the arts & culture magazine
issue 1
April/May 2020
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A PASTEL DYSTOPIA Karen Khachaturov
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Yue Minjun, Floating, 2013
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ISSUE 1
EDITOR’S PICK:
This Month’s Album
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The Strokes, ‘The New Abnormal’ The album’s cover artwork is a 1981 painting called ‘Bird on Money,’ by famed New York artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.
deframe
EDITORIAL @oykunazz Hello and welcome ‘deframe’ readers! In our first issue of ‘deframe’ I would like to hug you in our warmest family. We work as a team inorder to make you, our readers to enjoy the latest news in the current world of arts & culture. Oh, my, you may be wondering, what on earth have you done? I know how protective readers can feel about the magazines they love, I respect that, and hope to have the same value in your hearts. A serious, loyal readership may be and will be our most precious asset. We’d be fools to trifle with it by going against the digital world’s sake. But there’s also the puzzling question, in this moment of technological upheaval, of how to intensify the experience of reading a print magazine. So, enjoy! and don’t forget to check also our social media pages.
@deframe
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table of
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Photos From California
No Photos On The DanCe Floor The Trends Shaping 2020 Land of Dreams
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5 to See: Festive Light Shows Micro Naratives Invisible UV paint in Basquiat Quil Lemons Investigates Salvador Dali
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45 Gorillaz Earth Day 5 Geometric Pastel Dystopia Into Cinema MOMA: Digital Presence Works in Colour Deframe Art Prize Top Literary Podcasts
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contents
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Photos from California's Countercultural heyday
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Alien days
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© Dennis Stock
Mars Station,
Goldstone
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In 1968, with America on the cusp of sweeping social change, photographer Dennis Stock took off on a fiveweek road trip up and down California. Camera in hand, he captured the final days of counterculture across the Golden State – from the flower children nestled away in hippie, to the rock ‘n’ roll kids of Venice Beach. Upon its publication in 1970, the body of work (simply titled California Trip) swiftly garnered a cult following. For Stock, best known for his portraits of the actor James Dean, the project represented a change of pace.
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Back in print for the first time since 1970, Dennis Stock’s California Trip serves as a radical visual history, depicting the Sunshine State at its heady peak.
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Novato
California Trip
Welcome to California Now, through Anthology Editions, the book is back in print for the first time since 1970. A faithful reproduction of Stock’s original work, there’s an interesting paradox at play: while the images clearly depict a very specific moment in Californian – and, more broadly, American – history, there’s a timelessness to them, too. It’s an interaction that has defined much of the American photographer’s work. “Starting a conversation around Dennis’ entire career as a photographer is probably a different, much longer conversation,” says,Project Development at Anthology Editions. “However, speaking specifically for California Trip, the way that he shot the images gave the project a lovely spin towards dark humour and subtle commentary.”
For Stock – who died in 2010, aged 81 – California represented something of the great unknown. In that sense, while there are numerous photo projects depicting the state during that period, his work remains wholly unique. Made with the same kind of intimacy he employed for his portraiture, the images serve as a reminder of America’s radical peak – something, now, that’s never felt further away. “As he mentions in [the book’s] preface, he was always a bit frightened of California. In being so, he was able to shoot it from a slightly outside perspective,” adds Pollock. Now, through Anthology Editions, the book is back in print for the first time since 1970. A faithful reproduction of Stock’s original work, there’s an interesting paradox at play: while the images clearly depict a very specific moment in Californian – and, more broadly, American – history, there’s a timelessness to them, too. It’s an interaction that has defined much of the American photographer’s work.
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Brucemas Day,
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Venice
Capturing the pu
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unks & poets of ’70s California Breaking backstage
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Throughout the decade, photographer Michael Jang made fake press passes to get access to gigs, conventions and Hollywood events.
MICHEAL JANG Hailing from California, Michael Jang came of age during the 1970s. Over that decade, the photographer would amass several series of work, including The Jangs (1973), Beverly Hilton (1973), San Francisco (1973–1987), College (1972–1973), and Punks & Poets (1978–1980). However, although he has been working as a portrait photographer ever since, Jang never showed anyone his work from this period until he submitted selections to San Francisco’s MOMA in 2001.
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“The museum had a drop off policy and I remember thinking I had nothing to lose,” Jang says. “The work was already three decades old, so I no longer had any emotional attachment or investment in it. But the lesson is you have to keep trying to get your work out there. You never know who will see it and what might happen.” SFMOMA Curator Emerita Sandra Phillips saw Jang’s work and took a hand in getting it out, curating the new exhibition Michael Jang’s California and writing the introduction to the monograph, Who Is Michael Jang? (Atelier Editions).
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DAVID BOWIE SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS, 1973 24
The story begins at home. Growing up in a middle-class family, Jang’s father assiduously documented their lives with a camera and super-8 film. “Maybe your parents do influence you,” Jang says. “My dad loved documenting his family. He used to let me finish the last shot or two on a roll of film. That was the start.” The Jangs became a natural subject for the budding photographer to begin his explorations. From there, Jang fashioned fake press passes so he could attend Hollywood events, debutante balls, and eclectic conventions at the Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills. As a self-proclaimed photographer for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and The San Francisco Chronicle, Jang enjoyed the opportunity to freely photograph everyone, from David Bowie to Ronald Reagan. “I don’t think I would try that now – youthful mischievousness then could be a misdemeanour now,” Jang says. “It wasn’t just about fake credentials though. I would have hopped a fence or sneaked in the back door too. Whatever it took. I just knew make an evening interesting for myself.” That, ultimately, is the secret to Jang’s work. He is having the time of his life, whether whipping out a camera in the men’s room or kicking back with friends at Cal-Arts. “Ideas and advice which may have worked five decades ago might not be relevant for the current generation,” Jang says. “It really comes down to just working and enjoying the journey. There is no magic pill.”
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The Photobooks Channelling the Spirit of the Night
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No Photos on the Dance Floor SanlĂŠ Sory
Anything can happen after dark, whether dancing to the incessant beat of a Berlin nightclub or dressing up in drag at home. From archive cabaret images to Tokyo’s hidden voyeurs, these books capture the liberating spirit of the night. Words by Louise Benson.
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Thirty years on from the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the taste of freedom still lingers large in the collective mythology of the city. The techno thump and shudder of its nightclubs, reverberating through the empty post-industrial buildings left behind, are the subject of this impressive tome that explores Berlin’s club culture, filled with the utopian promise of the night that never ends. Thirty years on from the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the taste of freedom still lingers large in the collective mythology of the city. The techno thump and shudder of its nightclubs, reverberating through the empty post-industrial buildings left behind, are the subject of this impressive tome that explores Berlin’s club culture. Filled with the utopian promise of the night that never ends. Thirty years on from the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the taste of freedom still lingers large in the collective mythology of the city. The techno thump and shudder of its nightclubs, reverberating through the empty post-industrial buildings left behind, are the subject of this impressive tome that explores Berlin’s club culture, filled with the utopian promise of the night that never ends. Thirty years on from the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the taste of freedom still lingers large in the mythology of the city.
CO Berlin, DJ Keokie
Zeitmaschine,
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A secret community of lovers and voyeurs are revealed in this iconic photobook, exposed in Tokyo’s Shinjuku, Yoyogi and Aoyama parks by photographer Kohei Yoshiyuki’s 35mm camera, infrared film and blaring flash. Raw in their snapshot quality, they shine a light on a rarely seen side of Japanese society, where loneliness, sadness and desire mingle in brief physical connection.
