Here comes the muddy bride at 2000 Trees

If you were one of the lucky (if not a little muddy) revellers that attended the 2000 Trees festival last weekend you may have come across a large group of over excited girls and a bride to be.

No, it wasn’t a misguided dress-up attempt - the festival’s theme was video games so I’m not sure where a bride would fit in - I was on a hen do. Being chief bridesmaid I was very aware that the thought of mud, no showers and toilets-that-have-seen-better-days might send shivers down the spine of even the most hardened gig-goers, so I decided to make sure our accommodation at least was a little more comfy than a lilo and a plastic sheet.

With this in mind, I booked three ‘bell tents’ from the lovely folks at Karma Kanvas. These consisted of three clean, large yurts each with three double airbeds, sheets and some twinkly fairy lights, between 18 of us. The festival consisted of a swamp for most of the weekend, so the grassy area around the tents was a welcome relief. We also had a nice table and chairs which is a life saver when you can’t sit on the ground. These tents are recommended if you’re more into ‘glamping’ than camping, without them I think some hens may have flown home…

Musical highlights for the festival, on Upcote Farm, Withington, Gloucestershire, included the Futureheads - I have been humming ‘Hounds of Love’ ever since - and Dog is Dead, who included a saxophonist, which always gets bonus points from me.

Although I kept away from the Cave stage (too much screaming) and preferred the chilled out vibes of the Greenhouse and the Leaf Lounge, I could see the festival caters for all tastes and most of the hens seemed happy with this. Even the pop lovers got a treat with the brilliant silent disco that took place once the music stopped.

The toilets, by festival standards, were pretty amazing - loo roll and hand sanitizer! There was a great selection of food and with a modest capacity of 4,500, you didn’t have to queue for very long. The organisers should also be commended on their green credentials, there were lots of recycling options and locally produced food.

What made the festival for me was perhaps related to the humble size. The bride to be - and the rest of us - had to do rather a lot of silly dares which I expected to be met with stony-faced snobbery. But in fact, everyone was very friendly and we even got some marital advice from a pair of festival goers that have been married 40 years.

It was: “Do lots of things together and lots of thing apart.” Sound advice I say, if one of those things includes 200 Trees Festival 2013.

Miro's 'Blue Star' sells for £23.5m

Joan Miro's 1927 work Peinture (Etoile Bleue) has sold for more than £23.5m at auction, setting a new record for the artist. An anonymous telephone bidder saw off three rivals at the Sotheby's sale in London.
 
According to reports, the abstract work has tripled in price since it was last sold in 2007 and fetched the highest price reached at a London auction so far this year.
 
 
(Miro, Peinture (Etoile Bleue), 1927. source: guardian)

The previous auction record for a Miro was £16.8m, set when his 1925 work Painting-Poem sold in February.



(Miro, Painting Poem, 1925. source: reproduction-gallery.com)

Peinture (Etoile Bleue) - which translates as Painting (Blue Star) is from the Catalan artist's 'dream paintings' cycle and had been expected to fetch no more than £15m.

According to Sotheby's Helena Newman, the high figure reflected the current "unprecedented demand" for the best of 20th Century art.

The second highest price at Tuesday's event was fetched by Pablo Picasso's Homme Assis (1972) which sold for £6.2m.


 
(Picasso, Homme Assis, 1972. source: Sotheby's)

A Henry Moore sculpture, Mother and Child With Apple, was one of the night's other star performers, raising well above its pre-sale forecast of £3.7m, according to the BBC.
(Moore, Mother and Child With Apple, 1956. source: artobserved.com)

 Last month -- 3 May -- Edvard Munch's The Scream became what many think is the most expensive painting in the world when it sold for $120m (aprox £76m.)


 
(Munch, The Scream, 1893. source: edvard-munch.com)

Other pricey pieces include Picasso's Femme aux Bras Croisés (Woman with Folded Arms) (1902), which sold for $55m (£35m) in 2000; Vincent van Gogh's 1889 piece A Wheatfield with Cypresses, sold for $57m (£37m) in 1993; and Russian painter and designer Kazimir Malevich sold his work Suprematist Composition (1916) in 2008 for a measly $60m (£38m).

