listings

Category: Art

Photograph from L'Argent (1928)

The glorious Fashion in Film Festival returns to London today.

This season's celebration is dedicated to seminal but often overlooked French director Marcel L'Herbier.

Films from silent and sound eras are brought together, many for the first time, showcasing the work of this legendary cinematographer. Lavish costumes, eye-watering sets, innovative techniques and dramatic scripts shape L'Herbier's films. If you're unfamiliar with his work or need convincing to attend, run an image search for L'Inhumaine (The Inhumane Woman) and you'll be booking tickets faster than I can say s'il vous plaît.

Film screenings take place across London, from the BFI Southbank to the wonderful Horse Hospital. The festival hopes to explore key themes in L'Herbier's work across fashion, art, design and architecture, and a symposium at Central Saint Martins will aim to realise his legacy.

Photograph from Le Parfum de la dame en noir (1931)

To book tickets (hurry!) check out the full schedule at the Fashion in Film website, and look out for our full reviews of some of L'Herbier's films soon!

Category: Fashion

Orsola de Castro is the creative director of From Somewhere, the revolutionary label she started in 1997, and the first to address the issue of pre-consumer waste and reproducibility in recycling for the fashion industry. Orsola’s Inside Design exhibition will celebrate her unique approach to cloth making and the launch of the new From Somewhere website. Inside Design will dissect Orsola's design process and ask what is important to her: touch, colour, how dresses fall, and how clothes fit. The show will explore how fashion has responsibilities and yet must look great.

Orsola discovered the delights of pre-consumer waste when she visited Miles, one of Italy’s best known high-end knitwear manufacturers, and she immediately focused on the remnants and surplus as a source of material for her designs. This pre-consumer waste became gems for her to play with. From Somewhere collaborations include upcycled collections for Jigsaw, Robe di Kappa and Speedo, for whom she has upcycled obsolete swimwear to create new items such as the Unity dress, designed to celebrate the 2012 Olympic spirit.

Orsola de Castro features in my book: Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration: read an extract of my interview here.

Private View: Tues 11th June 6-9pm
In Conversation with Lucy Siegle: Tues 18th June 7-8pm

Category: Art

The Art Car Boot Fair returns to the car park of the Old Truman Brewery for the tenth year in a row, with the usual stellar line up of artists and live entertainment. Read my review of the 2011 Art Car Boot Fair here, and of the 2012 Art Car Boot Fair here. And here's just some of what you can expect this year:

Marcus Harvey’s Turps Banana print edition leads the charge with an exclusive print from Nigel Cooke. Plus. STOP PRESS! A timely, very limited special edition of Marcus Harvey’s infamous and celebrated 2009 work ‘Maggie’, probably the most innovative contemporary depiction of Margaret Thatcher.
 

Gavin Turk will present something new for 2013 plus a retrospective of all his previous Art Car Boot Fair works, celebrating his 10 years of featuring at the event.
 
Joining the line-up this year is classy cobbler Tracey Neuls. Well known for her collaborations with artists and designers, she’ll be pitching up alongside artist collective Le Gun and outsider art champions The Museum of Everything, both of whom have had artworks featured on Tracey Neuls limited edition shoes.
 

Returning artist Sir Peter Blake, who has been involved with the Art Car Boot Fair since the beginning will be creating a special print to commemorate Britain’s 110 year love affair with Vauxhall Motors and the 10th Art Car Boot Fair. All proceeds raised from the sale of the 110 limited edition artworks will go to Just For Kids Law, Kids Company and Help For Heroes.
 
Artist Darren Coffield and photographer Bid Jones will honour the 20th anniversary of Joshua Compston’s 2003 ‘Fete Worse than Death’, one of the inspirations behind the Fair. Darren’s biography of Joshua: ‘Factual Nonsense – The art and death of Joshua Compston’ will be available plus lots of Factual Nonsense memorabilia and a special commemorative print.
 
