Exhibition Roundup - September 2010

An occasional, and highly selective, pick of current and forthcoming exhibitions.

Page from the original catalogue for This Is Tomorrow, 1956

In 1956 the Whitechapel Gallery presented the seminal exhibition This Is Tomorrow, organised by the Independent Group, which, arguably, kicked off Pop Art. This month (from 9th September until 6th March 2011) the gallery revisits that exhibition. No doubt, Richard Hamilton's collage Just What is it that Makes Today's Homes so Different, so Appealing?, will be featured - but will Robby the Robot be there?

Left, Richard Hamilton, Just What is it that Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing? as it appeared in the 1956 catalogue, right, Robby the Robot (star of Forbidden Planet, 1956) making his appearance at This is Tomorrow.

Eadweard Muybridge: The Photographer Who Proved Horses Could Fly is at Tate Britain from 8th September until 16th January, 2011. (See articles in Guardian, by Rebecca Solnit: Eadweard Muybridge: Feet off the Ground and Peter Conrad: Eadweard Muybridge: Pioneer Photographer)

Eadweard Muybridge, Lantern Slide EM8129 ‘Horse and Cart’, 1877 (From The Muybridge Collection, The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames.

Also at Tate Britain, Fiona Banner's installation of 2 jet fighters (see also earlier entry, below) continues until 3rd January, 2011.
In what might prove to be an interesting and perhaps poignant counterpoint to Banner's fighters, Jeremy Deller's installation of a bomb blasted car, Baghdad, 5th March, 2007, goes on display at The Imperial War Museum from September 9th.

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Left , Fiona Banner, Harrier, 2010, right Jeremy Deller, Baghdad, 5 March 2007. Images from Tate Gallery and Imperial War Museum respectively.

At Tate Modern, there is the last chance to catch Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera (closes 3rd October), (see review in The Guardian and feature by Blake Morrison), and at Nottingham Contemporary, Diane Arbus also continues until 3rd October. The exhibition of 69 photographs by Arbus is one of the first showings of Anthony d’Offay’s remarkable gift to the nation of 'Artist Rooms'.

Diane Arbus, Child with a toy hand grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C., 1962

Gagosian Gallery (Davies St.) presents new work by Rachel Whiteread (7th Sept. - 2nd Oct.), which is complemented by an exhibition of her drawings at Tate Britain (8th Sept. - 16 Jan., 2011) (see reviews by Adrian Searle and Laura Cumming).
White Cube (Mason's Yard) is showing Darren Almond: The Principle of Moments and Sadie Coles HQ is showing Gregor Schneider: Fotografie und Skulptur (until 2nd Oct.).

The Liverpool Biennial kicks off on 18th September and runs to 28th November.

Finally, Andrew Stonyer (Professor of Fine Art, University of Gloucestershire) is showing his Audio Kinetic Solar Sculpture at Fermynwoods Contemporary Art in Northamptonshire, until 26th September. The piece is described on the Gallery’s website, as follows: this innovative installation is suspended within the central point from the branches of three alder trees… The work … responds to changes in sunlight and to the daily cycle of the sun. Sound & movement are produced by the actions of plectrums positioned on circular disks, which are rotated over wire strings via low-voltage power generated from solar photocells in the tree canopy. The plectrums’ speeds vary according to the intensity of the sunlight, altering the sound; the piece literally orchestrates the shifts in light like a ‘solar Aeolian harp’.

Corinne Day, 1962 - 2010

Corinne Day died on 27th August, 2010: see her obituary in The Guardian. See also appreciations by Charlotte Higgins, Corinne Day: Raw Genius, Sean O'Hagan, Corinne Day: She Added Grit to the Glamour of Fashion Photography, feature by Sheryl Garratt, Corinne Day: Pioneer of a New Kind of Beauty, and Corinne Day's website.

Kate's Flat, by Corinne Day, 1993

Andy Warhol, 1928-1987

Andy Warhol in New York, 1964 with "Brillo Boxes"
How do you tell a real Warhol from a fake? See this interesting article about art and money and a scam allegedly involving fake Warhols:
Levy, Adrian & Scott-Clark, Kathy (2010) "Box of Tricks", Guardian Weekend, 21st August, pp24-30

Fourth Plinth

The contenders for the next commission to install a work on Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth have been announced:

* Katharina Fritsch: giant blue cockerel, "Hahn/Cock" (pictured)
* Hew Locke: replica equestrian statue with accessories,"Sikander"
* Jennifer Allora & Guillermo Calzadilla: pipe organ
* Brian Griffiths: battenberg cake made of bricks
* Mariele Neudecker: "It's Never Too Late and You Can't Go Back"
* Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset: golden boy on rocking horse

See feature in Guardian and comment by Adrian Searle.
See images of all proposed works here.

Charles Saatchi, 1943 -

Charles Saatchi has announced his intention to give a part of his collection and the Saatchi Gallery to the nation. See Guardian news story and comment by Adrian Searle. Reactions have been mixed. The following comments by Andrew Graham-Dixon are transcribed from BBC Radio 4's Front Row, broadcast on 1st July:

[Kirsty Lang (presenter): It was announced today that Charles Saatchi is gifting over 200 works, and his Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea, to the nation, to create a Museum of Contemporary Art… I asked [Andrew Graham-Dixon] for his reaction]

Just too late… I would have had Charles Saatchi’s collection, I would have bitten his hand off in 1987 - this was probably the greatest collection of contemporary art built up by anyone in the second half of the twentieth century…all those Warhols, all those Anselm Kiefers, that extraordinary collection: Bruce Nauman, Sol Lewitt, Carl Andre… incredible. … He’s sold them all… all the pies have been eaten [Kirsty Lang: …but it’s still a pretty impressive list of artists in there...?] No, not really, not for me. No, this is the crumbs on the table after all the pies have been eaten. This is the loose change in the box….It is just a terrible, terrible… shame that the greatest collection of contemporary art that the world has ever seen art was allowed to turn into - talcum powder - just disappear.

Photographer of the year, 2010 (Press Photographers' Year)

The Libyan leader Colonel Gadaffi stands behind protective glass during a military parade in Green Square, Tripoli on 01 September 2009 © David Bebber of The Times, 'Photograph of the Year' at The Press Photographers' Year (From British Journal of Photography)

Fiona Banner, 1966 -

Fiona Banner has installed a Sea Harrier and a Jaguar in Tate Britain's Duveen Gallery (until 3 February, 2011).















Fiona Banner, Sea Harrier, 2010

See Guardian article (28 June), comment by Adrian Searle, Guardian, 28 June, Guardian gallery of images, and interview with Laura Barnett, Guardian, 21 June. See also: How did Tate Britain hang a Harrier jet?, Guardian, 29 June.