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Kohei Yoshiyuki, The Park
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The Freedom New York’s iconic subcultural scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s is documented in this bold new book by Walt Cassidy, a paean to the radical spirit and wild glamour of the city’s nightlife. It is a riot of colour, with intricate costumes and glittery club kids splashing a rainbow across the pages. The fun to be had in cheap bars amidst the flourishing music scene of Burkina Faso during the 1960s and seventies is evocatively captured by photographer Sanlé Sory. His images get right into the thick of the action, documenting the burgeoning youth culture, dance parties, weddings and portraits of his home city.
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A secret community of lovers and voyeurs are revealed in this iconic photobook, exposed in Tokyo’s Shinjuku, Yoyogi and Aoyama parks by photographer Kohei Yoshiyuki’s 35mm camera, infrared film and blaring flash. Raw in their snapshot quality, they shine a light on a rarely seen side of Japanese society, where loneliness, sadness and desire mingle in brief physical connection. Filled with the utopian promise of the night that never ends. Thirty years on from the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the taste of freedom still lingers large in the collective mythology of the city. The techno thump and shudder of its nightclubs, reverberating through the empty post-industrial buildings left behind, are the subject of this impressive tome that explores Berlin’s club culture, filled with the utopian promise of the night that never ends. Thirty years on from the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the taste of freedom still lingers large in the mythology of the city.
Within Us
Walt Cassidy, New York Club Kids
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The Tr e nds Shaping V i s u a l Cu l t u r e in 2020
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Are we all doomed, or is there some hope on the horizon?
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2020 is set to be a rollercoaster of a ride, so buckle up as the Mania team talks you through this year’s key trends in art, design and culture.
Optimism 40
Optimism seems an obvious counter to the events of the last decade, and the natural mode with which to begin a new decade. It might not last for the next ten years but, for the coming year at least, hope and optimism underpin a lot of the art that will be making an appearance at some of the 2020 biennales. The second edition of the Riga Biennial (2 May to 11 October), for example, aims to transform the feeling of an impending apocalypse into anticipation for a new beginning—at least, that’s the curatorial concept. On the other side of the world, at the first ever edition of PHOTO (Melbourne’s brand new photo biennale) this May the loose theme will be “truth”, which implies that someone out there still believes even in a post-internet world. In Senegal meanwhile, the approach of the fourteenth Dak’Art Biennale of Contemporary African Art this May is rooted in “Ndaffa” which, in the Serer language, translates as “to forge”. The verb suggests the dynamic action of creating, recreating and kneading: the forming of a new and autonomous world with our hands. Similarly at the Bangkok Biennale, titled Escape Routes, artistic director Apinan Poshyananda says that they will “confront our possible futures, through the eyes and vision of artists and creative thinkers whose art and action will offer us hope and desire, for a better humankind and caring for the earth.” (Charlotte Jansen)
Strip Search. AMO’s selection of unique and highly specific conditions distributed over the globe serves as a framework for their research and represents where the world is headed. Image courtesy of OMA
If the 2010s taught us anything about art history, it was that it desperately needs revising. That work has to begin in the places that invented it: the world’s most influential museums and institutions, who continue to dictate what is remembered and revered. Major exhibitions at institutions take time, so in the 2020s we will be seeing the fruits emerge from the seeds of change sewn in the last ten years. The idea of a “master” is one that will be overturned, with museums staging shows by artists who have been just as significant as the stereotypical western male master, but who have never recognised as such on this scale. Alice Neel will have a survey at the Pompidou (10 June to 24 August); Marina Abramovic has her first UK survey at the Royal Academy (26 September to 8 December); paintings by Lynette YiadomBoakye will be celebrated at Tate Britain, (19 May to 31 August) and the photographs of Dana Lixenberg will be presented in a major exhibition at the Stedelijk. Shirin Neshat’s exhibition continues at The Broad in Los Angeles and Judy Chicago, at the age of eighty, will have her first ever retrospective in the US at San Francisco’s de Young Museum from May. Moving into 2021, there will be much more: one highlight that has already been announced is the biggest exhibition yet to focus on the work of Lorraine O’Grady. (Charlotte Jansen)
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L A N D O F DREAMS 44
“Every Iranian artist, in one form or another, is political. Politics have defined our lives.” Shirin Neshat (b. 1957) engages with the world through lens-based media, demonstrating the power of art to deconstruct the political climate. She was born in Iran but has spent much of her life in exile in the US – creating work exploring themes of displacement, oppression, gender and identity. Goodman Gallery’s Land of Dreams is the artist’s first solo show in London for two decades. Jo Stella-Sawicka, Director, discusses the exhibition, which takes contemporary America as its subject.
45 A: Neshat turns her lens towards America for the first time in this work. Can you explain the signiicance of this moment? JSS: Shirin Neshat has lived in the US since 1975, and for the past 30 years has made art that is intimately bound with her lived experience as a Muslim woman living in exile, using photography, video installation, cinema and performance to explore the political structures that have shaped the history of Iran and other Middle Eastern nations. Now with the rise of nationalism, and the increasing threat against immigrants, it is the first time Neshat has dared to turn her lens toward her host country to interrogate its present socio-political climate. A: What is the narrative explored in the video installation Land of Dreams? JSS: Land of Dreams features two related video installations. The narrative follows Simin – a fictional character who stands in for Neshat herself – an exiled Iranian photographer,
who travels through rural America knocking on citizens’ doors to shoot their portraits and to document their dreams. Simin meets and interviews families from different racial, social and economic backgrounds, representing the diverse populations of America. In the second film, we see Simin compile these dreams into a dossier and deliver them to an Iranian colony, a strange bureaucracy obscured deep within the mountains, to be logged, analysed. A: How does Neshat use the language of dreams and the unconscious to tap into real-world issues? JSS: Neshat has a long-held fascination with dreams, and how they blur the boundaries between fact and fiction, conscious and subconscious. She uses dreams in her work to touch on socio-political, cultural and emotional issues. Dreams give a sense of cross-cultural universality, revealing the shared humanity and vulnerability of those living in exile, using video installation, cinema and performance to explore the political despite their backgrounds.
A: How does Neshat use the language of dreams and the unconscious to tap real-world issues?
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JSS: Neshat has a long-held fascination with dreams, and how they blur the boundaries between fact and fiction, conscious and subconscious. She uses dreams in her work to touch on socio-political, cultural and emotional issues. Dreams give a sense of cross-cultural universality, revealing the shared humanity and vulnerability of those living under social, political and economic injustice, despite their backgrounds. A: Let’s discuss the portraits in the show – who are the subjects and what messages do they convey? JSS: There will be approximately 65 portraits of the total 111 shot by Neshat for Land of Dreams. These portraits are representative of the images the fictional character, Simin, would have shot in the films. The still and moving images were shot by Neshat in New Mexico.
Stills from Land of Dreams.
The exhibition opens 20 February.