Sophie Parkin and Dick Bradsell will create a car boot version of the fabulous Colony Rooms out of a 1948 Vauxhall Velox, posing as Colony founders Muriel Belcher and Ian Board – providing free cocktails for any that impress with their sharp wit and amusing repartee.
 

Trolleyology – celebrating ten years of Trolley Books and paying tribute to its late and much lamented founder Gigi Gianuzzi, whose sheer energy, enthusiasm and derring do bought so many amazing art books to publication, from Nan Goldin to Damian Hirst and Philip Jones Griffiths.
 
New this year – the Art Car Boot Fair will release ten Golden Tickets giving ten lucky people the chance to get in ten minutes early to grab some art bargains before the frenzy begins. Also there will be a chance for undergraduate or post graduate art school students to ‘pitch for a pitch’.

After snapping up cool and quirky art pieces why not treat yourself to some weird food art by Animal, Vegetable, Mineral (read my interview with founder Tasha Marks here) who will be on hand to provide sacred tarts, edible hair and inhalable bacon sandwiches. There will be real bacon sandwiches and ox-heart buns from St Johns Bread & Wine and Shoreditch favourite Leila’s Shop will bring together a collection of fine produce and artisan food. The fabulous Born Hectic Bar will feature resident Frank Sinatra crooner Michael Campari and live Piano Karaoke with Clifford Slapper. The Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club will be putting on a retro variety show featuring Marawa the Amazing plus special performances from Louis Eliot & the Embers and to finish: Supajam’s ‘best live act in England’ The Fat White Family.

What's not to love?

Category: Art

Wieland Payer’s first London solo exhibition brings together recent works on paper, sculpture and painting. He is best known for his intricate drawings in charcoal and pastel depicting mountains and woodland, from which protrude strange objects and buildings that seem to have been plucked from some future era — but which may equally be derelict altars to modernism, projected into post-apocalyptic landscapes.

Wieland Payer’s work originates from close dialogue with German Romanticism: it is always concerned with the monumental and dynamic presence of natural phenomena, capable of giving human beings a sense of their own relativity. Whilst the work is inspired by reality, Wieland Payer’s response to the natural world is never forensic, but rather aesthetic and also surreal. His landscapes are full of visual and spatial paradoxes that remove them from the realm of actual experience. They are beautiful and awe inspiring, yet present us with a vision of the natural world that is far from bucolic and, at times, hostile. This is hinted at in the title of the exhibition, an oblique reference to Tom Wait’s song, ‘What’s He Building In There’. In the song, the question is never answered, but the implication is that whatever is being constructed is menacing and perhaps even murderous.

Opening hours: Tuesday — Saturday, 11am — 7pm

Category: Art

The Free Range Graduate Shows at the Truman Brewery in East London return this May for a mammoth seven week long event. Each week a host of design schools and universities showcase their graduate work in all kinds of disciplines; pick your fave or head down each week to discover the finest that the UK has to offer. Why not check in with my previous reviews to get an idea of the talent on show.

Maricel Pamintuan.

Alex Pengelly.

The shows kick off on the 29th of May with a catwalk show from Winchester School of Art – above is a taster of what you can expect from the Winchester graduates. Middlesex University hits the catwalk on the 7th June, see my previews here and here for an idea of what to expect from their talented fashion and fashion textiles graduates.

All exhibitions are free with the exception of the catwalk shows, which are invitation only. Find out the full timetable here: I'll be getting along to as many shows as I can, live tweeting and instragraming what I find, and creating bigger reviews where possible.


Private views: 6pm-10pm Thursdays

Public shows: 10am-7pm Fridays to Sundays & 10am-4pm Mondays

Category: Art

Join the Edible Art Class from food interventionist company Animal Vegetable Mineral at The Book Club on Tuesday 9th April 2013. Expect a crafty night of artisan abstraction, where playing with your food isn’t just acceptable – it’s essential! From lickable life drawing to edible painting-by-numbers, AVM’s tasty tutor will guide you through an introduction to art and edible expression using all the senses. Master the art of chocolate model-making or try your hand at sugar graffiti, and indulge your creative side in a night of scrumptious, gooey, crunchy, melt-in-the-mouth, good old-fashioned messy, arty fun! 

