The b-uncut blog

Butterflies and UFOs

// May 6th, 2010 // View Comments // b-hind the scenes

Dominic Harris, founder of Cinimod has established a mutually beneficial relationship between his art and design. b-uncut caught up with him at Kinetica Art Fair 2010 and heard about his very cool job!

Luminous Man: Roseline de Thélin Sees The Light

// April 28th, 2010 // View Comments // b-hind the scenes

Roseline de Thélin works with light as a medium and subject. Her light sculptures made from edged fibre optic are a reflection of life and illusion. We met Roseline at Kinetica Art Fair where she was happy to take us on her enchanted journey.

SAVE SAM: Part 2: Philip Letts Backs Street Art Online

// April 13th, 2010 // View Comments // b-hind the scenes, b-street

Online artists network b-uncut continues their local campaign with Labour party’s Amir Akhrif to bring back street art to London.

See Part 1, the interview with Amir here.

Join this Facebook Group to support the campaign that could lead to many similar projects.

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B-UNCUT Talks With SFMoMA’s John Zarobell

// April 8th, 2010 // View Comments // b-hind the scenes

As Assistant Curator of Collections, Exhibitions and Commissions at the SFMoMA, John Zarobell is an innovative figure inside the San Francisco art scene. John acted as the coordinating curator of Frida Kahlo and also organized Art in the Atrium: Kerry James Marshall and New Work: Ranjani Shettar.

We caught up with John for a chat on his methods for discovering new and exciting emerging artists, his latest upcoming projects at SFMoMa and his views on the level of influence that artist social networks and online art communities are having on the world stage.

What are the hot trends in the contemporary art scene?

Craft, mapping, neo-baroque, artists curating, references to high modernist art and design.

Like the chicken and egg, what comes first; the concept for a show or the mass inspection of what’s available?

In the US, contemporary museums do very few concept shows and concentrate on monographic exhibitions for the most part.  The concept shows that do get produced try to capture the zeitgeist but the challenge is that it takes museums years to organize exhibitions and by the time comes to put on the show, the moment may have passed.  One good concept exhibition at SFMOMA recently was The Art of Participation, curated by Rudolf Frieling, which I believe he had been planning for years but that show was based on a historical evolution of the notion of participation in art and covered a lot of historical ground.  Sandra Phillips, the head of our photography department has been organizing a powerful exhibition that will be shown at Tate London called Exposed about the camera and technologies of surveillance since 1870.  It’s old but new as well.

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Microphones, 2008

Abramović : Ulay

Is there anything exciting in the pipeline, perhaps a show or an artist close to your heart?

I’m working on an upcoming New Work project with the artist Anna Parkina for next spring.  She’s a young artist from Moscow who is brilliant on multiple fronts: watercolors, graphics, performance, and sculpture.  She takes the best from Russian Constructivism and reinvents it for the 21stcentury (film noir, punk, blocky Soviet architecture).

Where and how do you look for emerging talent?

Here at SFMOMA, we host an semi-annual exhibition of local emerging artists put on by the Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art (SECA)—every two years they award prizes to a group of artists and this group works with assistant curators at the museum and is a great way for us to follow what is going on in our own backyard.  Further afield, the online resources are so huge these days, you can have access to worlds that no one can possibly traverse and I spend a lot of time with those resources.  But nothing beats getting out and pounding the pavement to see work at galleries, non-profits, and museums.  San Francisco has a huge range of emerging talent but you have to travel and look around in New York, London, Los Angeles… Biennials and fairs are like one-stop shopping but it wears you down if you go too much.

Anna Parkina, Mono, 2005

b-uncut’s approach to artists, art and the market is based on open communication and dialogue between artists and the broader art community. How do you think we can get the more established art industry to engage with us and others in the online space?

The problem is that there are so many sources of information and everyone is just too damned busy.  Saatchi has captured the world though contests (American Idol style), e-flux fills your inbox but they also do a publication, run a gallery, and host symposiums.  I think the key is to have both a real and an online presence so that your online presence has greater visibility and folks think of it as more than just a blog or a chat room.  Mix social networking with the online art community.

How do you think the internet is changing the art world and the art market?

Questions from our crowd:

Given the profusion of online galleries where do you see the role of brick and mortar galleries in the next few years?