A number of the portraits are inscribed with hand-written Farsi calligraphy, which annotates the subject’s dreams or notes their name, place and date of birth. A: How do the photographs and video installations speak to each other? JSS: Land of Dreams marks the first time that Neshat has combined the mediums of photography, film and video together in one immersive storytelling experience. The portrait photographs represent the narrative of the films we have just witnessed, blurring boundaries between fiction and reality; between art, and politics A: What do you hope audiences take away from the exhibition? JSS: We are excited to be bringing Neshat to London for her first exhibition in over 20 years. Her break out gallery exhibition at the Serpentine in 2000 was highly acclaimed and enjoyed huge visitor numbers.
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5 to See: Festive Light Shows
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Deframe collates inspiring illuminations to see this festive period– transforming historic buildings and city streets with bright colours, soundscapes and intriguing concepts. With the use of the light these places create a unique experiences to those viewers who wants to enjoy the warmest welcome tho the cities. You can use the code “DEFRAME”, in the entrance of the included places in this article.
1 Artist Anne Hardy has transformed Tate Britain’s façade with cascading banners, shuttered doors and tangled lights. The commission is inspired by the winter solstice – the darkest moment of the year. An atmospheric soundscape of rain, thunder, birds and insects accompanies the visuals, evoking nature whilst transporting visitors to a post-apocalyptic future. The building appears marooned on the bank of the River Thames – alluding to contemporary social, ecological and political issues. Until 26 January.
Tate Britain Winter Commission
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Canary Wharf Winter Lights Festival
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25 large-scale installations populate London’s annual Winter Lights festival. For its sixth edition, the Canary Wharf festival presents light works by practitioners from around the world, set against the background of the business district’s bright towers. Some are marking their debut in the UK alongside commissioned works and popular pieces from previous years. The digital artworks create a sensory landscape full of possibility – coloured LEDS and immersive pieces offer audiences an otherworldly experience. 16-25 January.
3 I l l u m i n o Ci t y
Colour-changing cubes. Neon sentences. Figures absorbed by smartphones. IlluminoCity presents works from Amsterdam’s pioneering Light Art Collection. The pieces hold up a mirror to today’s world, looking at themes of social media, language and reality. It celebrates new developments in the realms of digital art, whilst providing an all-encompassing experience that alters the city experience. It is an arena of intrigue and surprise. Until 17 January.
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National Trust Christmas Lights 52
Colour-changing cubes. Neon sentences. Figures absorbed by smartphones. IlluminoCity presents works from Amsterdam’s pioneering Light Art Collection. The pieces hold up a mirror to today’s world, looking at thÆ National Trust transforms its historic buildings through rainbow illuminations. The 2019 winter programme takes place in locations across the UK, showcasing many majestic properties in a new light. When darkness falls, the country’s
ruins, gardens and manors come alive with neon beams – each bathed in a shimmering glow. Tradition and digital collide: Purple trees, bright orange bridges and floodlit columns are all spectacles to consider. emes of social media, language and reality. It celebrates new developments in the realms of digital art, whilst providing an all-encompassing experience that alters the city experience. It is an arena of intrigue and surprise. Until 17 January.
Time & Place, Messums Wiltshire A field of fallen moons shines at sunset. A sea of glowing spheres stretches into the distance. These are the sights created by British light artist Bruce Munro at Messums Wiltshire. Shown above is Moon Harvest, which references the rural calendar and lunar cycles. Projections are cast onto multiple hay bales, creating a mysterious and surreal landscape that glows brightly into the night. This ethereal aura continues throughout the show. Until 26 January.
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NUNO SERRAO
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Micro Narratives
“I took these in Sintra, a forest surrounded by myths and folk tales that go back to the Roman Empire.�
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Nuno Serrão is a Portuguese photographer, cinematographer and creative director, interested in the dialogues between science and contemporary art. Trees bend over, covering isolated cars. Transient orange clouds bounce from tarmac puddles. Each of his images considers how information is handled, shared and perceived, framing scenarios as micro-narratives, demonstrating a sensitivity and a curiosity for the planet and its inhabitants. Serrão has exhibited as part of Rotterdam Photo Festival, and has been nominated as Astronomy Picture of the Day and the World Photography Organization’s Architecture Finalist. He has numerous publications, essays and feature credits, as well as film festival screenings for his moving image works. Each of his images considers how information is handled, shared and perceived, framing scenarios as micro-narratives, demonstrating a sensitivity and a curiosity for the planet and its inhabitants. Serrão has exhibited as part of the Rotterdam Photo and Film Festival.
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Under a Storm “Nuno Serrão is a Portuguese photographer, filmmaker, and creative director, interested in the dialogues between science and contemporary art. Each of his images considers how information is handled, shared and perceived, framing scenarios as micro-narratives, demonstrating a sensitivity and a curiosity for the planet and its inhabitants.” Kate Simpson, Aesthetica Magazine, 2019. Hi, I’m a Portuguese photographer and filmmaker born in Madeira
Island, 1980.My blank slate starts with a functional level of emotion, logic, minimalism, and curiosity. I consider these to be my metric system. Curiosity often leads me into document frameable micro-narratives that, in the end, will pose a whole new set of questions. With the sum of all relatable questions, interested in the dialogues. Each of his images considers how information is handled and perceived precisely in science and contemporary art.
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nunoserrao.com @nunoserrao
Jean-Michel Basquiat in Issey Miyake 1983Photography © Yutaka Sakano
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Secret drawings in invisible UV paint found in Basquiat paintings New markings were discovered in a 1981 piece by the New York art wunderkind
Drawings made by Jean-Michel Basquiat in invisible ink have been discovered on one of his artworks, hinting at more secret messages and pieces across his iconic catalogue of art. Art conservator Emily Macdonald-Korth found the markings when working on Basquiat’s “Untitled (1981)” for a client who wanted to be sure the painting was from 1981. As told to and reported by Artnet News, Macdonald-Korth was analysing the work using UV and infrared lights, spotting the invisible ink when examining the painting for repair. Speaking to Artnet News she said: “I’ve never seen anything like it. He basically did a totally secret part of this painting.”
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He must have been playing with a UV flashlight and thought, ‘this is cool.’ It really relates to his use of erasure.
It really relates to his use of erasure.” There are two small arrows done in invisible ink, in a similar way to the arrows visible on the work in red and black oil.
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Back in 2012, a signature of the artist done in invisible ink was discovered on “Orange Sports Figure” (1982). Macdonald-Korth believes more UV work could be found in his paintings, specifically those with similar arrow motifs, like his famous “Poison Oasis”. The art conservator is asking anyone who owns original Basquiat paintings to purchase a long-wave UV flashlight to inspect their works for UV ink. The interest and love for the New York artist has only grown since his tragic death in 1988. A contemporary of Andy Warhol, he first drew attention for his provocative, mysterious SAMO street art, before taking the art world by storm with his neo-expressionist paintings that focus on identity, power structures, race and pop culture. Back in September, news broke that a musical based on the life of Basquiat would be brought to the stage, with the help of the artist’s estate. A biopic was made on his life back in 1996, with David Bowie playing Andy Warhol and Jeffrey Wright as Basquiat. Books, documentaries and tribute exhibitions have been released and shown in the decades since his death. The first large-scale UK exhibition of his work took place in 2017, titled Boom Real.
