County Mayo

One should never underestimate the benefits of a long weekend getaway for mind, body and soul and when I could have equally opened this post with, “three Englishmen and an Irishman board a plane”, a good dollop of humour is also never too far behind. 

County Mayo in Western Ireland played handsome host to three friends and I for an English escape across the Irish Sea to the dynamic terrain of Mayo. One of the largest counties in the country, Mayo boasts a rich social history in its western corner and is home to Croaghaun, the highest cliffs in Ireland and second highest in Europe; the largest island of Achill on its westerly coast as well as fine salmon fishing, outdoor pursuits and spectacular viewing points out to the Atlantic Ocean from Ballycastle, which was to be our base during our stay. 

Downpatrick Head - Ballycastle

Irish luck was on our side as the weather spared us from the usual downpour and blustery winds that are known to batter the area and shape its low-lying, boggy landscape. Fortunately it was sunshine and performing clouds as we ascended Downpatrick Head towards the stunning natural horizon that frames the sea stack of Dún Briste. 

Dún Briste - Downpatrick Head

The allure of the Atlantic not far from any given point across the county guarantees impressive vistas at road trip finish lines. Mass tourism is few and far between the network of provincial towns, surrounded by picturesque farmland and a sprinkling of remote cottages, providing both authentic and isolated adventure. 

For the historically inclined Hennigan’s Heritage Centre in Killasser, near Swinford, is a great start to understand Mayo life throughout the centuries. Tours are conducted by owner, historian and local legend Tom Hennigan whose family had resided in the three-room stone cottage since the nineteenth-century, now preserved as it would have been circa 1870s. 

While both its exterior and interior exude charm from every pointing and is ironically on-trend by today’s fashions, the reality of events within the cottage’s four walls through Tom’s charismatic oration and personal memory will command deep reflection. 

Hennigan's Heritage Centre

From family life and politics to craft and superstition, Hennigan’s is a unique experience that far exceeds the knowledge and collections of any similar institution, which is worthy of a visit to its rural location in uninterrupted countryside. 

Contemporary culture may be found in the area’s renowned talent of woollen manufacture. Foxford Woollen Mills in Foxford, famed for its throws and blankets, is a luxury emporium of homewares and fashion, housing an equally stylish café serving homemade savoury and sweet treats. Set within the mill’s original work rooms, the space is decorated in an effortless white-wash with feature wall to wall library of textile samples, travel books and vintage National Geographic issues available for customers to lose themselves in (over a large slice of pecan pie perhaps - highly recommended). 

Foxford Woollen Mills - Foxford

Mayo's diverse outdoors offers anything from a relaxed walk along the sandy beach of Ballycastle Bay to a bike ride along the longest off-road trail in Ireland, the Great Western Greenway – a converted railway line from Westport to Achill. 

All ages and skills can hire bicycles and witness the dynamic landscape from the comfort of a relatively flat and smooth route along the coast – so comfortable in fact that we found ourselves unexpectedly peddling all 32km from Newport to Achill. Thankfully bike hire firms await your arrival at a prearranged destination for a return to hire points by four-wheels. 

Great Western Greenway

Achill Island

After all that exertion there was no better time or place than to reward ourselves with food and drink. Whether it’s contemporary cuisine at Market Kitchen in Ballina; at one of Westport High Street’s continental bistros – La Bella Vita or Sage - or delicious catches of the day and local delicacies at Alice’s in Achill; Mayo caters for all tastes - including fellow lovers of soda bread - with impressive quality and service. 

& the beat goes on... @ J. McGing #Westport #Mayo #Ireland #irishmusic #craiclife https://t.co/eg8HYtA54s
— Jonathan Velardi (@JMVELARDI) June 8, 2014

Irish royalty: John and Jackie Kennedy

With mind, body and soul successfully replenished, I may need to find another excuse to return to County Mayo sooner rather than later. Until then, be inspired by my photo series from across Mayo featured in this post as well as at studiovelardi.tumblr.com

A big thank you to our Mayo-girl and tour guide @colettemunnelly who not only surprised us with a 32km bike ride but also took to the wheel for epic road trips and shared her beautiful family seat.

