In 1967, Bruce Nauman made his ten-minute, 16mm film Walking in an Exaggerated Manner Around the Perimeter of a Square. Using a Sony Portapak camera borrowed from the gallerist Leo Castelli, Nauman recorded himself slowly traversing lines of masking tape tacked to the floor of his studio.
Helen Cammock’s 19-minute video They Call It Idlewild (all works 2020) presents, in no particular order, the static framing of: a brick wall, a statue, a frayed cobweb, grasses dipping in the breeze. The result of a pre-lockdown residency at Wysing Arts Centre, it’s the first piece encountered by visitors to I Decided I Want to Walk, the...
The exhibition History Without A Past, currently on view at Mu.ZEE, Ostend, features recent work by Samson Kambalu and Vincent Meessen. Of all the currents of ideas revealed by 1968, the Situationist International (1957–1972) is probably the most enduring.
In these days of confinement, I’ve turned to classical Hollywood for comfort. Revisiting Ernst Lubitsch’s sublime Design for Living (1933), I came across a line worth noting down: 'Delicacy, as the philosophers point out, is the banana peel under the feet of truth.' If that is so, eager to avoid slipping, I’ll come out and say it from the start:...
As the realities of a global climate emergency begin to sink in, the well-heeled visitors to this year's Art Basel fair can expect to see work that reflects the concerns of the world outside–at least to a certain extent. 'Studies show that the wealthier you are, the bigger your carbon footprint, so it's great that we are now seeing this addressed...
At Frieze art fair next week, among thousands of artworks, it will be difficult for any one artist to stand out. But the sensual beauty and formal rigour of the works of Rana Begum, the British-Bangladeshi artist, should be a balm for the eyes and the soul amid the visual cacophony. Begum is showing in the Frieze Sculpture exhibition in Regent's...
Between Wimbledon and the FIFA World Cup, there's been plenty of distractions from London's unusually Mediterranean weather of late.
The fifth installment of NMWA's Women to Watch exhibition series, Heavy Metal, is presented by the museum and participating national and international outreach committees. The exhibition showcases contemporary artists working in metal, including those who create sculpture, jewelry, and conceptual forms.
The London-based Bangladeshi artist, an alum of Chelsea College of Art & Design and the Slade School of Fine Art, was awarded the coveted prize last October, receiving a bursary of $100,000 to realise a site-specific project at Art Dubai, working with curator Omar Berrada. And the prize-winning work, which was unveiled near the Abraaj lounge...
A new and innovative outdoor work by Bangladeshi-British artist Rana Begum is currently installed at King’s Cross, marking the start of a new series of public commissions for the area. No.700 Reflectors, Cubitt Sq. 2016 occupies the full length of Lewis Cubitt Square, measuring 50 metres long and three and a half metres high. The...
Joining Frieze in January 2015 as the Artistic Director for the Americas and Asia, Abby Bangser has brought over 10 years of experience in the art industry (at institutions like the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in California) to assist in the global success of the fairs, particularly with...
It takes a very specific perspective to appreciate the beauty of linoleum — especially in shades of pea green and dishwater brown. Where most would see cheap industrial material, Martino Gamper envisions endless possibilities. ‘‘I never feel limited by materials, techniques or color in my practice,’’ says the Italian...
At first glance, the ease with which the eye travels through one of Patricia Treib's paintings belies the complexity she brings to the canvas.
PM Rana, can you tell me something about the influences, both artistic and otherwise, that have been significant in the development of your practice?' RB I remember one particular day as a child in Bangladesh reading the Quran at the local mosque, in a tiny room dappled with morning light. The light, the sound of the water fountain and...
New Zealand's official platform at the Venice Biennale began in 2001, and our formal representation was arguably already overdue at this point. There had been anomalous instances of New Zealanders exhibiting at the Biennale: Frances Hodgkins (she was meant to be in a group show representing Britain, though this was never realised because of World...
London artist Renee So found the inspiration for her current body of work in the hallowed halls of the Victoria and Albert Museum, where she'd stumbled upon a collection of so-called German Bellarmine jugs — stoneware vessels that 16th- and 17th-century artisans carved to look like portly bearded woodsmen, purposefully firing them full of...
The first thing that needs to be known, if reproductions are all there is to go by, is that Renee So's two-dimensional works are knitted. These are not flat, static drawings but aerated designs with a warp and weft, tension and drift. The knit declares itself like a wry quip, emitting a frisson of wit from what might otherwise seem voguishly...
With their penchant for drunken acrobatics and big jolly beards, the characters Renee So brings to life are a lovely gang of odd bods. In the giant 'knitted portraits' she creates on a 1970s pre-computerised machine...