Puce Moment

17 July – 8 August 2010
Transition
London
E8

Puce Moment takes it’s title from the 1949 short film by Kenneth Anger in which 1920s starlet, Yvonne Marquis, idly browses through her vibrantly coloured wardrobe. This recreation of Hollywood silent era decadence in luscious colour is hard to place, its shaky, hand-held camera work giving it a personal yet curiously contemporary edge. (Transition)

The exhibition Puce Moment features four painters who revel in glorious vulgarity. Whether through attitude, subject matter, or the style and appearance of their paintings, the artists harness crude attributes to boldly transform and subvert their subjects into visually emphatic, painterly moments.(Transition)

Kenneth Anger on Wiki

Gems wrapped in velvet: Captured on film within an opulent existence of fame and lush surroundings with kitsch fabric, coloured glass and dazzling crystals. A feeling of longing for a simple time remembered as easier to navigate, an escapism for the subject and the viewer. A wash of nostalgia, though ultimately a figure existing within a gilded bubble.

Perfect moments in paint: From the tiny precious glamor and the iconic image to the ambiguously melancholy. These are moments treasured and each painting is given the space to breath, in this way I am given time alone with each one. I feel fiercely protective of the tiny chic poodle then in awe of Elvis captured at his best. I feel as if I am experiencing a private display of deeply held, personal idols.

ARTISTS: Carla Busuttil, Paul Housley, Cathy Lomax, Alli Sharma

In the Shop Space: Michael O’Mahony

Apocalyptic Tape Collection

These tapes are premised on the idea of me being the sole survivor of an apocalypse. I imagine in this event I would take up the reins of the music industry and these are the albums I would make for myself…. (MM)

For more pictures from the exhibition head over to the Transition group on Flickr

Loosening The Ties Of Her Robe

Oil on paper, 21x15cm, 2010
Click on the picture for full size

This post has a partner: Tightening The Ties of His Robe

These paintings are relatively fast, very small and growing in number, documenting as I go. Something I recommend actually. It helps to gain some distance.

Cornell & Kilimnik

Joseph Cornell, Karen Kilimnik
June 09 – August 27 2010
Sprüth Magers
London
W1S

..Through the use of paintings, collage and installation, the exhibition will explore the affinities between both artists who were influenced by the Romantic ballet era.



Both artists’ frame of reference extends to the presentation of their works and the surrounding environment in which they are encountered. The organizing motif of Cornell’s Hotel series is the window, which invites the viewer to consider interior and exterior views, clearly establishing the successive rounds of reality to the mystery beyond.

For the exhibition, his poignant works will be respectively showcased within the midnight blue of the gallery walls, used by the artist in his collages to create impressions of the sky and which he believed to evoke contemplation of the celestial. In addition to the painted walls and, characteristic of Kilimnik’s theatrical installations, the gallery will be transformed into an aesthetic context which alludes to the salon era of the nineteenth century, enabling the viewer to palpably enter into a dialogue with the past.(Spruth Magers)

A beautifully deep midnight blue embedded with child like dreams: This room engages all of my senses and brings forth tiny half forgotten memories from a childhood long past, along with images, not just of romantic dance and movement but the thrill of embodying the observer and performer in private spaces as well as theatrical. My eyes are drawn upwards into the darkness, as if searching a middle distance.

These objects line a path to the romanticism of the past: And as if walking onto a stage, from a dim glow into spotlight the drama of the music pushes forward with every step.The last installation feels like the other side of the performance, the dance without the dancer, where I am walking off stage, out of the spot light and into the harsh bright light of the outside world. Returning from a personal and historical past.

Thanks to SHOW OF THE WEEK for the tip. If you have seen the show you can head over to SOTW and get involved in the discussion there too.

Its Been Two Years

This month my blog is two years old!. To celebrate I thought a collection of the highlights in one place might be nice. All of these posts are special to me for one reason or another……
click on the picture to read the post

Thank you to everyone who has visited over the past two years. I am still having a lot of fun posting stuff I like and stuff I make.
Best
Corinna