Ballycastle Bay

Fly into Ireland West Airport Knock for County Mayo from London airports on Aer Lingus and Ryanair.

For further information on County Mayo visit mayo-ireland.ie

Addresses:

Hennigan’s Heritage Centre

+353 0872 491 402

Killasser

Swinford

Co. Mayo

Foxford Woollen Mills

Providence Road

Foxford

Co. Mayo

Greenway Bicycle Hire

Main Street

Newport

Co. Mayo

Market Kitchen

Howley Street

Ballina

Co. Mayo

La Bella Vita

High Street

Westport

Co. Mayo

Sage

High Street

Westport

Co. Mayo

Alice’s Harbour Bar at Achill Island Hotel

Óstán Oileán Acla

Achill Island

Co. Mayo

512 Hours & Counting

The first images to come out on the opening day of Marina Abramović’s 512 Hours exhibition at London’s Serpentine was from art critic Adrian Searle, who tweeted the morning queue before doors opened at 10am outside the gallery in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park. 512 Hours is the latest work by Abramović since her celebrated performance at MOMA, New York in 2010 – The Artist is Present invited visitors to gaze into the artist’s eyes for an undetermined amount of time and this process was repeated everyday for three months. The role of body as both object and subject is central to Abramović’s forty-year practice, as is the relationship between artist and audience that is explored though various workshops at the Marina Abramović Institute. Four years after what was an unprecedented moment in the history of contemporary performance art, the Serpentine will host Abramović for another durational performance, its length after its namesake, through to August.

Queue for Marina Abramovic @SerpentineUK pic.twitter.com/n1PgOOo2kL
— Adrian Searle (@SearleAdrian) June 11, 2014

Keeping an eye on the exhibition’s hashtag #512hours throughout the morning, I arrived at the Serpentine Gallery a little after noon to a queue that ran the middle length between the gallery and Exhibition Road. A gallery assistant handed out a leaflet listing information - or rules depending on how you read it - about what to expect once visitors get inside. Dubbed ‘The Marina Show’ by the press, ‘visitors’ turn ‘participants’ once over the gallery threshold; relinquishing belongings, technology and even timepieces in an anteroom of lockers as well as agreeing to being filmed and photographed for the Institute’s archive.

rules, rules, rules... #MarinaAbramovic #daboss #512hours pic.twitter.com/hR3S6pwAFo
— Jonathan Velardi (@JMVELARDI) June 11, 2014

160 participants at a time are allowed inside on a one-in one-out basis. The activity of those in the queue and those coming out of the gallery is a voyeur’s dream. Other distractions include the exhibition’s official marketing poster, which features a portrait of the artist, eyes closed, striking a pose that I can only describe as a telepathist-cum-90s trance album cover. The line was moving at a good pace and after less than an hour – now in Abramovic’s third hour of performing – I entered the gallery with a stamp on my wrist and a cynical feeling of pending anticlimax. The last 'celebrity' performance I attended was Joan Jonas’s The Shape, The Scent, the Feel Of Things a few years ago at Dia:Beacon. This was to be my first interactive performance experience conducted by a celebrity artist and a part of me had hoped Jay Z would swing by and reciprocate an invitation as Abramović had for his first foray into the art world at Pace Gallery last year (Picasso Baby: Art History?, July 2013).

line moving rather quickly = how short people can be without their phones? #512hours pic.twitter.com/8Xh2UBRkRV
— Jonathan Velardi (@JMVELARDI) June 11, 2014

