Art & Culture 

London & Berlin October/November 2004   Touched down in London to be greeted by the cooler weather of chilly autumn, however we all know that we don’t go to London for the weather.  This time around was a little different as my normal haunt, North London was not my place of abode but this time, East London (which I hadn’t really explored much of). East London really needs no introduction but just in case you are planning on discovering it, here are a few of my highlights: Whitechapel Gallery – Tobias Rehberger & Paul Noble.  You missed out if you didn’t get along to this amazing exhibition, Paul Noble’ s work is something out of this world.  Wonderful to catch a glimpse inside his mind, such detail and patience. White Cube –  Hoxton Square, Sam Taylor Wood – Photographs of celebs (male) crying..whatever, I personally found her self portraits more interesting…go see for yourself.  Rove Gallery – Hoxton Square – NY based artists collection, well worth a visit.   There are loads of independent galleries all dotted around East London, check out a map of East End galleries put out by TimeOut London. (sorry can’t tell you a website for this map, but really helpful if you are into checking out the local talent.)  There are quite a few galleries around Commercial Street, Whitechapel Road, Bethnal Green Road, Redchurch Street, Great Eastern Streets to name but a few. Spitafields Markets,Commercial Street, Old Street or should I say Hoxton Square, Bricklane, Sunday Up Markets (just recently started in Bricklane), Shoreditch are great for getting something a little different – jewellery, retro gear, upcoming designers, clothing stores, etc all here.  For instance, I picked up some awesome long boots for 4 quid at the Sunday Up Market! Modern Tate is a favourite so always check myself in for a day or at least a half day there to see any special exhibitions that they have there, plus just revisit oldies but goodies.   The main exhibition on while I was there was Robert Frank – Storylines.  I had no idea who this artist/photographer was, so un-cultured of me! Apparently he is one of the world’s most important living photographers.  He hails originally from Zurich, Switzerland but as a young man emigrated to New York ….as you do.  He then landed himself an awesome job as photographer for Harper’s Bazaar….and then traveled extensively throughout world.  His photographs are magical and nostalgic.  Go see it if you can and watch the video on him and his eccentric wife at the end of the exhibition. Also try and catch Paula Rego at the Tate (I think) amazing exhibition of a woman who is so passionate about her work and politics, very pro woman.  I had never been in London while Turner Prize was on, but this year decided since it coincided with my trip why not…sorry to say but very disappointing, not worth the 4 quid I paid to get in.  Bars that I had the pleasure of visiting were Tea Bar in Shoreditch, Lounge Lover, Zigfreids in Hoxton Square, Medicine Bar (Angel Islington), Salmon & Compass (Angel), and more that a much of a blur. Highlights for night out for birthday bash at Tea Bar was seeing and meeting Queer Eye guy – interiors Thom!  What a thrill.   Saatchi Gallery was new to me this time around as I had always side stepped that Gallery.  It’s a really diverse and constantly changing collection of contemporary art.  A large part of the collection is English Artists such as Sarah Lucas, Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst, Gavin Turk, and the most provocative Jake & Dinos Chapman.  Some I had a complete aversion to and others I was completely intrigued by, mainly the Jake and Dinos Chapmans pieces. Music that I was listening to - Loving Scissor Sisters, Kings of Leon…. Berlin – ahhhhhhhhh what a wonderful relaxed and cool city...boy do they LOVE sausage! Well for a start we landed ourselves in the cool quarters of East Berlin, Fredrichstein..finding ourselves staying at the most relaxed and chilled hostel of all time…Odyssee Hostel on Grunburger.  I haven’t stayed in a hostel for some years.. this place was a dream, chilled people managing it, groovy, clean and spacious rooms…cheap drinks! And the most friendly staff ever.   Where do I start.  Berlin is amazing, such a diverse place, the architecture, the people, the culture.  If you are an aspiring rock star, artist, musician, poet, designer, anything at all creative, you are going to love this place,  or may even consider moving to Berlin.  Everywhere you look there is inspiration.  The bars, the cafes, restaurants, galleries and even the shopping there is awesome.  Some of the highlights were, Café Zapata a venue which has much history.  It apparently used to be a squatters abode and has been converted into a music venue, art spaces, café/restaurant.  We stumbled upon this venue one night after being at a semi okay place called Silberfich (DJ sucked, wouldn’t play Prince) both located in Oranienburger St.  We had just missed the band of the night, UK’s Colour of Fire, which possibly could have been a good gig!  Met young Owen anyways, lovely chap.  Other bars that are worth a look-in are Habermeyer, Pirate Socks (love a bit of Rammstein, Death metal…awesome crew behind the bar), Lee Harvey Oswald (I think that’s what it was called…bizarre anyway)…they are really into themed bars....those were just a few that were in our local area.  