Many thanks to my readers and followers for their continued interest, support and endorsements.
I am taking a few days off and thought to leave you with a slight puzzle. What do these small bronzes (now mounted on lead bases) come from – a clock, a larger group? They are approximately 4.75 inches high.
Any ideas would be very much appreciated.
Warm good wishes and back next week.
Tim
Art14 London (sponsored by Citi Private Bank), Olympia Grand, London W14, 28th February – 2nd March 2014
Stanley Donwood
Nether
2013
Image size 50 x 50 cm
Paper size 60 x 63 cm
Giclée print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308gsm paper
Signed and editioned by the artist
Edition of 100
Courtesy of TAG Fine Arts
This modern and contemporary Art Fair certainly casts its net for exhibitors far and wide with forty-two different countries represented by one hundred and eighty-two galleries and thus it provides its visitors with a great opportunity to see what is going on globally and more importantly what is available to buy. A fact summed up in the words of Stephanie Dieckvoss, Fair Director, “By bringing together exhibitors from all corners of the world, Art14 London is a unique place to discover and learn about art”.
Chung Heeseung
Untitled
archival pigment print
105 x 79.1 cm
2013
Courtesy of HADA CONTEMPORARY LONDON
There are a significant number of leading Asian exhibitors, including some from China, as well as galleries from the Middle East, Africa, South America and the United States. The UK and Europe are also well-represented too. Film-lovers will no doubt be interested to see the London gallery, Riflemaker’s film installation by artist Stuart Pearson Wright as it stars Keira Knightley.
Bae Joonsung
The Costume of Painter – Phantom in the Painting, J.S.Sargent family jk
lenticular and oil on canvas 194 x 130 cm (76 x 51 in)
Courtesy of the Albemarle Gallery
Do not imagine for a moment that only established galleries are included since in the sections London First and Emerge young galleries are given their chance to shine before an international audience.
René Burri
Sao Paulo, Brazil,1960 © René Burri /Magnum Photos, courtesy of ATLAS Gallery London
The Fair’s sponsors are Citi Private Bank and Suzanne Gyorgy, Managing Director Citi Private Bank Art Advisory & Finance says of it that “Including abstract, conceptual, landscapes and figurative works, the diversity of fine art exhibited at Art14 London is really inspiring. Citi Private Bank is thrilled to play an integral role in bringing this work to our clients. We look forward to welcoming clients from around the world to Art14 London next week, and to what promises to be a one of the most innovative and visually exciting events on the global art calendar this year.”
Aboudia
Untitled, 2013
Acrylic & mixed media on canvas
153 x 113 cm
Courtesy of Jack Bell Gallery
You know I think she may be right so don’t miss it!
Chien-Yang Wang
Girl In Toy Claw Crane Machine
2012
Giclee print on Epson photographic paper mounted on aluminium with UV seal
164.8 x 109.8 cm (64.8 x 43.2″)
Courtesy of Scream, London and the artist.
Richard Deacon, Tate Britain, until 27th April
Throughout his forty plus year career, Turner prize winning artist, Richard Deacon has placed an emphasis on language as much as physical substance in his works and this stems from his interest in poetic and philosophical texts.
Richard Deacon, Lock 1990
Private collection
Copyright Richard Deacon
His sculptural forms are often lyrical in feeling be they made of laminated wood precisely engineered into organic, flowing curves or more solid forms such as the welded steel Struck Dumb created at Govan Shipbuilders. Visitors will find his series of early drawings It’s Orpheus When There’s Singing 1978 of interest as their curvilinear forms herald the organic shapes of his later sculptures.
Richard Deacon, After 1998
Copyright Tate
Not all his works are large as the series Art for Other People first started in 1982 amply shows. These were designed for domestic spaces and show the wide variety of materials Deacon uses in his work, including marble, brass, suede, leather, wood, resin, ceramics, polythene, mdf and cardboard.
