What I, and I expect many others in the art world know of Marcus Harvey is his sensational piece in Saatchi's Sensations. His portrait of Myra Hindley, pixelated, and then re-printed with children's handprints caused public outrage and was removed from the exhibition (after it had been vandalised). Upon entering his first solo exhibition in London for a few years, you are greeted by two burly security guards. Surely White Cube doesn't expect his new work to be received with the same amount of bad feeling?
The centrepiece of the new show is Maggie, a large, pixelated image of Margaret Thatcher taken in 1987 at the launch of the Tory Party election manifesto. As with the Hindley piece, Harvey has translated the image with over 15,000 plaster cast objects according to the pixels colour. These objects include Dildos, money, outstretched hands and vegetables. You can read the piece as more than a portrait of the ex-prime minister, although formed from an image, the objects refer to her private life, policies and a map of British history from her time in power. The work is dark and alluring, from close up the relief of the work resembles a city scape, sprawling and dominating - as if the world has been taken over by skyscrapers (which are actually sex toys).
Also displayed in the exhibition are three gigantic bronze sculptures; Victoria (a deflated 1960's football), Nike (a winged WWII helmet resting on rifle barrels) and The Lord High Admiral (adaptation of Winston Churchills de-faced statue on Parliament Square). It's this commentary on the British, and it's construction of social, political and cultural identity is what makes the work really interesting. The Hindely and Thatcher pieces seem a bit gimmicky and gather a lot of media attention without displaying what I think he wants to. This exploration of identity of the British is a subject many artists have tackled over the years, but as Harvey experiments with tactile, found objects, he brings about the ideas of consumerism and globalisation we are all used to.
Rachel Kneebone - The Descent @ White Cube Hoxton Square
Newly White Cubed-Kneebone's, first exhibition with the gallery is impressive and dominating. The Descent, a one sculpture room installation is made from white porcelain. The work is placed in the middle of the gallery on a circular stage which the viewer stands on - a huge circular pit is filled with hand-crafted sculptures.
The work references Cormac McCarthy's The Road (2006), Poussin's The Deluge (1660-1664) and Courbet's The Origin of the World (1866) amongst others and has a clear middle earth sensation to it. The sculptures which seem to be modelled on fingers and wrists fill the pit, they are crawling over eachother, and in a mass of tangled legs and feet. It's gruesome which is remarkable in comparison to the clean, white, clinical sensation of the porcelain. The work echos Dante's Inferno, the narrative that exists within the work invites the viewer to walk around the platform, as one might a medieval carving, or a large frieze or column.
Rachel Kneebone - Loves all-worshipped tomb, where all love's pilgrims come (2006)Track Changes (Work from Galeria PLAN B, Cluj Napoca, RO) @ Wilkinson Project Space
I† was especially excited to see that Wilkinson Gallery has forged links with Galeria PLAN B from Cluj in Romania. It is a really exciting gallery that has been making waves throughout the Eastern (and Western) European art scenes. It is brilliant that commercial galleries are showcasing and displaying Romanian artists work!
The exhibition; Track Changes, brings together recent works by the members of the group SUPERNOVA (2001-2004). Their presence on the Romanian art scene contributed to a massive shift in discourse, with the attitude of artists moving away from the melancholy look of the post-Wall generation, and instead repeatedly defining East as non-West (or the West as surplus or incompatible). These new voices include Ciprian Muresan, Crisit Pogacean and Istvan Laszlo, who work together to engage this Eastern European past and to exploit their own personal experiences within it. In their work, the ways in which globalization and post-communism endlessly complicate each other are observed from a perspective immune to the utopias of revolution or liberalism.
PLAN B have recently set up a new space in Berlin which I am excited to visit this year. They are sure to be as successful as they have been in Romania and hopefully will set up a space in London in the not too distant future!
Christian Holstad - American Standard @ Victoria Miro
American Christian Holstad seems to be battling with his heritage, within his practise (which includes sculpture, painting, drawing and textiles). Taking its name from a global manufacture of toilets, the exhibition presents a group of works that reflect on the everyday, mixed with the highly charged political themes. The works reflect on communal experience and activity, transforming everyday, common objects into surprising political commentaries on modern life. Cocktail parties, public toilets, and street corners are implicated in various works, which are represented in soft, phallic, sculptural forms.
In the first room in the lower gallery, an installation of cocktail platters display elaborate party food (only seen at grand events, and eaten by the grandest of people). The main gallery space on the lower form has a snake-like soft sculpture circling the supporting pillars, this snake like form is replicated throughout other works in the show, and plays an interesting role in the notion of institutionalised forms and furniture.
In the upper gallery, Holstad has (much to my companions' bladders' annoyance) a number of freestanding urinals have been sewn into pristine white towels. Stretched on wooden frames, they remind me of Japanese changing screens, which is perhaps an obvious juxtaposition of private space. The boards have also been embroidered with cigarette butts, french fries and condom wrappers. The title of the show; American Standard is taken from the name of a brand of American urinals and playfully (and perhaps obviously) these pieces suggest that although the US has set a (social and political) standard, it is not what it seems.
Bjorn Veno - Chapter II & III @ Nettie Horn
The narrative, visually stunning scenes in Bjorn Veno's work fill Nettie Horn's gallery despite just being on the walls. The work encompasses the viewer and the lack of sculptural work in the centre becomes unnoticed. The works are based on personal facts from the artist, and as he appears in each image, this becomes particularly poignant.
Bjørn Venø - Behold (2008)