 
(Picasso, Femme aux Bras Croisés, 1902. source: thechive.com)

 
(Van Gogh, A Wheatfield with Cypresses 1889. source: thechive.com)

 
(Malevich, Suprematist Composition, 1916. source: thechive.com)

But these works pale in comparison to Jackson Pollock's eye-wateringly expensive No. 5 (1948) which he sold for $140m (£89m) in 2006. In the same year, Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907) sold for a whopping $135m (£85m).


 
(Pollock, No. 5 1948. source: thechive.com)



 
(Klimt, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I 1907. source: thechive.com)

Yayoi Kusama at the Tate Modern

82 year-old Yayoi Kusama’s colourful, large, all encompassing works are, at first glance, fun, vibrant and exciting. Delve deeper into the Japanese artists’ paintings, sculptures and installations and you see an overwhelming struggle with obliteration, patriarchy and self-space spanning over six decades.

Kusama is Japan’s most famous living artist and made her name in New York in the 50s and 60s when she produced flowers with spiky inners and threatening red caves -- seen currently at the Tate Modern’s exhibition until 5 June.

Since 1977 Kusama has lived voluntarily in a psychiatric institution, and many of the works shown at the Tate are marked with obsessiveness and a desire to escape from psychological trauma. In an attempt to share her experiences, she creates installations that immerse the viewer in her obsessively charged vision of endless dots and nets or infinitely mirrored space.

It is after the Tate reveals this fact that the works become more disturbing and Kusama’s mental illness is highlighted with the repetitious, hallucinogenic, ominous nature of the spots and phallic, spongy white shapes covering inane objects.

She is renowned for her “environments’ and this exhibition is one after the other, with seeminingly no escape.

As the 1960s progressed, Kusama moved from painting, sculpture and collage to installations, films, performances and ‘happenings’ as well as political actions, counter-cultural events, fashion design and publishing.

The exhibition includes Kusama’s iconic film Kusama’s Self-Obliteration 1968, capturing this period of performative experimentation -- one of the more disturbing parts of the exhibition!

The last work -- before which a Tate worker asks if “you have seen the whole exhibition?” prior to letting you in -- is a new installation and a highlight of the exhibition for me. Infinity Mirrored Room - Filled with the Brilliance of Life 2011, is Kusama’s largest mirrored room to date and is filled with hanging lights changing colour creating infinite space and movement.

Pete Doherty exhibits blood paintings

Lead singer of rock band Babyshambles, Pete Doherty, is showing paintings created with his own blood at a new show in Camden.

On Blood: a portrait of the artist, displays artwork from the British rocker Doherty’s 2009 solo album Grace/Wastelands, as well as several canvases at the Cob Gallery.

Doherty -- who has been linked with a string of drug-related arrests -- told the Independent recently that he developed his “arterial splatter” technique by squirting his blood with a syringe onto a canvas. The paintings include elements of college and written lyrics and poetry written by the former Libertines star.

The show's co-curator Rachel Chudley told Reuters: "If you look at art through the ages, the subject matter has always been life. We all die and painting in blood is a reminder of our mortality. It's a universal media. I don't think there is anything gory about it."

According to sources, prices range from £4,500 to £8,000 for the original paintings and £500 for limited edition prints.

The jury is out, I am yet to be convinced I’d pay that much - but, according to reports some have sold already!

(pic source: Rolling Stone)

First detective novel ever published

The British Library has today published The Notting Hill Mystery by Charles Felix, widely considered to be the first detective novel ever published.

Originally serialised between 1862 and 1863 in the magazine Once a Week and then published as a single volume in 1863, The Notting Hill Mystery has not been commercially available since the turn of the century.

pic: "He said he was not drunk, but the policeman found him lying on the doorstep" © British Library Board

For years, many considered the first detective novel to be Wilkie Collins’s The Moonstone, published in 1868, while others have proposed Emile Gaboriau’s first Monsieur Lecoq novel, L’Affaire Lerouge. However, The Notting Hill Mystery can truly claim to be the first modern detective novel and pre-dates both of these by several years, according to the British Library.