Richard Deacon, Fold 2012
Photography: L Dawkins, Tate Photography © Richard Deacon
Those visitors to the Tate who use the Manton entrance will be greeted by Deacon’s Fold 2012 a 4 metres high 60-part green ceramic sculpture which weighs over 12 tonnes. This is the first time that this sculpture has been shown in a public gallery. The artist says of it ‘It’s wonderful that I have been given the opportunity to show such an ambitious work at Tate Britain. I’ve always thought of it as more of a gate than a barrier and we’ve placed it in the space between the entrance to and the exit from the exhibition, which is also in the area the public circulates. The work joins the beginning and the end with a fold in the middle. You could almost call it a hinge’.
www.tate.org.uk
MAGICIANS’ OF PRINTMAKING – The Collection of Stamperia d’Arte 2RC Sale, Christie’s South Kensington, 26th February
The artist Pierre Alechinsky pausing on the press in the Stamperia 2RC during the print run
© Copyright 2RC 1975 – Pierre Alechinsky in Stamperia 2RC all’Ara Coeli, Rome
This is the first time that this collection of unique prints – bon à tirer impressions – has been seen together. They come from the celebrated Roman studio Stamperia d’Arte 2RC, founded by the Rossi family in 1959, and reflect the deep trust between the artist and printer in creating these works. And what a roll call of artists there is with such famous names as Alberto Burri, Sam Francis, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Henry Moore and Victor Pasmore (there are fourteen works by him in the sale), and many more.
Lot 49
Sam Francis (1923-1994)
Le stagioni: La pioggia d’oro
etching and aquatint in colours
1984
Magnani paper
signed in pencil, inscribed Bon à tirer
edition size: 30 numbered impressions and ten artist’s proofs
published by 2RC Edizioni d’Arte, Rome, printed by Vigna Antoniniana, Rome, with their blindstamps
Image: 985 x 1987 mm., Sheet: 1185 x 2283 mm.
Estimate 5,000 – 7,000 British pounds
This sale provides established and new collectors with the opportunity to acquire works that reflect not only the artists’ vision but also the Rossi family’s skill and understanding of colour, paper and technique.
Lot 5
Alberto Burri (1915-1995)
Cretti: H, Cretti: H
etching and aquatint with embossing
Fabriano card
signed in pencil, inscribed buono di stampa
edition size: 90 numbered impressions and 25 artist’s proofs
published and printed by 2RC Edizioni d’Arte, Rome, with their blindstamp
Sheet: 659 x 950 mm.
Estimate: 8,000 – 12,000 British pounds
With estimates varying from £700 to £15,000 bidders stand a very good chance of obtaining a very special work from Stamperia d‟Arte 2RC. Buona Fortuna!
Lot 91
Henry Moore (1898-1986)
Stone reclining figure
etching and aquatint
1980
Magnani paper
initialled in pencil, inscribed bon à tirer
edition size: ten numbered impressions and four artist’s proofs
published by 2RC Edizioni d’Arte, Rome, printed by Vigna Antoniniana, Rome, with their blindstamp
Image: 990 x 1840 mm., Sheet: 1200 x 2330 mm.
Estimate 8,000 – 12,000 British pounds
The collection will be on public view from the 22nd until 25th February.
Lot 63
Victor Pasmore (1908-1998)
Vigna Antoniniana
etching and aquatint in colours
1980
Magnani paper
signed in pencil, inscribed Bon a tirer and more white
edition size: 90 numbered impressions and 15 artist’s proofs
co-published by 2RC Edizioni d’Arte, Rome, with their blindstamp, and Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., London, printed by Vigna Antoniniana, Rome, with their blindstamp
All images courtesy of CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2014
NICOLA ROSE: ELEMENTAL, until 28th February, Foss Fine Art, 113b Northcote Road (entrance in Wakehurst Road), London SW11
Nicola Rose certainly knows how to paint water and weather and their effect on the landscape as this painting Facing the Storm shows. Her pictures are ‘a personal response to the extreme forces of nature’, a theme that will have a particular resonance to many affected by the recent weather in the UK. She is also very capable in depicting scenes of less tempestuous times too.
To create her works she uses brushes, palette knives and her hands to build up layers of paint, sometimes blended with iron-fillings and sand, which finally evolve into the finished works.