Through the double doors of the gallery lies the locker room – grey and white and very clinical – I choose locker number 13. The silence beyond the partition wall in the main gallery space takes time to hit me. Gentle footsteps are remarkably the only noise one hears. The bright light that floods the space is ethereal and guarantees both artist and participants are camera-ready – installed on opposite corners in the main gallery. Several folding chairs and a MDF platform make for low-fi props. Abramović is immediately recognizable as she works the room at a slow pace. Her dark navy outfit – a knitted blazer over a white crisp shirt, blue skinny trousers and soft leather brogues - resembles something out of a COS lookbook. A handful of assistants are dressed head-to-toe in black - normcore in art world standards - and replicate the artist’s pace while meandering around the public. Within a minute of entering the gallery Abramović approaches the corner I’m standing in and takes the hand of another nearby. She leads the woman to the centre of the space, taking her hand and carefully interlocking their fingers. The pace is painfully slow however in time I too find myself adopting a similar lethargic walk as I explore the adjacent rooms. Artist and participant walk up onto the platform and stand side by side. For women with long hair she will gently brush it back over your shoulder and whisper into your ear. For men, she will place her hand on your shoulder or caress your back. In contrast to the scenes outside, inside makes for a voyeur’s nightmare and the reality that I may be approached to engage in any sort of interaction becomes all too real. Some participants are positioned on chairs, some on the platform and others face the wall to be left vulnerable as the rest of us watch. My body language of folded arms and wearing my locker key on my little finger wasn’t attracting Abramović or her assistants. I continue to observe. If she likes what you’re wearing she’ll give a tug on your lapel before holding hands and repeating the process. The gallery to the left of the main space is exposed to the park through French doors with members of the public able to look in. Abramović gives them a wry smile, a mental break perhaps from palpable levels of concentration in the gallery.

Approximately 10 minutes in and I feel more at ease in the space and my initial surprise at the range of people in attendance – far from the usual art pack stereotype – was about to settle until I distinguish Abramović’s burly security detail in civilian clothing who follow her at a distance. Another 10 minutes or so pass and just about as I mentally content myself in not knowing what Abramović and her assistants are whispering to the chosen, I lock eyes with one of the black clad assistants. She walks nearer to me and I realize my guard is down; my arms unfolded and hands hanging at my waist. She offers me her hand and I oblige. Our shoulders touch and we walk hand in hand to another corner of the room. So familiar now with the silence and immune to the visuals of the space, the experience is exclusively physical. I am positioned to face the bare wall and breathe in unison with the assistant. After what feels like minutes, she lets go of my hand and whispers into my ear, “keep breathing and look at the wall for as long as you want”. Nothing but white entered into my peripheral vision and for a moment I embrace the meditative nature that I had previously watched those chosen to adopt. I would love to detail how I went into a trance or how I was overwhelmed by the physicality of it all, offering of my body for the art, but frankly that wasn’t the case. When I’m ready I naturally slowly turn around; I slowly make by way back to the main gallery for one last moment of being in the same room as Marina Abramović and another 159 people, followed by a slow exit back to the locker room.

The Marina Show | #artvictim #512hours pic.twitter.com/w7DGXlhFW9
— Jonathan Velardi (@JMVELARDI) June 11, 2014

Visitors are ‘invited to stay as long as you wish in the exhibition’. Had I looked at my phone before entering I would have known how long I was in there for. I assume the people who felt it appropriate to take their shoes off were in it for the long haul. Time is fundamental to performance art – the indulgence of context versus endurance, put in crude terms. Undoubtedly Abramović has created one of the most serene corners in Hyde Park, if not in the capital. As with many works of performance art that use the value of time to shroud weak substance, I question how much of 512 Hours – its very title rooted in time - actually requires 512 hours to express what it is trying to do? Had I stayed longer would I have witnessed new revelations in the dynamic? Felt a shift in energy amongst the art struck crowd or even Abramović herself? Is there method to the Marina Abramović madness? Only time will tell. 

As I write this Abramović has endured 16 hours of performing. 496 hours remain.

