Sarah Lucas: Ordinary Things - HMI, Leeds

Sarah Lucas, Suffolk Bunny , 1997-2004

Sarah Lucas: Ordinary Things is at The Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, 19 July - 21 October 2012.

Lucas might turn out to be one of the most interesting of the original YBA crowd. I was impressed by her contribution to a mixed exhibition in Gloucester Cathedral in 2010: I thought her piece (see below) the strongest work in the show, as well as being the most sensitive and subtle – which given her ‘bad girl’ reputation was a bit of a surprise.

This exhibition is billed as focusing on the ‘sculptural’, rather than the ‘sensational’, and on her work with the 'ordinary things' that form our surroundings and assumptions.

The gallery’s exhibition blurb rather boldly situates Lucas in an art historical lineage which ranges from

third century Italian votives, Bernini's classical statuary, the figures of Henry Moore and the natural materials of Barbara Hepworth, to the 'Arte Povera' strategies of Mario Merz and the found objects of Robert Filliou.  Her works also recall the knotted bodies of Orlan from the 1960s and the dolls of Hans Bellmer and Oskar Kokoschka, as well as the surrealist figures of Pablo Picasso, Robert Gober and Louise Bourgeois, Cycladic torsos and archaeological artefacts.

Elevated company, indeed!

More down to earth is a description of the work itself:

Lucas' sculptures are made of and from the human body - a decaying and sensible object that requires maintenance and care. 'Au Naturel' (1994) is a portrait of a couple on a bed, a man represented by a cucumber and a pair of oranges and a woman by a pair of melons and a bucket. Both vulgar compositions are constructed from materials and vernacular slang that are commonplace, their 'human' component made from organic matter that needs to be replaced as inevitable decay sets in. In the seven 'NUDS' (2009-2010) here on display, limbs can be seen wrapping around each other in knotted couplings and solo acrobatics, the cellulite-marked flesh formed from 'natural' tights stuffed with fluff and stiffened by wire, the delicate surface bruised and wrinkled as the bodies perch on their breeze-block supports.

Read a review by Adrian Searle and interviews with Christina Patterson and Aida Edemariam.

Sarah Lucas, Au Naturel, 1994

Sarah Lucas, NUD 19, 2009

Sarah Lucas, Jubilee, 2012

Sarah Lucas, Big Fat Anarchic Spider, 1993

Sarah Lucas, Penetralia, 2008

Sarah Lucas, installation view of exhibition, including: Suffolk Bunny, Spam, Unknown Soldier, Au Naturel

Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2012 - Photographers' Gallery

John Stezaker, Muse (Film Portrait Collage) XVIII, 2012

Work by the artists shortlisted for the 2012 Deutsche Börse Photography Prize is on display at The Photographers' Gallery until 9 September 2012. The artists are: Pieter Hugo, Rinko Kawauchi, John Stezaker and Christopher Williams. 

Read Sean O'Hagan's review of the exhibition; O'Hagan suggests that Stezaker is a stronger contender for the award. Trouble may follow if he wins: that one of the most prestigious British awards for photography, hosted by the leading British photography gallery, might go to an artist who isn't actually a photographer, could cause disgruntlement in some quarters! (See also earlier post, below.)

The brief biographies below are from The Photographers' Gallery website.

John Stezaker (b.1949, UK) 

Nominated for his exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (29 January – 18 March 2011).Stezaker's collages examine our multi-faceted relationship to the image. Through his juxtapositions of found photographs, illustrations and stills taken from books, magazines, vintage postcards and classic movies, Stezaker adopts the content and contexts of the original images to convey new and often poignant meanings.

John Stezaker, Siren Song V, 2011

John Stezaker, Misfit: Marriage (Film Portrait Collage) XLIV, 2010

Pieter Hugo (b.1976, South Africa)

Nominated for his publication Permanent Error, published by Prestel (Germany, 2011).