Colour Into Liquid Air – Gracjana Rejmer-Canovas, until 23rd March, Platform, Habitat, 1st Floor, 208 King’s Road, Chelsea, London SW3
In this exhibition, supported by the Polish Cultural Institute, London, the young artist Gracjana Rejmer-Canovas has used the space to install a site specific work, of which individual sections are for sale.
Using linen and cotton for her canvases, she first dyes them and then layers them with acrylic and oil paints creating individual shapes of varying sizes and forms for both walls and floor. They can be combined together to make a whole, while not losing their individuality as component parts. One can see her interest in the Colour Field painters and the American Abstract Expressionists reflected through these bright, colourful works.
kingsroad.co.uk/habitat
A Celebration of Clay by Kate Malone, until 14th March Lobby, One Canada Square,
Canary Wharf, London E14
This is the first exhibition in Canary Wharf’s 2014 Sculpture at Work programme and has been arranged in conjunction with Kate Malone’s dealer, Adrian Sassoon, London.
Her ceramics are always memorable whether the larger pieces that may be up to a metre in height or smaller studio works. She has a great ability to transform natural objects into intricate, beautiful works of art. While one can see a reflection of the long history of British pottery in her work she is also completely in tune with this age as her Atomics series proves.
Beyond El Dorado: power and gold in ancient Colombia, at The British Museum organised with Museo del Oro, until 23rd March
Funerary mask, Calima-Malagana, gold alloy, 100BC-AD400.
© Museo del Oro – Banco de la República, Colombia.
The legend of El Dorado, ‘the golden one’, beguiled Europeans in their search for exoticism and their greed for gold for many centuries and this exhibition reveals the truth behind some of the myths they believed. It takes us into the world of the different peoples who made up ancient Colombia between 1600 BC-1600AD.
Painted cotton textile, Muisca, AD1300-1400.
© The Trustees of the British Museum
The exhibition particularly focuses on the Muisca, Quimbaya, Calima, Tolima, Zenú and Tairona regions and through the objects looks at their vibrant and distinctive cultures, including religious practices that involved dance, music, sunlight, hallucinogenic substances and engagement with animal spirits.
Anthropomorphic bat pectoral, Tairona, gold alloy, AD900-1600.
© Museo del Oro – Banco de la República, Colombia.
Perhaps one of the most important facts to come out of this exhibition is that not all objects are pure gold but are of an alloy known as tumbaga, which is a mixture of gold and copper. In some cases it could be as little as 5% gold and 95% copper. Gold was regarded as symbolic and not as a currency in ancient Colombia, and was used to assert rank both in life and death. The level of craftsmanship and goldsmithing skills were formidable for the time as the objects clearly demonstrate. As well as gold ceramics, feathers, textiles and stones were also used in funerary rituals.
Necklace with claw shaped beads, Zenú, gold alloy, 200BC-AD1000.
©Museo del Oro – Banco de la República, Colombia.
This is a great voyage into a golden past that should be undertaken by all.
Figurine rattle, late Quimbaya, ceramic, AD 700–1600 .
© The Trustees of the British Museum
‘Art at the Bridge #5’ – Local London Art on Display in Tower Bridge’s Famous Engine Rooms, until 7th August
What an opportunity this provides for the artists who are lucky enough to display their works there with a daily audience of around 2,000 international visitors. As the number ‘5’ suggests this is the fifth such exhibition in a partnership between Tower Bridge and the well-known local arts charity Southwark Arts Forum.
Sarah Underwood
“With Bells and Whistles”
Hand drawn, painted, collage and digital rendering
The exhibition is held in the engine rooms of this marvellous iconic Victorian structure and reflecting the bridge’s purpose of connection between north and south of the Thames, the exhibition’s theme is Connections. There are ten works on view in a variety of media and they are the work of ten disabled artists from the Forum.
Ian Wornast
Clapham Junction
Pen on paper, 2013
The works reflect the artists’ own experiences in life and it is really important to read the artists’ statements which accompany each work. Some are uplifting, others, deeply moving but through them all the artists’ are really expressing themselves and that is an affirmative that needs celebrating.