(Donald Kolberg)

There is no substitute for seeing art in the flesh.  Unless you’re talking about a video, which is made for a screen, seeing art on a screen is not the same as seeing the object.  I know that many folks buy art after seeing photos or jpegs but it is usually an artist whose works they have seen in person at some point previous.  Online galleries (and online presence for brick and mortar galleries) provide new windows and valuable marketing tools but people and art live in space and so I expect galleries will continue to require space to sell art.

How are you dealing with being in such a visible position in the art world. How do you would react to a simple request from Joe Artist to review his portfolio?

(Olgar Dmytrenko)

This is not an uncommon occurrence in my world and I’ll be honest with you and say that my response is not entirely consistent.  I know that contemporary curators often maintain a sense of exclusivity and do not have time for studio visits unless they are arranged.  I try to be more open but one only has so much time.  I feel like if I have a relationship with someone, however brief, I will consider a request to visit but that has to come from some kind of conversation.  When I started getting Facebook friend invitations from artists who I had never met, I realized that I am exposed and I have to be selective about who I engage with and why.

As an older emerging artist, I have noticed a certain amount of discrimination. There is a consensus that young emerging artists deal with contemporary issues from a fresh point of view which makes their work more viable and gives the gallery owners an advantage in promoting them even before the art is seen. I have found that some galleries only deal with young emerging artists [under thirty]. What insights do you have regarding galleries’ views on mature emerging artists [in their fifties] verses young emerging artists?

(Jeanette Luchese)

This is a very good question because “emerging artist” is just a label for an artist you’ve never heard of until you get your work in a group show and someone points you out in the press as a promising emerging artist.  In other words, there are emerging artists who no one in the art world has heard of and there are emerging artists who have been called out by a dealer, curator or a critic.  I think there is a lust for youth in American culture at least and it seems from my perspective that, if it was not always this way, this perception has become more or less universal now.  To make matters worse, if you’re not under 30 and no one has ever heard of you, you have to confront the obvious question of why you have not already achieved some degree of success. There are a lot of reasons that gallerists have to be biased against artists.  At bottom, the strength of any emerging artist is the originality of her or his voice, the idea that what you have to say has never been said no matter what your age.  The more you can produce that kind of work, and convince others of its honesty, the better chance you have going from emerging artist a to emerging artist b.

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SAVE SAM: Part 1: Labour Party & B-UNCUT Encourage Street Art

// March 25th, 2010 // View Comments // b-hind the scenes, b-street

.b-uncut & Amir Akhrif on a mission to get street art back to London.

Help with the campaign by joining the Facebook group.

Go to part 2 here
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Thanks to JudyGr, normko and hedgiecc from Flikr.

Banksy’s identity Revealed!!!

// March 19th, 2010 // View Comments // b-hind the scenes, b-street

Rebecca Stevenson-Eyes for Detail

// March 18th, 2010 // View Comments // b-hind the scenes

After being astounded by her sculptures in January, we got in contact with Rebecca and met her at her studio. On arrival, we foundered over the strong perfume of these particular bouquets but Rebecca has clearly built her tolerance against resin fumes over the last 10 years.

It’s taken her that long to evolve her unique process of sculpting wax and resin. So window ajar, some fresh air in the lungs, I noticed the orderly manner in which her space is organised. Not exactly like a dentist’s office but there is a place for everything. There are some work-tops around the edges, a computer in the corner, a pile of giant bubble-wrap rolls and molds in the opposite corner.  It gives her enough space in the center of the room for her to do the meticulous pruning her sculptures require.

“I try to choose animals that elicit a direct emotional response from the viewer, rather than choosing them for, say, symbolic reasons. Just as the food-like aspects of my work are intended to stimulate a physical, sensual response, bypassing the intellectual. The animals are intended to exert an emotional “pull” which is hard to resist, even though the subject may be really kitsch. I’m very interested in “cuteness” and hence will be working not only on the deer piece we talked about but quite probably some kittens, alone or in groups. I also use animals that have a strong attraction or resonance, like swans or horses, that we tend to elevate and admire.”

The nature of her process dictates a maximum of 10 sculptures can be produced in a year and that’s a push. It’s evident in each of Rebecca’s sculptures how important the details are and a fine tooth comb can’t come close to her microscopic intricacies. Luckily for Rebecca, she has a close set of artist friends who occasionally step in to tell her when enough is enough. The final, mysterious stage in her complex process she calls ‘frosting’. The actual methods are top secret but its a bit like showering icing sugar on a dessert.  This is the final firework in her sculpting armory.

