This summer, Irving Penn’s masterful Cigarettes series will be displayed in its entirety for the first time ever at Hamiltons Gallery, London. Although Penn is probably most renowned for his photographs of famous fashion models and iconic figures, he was also equally as accustomed to shooting various forms of still life – in this case, discarded cigarette butts found on the streets of New York in the early Seventies. By printing the Cigarettes using the Platinum palladium process, an extremely difficult and costly photographic technique, Penn advanced the status of these objects from unwanted garbage to treasured rarities.
Either arranged as singular objects or clustered in groups, the image composition remains relatively minimal, however the depth and density of the tone applied to these black and white shots highlight subtle details, features and textures which otherwise would go a miss.
All of Penn’s pictures are created with a great attention to detail and the extreme magnification applied here means this series is no exception; every burnt edge, rip and fold in the delicate paper is meticulously captured as are the stray strands of loose tobacco that sprout out at the butt ends like wiry whiskers.
Another focus is the branding that is stamped onto each cigarette; even after being smoked, stubbed out, stepped on and subsequently weathered in Manhattan’s gutters, the marks of Tobacco industry giants such as Marlboro, Camel and Chesterfield are still evidently fulfilling their intended commercial purpose.
All 26 photographs from the Cigarettes series are available to view now until 17 August at Hamiltons Gallery, 13 Carlos Place, London.
New York of the late Seventies to the early Eighties has taken on a mythic quality. The parties were wild and the people wore their individuality with a bohemian innocence, before the fat cats took over Downtown and cool became a commodity.
For his new book Night & Day, photographer David Armstrong revisits the scenes of his youth, bringing together a selection of iconic Kodachrome pictures from his archive featuring characters of the scene such as Rene Ricard, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Jean-Michel Basquait, John Waters and on.
An alumnus of the Boston School, Armstrong grew up artistically alongside Nan Goldin with whom he shared a love of intimate snapshots in saturated colour. While decades on his work now graces publications such as L’Uomo Vogue, Arena Homme+, GQ and Self Service, Night and Day holds the passed youth of a cultural generation.
“This is what normal women look like close up… and I think it’s rather beautiful,” states Brighton based artist Jamie McCartney referring to his latest project, The Great Wall of Vagina; an integral feature of his current exhibition Skin Deep.
As the name may suggest, the artwork in question is a nine metre-long panelled display consisting of 400 plaster casts of female genitalia; each of them unique. After taking moulds from a variety of different women aged between 18 and 79 years old, McCartney’s primary aim was to highlight the diversity of the intimate female form, inviting the viewer to embrace and celebrate its beauty whilst abolishing any previous insular and unrealistic views on ‘normal’.
Skin Deep also presents the world premier of Jamie’s physical photography series; a collection of full body portraits that depicts his female subjects in their natural state through high definition scanning of the flesh. Similar to the wall, the photographs continue to challenge society’s limited and impossible ideals on beauty through the artist’s decision to reject the image-manipulation and retouching process.
The work featured here is not seen as erotic art nor is it in anyway pornographic; it’s a visual education that just so happens to be titillating and intriguing.
Skin Deep is on now until 2nd June 2012 at the Hay Hill Gallery, Cork Street, London.
Kicking off this week, the New York Photo Festival 2012 is set to display an international variety of creative talent. Now in its fourth consecutive year, the event intermixes submissions from fine art, documentary, advertising, photo books and multimedia – in other words, expect an interesting representation of the photography genre.
At the forefront of this year’s festival is an exploration of the convergence between fine art and documentary photography. Accompanying this theme will be exclusive curations by SocialDocumentary.net founder Glenn Ruga, former P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center/The Museum of Modern Art curator Amy-Smith Stewart, TRACE Magazine founder Claude Grunitzky, and multimedia artist/musician DJ Spooky. Entitled On the Razor’s Edge: Between Documentary and Fine Art Photography (a focus on art documentary), What Do You Believe In (the interplay between photography and personal ideas), the Curse and the Gift (how digital photography and smartphones has changed the shape of the photography medium) and Sinfonia Antarctica (a review of the effect of archiving Antarctic history on digital media art), the shows will include work from the likes of Rina Castelnuovo, Jen DeNike, Yamini Nayar, and Evangelia Kranioti.