Presented in the form of diary entries, family letters, chemical analysis reports, interviews with witnesses and a crime scene map, the novel displays innovative techniques that would not become common features of detective fiction until the 1920s.

The author, Charles Felix, used Felix as a pseudonym. His real name was Charles Warren Adams and he was a journalist, traveller, lawyer, and the sole proprietor of the firm Saunders, Otley & Co as well as the author of Barefooted Birdie and Velvet Lawn.

The book is available here!

World renowned artists come together to support Shelter

More than 40 of the world’s leading artists and designers including Jake and Dinos Chapman, Grayson Perry, Antony Gormley, Julian Opie and Patrick Hughes have come together for an exclusive art exhibition in support of charity Shelter.

Shelter -- a housing and homelessness charity which runs a helpline, a network of housing aid centres and works with the Citizens Advice Bureau -- has created the exhibition which centres on the theme ‘Up My Street’.

Artists have donated pieces inspired by a street that has particular significance to them, drawing on characters and buildings as well as personal experiences and memories.

Patrick Hughes, Cloudy Heart

The exhibition aims to raise awareness of the thousands of families in Britain struggling to find and keep a safe and secure place to live. Every two minutes someone faces the nightmare of losing their home and Shelter is there to help whoever’s next, according to Shelter.

Original pieces of photography, street art, sculpture, graphic design and painting make up the diverse collection. Other artists involved include photographer Miles Aldridge, street artist Eine and DC Comics illustrator Frank Quitely.

All artwork will be auctioned in aid of Shelter. An online gallery of the exclusive artwork will be available to view at www.shelter.org.uk/upmystreet from Monday 27th February, with the opportunity for people to bid on the artwork remotely.

The collection will be on display in a free exhibition at The Conningsby Gallery in London from Monday 5th – Thursday 8th March 2012.

Anthony Gormley, Super Ego

“We’re delighted that so many talented people have come together to support Shelter," Tracy Griffin, Shelter’s director of fundraising, said. "This exhibition highlights that home is not just about bricks and mortar. The people, sense of security and wider community make it so important to each and every one of us.

“In these tough times homelessness really can happen to anyone. We hope that people will get bidding to help us raise vital funds.”

Birmingham-based painter Patrick Hughes said the charity is close to his heart. "Having a roof over your head is something we should all be able to take for granted, and most of us do," he said. "However, not everyone has a place they can call their own. I hope this exhibition will make people think about the importance of a home and raise awareness of Shelter’s work.”

Julian Opie, Roadscape

Hidden Gem

After travelling to a few places in my gap YAH, I fell in love with the cultures of Asia and South America. But what I forgot is how lucky we are, in the UK, to be so close to some amazing places in Europe.

On booking my summer holiday last year to the Greek islands, my expectations were not particularly high. I wanted sun, sea, a tan and possibly some Ouzo thrown in for good measure. But what I got was an insight into a diverse culture, beautiful landscape and Ouzo - for good measure.

First stop admittedly was a little shabby - we flew in to Athens and got the train (it is a LONG way from the airport) to the main city where we stayed in a hotel where for some reason scantily clad girls liked to stand on street corners. Must be some kind of tradition.

Despite this, and the sheer amount of tourists around the monuments, you can't deny the spectacular sight of the Acropolis and the amazing view of the city.

After a few days we got the train and boat to Santorini. The island is basically the remnants of a huge volcano - which made the largest of all the Thira region/ cyclades islands - south east of the mainland. This was my favourite place. We went in September, so it was pretty quiet but this suited us and I recommend it if you don't like fighting for views. Staying in a little hotel near the beach we got a mo-ped most days and explored the rocky terrain, sampling meze treats and burning our shoulders. Bliss.

The 'red beach', Santorini

Next stop was Ios, a lot busier and more of a party town - but taking a boat trip led us to an untouched rocky hillside vilage.

