Art Of The Day Weekly
#191 - from 4 November 2010 to 10 November 2010
The Matadero in Madrid with the Carlos Garaicoa exhibition
IN THE AIR
Welcome to the slaughter house
So much has changed in the design and concept of museums in just a few years! The palaces with marble staircases (the Prado or the Uffizi), the interiors of workshops (in Montparnasse or Chelsea) have seen converted industrial areas rise as a new category of venues. It is the fault of the changes in the productive system. What can be done with these factories, warehouses and silos which have become useless with the change of society towards the tertiary sector? In Rome, ten years ago, during their renovation, the museums of the Capitol had set up in an electric power station which visitors emotionally remember. The Tate Modern has definitely ennobled this type of transformation. For some time now the popularity of slaughter houses has been growing. We are all aware of the success of the conversion experienced in Toulouse (the Abattoirs), currently in Rome (il Mattatoio) or in New York (in the Meatpacking District). But the most impressive example has been the one of Madrid, where the Matadero has a huge space – 148 000 m2 of steel and brick. It is currently at the heart of an ambitious revitalization program of full districts, including the creation of artificial beaches along the Manzanares, a library with unheard of dimensions, an archive movie theater, artist dwellings, etc. This is a real laboratory of architecture and contemporary creation, which neighbors a utopia, the one of the artistic phalanstery …
EXHIBITIONS
Thomas Lawrence, George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, 1829. Private Collection. Courtesy National Portrait Gallery, London.
Lawrence, the prince of portrait artists
LONDON – His glory was definitely founded when the Regent asked him, after Waterloo, to set Napoleon’s winners for posterity. But Thomas Lawrence was already the darling of London circles where he had succeeded Joshua Reynolds as an exceptional portrait artist. The exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, the first in 30 years to present such a wide range of works, shows the artist’s talent in his youth in the field of pastels and then the ceremonial works and those of his maturity in oil painting. This group of works from museums and private collections allows fruitful juxtapositions such as the one about Isabella Wolff, his favourite sitter that we admire both in a drawing from the Ashmolean Museum and in a painting from the Art Institute in Chicago.
• Thomas Lawrence, Regency Power and Brilliance at the National Portrait Gallery, from 21 October 2010 to 23 January 2011. The exhibition will be presented at the Yale Center for British Art (United-States) from 24 February to 5 June 2011.
Versailles, a fount of knowledge
VERSAILLES - Its courtesans, its gardens, its water fountains, its fireworks … as well as its astronomers, geographers, and surgeons! What this new exhibition shown at the Château wishes to show is that the royal domain of Versailles was not only a place of pleasure but a remarkable intellectual centre as well. An elephant was dissected there in 1681, electric experiments were carried out there as of 1783, the first inhabited flight took place there as well – under the authority of the Montgolfier brothers- when a duck, a rooster and a lamb were the first pioneers of aviation… From Marie-Antoinette’s dulcimer to the merino sheep at the Bergerie, from the globes to the barometers, including the wax head of an American Indian, all the objects presented cover a permanent passion for science and its exploits.
• Sciences et curiosités à la cour de Versailles at the Château de Versailles, from 26 October 2010 to 27 February 2011.
Don Eddy, Untitled (Volkswagen), 1971, oil on canvas 122 x 167 cm, Sammlung MUMOK. Photo: MUMOK © Don Eddy
Painting, better than photography
VIENNA – In the beginning photography tried to imitate reality. Faced with this new medium, and for more than a century, painting gave up trying to do the same thing. It found the will again, brilliantly, in the 1970s with the movement of photorealism, which succeeded during the 1972 edition of Documenta. Pop Art inspired its representatives to give importance to objects and every-day scenes. But they also wanted to go as far as photography in the attention given to details. The 250 works presented are the collection of Peter and Irene Ludwig, one of the richest in this field, which comes from the five Ludwig museums in Cologne, Aachen, Koblenz, Vienna and Budapest. From Duane Hanson to Alain Jacquet, from Jean Olivier Hucleux to Chuck Close, it demonstrates an unexpected rebirth of painting.
• Hyper Real at Mumok, from 22 October 2010 to 13 February 2011.
Art-of-the-day also recommends...
• Bozar presents in Brussels the Jack Freak Pictures : 153 works signed by the Gilbert & George duo. From 29 October 2010 to 23 January 2011.