Encompassing sculpture, architecture, digital media and live performance, the NYPH ’12 proves that photography is more than just the simple click of a button – just like its creators, the art form is both of a complex and captivating nature.
The New York Photo Festival 2012 runs from May 16-20 and is headquartered at POWERHOUSE Arena, 37 Main Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 nyph.at
For the Saatchi Gallery’s first photography exhibition since 2001, Out of Focus features 38 artists, each demonstrating the different ways the medium can be stretched and explored.
There’s fashion’s favourite, Ryan McGinley, collage supremo John Stezaker, and everything else inbetween. In a world mediated through images, the photographs in Out of Focus, show how photographers have encouraged photography to relinquish its grip on reality in order to push artistic boundaries. With an overwhelming abundance of different techiniques on show, the viewer is left to ponder, what is photography anyway.
Out of Focus is at the Saatchi Gallery London until July 22. saatchigallery.co.uk
Buhuu Suite (Calais 2), Nicole Wermers, 2011
Marriage I, John Stezaker, 2006, Collage
Femme à sa toilette, Elina Brotherus, 2001, Chromogenic colour print mounted on aluminium Top Image: Untitled (Morrissey 7), Ryan McGinley, 2005
The Metropolitan Museum of Arts Costume Institute’s new exhibition focuses on two icons of classic design separated by disparate eras: The late Elsa Schiaparelli, creator of the ‘Tear’ dress and associate of the Surrealist movement, and Muiccia Prada, a politics graduate whose coveted Postmodernist creations are made for women’s brains – not their bodies.
Their collaborative exhibition: Schiaparelli and Prada – Impossible Conversations, comprises of signature pieceswhich are divided into seven themed galleries, including Hard Chic and The Surreal Body. The designers’ ensembles are collated and video installations are included which depict simulated conversations between the women with a view to highlight similitudes and contradictions in their work.
Accompanying the exhibition is a photographic book of the same name, which enriches the narrative of the show by including a miniature booklet connecting the designers generational disparity. Photographs, articles and quotes intimate additional ‘impossible conversations’ between them.
The exhibit and book not only illustrate an interdependence between the historic and the contemporary, but they also provide a delightful glimpse into the agency of two dissenters who have consistently undermined conventional edicts of elegance and sophistication in all of their staid, and unimaginative manifestations by creating an alternate, yet beautiful array of fresh palettes and concepts.
Schiaparelli and Prada – Impossible Conversations is showing at the Metropolitan Museum of Arts Costume Institute in New York until 19 August 2012.
Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations is published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
For the past five years, London-based photographer Jo Metson Scott has been travelling back and forth to America, photographing and speaking with US marines who spoke out against the invasion of Iraq. The resulting project The Grey Line combines photographs and words in an attempt to examine the personal struggles of men and women grappling with doubt on the frontlines of the “War on Terror”.
Below are some exclusive previews taken from Jo’s scrapbook, where she’s documented the journeys, stories and testimonies of men and women who spoke out about their doubts at varying consequences.
The Grey Line will be published and exhibited in 2013 to coincide with the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq a decade ago.
Washing up on American shores for the first time, the Frieze team are pitching for a slot in the New York art market. The art fair that gave London’s contemporary art scene a festival buzz has brought the same showmanship state-side by pitching a luminous white tent in Randall’s Island Park, Manhattan and building a sculpture park by the East river.
With art from over 170 galleries – 60 of which are American -and focusing on work from international living artists, established and emerging, Frieze New York is a visual and aural art feast. Cecilia Alemani curates the programme and the Frieze special projects featuring artists such as Uri Aran and Virginia Overton are sure to be spectacular’s not to be missed.
With all art eyes already on NYC following the record-breaking £74m sale of Munch’s The Scream, Frieze New York can’t fail to be an inclusive event, with something for everyone.
Jeweller Noemi Klein has collaborated with maverick artist and tattooist Liam Sparkes to produce a bold collection inspired by Sparkes’ distinctive ink style.
Emerging from a shared love of medieval imagery and religious iconography it’s a richly illustrated collection that fuses Sparkes’ drawing with Klein’s artisanship. Their choices of imagery, such as feudal castles and pagan ram’s heads, hint at a pre-industrial age of artisanship where metal work had a raw quality and items such as signet rings, practical significance.