Animal Vegetable Mineral was set up by food historian Tasha Marks and specialises in private views and cross-disciplinary collaboration; taking artwork, location or theme as a start point and responding to it with an edible curiosity. Projects so far include the ‘Aroma-Tour’ for the National Trust, edible hair for the artist Kate MccGwire and funeral biscuits for the British Biscuit Festival. Read my exclusive interview with Tasha Marks here.

Tickets cost £10 in advance, available here.

Category: Art

Meet 165 extraordinary designer-makers at two Cockpit Arts studio locations this June. Plus enjoy extra events such as a 'Garden’s Edge’ ceramic workshop by Katharine Morling and sustainable craft showcases selected by Oliver Heath. At the same time enjoy summer cocktails & seasonal delights by Hand Made Food.

Holborn: 7-9 June. Cockpit Yard, Northington Street, London, WC1N 2NP
Deptford: 14-16 June, 18-22 Creekside, London, SE8 3DZ
Free Entry, Donations Welcome
Open hours: Friday 6-9pm, Sat & Sun, 11am-6pm

Category: Art

Azarakhsh Askari – Untitled (2008)

This exhibition is the second of a pair – London Calling Tehran and Tehran Calling London that celebrates the thriving underground art scene of Tehran. It features work created by some of Tehran's leading contemporary artists alongside London based artists. John Phillips, Director of londonprintstudio says 'It's very easy for people in the West to misunderstand contemporary Iranian culture. We are delighted to present this show. This show takes up the art of a generation whose work is not well known in the West.'  From around 2000 there was a gradual relaxation of artistic freedom in Tehran and artists began to show challenging work within Iranian public decency laws but in late 2008 there was a radical change in policy and artists and galleries once more came under close scrutiny. Artists living and working in Tehran must remain true to their artistic ambitions while co-existing with the current social order. Expect subversions of new media; public and personal provocations; interactions with technology; style, fashion and protest; images about sexual identity and images about social taboos.  

Biographies for some of the contributing artists:

Azarakhsh Askari (above) is best known for her first series of works, which were an intimate look at the meaning of family, death ceremonies, marriage and the meaning of power in a patriarchal society.

Saeed Ensafi– I see the sun (2011) Ensafi is fascinated with stories and their relation to political propaganda. His stories about his childhood recount tales of heroes going in to war against Iraq and coming back home martyrs. Ensafi questions the value of memory and the importance of life and rank in relation to the value of humanity.

Tarlan Rafiee – Spring in My Heart (2012) Rafiee celebrates the spirit of the female within contemporary Iranian society. Spring In My Heart observes young, stylish females on the streets of Tehran. The piece is presented in the style of old Persian newspapers. The female figure with processed blonde hair and vibrant lipstick represents the emancipated and strong woman – beauty and strength personified and represented on a mass scale.

Alireza Ghazi – Untitled (2009) Ghazi creates mixed media collages that explore dramatic incidents in history and the ways in which the props of everyday life. Alireza Ghazi has been a cinematographer, lighting designer and director for the past twelve years. He also works as a photographer, poet and writer.

The work of 22 Tehran artists is featured alongside work by London based artists who participated in the Tehran exhibition. The Tehran Calling artists whose work is on show are: Ali Alavi, Azarakhsh Askari, Mazdak Ayari, Amin Davaie, Saeed Ensafi, Negar Farajiani, Farhad Fozouni, Amirali Ghasemi, Alireza Ghazi, Amirali Golriz, Sahand Hesamiyan, Peyman Hooshmandazeh, Amir Mobed, Behzad Nejadghanbar, Tarlan Rafiee, Saeed Ravanbakhsh, Nastaran Safaei, Yashar Samimi Mofakham, Sina Seifee, Jinoos Taghizadeh, Saleh Tasbihi and Nasser Teymourpour.