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Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (1981), showing the hidden UV ink arrowsvia Artnet News, courtesy of Longevity Art Preservation
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Photographer Quil Lemons investigates the formation of black masculinity Quil Lemons’ BOY PARTS
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Mania alumnus debuts a new series of images that uses the Ken doll as its jump-off to talk about breaking down stereotypes
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Photographer Quil Lemons has truly had a break-out year. Though he came to prominence via his GLITTERBOY series in 2017, where he painted black men in glitter makeup, this year the 22-year-old cemented his status as an emerging photographer. “The highlight of my year was really just seeing my own personal growth as an artist,” Lemons, also a Dazed 100 alumnus, says. “To go from doing maybe one or two shoots a month to being able to do like eight or nine and have them all be strong and have their own identities, but still be cohesive, is something that I’m really happy to be able to do.” For this fourth quarter alone, the star has shot three magazine covers. But this year, Lemons was also definitively written into the canon. Antwaun Sargent’s The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and Fashion, writes a global generation of black photographers contending with fashion into history, and names Lemons among them. “To receive that recognition so young was really nice,” Lemons says. “So many black artists have to wait until they’re dead or damn near dead to receive that type of recognition. So I was happy that Antwaun took this moment seriously enough to put it in the canon.” On December 14, Lemons will showcase this new series in a free group exhibition called Creator Labs. Shot entirely on a Google Pixel 4, BOY PARTS sees Lemons continue to investigate ideas surrounding black masculinity that served as jump-off points for GLITTERBOY and another series, PURPLE, while taking influences from artists such as Mapplethorpe and Kehinde Wiley.
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“I took the Ken doll and I just destroyed it and reconstructed it, which is really what men have to do to find their own identity as a man” – Quil Lemons
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BOY Your new series is called BOY PARTS. Can you talk to me a little about that name specifically?
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Quil Lemons: We’ve all discussed that masculinity is a construct, and we've been addressing that since 2016. But no one talks about the fact that we, as men, as we go about figuring out life, are sort of building this Frankenstein thing where we just put together what pieces of masculinity or manhood work for us individually. In 2016, the conversation was that this old form of masculinity wasn't working. We had to reposition it with a new idea of what it could be. But no one was addressing the fact that this new idea was being influenced by these old ways of thinking as well. For me, it's always been this kind of a cluster-fuck of things that sort of make sense for this traditional idea of manhood, but then you look at yourself and you're like, ‘Okay, these other things don't fit.’ So you're picking and choosing what tropes or features of the world’s masculinity fit you, and how that works. So it ends up being a mixture. I think most men end up being this Frankenstein's monster of what a man ‘should’ be. Originally, I was playing around with the idea of deconstructing a Barbie because I felt like the Barbie doll was something that was supposed to be this peak form of masculinity. Like a Ken doll? Quil Lemons: Yeah. Like the Ken doll is supposed to be like the apex of what a man should look like and how a man should be. I thought about how that the
PARTS Ken doll is something that's only accessible to young girls; young boys are told that we're not supposed to play with dolls in general because it's for girls and it's a feminine thing. So the only way to access this peak masculine form would be through femininity. I thought that was a really interesting tension and juxtaposition. Then I took the Ken doll and I just destroyed it and reconstructed it, which is really what men have to do to find their own identity as a man. Like taking the whole concept of masculinity, the whole concept of what it means to be a man and taking it apart and restructuring it how you want to present yourself, or how you, as a person that is born, or as a person that identifies as a male, what that looks like for you. That's how the name came about. That’s how does this relate to the imagery. The imagery was really about just letting these boys’ personalities show and letting them just create their own identity – their own idea of what that should be. It was very collaborative in a sense, between me the models, and also the stylist Zara Mirkin, and makeup artist Sage White. The project also changed in a way because I was going to do ‘Black Venus as a Boy’. But I felt like, there’s an idea that black men are always being hyper-sexualised and I wanted to do this in a way of just celebrating the black male form in a way that wasn’t fetishisation. I feel like you never really see black men own their sexuality unless it’s exaggerated. Then, you see these certain tropes for black men. For one in the series, a lot of the men are sagging their jeans – which is really distinctive to the black experience. Then I think about how they all have these tattoos, something that is really specific and niche.
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BLACK masculinity was also addressed in your first series, GLITTERBOY. Is there a thread connecting the two?
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Quil Lemons: As soon as GLITTERBOY came out, this conservative part of black Twitter, was dragging me and calling me a ‘faggot’ for days on end. There was this one Instagram video I did and (in the comments) people were telling me I was destroying what it means to be a black man, that I was a ‘faggot’, and I shouldn’t be doing this.I thought that conversation was interesting because I didn’t really do anything. I just put the glitter on people’s faces and that was enough to get all of this response. So it’s like, ‘Okay, you guys didn’t like that.’ I like to play devil’s advocate and like to really stir the pot and I was like, ‘How do I take this to another level if you think GLITTERBOY was destroying masculinity?” So I really wanted to completely tear this to the ground and rebuild it. Do you see yourself continuing to investigate black masculinity in your future work?
Quil Lemons: I don’t know how to not address the conversation of being a black man, because it’s my body and I have to live a lot of these experiences. With the casting decisions, I chose a lot of boys I know that are young black men that don’t have it easy walking the streets with the things that they choose to wear, how they present themselves. I don’t think GLITTERBOY was subversive enough. I don’t think it pushed enough buttons. I don’t think it went as far as I really wanted it to go. The conversation has become a little bit more popularised and commercial. Like there were 90 different theories put out about ‘restructuring the idea of the black man’. I think people got tired of it but I don’t think that conversation is over – maybe in our little bubble we’ve heard or seen it a lot but it’s really not enough. We need to continue those conversations because there are so many people that still come up to me today to talk about GLITTERBOY. I think it’d be silly for me to be like, ‘Oh, I can never address that again,’
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Salvador DalĂ
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Lessons we can take from Salvador Dalí’s surreal ways of living and working To celebrate the release of a new book on one of surrealism’s most celebrated figures, we’ve collected some of the life wisdom he has to offer
As a prominent surrealist, Salvador Dalí constantly walked a fine line between genius and exhibitionist eccentricity, but the importance and influence of his legacy is undeniable. The mere sight of his iconic moustache triggers simultaneous images of melting clocks, lobster phones, and unearthly, tactile landscapes. Stories about his real-life are often just as unbelievable (admittedly, it’s sometimes difficult to tell the facts from the fiction). But beneath a chaotic and often-bizarre surface, Dalí was also firmly tethered to reality. To craft an idiosyncratic world with his art, he drew on influences ranging from Velázquez to contemporary pop culture, and he also showed a deep understanding of what it means to be a successful working artist. A recently-released book by Taschen, Dali. The Paintings, seeks to examine the artist’s oeuvre in relation to these influences. At a hefty 752 pages, it brings in documents such as writing and sketches – many of which are previously unseen – to contextualise his work, from his beginnings as an unknown artist through to the conclusions drawn at the end of a life of curiosity, and beyond.
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KNOW YOUR WORTH,
THEN ADD TAX 78
Culturally, we romanticise the archetype of the penniless artist. We want to think of artists as being incorruptible truth-tellers on the radical vanguard of culture. But art is big business and commercially-astute artists (such as Jeff Koons) are denounced for being too thirsty to pander to the demands of the market.
of the movement by commercially exploiting his own work. But Dalí was unapologetic. Throughout his career he kept an eye on opportunities to make money, turning his hand to designing the 1969 Eurovision logo and the iconic Chupa Chups lollipops logo. He even appeared in a bizarre advert for Lanvin chocolates (below).