Graphic Art: Blotters, Posters and Teapots In the Belly of the Underdog

// March 9th, 2010 // View Comments // b-hind the scenes

Sammy Forway, 34 years old, started Underdog Art Company as an online gallery in early 2007 and opened the Underdog art gallery in London SE1 in mid 2008. Sammy discusses his gallery life, art he loves and the exhibitions held at this multi-media gallery on the Old Kent Road.

Why did you want to open a gallery?
I have always been interested in art since I was a small kid I always made art paintings drawings and was generally creative when I got older I realised I wanted to start my own business but didn’t know what yet, I only realised what it was when I started to see how difficult it was for new artists to get work seen and promoted and came up with the idea of the online gallery, since then its just progressed. We now have regular exhibitions and live events here at Underdog.

What kind of work do you love?

My Current show is called Rock around the Crockery! It’s a show of graphic art screen prints, stencil and digital work, oh and not to forget the Graffed up defaced and debouched Crockery! Tea sets, trays, coffee pots etc. Art should be fun too eh.

Very successful, I am a musician myself and know lots of bands so we have really good live music at our shows.

Raphael, he was the most productive of the old masters and he died at 37… Quids in! Only joking, I love Franz Ackermann’s work I would love to represent him. His work is very psychedelic, cerebral and visceral but still with something to say. I’d also like to have represented Von Dutch and Ed (Big Daddy) Roth. Because they were pioneers of graphic art and sure loved rock n roll.

Written in the Wind: Drawing from Nathan Coley

// February 24th, 2010 // View Comments // b-hind the scenes

Greg Thomas, an artist at b-uncut, shares his inspiration for some of his recent work.

Nathan Coley’s sculpture ‘There Will Be No Miracles Here’ (2006), references an invisible authoritative voice. The words tower above the viewer as if to intimidate and there is a contradiction between the content and placement of the sculpture. This is what I have tried to explore with my own piece ‘Brace’. The allusion to flight and dissipation directly contradicts the content and it’s meaning.

See  and read more from Greg Thomas at his b-uncut page or his blog.

Behind the Scenes at White Cube

// February 18th, 2010 // View Comments // b-hind the scenes

White Cube Hoxton Square
Candice Breitz, ‘Factum’
12 February – 20 March 2010
48 Hoxton Square, N1 6PB

Last week the White Cube galleries opened with the work of two artists: Film artist Candice Breitz at Hoxton Square and Franz Ackermann at Mason’s Yard.  Unlike the continuity of the Damien Hirst shows immediately preceding these exhibitions, the work of Breitz and Ackermann contrast greatly in their presentation. The entirety of Hoxton Square’s gallery interior is painted black, with dark grey carpeting; creating an ambience to replicate a movie theatre. Mason’s Yard, meanwhile, overwhelms the viewer with the bright colours for which Ackermann is known.

White Cube’s Exhibition Coordinator Susannah Hyman spoke to me about her role, the shows and the difficulties when dealing with some artists. Susannah describes her role as “acting as the eyes and ears to the artist who may never have seen the gallery space before”. She continues, “the artist will often only have certain personal considerations relating to the presentation of their work.” Franz Ackermann, for instance, “decamps from his studio in Berlin to London for a week or so” and hopes to achieve a site-specific environment for each exhibition. Some artists do not consider the time constraints of the gallery; for example, art critics may want to view the show before the opening in order to write an article. Though she does not deal with sales, in response to my question regarding the targeted client for the work she believes that the gallery “will want to get works into a couple of good museum collections, as well as private foundations.” Susannah was impressed with the number of attendees at both openings, and was particularly surprised with the amount of time and attention the viewers gave to each of Breitz’s films. She says that “there is something about the nature of these works and the characterization that is truly absorbing. You literally have to tear yourself away.” Quite true, as I was there for an hour longer than expected!

Both exhibitions are certainly worth a visit. Breitz’s films ask you to consider your identity and the circumstances, events and choices that make you an individual. Furthermore, the viewers are asked to focus on the small details that make an individual unique. Ackermann’s show invites the viewer, with a range of blue colors reminiscent of  Google’s website, to question the internet and our increasingly globalized society. The work offers an indirectly thought-provoking and aesthetically rousing exhibition.

Go see for yourself!

White Cube Mason’s Yard
Franz Ackermann, ‘Wait’
10 February – 1 April 2010
25-26 Mason’s Yard, SW1Y 6BU