Then there are the galleries, OMG, you must try to get along to the Hamburger Bahnhof (Contemporary Art Museum), this was amazing, including works by Bruce Nauman, Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Marlene Dumas, Thomas Ruff, and whilst I was there the "Flick Collection" was on.  Catch it if you can.  If you have limited time in Berlin, try to go to Hamburger Bahnhof, Jewish Museum, Topography of Terror, The Reichstag (German Parliament), and Pergamon Museum...those are some of the highlights. You can not do it all in a few days like I had planned...so I'll be back BERLIN watch out!! July 2004 - NYC visit I recently arrived back from one of the best cities in the world.  I really did not know what to expect.  I had heard mostly comments on what the people were like, and how amazing the city itself was.  It exceeded my expectations! Not only was the city truly amazing, it had an energy that I don't think you can capture anywhere else in the world....with exception to maybe London. While my visit was mainly for business, it also gave me a chance between appointments and meetings to visit and see some of New York's finest art and culture.  First stop was along "museum mile" which encapsulates some of the most prestigious museums in the world.  Since I had limited time there I decided to concentrate on a couple of the museums which I had always wanted to go to, namely, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Guggenheim Museum, and the Frick Museum.  They all proved rather overwhelming especially the Metropolitan due to the size of the museum and the collections.   The Guggenheim for the building alone is worth the visit.  The frame is Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece of modern architecture.  There is also a permanent collection of works by Chagall, Kandinsky, Picasso, Van Gogh, and many other modern masters.   The exhibit on show at the Guggenheim while I was there was "Speaking with hands" - abstract and manipulated work from mainly the 1920's to the 1950's. Containing such insightful photographs of subjects such as Georgia O'Keefe's hands. And Brancusi's - "The Essence of Things" - the wonderful flowing forms of Brancusi's sculptures, birds being a major influence on his work. See "Bird in Space". By the 1920's Brancusi emerged as the most significant sculptor of his generation. The Frick museum was actually one of the museums that I was not planning on visiting but came highly recommended by an acquaintance that I met through art circles.  What a surprise, it is a small but exquisite collection.  The current exhibition "The unfinished Print" - Edvard Munch and "Etchings as Drawings" -  Albrecht Durer, Anthony Van Dyck, Rembrandt and Degas.  For me hightlights of this exhibition were seeing Munch's Madonna Lithographs.  If you are into art and want to see the best examples of use of light and depicting light some of the best in the business are on show -Turner, Velázquez, Vermeer, Whistler.  My personal favs, the two V's, Velazquez and Vermeer. Worth a trek up to the Frick.   Central park is an absolute must whilst visiting NY, its sheer size will however take you a few days to get around.  Perhaps invest in a book on Central Park or a map at least to tell you what you've  missed out on. Central Park have several Summertime activities available.  Shakespeare in the Park is something worth going along to and its FREE!! Yes some things in life are FREE! and they actually have very high calibre actors in these series.  Central Park SummerStage lists events in the park over the summer months.  I think the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs and Devo are playing soon, so pretty awesome upcoming events. New York Metro mag & also Time Out NY will give you all the low down on where to go for gigs, clubs, bars, restaurants, shows etc.  Speaking of shows on and off Broadway, caught the most amazing show "Wicked".  Wicked is based on the novel by Gregory Macguire called "The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West".  Brilliant and clever. Could make you rethink your perceptions of people and life. And lastly the restaurants.  I found myself there while it was Restaurant week in NY.  By accident really discovered that this was on and coincidently walked into a couple of the restaurants participating in Restaurant week.  One of those restaurants was rmseafood which was fabulous and also another couple of restaurants that proved to be exceptional were; Aquagrill in Spring Street and Jack's Luxury Oyster Bar in the East Village.  Fabo!!  On that note, NY was all that I had dreamed of and more.  All that I had heard about the rudeness of the people was completely incorrect. I found the people friendly and very helpful.  NY RoCks!!! May 2004 Fiona has two upcoming books being published August/ September which will feature both her illustrations & paintings. To read more about this click here.   The first will be "Madonna-in-art" compiled by Mem Mehmet and published by Chaucer Press UK in August 2004.  Fiona's paintings will be featured in this tribute to the legendary pop icon herself Madonna  as well as other artists from around the world.  