Permanent Error centres on a vast dumping ground for technological waste on the outskirts of Ghana’s capital city Accra, and the young slum-dwellers whose survival depends on processing and burning this discarded material.

Hugo's photographs of this bleak landscape question the ethics of our rapid consumption of ever-new technology and its hidden consequences.

Pieter Hugo, Yakubu Al Hasan, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2009

Pieter Hugo, Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2009

Rinko Kawauchi (b.1972, Japan)

Nominated for her publication Illuminance, published by Editions Xavier Barral (France, 2011).

Hailed for her ability to turn the mundane into the extraordinary and poetic, Kawauchi's work explores themes of life, death and the everyday.

Illuminance, the result of both commissions and personal projects, spans fifteen years of her practice. Using a soft palette of colours and masterful composition and editing skills, her images evoke moments of dreams, memory and temporality.

Rinko Kawauchi, Untitled, from the series Illuminance, 2009

Rinko Kawauchi, Untitled, from the series Illuminance, 2007

Christopher Williams (b.1956, USA)

Nominated for his exhibition Kapitalistischer Realismus at Dům umění České Budějovice, Budweis, Czech Republic (5 May – 12 June 2011).

Williams has been creating images of cameras, models, vehicles and other technical apparatus for the last forty years. Alluding to and borrowing from the world of advertising, his conceptual approach continuously questions our understanding of reality as reflected and communicated to us through photographs.

Christopher Williams, Bläsing G 2000, Bläsing GmbH, Essen, Model: Christoph Boland, 15 November, 2010

Christopher Williams, Fachhochschule Aachen, Fachbereich Gestaltung, Studiengang: Visuelle Kommunikation, Fotolabor für Studenten, Boxgraben 100, Aachen, 8 November, 2010

Daniel Meadows - ffotogallery

Daniel Meadows, Portsmouth: John Payne, Aged 12, with Two Friends and his Pigeon, Chequer, 26 April 1974, 1974

Daniel Meadows  describes himself as a 'documentarist' ...by which I mean that I am one who, in an attempt to make sense of the times in which we live, engages with others to gather, create and present – with as few fictional additions as possible – stories made out of photographs and/or oral testimony.

Meadows graduated from Manchester Polytechnic in 1973. After working at Butlin's, and collaborating with fellow graduate Martin Parr on Butlin's by the Sea, he toured England in a double-decker bus he bought for £360, in search of ordinary people to photograph. In the course of a 14-month journey, he offered free portrait sessions in 22 different towns, and photographed a total of 958 people, alone or in groups, the majority of whom remained anonymous and collected their free portraits the following day.

Once upon a time, I lived in a double-decker bus, reg. JRR 404, better known as the Free Photographic Omnibus. She was my home, my travelling darkroom and gallery.We were an unlikely couple; she with her crash gear box and temperamental ways, me with my bushy hair and homemade flares. But we got along okay and, during 1973 and '74, we travelled about making a national portrait of the English. We covered 10,000 miles shooting pictures and giving them away. 

Daniel Meadows: Early Photographic Works is at ffotogallery, 14 July - 8 September 2012. Read an interview with Meadows on WalesOnline and details of the exhibition at Photomonitor.

Daniel Meadows, portraits from 'Free Photographic Omnibus', 1973-4

Daniel Meadows, portraits from 'Free Photographic Omnibus', 1973-4

Daniel Meadows, portraits from 'Free Photographic Omnibus', 1973-4

Daniel Meadows, Barrow-in -Furness: "Boot Boys", October 1974, 1974

Daniel Meadows, from Butlin's by the Sea, 1972

Daniel Meadows, from Butlin's by the Sea, 1972

Daniel Meadows with 'Free Photgraphic Omnibus' (1947 Leyland Titan PD1), 1974

Julian Opie - Lisson Gallery

Julian Opie, Aniela 8, 2011

Julian Opie is at Lisson Gallery until 25 August. Read the gallery press release here, and an interview with Opie at Blouin Artinfo.