512 Hours performed by Marina Abramović runs to 25th August 2014 at the Serpentine Gallery. Entry is free between the hours of 10am and 6pm – visit Serpentine for full visitor information.

Serpentine Galleries

Kensington Gardens

London

W2 3XA

Marina Abramović image courtesy of Marco Anelli

Stick Your Neck Out

The long-awaited farewell to Winter may mean parting ways with our hats, gloves and scarves for yet another season, however neckwear is here to stay this Spring in the shape of the versatile cotton square. The handkerchief is understood to have been invented by Richard II of England in the fourteenth century and has since successfully transcended styles over the centuries. Most notably worn by labourers and revolutionaries throughout history for its utility and symbolism respectively, the revival for Americana in the late-twentieth century parodied its cowboy and rebel culture heritage and was subsequently adopted by a new generation of subcultures. Originating from the Hindi word bandhana, meaning ‘to tie’, the cotton square continues to be manufactured in 100% cotton and decorated using a variety of traditional printing processes. From screen print to discharge and fast colour techniques, the trusty handkerchief, neckerchief or bandana balances beauty and design detail with practicality. 

100% cotton squares – clockwise from top:

Labour And Wait, UNIQLO SPRZ NY X Keith Haring, Barbour and Hilditch & Key 

I have been collecting bandanas for many years. There is something so understated and poetic-like about its construct – its often complex design only fully revealed when unfolded – giving great satisfaction to its wearer. They are my souvenirs on my travels – a few of my favourite global pit stops are the Roman institution for vintage Omero e Cecilia; RRL's metropolitan ranch on Bleeker Street, New York; American Rag in Los Angeles and Daikanyama emporium Okura in Tokyo. 

Franklin Bandana - RRL

Prices vary from dollar store to designer creations. The market for original vintage squares is driven predominantly by Japan who have an affinity with the patterns and symbols similar to their own shibui aesthetic. Rare commemorative or political layouts incorporating stylised narratives surrounded by paisley or polka dot motifs are highly sought-after and feature in the pages of men’s lifestyle periodicals such as Free & Easy, for the discerning gentleman. 

Semper Fidelis, 2010 - Jonathan Velardi

My personal fascination with the history behind the accessory led me to design and print my own bandanas as contemporary artworks (Devon’s Political Archive Inspires Devon, BBC 2011) using the customary visual codes and allegory to create new contemporary dialogue.

Louis Vuitton Menswear SS14

For Spring/Summer 2014, Louis Vuitton and Saint Laurent showcased the menswear accessory of the season. Kim Jones for Louis Vuitton incorporated the luxury label’s iconic flower emblems into decorative bandanas. Worn as loose cravats, they deformalised the suits and business wear that they had been paired with down the runway. The theme continued with patchwork paisley packing a punch, emblazoned on oversized shirting. At Saint Laurent, Hedi Slimane’s rockabilly-inspired collection presented a more familiar image of cardinal red squares in cashmere and silk-blend, tri-folded around the neck in bandit fashion topped with slick, pomade hairstyles. 

Saint Laurent Menswear SS14

Indigo also meets the cotton square at the trend junction this season. From tones of raw serge de Nîmes to electric International Klein Blue, there is a shade for just about anyone on the indigo spectrum. 

Basket Pattern Bandana - Okura

Accent indigo or denim workwear with examples of my classic spot squares in fresh hues of green and blue (top). Channel countryside dandyism with spotted compositions by Labour And Wait, Barbour and Hilditch & Key in timeless primary colours. For a more contemporary take UNIQLO’s latest artistic collaboration with MoMA for its SPRZ NY capsule collection includes trademark designs from the art foundations of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. Drake's of London produce a range of modern and eccentric interpretations in multiple colourways - I particularly like this graduated spot print (below). Twist or tie the square around the neck or pop into a breast pocket for an effortless look.