Nicola Field
Unite the Resistance (from How to be Strong)
Digital photograph of artist-made ceramics with text.
Indeed, visitors can help with that because, on arrival, they will be given a token to vote for their favourite work. Please do vote because the lucky artist who gets the most tokens gets the very great privilege of raising Tower Bridge!
Abu Hasnat
Mixed Media, 2012.
Copyright the artist
http://www.southwarkartsforum.org
ALL IMAGES ARE COPYRIGHT
Butchoff Antiques’ 50th!
A Highly Important & Rare Royal Writing Table made by Morel & Seddon for the Windsor Castle Commission, commanded by George IV
Dimensions: H: 30.5 in / 77 cm W: 43 in / 108 cm D: 22.5 in / 57 cm
Having just joined my niece in celebrating her 50th birthday at the beginning of this week I am even more aware of just how great an achievement it is for a company to reach such a milestone. In this case it is the very well-known family antiques firm of Butchoff Antiques who deal from Kensington Church Street, one of London’s finest and most varied hubs for the decorative and fine arts.
A Whimsical Statuette of a Piccolo Player
By Bretby Art Pottery
Dimensions: H: 31 in / 79 cm W: 15 in / 38 cm D: 18 in / 46 cm
This weekend the firm starts marking it’s jubilee by making its USA debut at the Palm Beach Jewellery, Art and Antiques Show, Florida,(14-18th February) with a selection of some of their best pieces.
A Highly Important Landscape of Stratford-upon-Avon,
By Lucien Pissarro (1863-1944)
Oil on canvas, signed lower left with Pissarro’s monogram, and dated 1906.
Sight Size: H: 22 in / 55 cm W: 25 in / 64 cm
Provenance: John Bensusan-Butt (1911-1977), thence, family descent.
The firm’s owner, Ian Butchoff, who incidentally was one of the founding members of LAPADA, says: “We are very excited to exhibit at Palm Beach for our 50th. Through being there in person we aim to offer our US based clients a more attentive service and hope our selection of French and English furniture find new homes”. As well as LAPADA they are also members of British Antique Dealers Association (BADA), Kensington Church Street Dealer Association (KCSADA) and CINOA and so one can buy in total confidence.
A Rare Pair of French Display Cabinets in the Chinoiserie Manner
Dimensions: H: 85 in / 217 cm W: 35 in / 89 cm D: 17 in / 43 cm
Circa 1870
They sell, as their website shows, a wide range of 18th and 19th century English and Continental antiques, including exhibition-quality furniture, lighting, sculpture objects and paintings. They offer interior design advice and help clients build up collections and also find special pieces for them too.
‘Blonde Dancer’ by Sir Claude Francis Barry (1883-1970)
Oil on canvas, signed lower left.
Sight Size: H: 23.5 in / 60 cm W: 18.5 in / 47 cm
Here’s to their 60th Anniversary!
A Good Chinoiserie Commode In the Louis XV Manner by Maison Jansen
Dimensions: H: 39 in / 99 cm W: 65.5 in / 167 cm D: 22.5 in / 57 cm
French, Circa 1890
GALLERY ROUND-UP 2 – February 2014
STEPHEN HANNOCK: Moving Water, Fleeting Light, until 1st March, Marlborough Fine Art, 6 Albemarle Street, London, W1S 4BY London W1
The American painter Stephen Hancock marks his London debut with a show of thirteen new works, which includes a luminous view from above of Newcastle-upon-Tyne which celebrates the rich tapestry of its history. This is created by his very original approach to his work, using a combination of acrylics, resin, handwriting, pasted papers and photographs, special brushes and even power sanders to achieve the wonderful light effects that transcend his work to another plane.