Julian Opie, Winter, 2012

Julian Opie, At church with Felicia, 2012

Julian Opie, Aniela disrobed 7, 2011

Julian Opie, Aniela at the spring, 2011

Julian Opie, Woman with shopping bag and scarf, 2012

Julian Opie, installation view, 2012

Julian Opie, Daisies, 2012

Julian Opie, Peeing boy and Galloping horse, 2012

The Floor Show: Gravity and Materials - Gagosian, Beverly Hills

Robert Therrien, No title (pallet), 2007

Oh to be in California! I ususally confine myself to listing UK shows, but The Floor Show: Gravity and Materials at Gagosian, Beverly Hills looks to be such a splendid exhibition, I couldn't resist giving it a mention. An exhibition that includes work by Andy Warhol, Carl Andre and Richard Serra is, I think, something worth knowing about. The piece by Robert Therrien (above) is new to me but is destined to enter my personal canon of great works. Other featured artists include, Richard Long, Rachel Whiteread, Mike Kelley, Robert Morris, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Tom Sachs, Lynda Benglis, John Chamberlain and Barry Le Va - watch a video of the 'smashing' installation of Le Va's piece (below), here. The exhibition continues until 28 July.

Baryy Le Va, Set I A placed B placed; Set II A dropped. B dropped.; Set III A placed. B dropped.; Set IV placed, 1968

Andy Warhol, Dance Diagram, 1962

Richard Serra, Malmo Roll, 1984

Rachel Whiteread, Black Bed, 1991

Tom Sachs, 4' x 8' Sheet of Plywood, 2011

Installation view of Floor Show: Gravity and Materials, with work by (left to right), Lynda Benglis, Richard Serra, Richard Long and Felix Gonzalez-Torres

Alan Smith and Bertrand Henry - Galerie Hus

Alan Smith, Trace 4, 1988

Bertrand Henry & Alan Smith: Archives Fugitives is showing at Galerie Hus, Paris, until 15 September 2012.

Alan Smith (a former Course Leader of Fine Art at the University of Gloucestershire) has made drawings which derive from intense observation of minute details of everyday life.  I work always from memory, not direct observation, using simply a pencil and eraser.  I’m fascinated by objects and images which have been forgotten or overlooked; so familiar that they become invisible. I believe it’s possible to take these images, hovering at the edge of our vision and, by imbuing them with fresh meaning, to reveal their emotional charge. (From Galerie Hus.) Read a critique by Joyce Cheng.

Alan Smith, Fugitive Archive 42011, 2011

Alan Smith, Fugitive Archive 132011, 2011

Alan Smith, Sans Titre 1, 1996

Bertrand Henry creates portraits and landscapes in very small format in India ink (and often in ballpoint pen). He redirects our gaze to a concept of place based on a poetic mix of imaginative vision and concrete reality. His concern is not reportage but in conveying an idea of landscape, ‘linked to memory’. (Rainer Michael Mason/Galerie Hus.)

Bertrand Henry

Jenny Saville - Modern Art Oxford

Jenny Saville, Atonement Studies: Central Panel (Rosetta), 2005-06

Jenny Saville is at Modern Art Oxford and the Ashmolean (23 June - 16 September 2012) and is the artist's first major, solo exhibition in a public gallery. Saville came to attention in the 1990s with her large  paintings of large bodies mapped out with contour lines indicative of planned surgical modification: women's engorged bellies, swollen breasts and thighs, shouting of anguished self-image in bloody gobs of pigment (Skye Sherwin in The Guardian). Her work has continued to focus on the female (and transgender) body and face; recent work includes drawings and paintings inspired by Renaissance Virgin and Child paintings.

Read an interview with Rachel Cooke: I want to be a painter of modern life, and modern bodies.

Jenny Saville, Fulcrum, 1997-99

Jenny Saville, Bleach, 2008

Jenny Saville, Entry, 2004-2005

Jenny Saville, Passage, 2004-2005

Jenny Saville, Reverse, 2003

Jenny Saville, Torso II, 2005