• Chardin, master of intimacy in the XVIIIth century, is presented at the palace of Diamonds in Ferrara. Until 13 January 2011.
• In Madrid, the Prado museum and the Palacio Real have allied to present, in Pintura de los reinos, colonial paintings from Peru and Bolivia. Until 30 January 2011.
AUCTIONS
The Orient, past and present
PARIS – Oriental art is undoubtedly a sector that has suffered less from the crisis than other specialties. The millionaires from the Gulf are always eager to buy and the Turkish or Lebanese nouveaux riches have joined the movement that does not only favour the most colourful, decorative or picturesque works. In its auction on 9 November, Christie’s endeavours to enlarge the spectrum and aside from the confirmed values (Majorelle, Preziosi, Dinet, Théodore Frère, Edy Legrand, landscapes and genre scenes from Algeria and Morocco), the auction house builds a link with the following generations. A significant place is thus given to contemporary artists, from Iran (Pooya Aryanpour), Syria (Fateh Moudarres) or Egypt (Adam Henein, Youssef Nabil).
• Art orientaliste at Christie’s Paris on 9 November 2010.
ARTIST OF THE WEEK
Carlos Garaicoa: trade in Cuba...
MADRID – In a former cold warehouse one treads over elaborate carpets. With their perfect knit they reproduce the thresholds of boutiques in Havana, where by tradition the company’s name was marked on the floor rather than on the front of the store. If one looks closer, the names, slogans, typographies, of la General, of Reina or of Fin de Siglo are subtly changed. Carlos Garaicoa, an artist who works between Cuba and Madrid, has the habit of making these slight slips, of changing the literal sense, that allow him to make a «soft» political criticism, which each person can interpret in their own way – against the Cuban regime, against capitalism, against overconsumption…
• Fin de silencio by Carlos Garaicoa is presented until 7 November 2010 at the Matadero de Madrid (Paseo de la Chopera, 14).
BOOKS
Being an artist in the XXIth century
How do artists create? How do they produce their monumental works? How do they sell? The aim of this book, with the second title of «Idées reçues sur les artistes» (Given ideas on artists), is to erase certain prejudices and clichés. It is built through various encounters and interviews and shows that the Bohemian world of the workshop and the nearby café have often disappeared in favor of a simple lap-top and the once necessary gallery owner is easily replaced with talent by personal strategies based on marketing tools. The traditional example of Warhol has been updated with more recent cases such as the one of Wim Delvoye. The super-power of commercial fairs, the pauperization of artists (30 % have the minimum wage), the new paths of provocation (from Andress Serrano’s Piss Christ to Maurizio Cattelan’s suicidal squirrel), copyright or woman’s place in art: all these questions are looked into, often based on concrete examples.
• Salut l’artiste by Isabelle de Maison Rouge, Le Cavalier bleu, 2010, 18 €.
IN BRIEF
ABU DHABI – Abu Dhabi Art, the contemporary art fair, will be held from 4 to 7 November 2011.
BASEL – The BAAF antiques fair (Basel Ancient Art Fair) will be held from 5 to 10 November 2010.
NEW YORK - Modigliani's Great Nude fetched a record price at Sotheby's on 3 November ($69,5 million).
PARIS – The Salon du patrimoine culturel (Cultural Heritage Fair) will be held at the Carrousel du Louvre from 4 to 7 November 2010 and the main theme will be Mediterranean patrimony.
SHANGHAI –The Universal expo, which closed its doors on 30 October 2010, hosted 73 million visitors.
TORINO – The Artissima modern and contemporary art fair will be held from 5 to 7 November 2010 at Lingotto.
ON ART-OF-THE-DAY.INFO
This week, do not miss…
BRUGES CENTRAL
BRUGES - Every five years Bruges provides the stunning setting for a large-scale cultural festival. Along with the art-historical exhibition ‘Van Eyck to Dürer’, the contemporary art trail ‘Luc Tuymans: A vision of Central Europe’ will be one of the highlights of this major event.
SALON D'AUTOMNE 2010
PARIS - With a tradition dating back to 1903, the Salon d'Automne expects over 15 000 visitors at Espace Champerret where 450 contemporary artists will be present. The fair defends the freedom of various modes of expression and is increasingly international.