Graduated Spot Print Pocket Square - Drake's of London

With Burberry Prorsum following the trend for neckwear in their Autumn/Winter 2014 collection – introducing a more loose style with large silk squares, worn nonchalantly on necks and shoulders - the neckerchief is very much here to stay. Square up to style and stick your neck out.

Addresses:

American Rag

150 South La Brea Avenue

90036 Los Angeles, CA 

USA

Omero e Cecilia

Via del Governo Vecchio 110

00186 Rome

Italy

Okura

20-11 Sarugaku-cho Shibuya-ku

150-0033 Tokyo

Japan

RRL

381 Bleeker Street

10014 New York

USA

Discover more about the design process behind my bandana artwork Semper Fidelis, commissioned by Devon County Council and Double Elephant Print Workshop in this series of related blog posts and read its full press release here. 

Follow @JMVELARDI on Twitter and Pinterest for the latest on arts, culture & lifestyle.

Runway images courtesy of STYLE.com

Air Play

My latest blog contribution for Ohh Deer enters technophile territory. London-based designers LIX launch the smallest 3D Printing Pen on the market that enables users to doodle in thin air. Powered simply via USB port, the LIX 3D Printing Pen uses plastic filament, similar to 3D printers, to draw and construct immediate freestanding structures by hand without the need for paper. 

Exploring our relationship between craft and applied science, I look at the type of audience LIX chose to target for its Kickstarter campaign as well as whether this creative gadget is a perfectionist's nightmare. 

Discover a new style of draftsmanship for the future in my full review now available at Ohh Deer.

Visit jonathanvelardi.com/writing for a selection of my published writing and follow @JMVELARDI on Twitter and Pinterest for more on arts, culture and lifestyle from the www and beyond.

Images courtesy LIX PEN LTD

Come Fly With Me

Cameron Heads To Lanzarote Holiday On Ryanair http://t.co/y2Jpas8VqP
— Sky News (@SkyNews) April 13, 2014

Floor Space

On the eve of design’s most anticipated fairs of the year you can guarantee an art collaboration release is not too far behind. The rise of the artist collaboration within the worlds of utility and practicality, at least for the most part, has proved to be a successful formula providing consumers a veneer of the conceptual onto objets of the everyday.

The Salone Internazionale del Mobile di Milano launches this week and will showcase the best in furniture design and home styling from both Italy and around the world. Gothenburg-based Henzel Studio is one such exhibitor who will be presenting an exclusive collection of art rug editions in collaboration with leading contemporary artists. The Swedish luxury label has worked with twelve international artists on its ‘Volume #1’ collection. Assume Vivid Astro Focus, Marilyn Minter, Richard Prince and Juergen Teller are a few of the names who have defied conventional right-angle styles for more elaborate and curious compositions that will detract eyes from the wall firmly to the floor. 

Untitled, 2012 - Anselm Reyle

The abstract aesthetic of Anselm Reyle is a fine example of how successful an artwork can be translated through alternate media, particularly within the realm of interior design. Reyle’s Untitled, 2012 contribution to the collection is a replica of the artist’s gathered foil style imagery inspired by his series of paintings, which has been directly reworked in both design and structure onto a free-from monochrome rug, hand knotted in Himalayan and New Zealand wool and silk. The result is an almost three-dimensional effect of luminous folds in the pile that makes for a contemporary decorative statement. 

The Henzel Studio Collaborations series will debut in Milan at Superstudio Più before an official launch at Barneys New York Madison Avenue flagship during Frieze New York in May later this year. For more information about all the artists involved in the ‘Volume #1’ collection visit Henzel Studio.

Salone Internazionale del Mobile di Milano opens tomorrow and runs through to 13th April 2014 - click here for full details of exhibitors and events throughout the week.

Image courtesy of Henzel Studio

Full Stop To Spots?

With the release of Damien Hirst's catalogue raisonné The Complete Spot Paintings 1986-2011, my latest blog entry for Ohh Deer poses the question: could this be a full stop to spots? 