Perhaps particularly appropriate to our present weather pattern are the smaller works featuring flooded rivers and soaring rockets which unlike reality have a magic quality, especially in their Turneresque skies.
www.marlboroughfineart.com
Brian Rice: Early Works 1959-1970, until 22nd February, The Redfern Gallery, 20 Cork Street, London, W1S 3HL
Brian Rice
Circle Square x 20, 1963
Oil on twenty canvases
88.9 x 114.3 cm
Copyright Brian Rice, courtesy of The Redfern Gallery
This colourful show is a great joy to behold. The paintings and prints come from the formative years of his career and are a celebration of the abstract. One can easily understand why they were received with such great acclaim. Their luminosity and freshness remains undimmed to this day and they are so evocative of the time they were created that visitors will be immediately taken back to the 60s.
redfern-gallery.com
MANUEL ESPINOSA, until 8th March, Stephen Friedman Gallery, 11 & 25-28 Old Burlington Street, London W1S 3AN
Manuel Espinosa
‘Rosebud’ 1970
Oil on canvas
150 x 150cm
(59 x 59in)
Framed: 155.5 x 155.5cm
(61 1/4 x 61 1/4in)
Copyright the Estate of Manuel Espinosa. Courtesy Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, and Sicardi Gallery, Houston. Photography Stephen White.
The Argentinean artist Manuel Espinosa (1914-2006) was a leading exponent of Concrete Art and this new exhibition is the first solo show of his work in Europe. He was a founder member of the ‘Asociación Arte Concreto-Invencion’, a group who moved away from the figurative towards geometric elements and colour. Following a visit to Europe in the 1950s and after meeting artists from the Italian Concrete Art groups, Espinosa concentrated on geometric abstraction with the repetitious use of squares and circles to create the required image.
www.stephenfriedman.com
LUIS TOMASELLO – SIX DECADES OF REFLECTION, until 28th March, The Mayor Gallery,21 Cork Street, First Floor, London W1S 3NA
Atmosphère Chromoplastique No. 990
2011
Acrylic on wood
43 x 43 x 6 cm
Courtesy of The Mayor Gallery
This is the first exhibition in the Mayor Gallery’s exciting new space and it marks the six decades of the Kinetic Op artist Luis Tomasello. Although born in Argentina in 1915, he has lived and worked in Paris since 1957. In the three-dimensional geometric shapes one can clearly see the influence of Mondrian. The formations are used to reflect light and colour allowing the viewer to experience the kinetic energy created.
Alongside the works is a small display of jewellery created by the Spanish designer Chus Burés from designs by Tomasello. Very attractive and very wearable they are too.
GALLERY ROUND-UP I – February 2014
JESSICA JACKSON HUTCHINS, until 8th March, Timothy Taylor Gallery, 15 Carlos Place, London W1
This is the artist’s second London solo exhibition. Her works are a hybrid of everyday ‘stuff in the room’ that show signs of wear and use and which she reinterprets into sculptural forms layered with different meanings. There are also paintings where she uses re-stretched canvases to create works on the unprimed surface using paints, inks and collage to achieve the effect she desires.
http://www.timothytaylorgallery.com
Wael Shawky: Dictum, until 8th March, Lisson Gallery, 27 Bell Street, London NW1
Wael Shawky,
Dictums.
Installation view Lisson Gallery, London 2014.
© the artist; courtesy Lisson Gallery, London
The Egyptian-born artist Wael Shawky is a strong and compelling artistic voice who uses modern media to look at beliefs, faith, history and myths whether it be a herd of the highly prized black camels being driven across the desert or a sound piece recalling holy text. There is also a group of new drawings and wall vitrines of metal plaques, of the type found adorning trucks and food carts in Pakistan.
– & –
Christian Jankowski: Heavy Weight History, until 8th March, Lisson Gallery, 52 Bell Street, London NW1
Christian Jankowski, Heavy Weight History (Brotherhood of Arms, B&W photograph on baryt paper, 140×186.8cm © Christian Jankowski courtesy Lisson Gallery
There is certainly an element of humour in the German artist Christian Jankowski’s new show that is the result of his visit to Warsaw last year. He asked a group of weightlifters to try and lift up a number of the city’s massive public sculptures. The ensuing results are seen through a 25 minute film, an installation and photographs.
At one level it is a look at the whole idea of public sculpture and where it is displayed but it also a reflection of Poland’s past history – Nazi occupation and the Communist era. Thought provoking and a stimulant for debate.
www.lissongallery.com
Tim Forrest's E & A 