Last, possibly least, was Mykonos. The apparent 'celeb hang-out' was over priced and over sold. But our guest house was lovely and there are some great restaurants.

I think you can tell there's a clear winner. But Europe and its delights should never be under estimated by the hardened traveller, even if India is next on my list...

Taryn Simon

Young (36-year-old) photographer Taryn Simon's exhibition drew me in, if I'm to be frank, because it was free. But upon reflection her collection, A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters, is most definitely worth paying for.

Taryn Simon with her collection. Photograph: Antonio Zazueta Olmos

The exhibition at Tate Modern, London (as well as the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin and Museum of Modern Art, New York)was produced over a four-year period (2008-11), during which Simon travelled around the world researching and recording bloodlines and their related stories. As a journalist, it was this documented style that I found so intriguing. You could see the time, research, effort and concentration that had gone into each piece.

*photo from the Guardian

In each of the eighteen 'chapters' that make up the work, the external forces of territory, power, circumstance or religion collide with the internal forces of psychological and physical inheritance.

The subjects documented by Simon include feuding families in Brazil, victims of genocide in Bosnia, the body double of Saddam Hussein's son Uday, and the living dead in India. Her collection is at once cohesive and arbitrary, mapping the relationships among chance, blood, and other components of fate.

Not only an impressive collection of candid photographs, each paragraph is an enthralling -- often heartbreaking -- story of human plight.

PushIt Magazine

A few posts I've done for PushIt Magazine...

Celine Resort Collection 2012

It’s often a difficult balance to keep resort collections suitably feminine without being overtly fluffy, yet Phoebe Philo, in her latest Cèline Resort collection, has managed the balance — through bright florals paired with edgy sharp cuts....

McQ by Alexander McQueen

Pina Ferlisi, under the watchful eye of Royal favourite designer of the moment Sarah Burton, has gone to town in the latest collection for the Alexander McQueen diffusion line, McQ. The pieces are a riot of colour and experimental shapes...

Aquilando.Rimondi Autumn/Winter 2011

Dolce and Gabbana, Victor and Rolf, Basso and Brooke… sometimes the match of two minds can produce magical results, and Italian design duo Aquilano.Rimondi are proving their worth to take their place in the perfect pairings hall of fame...

Enjoy x

Blog favorites Emin and Ofili to design Olympic posters

YBA’s Tracey Emin and Gary Hume are amongst twelve artists selected to design a set of posters for the Olympic and Paralympics Games in 2012.

Poster idea? Installation by Anthea Hamilton

The posters will enable these talented British artists -- including Chris Ofili, Sarah Morris and Anthea Hamilton, but not Damien Hurst -- to have their work showcased on a world stage as millions watch the events unfold next summer.

Sporting sprit: Chris Ofili

The nominated artists were chosen from a list of around a hundred. Reuters reported that organisers would not disclose how they came to the decision, or why Hurst wasn’t included. Ruth Mackenzie, director of the Cultural Olympiad, said: "I think the answer is, we're not going to go there."

Emin -- whose recent Hayward Gallery exhibition has gone down a storm -- told reporters at an event at Tate Britain gallery, held exactly a year before the London 2012 Festival event gets underway (yesterday), that she wanted her poster to be a celebration of life in London.

"(I want to) show the world that London can really throw a party and that was what it was like with the royal wedding," she said.

"In times of depression, what came across as really, really cool was the arts. Arts and culture is the soul of the country," she added. "I'm interested in the party scene, the celebration."

Contemporary conceptual artist Michael Craig-Martin, who creates colourful images such as the one below, has also been selected.

Poster idea? Michael Craig-Martin

"Artists always bring something different, because you are bringing a personal language to it," he said.