The second book to feature Fiona's work is "Imagemakers- Cutting Edge Fashion Illustration" - by Martin Dawber and published by Mitchell Beazley UK. Out in September 2004! January 2004 Caravaggio & His World - November- Feb 22 2004 & Colin McCahon - "A Question of Faith" - Art Gallery NSW I went along first and foremost to see the Caravaggio exhibition and also with the intention of popping in to see the  Colin McCahon exhibition, not thinking that I would come away with more from the McCahon exhibition. I feel slightly  criminal in saying this as Caravaggio is one of the masters in painting and the art world.  Perhaps it is because both  McCahon and I share the same heritage and similar upbringing being raised in New Zealand. Regardless, the  Caravaggio exhibition held and captivated me enough, with the amazing dramatic effects of darkness and light, his pure talent and the  influence he had on his contemporaries. McCahon was New Zealand's first painter of major international significance and for me personally it was McCahon that I remember my first Art teacher mentioning and highlighting the fact that this artist in particular was significant. McCahon's reverence for life and exploration of spiritual belief and his personal experience in these areas are spread  throughout the exhibition. It is an exhibition that you leave with a sense of hope and uplifting.   Whatever Gallery owner who told me that you cheapen artwork with the use of writing as images was way wrong. McCahon demonstrates this beautifully as he bombards us with "I AM" while not preaching to the observer, just provoking us with ideas/messages. December 2003 Lady Robots - Tripod  Dec 2 - Dec 20th - The Playhouse - Operahouse For those of you out there that want something a little different and spontaneous check out a fun trio Tripod.  I must confess I had never heard of them ( what planet have I been on!) Apparently they have been around for the last 5 or 6 years doing comedy festivals, television and radio ...and yes they have a bit of a cult following and they even have merchandise. This is a hysterically funny performance/musical where three guys (Scod, Yon & Gatesy) set out on a intergalactic journey in a Volkswagen. Their clever performance includes the use of ribbons, dance, guitar accompaniment, harmonies and the stage sets budget would not have been more than a hundred dollars! you will definitely expand your imagination if you go  along to this performance. Thumbs up to Tripod.  Refreshing and clever.  - Fiona November 2003 Despite the fact that this is a space for reviewing and commenting on local exhibitions I wanted to start off by filling you in on my recent trip abroad to London which included some brilliant exhibitions.   Because I was visiting one of the largest arts and cultural capitals in the world, I had plenty of opportunity to visit a range of exhibitions and art openings and made the most of it.  If you are planning a trip away to either the UK or Europe, September is a really great time to go especially if you want to avoid loads of tourists.  Most of the big exhibitions are still on in September. As I am  mostly a self taught Artist/Illustrator I decided to visit & study at one of London's most prestigious Art Schools for a couple of weeks.  This was part of my long held desire to study at Central St Martins Art School.  Loved every minute of it and learned so much about  the art of oil painting and techniques.  Highly recommend the experience if you get the chance...not too much more expensive than a local course here. Highlights of the exhibitions I visited were; Damien Hirst at White Cube in Hoxton Square, Bridget Riley at the Tate Gallery  and  Ossie Clark exhibit at the V&A (Victoria & Albert Museum).   Damien Hirst exhibition included an installation in the park in Hoxton Square called Charity which struck me the most.  The sculpture is rather large in scale and is an image of a disabled girl with her leg in a splint, scuffed clothes and her charity box broken into.   I had heard his images were confronting and as I was not familiar with his work, the heads of cows that had been skinned, divided and preserved in formaldehyde in a glass tank shocked but fascinated me. The fact that we, in Western society are ushered away from death and act as if it does not even exist makes his images even more confronting. The Ossie Clark exhibition is a small but concise exhibit held at the V&A in London.  Ossie Clark was the first designer to treat fashion shows as performances combining music with a bit of theatrics.  Ossie Clark designed clothes, for such celebrities as Liz Taylor, Brigite Bardot, Mick and Bianca Jagger.  All fab and worth a look. Last but not least, if you are at all in Kensington Gardens area pop into the Serpentine Gallery which is within the gardens. While I was there they had  one of the most exciting exhibitions by an American artist called John Curran Full of luminous and sensual images of predominantly women with elongated and exaggerated features. Kind of kitschy too.  John Curran will be exhibiting from Nov 20 2003 at the Whitney Museum of Art in New York. Okay ciao for now and will be back again for some more arty goss.  Watch this space for more arty reviews and stuff. Fiona