Noemi Klein X Liam Sparkes collection is available at No-One, 1 Kingsland Road, London
French photographer Estelle Hanania is a past winner of the prestigious Hyères Festival photo prize and has used her distinctive primitive style to great effect for brands such as Maison Martin Margiela and Opening Ceremony.
Her latest exhibition features work from her ongoing creative collaboration with artist Christophe Brunquell. A creative relationship that began at a shoot in Berlin in 2008 has continued in Paris and beyond.
Blending art, photography and theatre, the images from La Guerre du Feu – the quest for fire – recall primitive communities through body paint, nudity and inferences of cannibalism. Brunquell used old portraits of his models to make masks, for their real personas to break through. The effect is disorientating and savage and surely is some of the most arresting imagery Twin’s seen in a long time.
La Guerre du Feu by Hanania & Brunquell is at 12MAIL, 12 rue du Mail, Paris until 1 June estellehanania.com
Today is the last day of the Hyeres 2012 International Festival of Fashion and Photography. Each year over 800 entrants are sifted and sorted through in order to glean the most talented young creatives from photography and fashion design.
Presided over by an eminently qualified panel of jurors such as Yohji Yamamoto, Paolo Roversi and Carla Sozzani, the winners exhibited are sure to be names to watch and watch.
All the winners’ work will be on show until 26 May along with exhibitions featuring the work of Yohji Yamamoto and Van Lamsweerde and Matadin amongst others – so if you aren’t already lucky enough to be seeking out the sun in the South of France, get moving.
Ever since she first picked up a camera several years ago Norwegian born photographer, Mariell Amélie, has been fusing the lines between fashion and art through her whimsical and often eerie approach to photography. Describing herself as an introvert, Amélie’s pictures reflect a similar sense of solitude and silence that she experienced whilst growing up. Now based in London, her lens continues to capture precious moments inspired by memories and dreams.
Currently housed at Notting Hill Arts Club, Forget Me Not / Forglem Meg Ei is Mariell’s debut solo exhibition, presenting an assortment of self-portraits from her extensive archive. Last night Twin joined Mariell for her opening night to find out more about the girl behind (and in front of) the lens…
What initially attracted you to photography?
When I was younger I stumbled across a drawer full of Polaroid pictures of my mum and dad from the Seventies. I found it so fascinating that a particular moment from their history had been permanently captured in a single shot so I bought myself a camera and began playing around and experimenting with photography. I grew up in a small island, Andøya, in the polar circle of northern Norway with just my mum and dad… I had to learn to entertain myself and enjoy my own company so being on my own was something I got used to; I guess that’s why I primarily focus on self-portraiture.
Who/what inspires you?
My Grandmother. She was the most creative person I ever met yet no one really knew it. Moving to a big city like London from my small Norwegian home was a bit overwhelming but I knew branching out was something I had to do; she taught me to take risks, challenge myself and never give up. I decided to call this exhibition Forget Me Not (Forglem Meg Ei in Norwegian) referring to the flower of the same name that I have tattooed on my wrist in memory of my grandmother.
Describe your photographic style in three words:
Isolated, cold, eerie…
Females are often the subject of your pictures (in this case, yourself) would you say you were a feminist at heart?
I definitely like to make a statement with my work to express that you don’t have to be a male to have power and freedom. Also there’s simply something about the female form that I find to be more interesting, but ultimately I like people to see my subjects as individuals without casting any stereotypical or preconceived views.
You split your time between Norway and London – where do you prefer shooting?
Well the majority of the pictures in this exhibition were taken in Andøya. It’s just such an amazing place with such beautiful and untouched landscapes. I work with a location scout back in Norway who helps me to find some incredible settings for my shoots. I think everywhere in London has already been discovered and overdone so it gets a bit tedious.
What’s next?
I’ve been really busy the last year on various commercial projects: I’m not saying that I haven’t enjoyed them but I now want some time to really focus on projects that I am truly passionate about. I’m going back to Norway in a couple of weeks so I am planning on shooting a lot when I’m out there and hopefully creating a brand new set of images for my next exhibition.