Charting the artist's first expression of his now iconic series in his art school days at Goldsmiths, London through to the unprecedented global exhibition held by Gagosion Gallery in 2011, which the catalogues takes its name, the spot-aesthetic has emblazoned over 1000 artworks across nearly three decades. 

The 929-page full colour tome - published by Other Criteria in conjunction with Gagosian Gallery - documents one of the most prolific and recognisable visual images from the late-twentieth century that has experienced phenomenal mileage beyond the white cube walls, appreciated by the worlds of design, fashion and luxury. The publication looks at the significance spot paintings have had on popular culture, transcending accessibility with a host of brand collaborations from Becks to Manolo Blahnik.

The spot-aesthetic has by no means lost its virility. Since 2011 we have seen yet more demand for the systematic spots in addition to Hirst's other signature styles of colour, carats and chemicals showcased in the celebrated retrospective at Tate Modern, London in 2012 and subsequently in the largest survey of the artist's career at ALRIWAQ, Qatar Museums Authority in Doha.

The launch of such a comprehensive publication alludes to the end of what is arguably one of Damien Hirst's most important veins of investigation. Is the controversy, or even empowerment, of ending a chapter of his practice too irresistible for the artist who relishes on throwing art world convention into a spin?

Read my full article Full Stop To Spots? and view further images from ‘The Complete Spot Paintings 1986-2011’ at the Ohh Deer blog.

Follow @JMVELARDI for more on Arts, Culture & Lifestyle.

Images courtesy of Other Criteria

Serpentine Galleries X Comme des Garçons

London's Serpentine Galleries continue to celebrate its expansion and rebrand with the launch of a fragrance due for release this Spring. SERPENTINE has been created in collaboration with Comme des Garçons on the occasion of the gallery’s £14.5 million Zaha Hadid-extension of the Sackler Gallery as well as its new brand identity designed by Pentagram in September 2013. 

Christian Astuguevieille, creative director of Comme des Garçons Parfums, was inspired by the galleries’ unique surroundings of Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park in the heart of the capital to produce a London-specific eau de toilette of botanical grassy notes from the Royal Park juxtaposed with urban benzoin and asphalt. The unisex fragrance “captures the experience of visiting the Galleries and the Park” says Serpentine Director, Julia Peyton-Jones and Co-Director, Hans Ulrich Obrist, who have also commissioned Tracey Emin to design the fragrance’s artwork. Emin’s characteristic monoprint aesthetic depicts a lovers’ embrace with handwritten text that reads, ‘The Grass, The Trees, The Lake, And You’, which will be printed in luminous silver foil on the transparent bottle and packaging.

Artwork detail by Tracey Emin

While SERPENTINE marks the first collaboration between Comme des Garçons and a cultural institution, the avant-garde luxury label is well known amongst the art crowd. Under the direction of founder and designer Rei Kawakubo the brand’s Dover Street Market outposts in London, New York and Tokyo present a seasonal programme of conceptual retail environments designed by international artists and creators that house wardrobe staples for the curatorial chic. This latest addition to the Comme des Garçons Parfums collection will undoubtedly vie for attention amongst the critical eyes and noses of the cognoscenti.

SERPENTINE will be available exclusively at the Serpentine Galleries gift shop, Dover Street Market and Comme des Garçons Perfume Shop from 28th April 2014 following a worldwide release on 5th May 2014 - the unisex eau de toilette will retail at £56.00.

Image courtesy of Serpentine Galleries

Oscars Countdown

Imagine if Joaquin Phoenix rocks the Oscars' red carpet in a high-waisted tux à la Theodore Twombly...

Here's to high (waisted) expectations for Spike Jonze's hazey-artificial-filtered-future in Her  - nominated for Best Picture and Original Score - up against strong competition at tonight's 86th Academy Awards. 

Hello Yellow

It's the first day of Spring... hello Pantone Yellow C

Here's to brighter things to come - have a great weekend everyone!