Sarah Morris


The full list of commissioned artists is:
* Fiona Banner
* Michael Craig-Martin
* Martin Creed
* Tracey Emin
* Anthea Hamilton
* Howard Hodgkin
* Gary Hume
* Sarah Morris
* Chris Ofili
* Bridget Riley
* Bob and Roberta Smith
* Rachel Whiteread
Source: Reuters


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Isle of Wight Festival 2011

My face is sunburnt, my legs are weary, my nails are dirty, I have some suspicious looking bruises, all my possessions are damp, yes – I have just been to the Isle of Wight Festival.

All worth it of course.

The festival du jour due to Kate Moss’s ubercool presence this year for her festival hen do, I didn’t really know what to expect after being told by a friend it was “a chavvy Glastonbury” (as it turned out, a pretty accurate description). But chavvy Glasto or not, I loved it. As a Glasto lover I had to keep holding back the entire weekend from the immortal phrase “But at Glastonbury…” as the two are very similar, but IoW is smaller, more humble, dare I say – less pretentious? (…OK more chavvy).

Friday we unexpectedly stumbled on Laura Steel in the Big Top, a pleasant surprise and a great way to kick off festivities with her quirky dress, powerful stage presence and belting voice set against catchy rock beats. We Are Scientists put on a typically animated show on the Main Stage, their ad-lib dry commentary adding to the overall performance. The Courteeners were a personal favourite, the audience were just getting warmed up and their classic “Not Nineteen Forever” went down a storm. We held back in the crowd to watch Kaiser Chiefs as I’m not a huge fan, but the indie britpoppers can always be relied upon for a quality set. Kings of Leon, headlining the Main Stage, were a triumph. Although for many hardcore fans the southern US rockers have lost their sheen with their latest arena-tour type album, the brothers (and a cousin) can still belt out a TUNE. The spectacular firework display over the stage during the last song was the icing on the soul-filled cake.

Kings of Leon

Saturday saw an old-school vibe with an amazing Pulp and Iggy and the Stooges (who pulled Dave Grohl of the Foo’s on stage to dance), as well as the brilliant Seasick Steve. Foo Fighter’s headlined and the rockers pulled out all the stops to put on another mind-blowing show. The Vaccines in the Big Top were also amazing, with a surprise HUGE turnout despite the unusually hot weather.

Foo Fighters

The Vecks, a band who won a competition to play on the Main Stage on Saturday, are definitely a name to remember, with their indie catchy tunes and the lead singer’s grainy voice. Stornoway, Hurts and Lissie all played impressive sets.

The torrential rain on Sunday lead to a dismal turnout for Soul Circus on the Garden Stage (I think there were around six of us watching) the band were great, but I couldn’t help feeling very sorry for them. Twenty Twenty, on the other hand, had the advantage of playing in the under-cover Big Top but were ABISMAL. The Busted-style side-parted self-conscious young upstarts had an annoyingly large crowd despite their terrible pop disasters. Springbok Nude Girls, the unusually named South African rock/metal band, seemed surprised but appreciative of the huge crowd and provided a welcome relief from the previous pop rubbish, as did Various Cruelties.

Two Door Cinema Club were great, but my feet were beginning to lose feeling, there was about 50% rain water in my cider, and Pj had the onset of hyperthermia…so it was a little difficult to enjoy.

After heading back to the tent to change and put on so many layers I resembled Joey in the episode when he puts all Chandler’s clothes on (I could hardly even lift my arm to drink) we were ready for Beady Eye. The hype beforehand with backstage filming on the big screens of Liam flattening down his mod-hair revved up the crowd, but I think the festival curators decision to put them on as the second last act was a little off, I have the album but don’t know all the songs, and it seemed like the audience thought the same. A good performance however from a surprisingly polite Gallagher. Kasabian put on a stellar performance ending the festival on a high, all be it a muddy, sodden one.

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Tracey Emin: Love Is What You Want

The Haywood Gallery provides the perfect setting for Tracey Emin's dramatic, imposing works, as I found upon visiting the South Bank gallery for her latest cacophony of personal and intimate yet loud and spectacular pieces.