In 1997 David Bowie was heavily criticised for partnering with Prudential Insurance Company and selling off his entire back catalogue in the form of “Bowie Bonds”. At the time, he was condemned for commodifying his art but, in retrospect, it was a visionary move. As an early adopter of the world wide web, Bowie predicted the way that buying and owning music would become devalued, anticipating the fluid nature of file-sharing and streaming. Bowie Bonds are credited as being one of the first instances of intellectual property being used as the underlying collateral of a bond. But Dalí had been trading in “Avida Dollars” for decades.
The surrealist artist possessed an incredibly prescient sense of himself and his brand as a commodity. Known for paying his secretaries in works of art rather than actual cash, Dalí was also notorious for decorating cheques with elaborate drawings alongside his distinctive signature, with the knowledge that his flourishes would bestow value on the cheque beyond the cost of the goods or services he was paying for, and they’d become less likely to get cashed in. Legend has it that he left a trail of hand-embellished cheques framed and hung on the walls of many restaurants he’d frequented over the years. This technique – essentially creating his own currency based on his creative cache – has apparently been the subject of multiple case studies and research projects in business and finance, highlighting the importance of cash flow and trading with goods of a specific, known worth.
Andre Breton, an artist at the forefront of surrealism, coined the term “Avida Dollars” (it’s an anagram of “Salvador Dalí”) as a derogatory nickname for Dalí, whom Breton saw as compromising the integrity
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“I want only to be Salvador Dalí, I have no greater wish” – Salvador Dalí
LOVE THY SELF
80 Dalí reveled in being himself, famously claiming, “Each morning when I awake I experience again a supreme pleasure – that of being Salvador Dalí.”
dor Dalí, I have no greater wish.” In case any more clarity was needed, he wrote a book in 1963 about his own work and practices simply titled Diary of a Genius.
His flagrant self-love was publicly condemned by the novelist and critic George Orwell, who responded to Dalí’s autobiography, The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí, with a critical essay entitled Benefit of Clergy: Some Notes on Salvador Dalí. Orwell described the autobiography as “a strip-tease act conducted in pink limelight” and assassinated Dalí’s character, describing him as “an unmistakable assault on sanity and decency.” But the trajectory of Dalí’s ambition was undeterred. The self-proclaimed “cosmogonic genius” launched his autobiography by revealing that at the age of six he wanted to be a cook, and at seven he aspired to be Napoleon. “Since then,” he later said, “my ambition has steadily grown, and my megalomania with it. Now I want only to be Salva-
His self-love also extended to his sexual practices, another area of his life in which he lavished a great deal of affection on himself. As a young child, Dalí’s disciplinarian father showed him a book of images of untreated sexually transmitted diseases. If it was meant as a deterrent, it worked. Dalí’s chronic horror of castration and female genitalia meant he remained a virgin until he was 25 and, despite his many same-sex encounters (including a relationship with the poet Federico García Lorca), and his passionate marriage to Gala, describing him as “an unmistakable assault on sanity the artist tended to prefer auto-eroticism to penetrative sex. His famous masturbation-related artworks include the controversial “Hitler Masturbating” (1973) and “The Great Masturbator” (1923).
TAKE ART HISTORY AND Dalí may be known primarily as a surrealist, but he was actually a restless experimenter, working in many different styles and mediums throughout his career. As a young man, he shamelessly appropriated elements from other movements, including impressionism, pointillism, cubism, fauvism, purism and futurism with great skill. His habit was to borrow from artistic trends, incorporating aspects of these schools into his own work, before ridiculing them and, ultimately, moving on. Salvador
Dalí: The Paintings is a testimony to his spirit of inquiry and experimentation, and his desire to “tease out the secrets of great works.”Dalí continually diversified. From the 1940s, he broadened the scope of his creative practice, working on a number of projects such as designing dresses with Elsa Schiaparelli, creating film sets for Alfred Hitchcock, and commercial graphic design projects (including the aforementioned iconic Chupa Chup lollipops logo). The diversity of his work speaks of his creative
MAKE I T YO U R O W N curiosity and agility, as well as his embrace of popular culture alongside his high art and purism and futurism with great skill.
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Dalí suffered from a pathological aversion to ordinariness. His innate exhibitionism almost proved fatal in 1936 when he delivered his lecture at the London International Surrealist Convention dressed in an antique diving suit, inexplicably holding a billiard cue and accompanied by two Russian wolfhounds. It was a gesture meant to represent the mystical act of diving into his own subconscious – taking a swim in Lake Salvador, as it were.
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But the stunt backfired when he began to suffocate in the soundproofed helmet and, believing it was part of the performance, no one intervened. The incident didn’t deter him and his grandiose ways continued. A 1941 newsreel documents a party he threw at the Hotel Del Monte in Monterey, California, called A Surrealistic Night in an Enchanted Forest. The party features a real lion cub and a monkey, and a fish course served in satin slippers,
followed by a main course of live frogs (both presented to a perplexed Bob Hope). Years down the line, his houses became gathering points for a coterie of other upcoming stars, including (but by no means limited to) David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, and Ultra Violet. Dalí would dress this eccentric crowd – dubbed his “Court of Miracles”, or transvestites by Spanish newspapers, take them around tourage for riotous behaviour.
BE GRANDIOSE AT ALL TIMES
BE AHEAD OF THE TIMES Dalí, in many respects, was way ahead of his time. Countless acts throughout his life could be considered performance art, placing him among the vanguard of the movement, but he also envisioned concrete artworks made from technologies that barely even existed yet. In 1973, he met a 25-year-old Alice Cooper and spent six months rendering the singer as a hologram (a com-
plex technology that was then still in its infancy). The result is “First Cylindric Chromo-Hologram Portrait of Alice Cooper’s Brain”, a groundbreaking artwork now housed in the collection of the Dalí Museum in Figueres. Before that though, he also created remarkable optical illusions, such as “Dalí Atomicus” (1948), a black and white photograph by Philippe Halsman, which shows the
artist suspended in the air with three cats, water arcing from a bucket, and various items of furniture. The theory – “jumpology” – was that jumping while a photograph is taken distracts the subject, revealing their true spirit. However, in a pre-Photoshop world, it was easier said than done. The eventual photograph required 26 attempts and utilised to suspend the various objects.
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GORILLAZ 85
Gorillaz share a new song with Tony Allen and Skepta How Far?, the latest track from the band’ Song Machine project, was released in tribute to the late drummer
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On April 30, the legendary drummer and Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen passed away aged 79. In tribute, Gorillaz have shared a song featuring Allen, as well as Skepta, titled “How Far?”.“The track was written and recorded with Skepta in London just before lockdown and is being shared immediately as a tribute to the spirit of a great man, Tony Allen,” reads a press release. The track will also form part of Gorillaz’s ongoing Song Machine project.“How Far?” is far from the first time Allen and Damon Albarn, of Gorillaz, have linked up though. The pair both performed in the supergroup The Good, the Bad & the Queen, with a debut album released in 2007. Albarn has also appeared on a few Tony Allen records.“I want to take care of youngsters – they have messages and I want to bring them on my beat,” reads a quote from the late drummer on an Instagram post announcing the new track. Listen to “How Far?” below. “The track was written and recorded with Skepta in London just before lockdown and is being shared immediately as a tribute to the spirit of a great man, Tony Allen,” reads a press release. The track will also form part of Gorillaz’s ongoing Song Machine project.“How Far?” is far from the first time Allen and Damon Albarn, of Gorillaz, have linked up though. The pair both performed in the supergroup The Good, the Bad & the Queen, with a debut album released in the middle of 2007.
