the year, I was recently immersed in room 15 at La Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna in Spoleto, Italy, with colour and stripes again. LeWitt spent time in this culture-rich city in the auspices of Italian art historian and collector, Giovanni Carandente, who passed away the day I arrived. The Museum itself is housed in the noble Palazzo Collica and was the vision of Carandente in the eighties. His collection spans Modernist movements in Italy and the rest of world, donated to Spoleto, as well as large-scale commissions from Calder for the city centre. LeWitt's installation proudly caresses the walls of its formal surrounding, paying tribute to the friendship between the artist and the collector.

Long Live Green

Life can throw you upside down, side to side and back around again. The greatest challenge is to embrace anything and everything that comes your way with the upmost positivity, always knowing there is someone up there looking down at you to whom you need to make proud. 

It is surprises like this in your day that makes that hurdle a little bit more bearable to tackle... in association with Hermès on Sloane Street, eco-friendly london based, ice-green are providing our taste buds with floral-inspired delectables of ice cream and sorbets to celebrate Chelsea Flower Show, London. You can find Boney and his parasol of silk ties until the end of the week - I highly recommend the Lavender sorbet. Many thanks to ice-green for making life ride a little easier!

NY Update

I just received some feedback from the last Open Weekend at Winter Space from across the pond and the event was a huge success. My proposal to install Flamingo Parade onto the surrounding walls of the garden was received warmly by the 104th Street community gardeners who attended and interest in my 'green obelisk' will see it placed in the garden - the idea being that I will make a template and instructions for the gardeners to make the skeletal obelisk themselves. Particular thanks must be given to Suzanne Charle who I had the pleasure of meeting at the opening of the show - she is on the Committee of Gardeners and her interest in the project has been very encouraging - her passion for the garden and invaluable knowledge of all things green will see the obelisks covered in vine instead of moss as I originally intended, due to the New York's weather temperament. The plan is also to include work form the other artists in the show with the intention of making the garden at 104th Street a landmark lot for gardeners and artists alike. We are still preparing a proposal for funding, but until then, you will have to make do with my impression of the garden above ...

Ecclectic Fetish

The fountain of inspiration cannot be more flowing than at Dover Street Market. Known for its art gallery-esque installations more au fait with its Mayfair neighbours, the Shoe Space on the Second Floor welcomes the antiques and objets d'arts curated by Les Trois Garcons. The trio behind one of my favourite watering holes, LoungeLover, expresses their passion for ecclecticism to the max and its great to see them take on such a project.

Sunday 29th March 12-5pm

The show I'm exhibiting in, A Lot Of Possibilities, in New York is inviting everyone to the last Open Weekend at Winter Space. Host will present a day of invited speakers and talks about the participating artist's projects. Details of the exhibition's creative catalogue will also be available as well as an introduction to the following season's program at Spring Space by Jo Q. Nelson. My proposal for a wall installation in the community garden at 104th Street will be presented and discussed with the community gardeners - all are very welcome!

The exhibition will continue to be open throughout the year by appointment only. For more information visit SpaceAllOver.

LDN ART

A few shows in London I recently visited - enjoy ...

Haunch of Venison has revitalized 6 Burlington Gardens into 21,500 square feet of mythological spectacle. Their new exhibition, Mythologies, features both commissioned work for the space as well as works from prominent and emerging artists. The execution of the space behind the Royal Academy, allows you to meander through 11 rooms of cultural fantasy and reinterprets the space as it once was, the Museum of Mankind. Look out for works by Dube, Locke, Coley and Banerjee.

New Paintings by Takashi Murakami at Gagosian flood the shop-front space on Davies Street. Prepare to fall in love with, or not, Kaikai and Kiki, which feature in the painting and animation.

Finally, find yourself in the Middle East in the East End at my friend Aya Haidar's first solo show, 1982 at Bischoff/Weiss. Her native country Lebanon is the setting for the sensory installation, leading you from military checkpoints on the maps that line the walls to the scores of notes played on the violin that reverberate throughout the space.

Knock Knock ... Who's there?

A sneak preview of a new series of repeat patterns I am currently working on. While still designing the garden proposal for 104th Street in Manhattan, I have also begun creating a new series of work, Door Knockers, which will be exhibited later on in the year. Please also visited my updated website.