Even when queuing to buy tickets (£12 / £9 for students) you’re met with 47 year old Emin’s intimate musings when the artist wrote for the Independent “My Life in a Column” -- an interesting read when waiting for a late friend. I was already familiar with Emin’s intensely personal works so knew the exhibition would be on the self-obsessed side, the columns are like a pre-warning for those who don’t know.

And yet, I don’t dislike her, her colourful, beautiful yet violent and angry tapestries (above) are a look to the traditional and provide an insight into Emin’s passions and hates.

The large pier (above) with a crumbling little shack encompassing the first room of the exhibition portrays a delicate, fragile relationship with her father due to his long term alcoholism --it is both a loving and kind dream for her father and a tainted almost nightmarish piece.

The dark room (below) filled with eighties style neon lights with sayings such as ‘Love is What You Want’ are mesmerising and her installations such as an embriodered chair and a glass cabinet filled with keep-sake trinkets and items are a look into her fascinating life.

A video shows YBA Emin talking about her abortions and miscarriages -- heart wrenching topics much of the works are centred around, as well as the obvious amount of sex and masturbation frequent Emin observers have some to expect.

The works are gripping, passionate, and, at times, uncomfortable. For me, Emin as an artist is unrelatable, her tales of sex, hatred, passion, love and death are in themselves relatable, but the way they’re conveyed through intimate sketchings and sumptuous installation and paintings are less so.

This does not make it an unenjoyable experience 'Love is What You Want' is thrill to behold -- gripping, intriguing, amusing, and absorbing -- but expect to be let in to Emin’s world, and Emin’s world alone.

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Susan Hiller – Tate Britain

If you have a Punch and Judy phobia, I would advise you not to go to the Barbara Hiller exhibition at the Tate. In fact, if you LOVE Punch and Judy I would advise you to at least stay away from the video installations...as it may ruin your beloved childhood memories.

The huge video screens playing repeated, distorted images of the seaside puppets, accompanied with disturbing phrases, are the parts of Hiller’s exhibition that stick in my mind. There is however some slightly less obscure pieces to enjoy (such as the work above).

Hiller’s obsession with identity, language, history and documentation is apparent throughout her work. On reaching one room you’re greeted by another – slightly less disturbing but no less striking– sound/video installation, playing clips from the world’s lost languages. This was such an intriguing installation, conveying lost identity, words, languages and dreams.

Witness

The second installation displaying Hiller’s wordy cleverness is mesmerising. My friend and I could have spent hours walking around each speaker in, Witness (above). The glittering cables hang down in a blue-lit room, with speakers playing an array of languages. Walking round till your ears pick up a familiar tone is intriguing and engaging.

Hiller continually questions, what happens after? After you are gone? After the language has disappeared? The questions add a poignancy to her work, displayed clearly in Monument (below). The cross shaped work has blown up photographs of epitaphs saying phrases like: Henry James Bristow, aged eight, who "saved his little sister's life by tearing off her flaming clothes but caught fire himself".

Monument


If you can get past the Punch and Judy, Hiller’s – age 70 – retrospective is an engaging insight into poignant imaginings of an experienced master.

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Gabriel Orozco

My new Tate members card has been fully utilized of late - a fantastic present idea for any arty types - after I moved to London. The card allows freebies, discounts of cafes, use of members rooms and, most importantly, free entry to any Tate exhibition (with a friend too!).

I was aware of Gabriel Orozco's more well known works such as My Hands are my Heart (below) and Black Kites, but I'd never had the opportunity to view his collection of photography, installation and sculpture all at once. His latest show at the Tate Modern gives you an insight into his playful, provocative style on a huge scale.

My Hands are my Heart (1991)

The vast collection of vivacious photography and coltish sculpture such as LA D.S - a car seemingly a reflection of itself - is a joy to behold (below) and accessible for everyone.

LA D.S

The poignant, touching and funny obituaries with quotes such as "bassist and mock politician", "a painter of poetic realism" and "a cowgirl till the end" leads you to want to read them all (below).

Obituaries and Black Kite

So whether you're a fan already, or new to Orozco, his playful, interactive, stimulating works are a must see for all in this rare opportunity to see his vast collection of works.

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