‘ EVERYDAY SOMEBODY DIE, STILL, MOTHERS GIVE BIRTH TO MORE BABIES
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THE EARTH SPINS, THE WORLD GETS MORE CRAZY ’
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On 22 April 1970, the world marked the first Earth Day. People came together to celebrate and raise awareness about the importance of protecting the planet. This year marks the 50th anniversary. At a time of social distancing, Aesthetica selects a range of online activities and events that can be accessed whilst staying at home – including virtual tours and and creative challenges. Serpentine Galleries’ multiyear Back to Earth programme invites over 60 artists, architects, poets, filmmakers, scientists, designers and thinkers to respond to the climate crisis. Launching on Earth Day, Olafur Eliasson’s new participatory work, Earth Perspectives, looks at the planet from a variety of viewpoints – including those of plants, animals, and nature. He explains: “I want to advocate – as on any other day – that we recognise these various perspectives and, together, celebrate their co-existence.” Serpentine Galleries’ multi-year Back to Earth programme invites over 60 artists, architects, poets, filmmakers, scientists, designers and thinkers to respond to the climate crisis. Launching on Earth Day, Olafur Eliasson’s new participatory work, Earth Perspectives, looks at the planet from a variety of viewpoints – including those of plants, animals, and nature. He explains: “I want to advocate – as on any other day – that we recognise these various perspectives and, together, celebrate their co-existence.” On 22 April 1970, the world marked the first Earth Day. People came together to celebrate and raise awareness about the importance of protecting the planet. This year marks the 50th anniver-
sary. At a time of social distancing, Aesthetica selects a range of online activities and events that can be accessed whilst staying at home – including virtual tours and and creative challenges. Serpentine Galleries’ multi-year Back to Earth programme invites over. 60 artists, architects, poets, filmmakers, scientists, designers and thinkers to respond to the climate crisis. Launching on Earth Day, Olafur Eliasson’s new participatory work, Earth Perspectives, looks at the planet from a variety of viewpoints – including those of plants, animals, and nature, we recognise these in. Aesthetica selects a
EARTH DAY 5: ONLINE ACTIVITIES Olafur Eliasson: Earth Perspectives, Serpentine Galleries
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range of online activities and events that can be accessed whilst staying at home – including virtual tours and and creative challenges. Serpentine Galleries. On 22 April 1970, the world marked the first Earth Day. People came together to celebrate and raise awareness about the importance of protecting the planet. This year marks the 50th anniversary. At a time of social distancing, Aesthetica selects a range of online activities and events that can be accessed whilst staying at home. On 22 April 1970, the world marked the first Earth Day. People came together to celebrate and raise awareness
about the importance of protecting the planet. This year marks the 50th anniversary. At a time of social distancing, Aesthetica selects a range of online activities and events that can be accessed whilst staying at home. 60 artists, architects, poets, filmmakers and thinkers to respond to the climate crisis. Launching on Earth Day, Olafur Eliasson’s new participatory work, Earth Perspectives, looks at the planet from a variety of viewpoints. We select a range of online activities and events that can be accessed whilst staying at home – including virtual tours and and creative challenges.
NASA: #EarthDayXAtHome
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WWF is inviting people to make artworks demonstrating a passion for nature. The challenge offers a creative outlet and a space for expression – inspiring those who are staying at home to make something new. Each day of the week presents a new theme: from One Planet to Oceans and Forests. Aiming to create a virtual community at a time of social distancing, the campaign is taking place across Instagram and Facebook — using the hashtag #ArtForEarth. WWF will highlight selected works across their platforms. “We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth.” – Bill Anders’ iconic Earthrise, featured above, is believed to
have inspired the modern environmental protection movement – and the first Earth Day. For the 50th anniversary, NASA has collated an Earth Day Toolkit – bringing together books, apps, videos, images, art and interactive activities. Astronauts talk about our planet from space. Podcasts delve into global changes. Satellite views document weather patterns. The challenge offers a creative outlet and a space for expression. Each day of the week presents a new theme: from One Planet to Oceans and Forests. Aiming to create a virtual community at a time of social distancing, the campaign is taking place across Instagram and Facebook — using the hashtag #ArtForEarth. WWF will highlight selected works across their platforms. NASA has collated an Earth Day Toolkit – bringing together books, apps, videos, images, art and interactive activities. Astronauts talk about our planet from space.
Somerset House Earth Day Programme
Somerset House presents a range of free interactive events online, exploring how art and culture can inspire positive action in relation to the current ecological crisis. Award-winning inclusive fashion designer Bethany Williams presents a series of digital DIY workshops focused on sustainability and social responsibility – inviting audiences to think about the impact of their actions on future generations. Inspiring live talks from innovative designers look towards a new wave of ethical companies. Award-winning inclusive fashion designer Bethany Williams. “The work of leading international artists urges us to think about the essential roles that trees and forests play in our lives,” notes Director Ralph Rugoff. Bethany Williams presents a series of digital DIY workshops focused on sustainability.
From Colombian rainforests to jungles in Japan, olive orchards in Israel to Scandinavian woods, Among the Trees is an immersive journey into the world’s forests. At a time when around 36 football fields’ worth of trees are lost every minute, it offers an important message. “The work of leading international artists urges us to think about the essential roles that trees and forests play in our lives,” notes Director Ralph Rugoff. Featured here is Myoung Ho Lee, who positions large canvases behind trees – questioning ideas of artifice.Among the Trees is an immersive journey. 60 artists, architects, poets, filmmakers and thinkers to respond to the climate crisis. Launching on Earth Day, Olafur Eliasson’s new participatory work, Earth Perspectives, looks at the planet from a variety of viewpoints and many more.
Among the Trees Virtual Tour, Hayward Gallery 91
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The connection between interior and exterior worlds has never been more prevalent. 93 Within our homes, shapes, forms and entranceways have been given new meaning as we redefine rooms for altered lifestyles.Cyril Lancelin’s practice combines technology and art, often engaging the public immersive installations that provoke questions about the built environment through spaces that ambiguous. Classical shapes and volumetric spaces are essential to the structures; architectural forms are transformed into experiential art through software design. Circles, squares and triangles prop up glass facades and concrete ceilings in imagined houses. Chain, pictured above, is a parametric wall proposal. House Geometry, pictured below, is also a conceived idea – reconsidering the use of structural blocks Throughout his 60 year career Roberto Burle Marx (1909–1994) designed more than 2,000 gardens around the world; he also discovered around 50 new plant species. Deutsche Bank KunstHalle Berlin welcomes the touring exhibition Roberto Burle Marx: Brazilian Modernist.
Modernist Landscapes
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Following its premiere at The Jewish Museum, New York, in 2016. The show illustrates the full range of his artistic production and erases boundaries between different media and disciplines. Described as a 20th century Renaissance man, he was a prolific landscape architect, painter, sculptor, set designerand environmental. Burle Marx’s pioneering designs for BrasĂlia and Rio de Janeiro have a lasting impact on these cities. Roberto Burle Marx: Brazilian Modernist, until 3 October, Deutsche Bank KunstHalle Berlin..
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Karen Khachaturov’s images are firmly lodged in a disjointed fairytale. Each photograph is like a hard-boiled sweet with a salty centre.