Forget Me Not / Forglem Meg Ei is on at the Notting Hill Arts Club, now until 11th June 2012. mariellamelie.com
So, A/W 12 might not actually be ready to wear quite yet, but seeing how fashion illustrator Tanya Ling has already interpreted some of what was on offer at the shows in February is keeping us happy.
Ling, the talented illustrator mum of Twin favourite Bip, has been adding her langurous, painterly style to hot looks for years. Most recently her work can be seen as part of Selfridge’s newly opened Women’s Designer Galleries. We’re not sure what we want most, the clothes themselves, or Ling’s take on modern luxury.
At times, Marianne Faithfull the Sixties legend has threatened to overshadow Marianne the real and living person. But after over thirty years in the spotlight, and the former pop ingénue has battled addiction to continue to put out records.
It’s fitting then that her curated exhibition at Tate Liverpool should be titled Innocence and Experience and nothing better sums up the show then a 1976 Mapplethorpe image of Faithfull, seemingly uneasy as she transitions from her Sixties naïveté to a dark awareness of life’s depths.
Having selected works from the Tate Collection, Innocence and Experience reflects upon Faithfull’s artistic influences, as well as those over her private life. Dark and romantic, the works in this exhibition are brought together by a curator whose life will be forever intertwined with art and performance.
Innocence and Experience curated by Marianne Faithfull is at Tate Liverpool 20 April – 2 September 2012 tateliverpool.org
What do you get when two young creative women, call together their friends to contribute to a zine dissecting what it is to be creative and female? The answer is teenVAG, a zine that explores coming of age, beauty and the body from a firmly feminine viewpoint. Confounding stereotypes and creating new imagery that fits their own feelings, Twin spoke to Natasha and Allison about teenVAG…
Where did the name teenVAG come from?
The name “teenVAG” is rooted in yesteryear conversation with an especially dear group of friends- we often threw around the word “pussy.” Coincidentally, we all previously held internships at Condé Nast.
What thoughts preoccupy you as artists and how is teenVAG a conduit for them?
There are infinite forms of expressions. Collectively, the constant desire to create has fuelled our greatest artistic ventures and our initiative enables these visions to come into fruition. We are constantly developing ideas, themes, and insights while cultivating a unique rapport with an incredibly talented group of our contemporaries. teenVAG has allowed us to create an evolving, communal space we share amongst our featured artists and audience.
Why did you feel the need to form a female collective of artists?
New York is a super hub of creatives. The artists we worked with on Issue # 1 inspired the idea of an all female project- they set the groundwork for the basis of the project. The progression of Issue # 2 continues to foster a strong voice and female presence we feel most necessary amongst the creative community.
Why is a zine still an effective way of communicating ideas in the era of blogs, tumblrs etc?
It is tangible- there is physical contact with our audience. The viewer experiences the artist’s work without interruption and becomes a part of the collective dialogue taking place. The zine becomes a perpetual vehicle of communication that can always be revisited. In our digital age it offers a slight sense of nostalgia and a quiet escape from the fast paced nature of the information super-highway.
Who are the other female artists involved in the zine?
We work with twelve artists each issue- a mix of friends, acquaintances and artists we admire. Issue # 1 focused on the basis of photography and featured the work of Nina Hartmann, Sandy Kim, Maggie Lee, Nicole Lesser, Kathy Lo, Katheryn Love, Luisa Opalesky, Logan White, Coco Young, and Nadriah Zakariya.
Issue # 2 encompasses several mediums ranging from sculpture, to illustration, painting and mixed media as well as the inclusion of photography. Issue # 2 features work by Aimee Brodeur, Elizabeth Jaeger, Olivia Locher, Carly Mark, Katie Miller, Anamaria Morris, Sophie Van der Perre, Rebecca Andrea Richard, Tara Sinn, Brooke Ellen Taylor, Alexandra Velasco, and Jessica Williams.
What, if any, obstacles do female artists still face?
teenVAG: When initially reaching out to print teenVAG Issue # 1, a business denied carrying out the job due to “explicit sexual content,” “pornographic” imagery, and a questionable title. Female artists face connotations that are inherently attached to their art due to gender- we want to break that stigma.
Where is the zine available?
The zine is available on our online shop http://teenvag.bigcartel.com/. as well as a selection of stockists in NY, LA and TX. For a full list of stockists check out our website teenvag.com
What’s next?