The London based artists whose work is on display are: Faisal AbduAllah, Emma Charles, Adam Dant, Godfried Donkor, David Ferry, Satch Hoyt, Tam Joseph, Roshini Kempadoo, Taus Makhcheva, Julia McKenzie, Mythili, Eileen Perrier, John Phillips, Jamie Reid, Susan Stockwell, Joe Strummer, Stella Whalley.

Opening times: Tues – Sat: 10:30am to 5:30pm

Category: Art

A Study of Sports & Leisure celebrates character design within contemporary illustration with an added twist; all contributors were asked to forget about everyday troubles, boredom, triple dip recessions and domestic chores. Instead they were asked by curator Åsa Wikman to focus on all the things that make us happy. The results should make you smile! Here's a sample for your delectation. You are invited to the private view on Thursday 6th June, between 6.30-8.30pm.

Karin Soderquist.

Kate Hindley.

Mister Millerchip.

Sarah Ray.

Category: Earth

Two years ago I wrote a listing for Wood Festival, in which I decided that it might just be the best possible festival ever. I then went along to find out and it proved to be every bit as wonderful as I had hoped for. You can read my mega three reviews (one for each day) here, here and here. I also did a preview interview with co-creator Robin Bennett. Back then I decided that if I ever sprogged then Wood was the festival I wanted to go to over all others: now, two years later, I will be returning to a revived Wood Festival with my baby in tow.

Mary Epworth.

As always, Wood Festival remains a local affair, with plenty of home grown talent on show. Expect energetic Balkan gypsy jazz from La Morte Subite, delicate folk from Jackie Oates, raucous rockabilly from Jack Cade & the Everyday Sinners, eccentric pop from Ralfe Band and uke jamming from the Oxford Ukuleles. Plus, Adam Barnes, Edd Keene, Jess Hall, Art Theefe, Rainbow Reservoir, Megan Henwood, The August List, Katy Rose & The Cavalry Parade, Reichenback Falls, Until The Bird, Natureboy, Will Phipps, Milky Moon and Rye Wolf. Co-pilgrim have just joined the line up: read my exclusive interview with founder Mike Gale here. Oxford and the surrounding area, it seems, provide fertile breeding grounds for bands of all genres.

Photography by Clare Bennett.

Joining local bands are some top notch musicians from further afield: the aptly named Wood Brothers will be visiting from Boulder, Colorado and Canadian roots-rock songwriter Dustin Bentall is passing through, joined by Kendel Carson on the fiddle. Also playing are Mary Epworth, Danny & the Champions of the World, Washington Irving, Syd Arthur, Nick Cope, Jali Fily Cissokho, Julie Hawk, Flights of Helios, Marcus Corbett, and Ligers. 

This also sounds rather interesting:
Back in 1982, Bruce Springsteen released 'Nebraska', a collection of sparsely recorded tracks originally intended as demos for his sixth studio album. Almost exactly 30 years later Clubhouse Records gathered 10 bands together to record the album’s 10 tracks live to 4 track cassette tape, just like The Boss did back in the day. They then performed the whole thing to a sold-out audience in London. Now, exclusively for Wood Festival, the album will be recreated live onstage once more. Joining the already announced Trevor Moss and Hannah Lou, The Dreaming Spires, Danny the Champion and Jack Day will be: The Cedars, Case Hardin, The Redlands Palomino Company, Paul McLure, Mad Staring Eyes, and The Arlenes, all playing their own sets as well as performing their Nebraska song. The original sessions were filmed for posterity and can be viewed online.

As I discovered in 2011, workshops and activities are a big part of Wood Festival, and for the musically minded, they include Make a Record Player from a Cardboard Box, Harmony Singing, and a Junk Samba Session. And don’t forget the campfire sing-alongs too! Tickets for Wood are flying out from www.woodfestival.com and Truck Store, Oxford. Watch a documentary about Wood Festival here, should you need any more persuasion. See you there!