A PASTEL DYSTOPIA
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Karen Khachaturov’s images are firmly lodged in a disjointed fairytale. Each photograph is like a hard-boiled sweet with a salty centre. Alluring pastel pinks, blues and mint greens give way to a persistent sense of danger and imprisonment. Hands, feet and heads are lodged within pale pink cinder blocks – figures slumped against walls in an effort to escape. Meanwhile characters send smoke signals into the air: plumes of orange and magenta dissipate. Karen Khachaturov’s images are firmly lodged in a disjointed fairytale. Each photograph is like a hard-boiled sweet with a salty centre. Alluring pastel pinks, blues and mint greens give way to a persistent sense of danger and imprisonment. Hands, feet and heads are lodged within pale pink cinder blocks – figures slumped against walls in an effort to escape. Meanwhile characters send smoke signals into the air: plumes of orange and magenta dissipate into the white clouds.
Khachaturov has exhibited internationally in TelAviv, Beijing, Shenzhen, Toronto, Sydney, and New York, including ICP, the Naregatsi Art Institute.
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Stairs and roofs cut diagonally the compositions, splicing the perspective. The figures are always ascending, or descending – looking for a way out of the walls or into the sky.
Hands, feet and heads are lodged within pale pink cinder blocks – figures slumped against walls in an effort to escape.
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IN TO CINEMA 99
Our Strange New Land: Photographs by Alex Harris is the latest chapter in the ongoing Picturing the South project.
“I am less an actor in this exhibit as I am collector
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In 2017, when I began to work on my Picturing the South commission from the High Museum, I had been teaching in Duke’s new MFA program for five years, working closely with serious filmmakers focused on the process of telling stories with moving image. So having been immersed in the process of filmmaking, thinking about and sometimes even dreaming about my students’ films, I was fascinated by and somewhat familiar with the world of filmmaking, even though I’d only been on a film set once before.
and curator of my images.” I was also inspired by my then decade-old memory of my first and only time on a movie set, for Steven Soderbergh’s CHE. The producer, Laura Bickford, invited me to photograph in Mexico where Soderbergh was filming the last battle of the Cuban revolution, a battle in which Che Guevara played the key role. Before I arrived in Mexico, I imagined that photographing on Soderbergh’s movie set would be a kind of exercise in make-believe, fundamentally different from my experience photographing in Cuba itself for my earlier book The Idea of Cuba. But when Benecio Del Toro walked on set, the actors and extras responded as if Che were there amongst us. When I arrived on the set of CHE, a set photographer was already hired to make pictures for publicity. The producer was interested in how I would respond as a photographer to being on set, to whatever unfolded on set or behind the scenes. I found myself drawn not so much to the stars of the film, but to the extras, the ordinary Mexican townspeople playing Cubans at war. With another take, from different distance or angle. That is a photographer’s dream!
Alex Harris (American, born 1949), Greener Grass in Gay, Georgia, 2018,
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MoMA: Digital Presence
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, has the largest digital audience of any museum, reaching more than 30 million people worldwide.
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During its closure, Aesthetica selects five online strands to explore from home. New exhibitions, archive material and informative documentaries delve into the history of art. MoMA has a wide range of audio clips available on the website. Each insight delves into the collection and special exhibitions – offering perspectives from leading names in contemporary art. In one podcast, artists and writers reflect on Donald Judd’s works in light of a recent retrospective. In another, MoMA’s department of security shares personal stories about works on view. Light and space artist James Turrell speaks about creating all-encompassing works, whilst activists look at art’s potential to spark change. New exhibitions, archive material and informative documentaries delve into the history of art. MoMA has a wide range of audio clips available on the website. Each insight delves into the collection and special exhibitions – offering perspectives from leading names in contemporary art. In one podcast, artists and writers reflect on Donald Judd’s works in light of a recent retrospective. In another, MoMA’s department of security shares personal stories about works on view. Activists look at art’s potential to spark change.
Virtual
Views:
Dorothea
Lange
Dorothea Lange (1895-1965) was a trailblazing female photographer who was committed to telling the human story through raw, honest and intimate portraits. She utilised the power of photography to raise public awareness of the effects of the Great Depression and global inequities. Towards the end of her life, Lange noted that “all photographs – not only those that are so called ‘documentary’ – can be fortified by words.” MoMA hosts the first exhibition of Lange in over 50 years. Opens 30 April.
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Spanning the last 150 years, MoMA’s evolving collection contains almost 200,000 works from around the world. It includes painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, photography, architecture, design, film and media and performance art. . Audiences can browse all the works that would usually be on view from home, as well as learn. New exhibitions, archive material and informative documentaries delve into the history of art. Each insight delves into the collection and special exhibitions – offering perspectives from leading names in contemporary art. In one podcast, artists and writers reflect on Donald Judd’s works in light of a recent retrospective.
Exhibition History Spanning the last 150 years, MoMA’s evolving collection contains almost 200,000 works from around the world. It includes painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, photography, architecture, design, film and media and performance art. Their website features more than 86,000 artworks and over 26,000 artists. Audiences can browse all the works that would usually be on view from home, as well as learn about the latest additions to the collection. Users can search, filter and view any work online, for free. MoMA shares its exhibition history – charting shows from the museum’s founding in 1929 to the present. Highlights include the landmark photography exhibition The Family of Man, which took form of photo essay celebrating the human experience.
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MoMA on YouTube An expansive selection of video content delves into art, design, film and architecture. The Artist Stories strand presents interviews with living artists such as Sheila Hicks, Richard Serra and Arthur Jafa. Observational documentary series At the Museum provides insights into curation and exhibition, whilst How To See explores the work of seminal names Joan Miró, Louise Bourgeois, Frank Lloyd Wright and Robert Rauschenberg. Curators and family members feature in high-quality, informative clips.s into curation and exhibition, whilst How To See explores the work of seminal names Joan. Miró, Louise Bourgeois, Frank Lloyd Wright and Robert Rauschenberg. Curators and family members feature in high-quality, informative clips. Opening in 1955, it was organised by Edward Steichen as a declaration of global solidarity in the decade following World War II. Viewers can also explore William Eggleston’s controversial 1976 show, into
curation and exhibition, which changed the game for colour photography. An expansive selection of video content delves into art, design, film and architecture. The Artist Stories strand presents interviews with living artists such as Sheila Hicks, Richard Serra and Arthur Jafa. Observational documentary series At the Museum provides insights into curation and exhibition, whilst How To See explores the work of seminal names Joan Miró, Louise Bourgeois, Frank Lloyd Wright and Robert Rauschenberg. Curators and family members feature in high-quality, informative clips.s into curation and exhibition, whilst How To See explores the work of seminal names Joan. Miró, family members feature in high-quality, informative clips. Users can search, filter and view any work online, for free. MoMA shares its exhibition history – charting shows from the museum’s founding in 1929 to the present. Highlights include the landmark photography and arts exhibition.
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Estate of Vivian Maier, Courtesy Maloof Collection and Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York.