We are planning our second show for May of this year- it will be a collective exhibition surveying the work of artists we have been working with for the past year. In the coming months we will begin the conceptualisation of teenVAG Issue # 3 due out in September 2012.
We’ll also be doing a collaborative selection of pop-up shows and mini-events throughout the summer- we are very excited to continue working with an amazing network of creatives and hope to expand teenVAG to its fullest potential
In 2009 Cass Bird took a group into the forest with the intention of taking femininity back to its basics and stripping away the gender stereotypes.
Casting friends as well as queer women scouted on the streets of New York, her book Rewilding represents Bird’s attempt to go native. The results are androgynous scenes among Tennessee’s lush forests, which take the gender soaked tutu and make it climb a tree.
“I’m trying to play and celebrate life,” says Bird. “To create a space where people can physically express and take risks.”
Santorini is the latest super hot spot marked out for art domination. With the mission of promoting emerging and established artists, right now the Biennale is calling for artists to send in their material for consideration.
Working to the theme of The Past: Memory and Nostalgia, the exhibition will be a melange of everything from graphic design to sculpture and industrial design.
In particular, Curator of Illustration for the Santorini Biennale of Arts 2012 Nicky Peacock, has her eye casting out for fashion illustration. She says, “I will be living in Santorini for four months this summer during the biennale and this will no doubt be somewhat of a culture shock for a town-based girl like myself.
“With this in mind, I’m interested in works that are a little incongruous to a paradise island – a little discordant and out of place. As an artist and curator, this is the kind of thing that fascinates me and keeps me on my toes – something dark to contrast with all that sunshine!”
Santorini Biennale takes place form 01 July to 30 Sept 2012
Go to www.santorinibiennale.gr to submit your work
Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present is a powerful documentary which takes its viewer inside the mind of one of the Twentieth Century’s most provocative performance artists.
Directed by Matthew Akers, the film is an account of Abramović’s three decades and counting career, her both professional and personal relationship with Uwe Layseipen, and a behind the scenes look at the emotional journey leading up to her extensive 2010 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
At the three month-enduring retrospective, the Belgrade-born artist engaged her viewers in a performance piece which entailed a varying audience member sitting across from her at a table in silence, solely staring into the 65-year-old’s eyes in an attempt to question the concept of art becoming life.
Marina Abramović has always been a fascinating creative force, but this documentary will be the first opportunity to see the woman behind the legendary artwork. It might just be her most inspiring performance yet.
Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present is set for release on July 6. marinafilm.com
The time of the YBAs feels like an eon ago. It’s a feeling galvanised by the simmering of retrospectives for artists who were part of the irreverent gang. Last year saw a retrospective of Tracey Emin’s work at the Hayward and for 2012 it will be hard to avoid Damien Hirst, once his show hits the Tate Modern this week.
Meanwhile at the Whitechapel, Gillian Wearing is the subject of a major retrospective of her work. Wearing as an artist will be forever tied to the golden years of the Nineties; winning as she did, the Turner Prize in 1997 as New Labour and a new focus on British culture came to the fore.
Her work also documented the change in how individuals engage with society. With its confessional quality, Wearing’s work has long negotiated the lines between public and private.
Influenced by Seventies documentaries, she has a history of taking private individuals and unveiling them as objects of interest. Her ability to persuade subjects to make private secrets public foreshadowed the reality TV generation, proving fact is every bit as beguiling as fiction.
Gillian Wearing is at the Whitechapel Gallery until 17 June 2012
If you don’t already have plans for today, Twin recommends heading down to Jacob’s Gallery in Butler’s Wharf for The Responsive Eye exhibition.
The original The Responsive Eye was an exhibition held at MoMA in New York in 1965. Bringing together artworks by so-called ‘Op’ and minimalist artists such as Bridget Riley, Josef Albers, Viktor Vasarely and Almir Mavignier, audiences were challenged to rethink ways of viewing art.
For 2012, Twin’s own Francesca Gavin has curated an exhibition of contemporary optical artworks, with the same aim of exploring our mental and physical relationship with art. And as part of South London Art Map Late Fridays the exhibition will be open until 8.30pm tonight. Utilising digital techniques such as gifs as well as video, this is optical art brought to date.
The Responsive Eye is at Jacob’s Island Gallery until 12 May 2012
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