This year I finally managed a couple of art fairs, I have been planning visits for a number of years but never manged to get to any. Autumn seems the time of year when all the fairs are happening, literally some at the same time. I suppose this is to encourage visitors/buyers from abroad to come over and see them all.
I didn't manage Frieze, but I got to Zoo, which this year was held in some old industrial buildings near Liverpool street station. There seems to be a trend to use old semi derelict buildings for exhibitions, the danger being some times that the buildings can be more interesting than the art shown in them.
At Zoo there were several buildings in use, one housing video work others with individual artists and galleries and there was some really good work there.
I really responded to Harald Smykla's work, Movie Protocol, which involves him watching films and transcribing them into a visual language. Info here There was something about these drawings that was really full of life and vitality. I talked to the artist for a few minutes about his work, which started when he was watching TV and thinking about what he could do with that time. I thought the work was full of life because it was done in the moment, fresh and without much deliberation.
In the building showing film and video work I watched and really enjoyed Kathrin Sonntay's film Dracula's Ghost 2009. It was witty and made good cultural and political comments about our love of vampires and our insistence of their history in Transylvania.
Other work I enjoyed were Per Kesselmar's Wide Screen series of paintings, oil on aluminium, which were beautiful pieces full of subtle and concentrated light. Info from the gallery here
No comments:
Post a Comment