Works in Colour
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Vivian Maier’s (1926-2009) photographs 108
Vivian Maier documented scenes in daily life that could easily be overlooked, but when frozen in a photographic frame turn humorous; unexpected moments that might be missed in a living moment. One example is the image of a shop window showing a reproduction of a Mona Lisa painting with hair curlers. The woman is trying to maintain some femininity after a trauma of some kind and Maier actually makes that very clear in this simple and seemingly silly moment she caught. One last example is the image of a sign displaying an anonymous text “JUST PUT ON A HAPP FACE”. The “Y” has fallen off the word “HAPPY” and the sentence loses its meaning. By zooming in on details, Maier captures the essence of something both amusing and profound that are buried in the motion of daily life. There is a work of a man holding a bouquet of big colorful balloons. This piece truly shows the magic of early color photography: the vibrant colors of the Maier used captured the texture and patterns on the balloons. Photographs like this create the illusion of looking through a window.
What do you hope viewers
Chicago, 1975
The works will not be installed according to a firm theme, except for a separate section where a selection of Maier’s self-portraits will be presented together. The visitor can chose themselves how to experience the works and walk through the exhibition space. They can learn about various themes relating to Maier’s life and work throughout the space from short, in-depth texts. Due to the current restrictions, the exhibition will be installed at a later date. However, through the use of social media we will be showing selected works and sharing content in the coming weeks that we think will give great insights to the exhibition. So keep an eye out for that! Many people may be mostly familiar with Maier’s black and white photography. I hope this exhibition will show the extent of her work and how she developed as an artist. She experimented with composition and color and used recurring subjects and themes. She was an artist who excelled whether she photographed with black and white and colour.The show will be part of Foam’s digital programmes over the cominweeks. You can check the website from; visit.foam.org.
take away from the show?
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H Vivian Maier’s (1926-2009) photographs came to light after her death, when a box of negatives was discovered at a local auction house in Chicago. The collection comprised over 100,000 images – which later became world-renowned. Her success initially came from black and white street photography and self-portraits. Foam highlights a lesser-known part of her career: colour works spanning 1956 to 1986. Claartje van Dijk.
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Noriyuki Suzuki, Oh my ( ), 2017.
Deframe Art Prize: 5 Digital Works Noriyuki Suzuki, Oh my ( ), 2017. 113
Bill Posters (Barnaby Francis) & Daniel Howe, Big Dada Odyssey, 2014. Particles of The Horizon. Steel on high-density foam Oliver Canessa, Invitation to Untitled.
Noriyuki Suzuki, Oh My ( ) 114
Henry Driver, Odyssey Odyssey is an interactive installation which questions the definitions of virtual space and the illusory aspects of choice and action. Like a video game, it presents an endless hallucinatory dream of an unattainable horizon which the viewer is tasked with reaching. Yet with every action, the dissolving horizon slips further away. Eight television sets emit a nostalgic blue and green glow.
Oh My ( ) is an installation that calls out “god” in 48 languages using a Twitter database. The machine monitors the Twitter timeline in real time and when a tweeted text includes the word god, speakers sound “oh my (god)” (in the appropriate language) at the same time. It creates a cacophony of sound – highlighting the never-ending roll of digital feeds in an ultra-connected world.
Oliver Canessa, Invitation to Untitled
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Two familiar blue ticks stand out in the darkness. Invitation to Untitled employs sounds and visuals from instant messaging software to highlight our acclimatisation to digital technologies. The piece is a muddle of guilt, alienation and cognitive overload. What does it mean to feel ignored? Oliver Canessa is a multidisciplinary artist working across sculpture, sound, print, drawing, photography and some way creative writing.
We are living in a technological age – film, sound, code and immersive experiences are commonplace. VR and AI are becoming integrated into our culture. The Aesthetica Art Prize responds to these digital shifts – highlighting contemporary artists who investigate data, robotics and the emotional impact of social media.
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Bill Posters & Daniel Howe, Big Dada
Comprising six “deep fake” works featuring synthesised personas of Marcel Duchamp, Marina Abramović, Mark Zuckerberg, Kim Kardashian, Morgan Freeman and Freddie Mercury, Big Dada was inserted into Instagram as a digital intervention in June 2019. The artists wanted to creatively use ML and AI to hack the personas of celebrity influencers to interrogate privacy, democracy and surveillance. Comprising six “deep fake” works featuring synthesised personas of Marcel Duchamp, Marina Abramović, Mark Zuckerberg, Kim Kardashian, Morgan Freeman and Freddie Mercury, Big Dada was inserted.
Charles Aweida, Particles of The Horizon Charles Aweida is an artist and roboticist exploring the intersection of science, engineering, visual arts and film. The work – which is focused on manipulating and transforming physicality through robotics and custom-actuated machines – is driven by digital representations of the natural world. Particles of The Horizon, featured here, is one such piece, comprising of steel
on high-density foam.Charles Aweida is an artist and roboticist exploring the intersection of science, engineering, visual arts and film. The work – which is focused on manipulating and transforming physicality through robotics and custom-actuated machines – is driven by digital representations of the natural world. Particles of The Horizon, featured here, is one such piece.
Art Prize is open for entries. We’re looking for artists who are redefining the parameters of contemporary art. Submit your works by 31 August. Find out more in our website.
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Literary Podcasts Stay inspired and informed with a selection of key literary podcasts to listen to.
Scottish Poetry Library Podcast Scottish Poetry Library aims to bring people and poems together by highlighting the transformative power of writing. Their recent podcast episodes feature London-based Ella Frears discussing the interplay between her roles as a writer and visual artist, and Nigerian British poet, playwright and performer Tolu Agbelusi talking about building communities and empowering people through literature.
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London Review of Books Podcast The twice-monthly magazine London Review of Books releases a podcast which is wide reaching in its subject matter – spanning world politics and the impact of lockdown. A series of close readings delves into the literary world, offering new perspectives on Victorian literature, the work of Seamus Heaney and the balance of biography and mythology in Sylvia Plath’s powerful works.
Faber Poetry Podcast Faber & Faber is one of the world’s most recognised publishing houses. Their twice-monthly podcast brings together some of the most exciting voices from the literary world. Aimed at both poetry-lovers and newcomers to verse, it is a platform for lively conversation with international talent. The second series ended with critically-acclaimed guests Daljit Nagra and Nisha Ramayya plus audio postcards from Aria Aber and Jericho Brown.
TLS Voices The Times Literary Supplement presents a weekly culture and ideas podcast. In the newest segments, editors talk through the latest print publication, whilst looking at the latest research and developments in the world of William Shakespeare. They recommend books for escapism and analyse the relationship between women and fiction. The Times has also launched a new daily audio strand – delving into today’s most pressing stories.
Poetry Society Podcast The Poetry Society was founded in 1909 to promote “a more general recognition and appreciation of poetry.” Since then, it has grown into one of Britain’s most dynamic arts organisations – publishing The Poetry Review magazine and running a range of prizes. Their audio library features readings by poets as well as discussions with editors and contributions to the publication. The most recent is an interview with Scottish poet Don Paterson.
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ICON Editor
Oyku Naz Onen +39 3466432662 oyku.onen@ied.edu
Art Director
Oyku Naz Onen 124
Designer
Sasha Pietro +1 5673452111 sasha.p6@gmail.com
Content Editor
Dennis Lloyd +34 5327871993 d_lloyd@outlook.com
Publishing Director
John Butcher +39 3465231473 johnbutch@gmail.com
deframe Deframed is published once in two months by Media 11. Crown House 151 High Road Loughton 1G10 4LF Italy +392466342662 deframemag@gmail.com
@deframe
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Woody of Toy Story, Paul Meijering
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issue 1
