Archive for the ‘art’ Category
Forever Young: Gilbert & George
15/5/23 & 24/5/23
We are currently shooting a documentary featuring the artist(s) Gilbert & George. Today (25th May) we are filming them among their latest collection of pictures, ‘The Corpsing Pictures’, on display at the White Cube Gallery in St James’s, London. ‘Corpsing’ refers both to mortal bodies and to the theatrical/music hall term for forgetting your lines or getting the giggles. At 79 and 81 bodily decay and mortality are on their minds for sure. Their sense of performance and theatricality though remain undiminished, as is their sense of humour.

They showed up, as ever, in impeccably tailored suits, George’s with a suave double pocket on one side. When we were chatting later they surprised me by revealing the suits were the work not of some Savile Row-type tailor up West but by a bargain of a Greek suitmaker nearer their East End lair in Fournier Street, Spitalfields, london E1. We talked a little about my grandfather’s clothes factory round the corner from their studio in the 60s/70s which first brought me to their manor as a child. It is the art deco building at the junction of Hanbury Street & Commercial Street, opposite their local The Golden Heart (called Jimco back then, now returned to clothing-related purposes as All Saints, after a low spell as a spice warehouse).
Writer Michael Bracewell under the direction of Mike Christie and in association with journalist Michael Collins carried out a fascinating interview with the duo. The highlight for me was when they were talking about their break-through performance piece or “singing sculpture” featuring the music hall song ‘Underneath the Arches’ from 1968. They spoke about how the people living on the streets of the East End and elsewhere in London at the time included many damaged by the First and particularly the Second World War, and how resonant this damaged humanity was for their evolving art. When I was at school I had a teacher called The Major with an old-school moustache (Major Blatchley-Hannah). I didn’t realise until much later how close World War Two was to my era. Now I have a strong sense of all these silent, PTSD-damaged men among whom I must have been growing up. G&G’s words reminded me of the grotesque world of another GG, Georg Grosz.

My first exchange with G&G was about a gallery they had just returned from visiting in Palermo, Sicily, the Palazzo Butera, astounding home of the collection of Francesca & Massimo Valsecchi (beneficiaries of an automobile fortune I vaguedly remember). It includes a half dozen excellent 80s works by Gilbert & George. They were very enthusiastic about the place. I told them I was visiting Palermo soon (for the first time) and would take up their recommendation. I am now sitting finishing this post on the terrace of that palazzo having had my mind blown by an astonishing collection & building, graced by the unique colour sense of Gilbert & George which constantly drops my jaw. I had to order some tiramisu & Italian coffee from the lovely cafe to steady myself.

Back on the shoot, towards the end we went upstairs to the buyers’ room of White Cube. By chance they had a Gilbert & George from the 70s. I guess they hadn’t seen that particular work for a good while so it was interesting to watch them reacting to that old friend. It featured black & white images of the East End (Commercial Road) looking rather bleak. And in red the letters VD. I observed to Gilbert that most young people would have no idea of the meaning of those letters any more as STI then STD took over since then as the official acronyms.
The pair were charming and warm, and became increasingly energised by the filming. I saw their Hayward show back in 1986 and have been aware of their work ever since but from first starting this film I have been totally won over by their work – I find it unique, satisfying & energising (especially their colour palette), and ever youthful.




This is The End

The 4th Plinth on Trafalgar Square has proved to be a brilliant lens for Britain to look at itself through. The commissions are so varied that taken together they are also a rich record of British identity and state of mind at different times. Each commission takes into account the resonance of the location and its relation to surrounding public art, buildings, environment and the history linked to them.
Heather Phillipson’s ‘The End’ is a worthy addition to the chain of public art that has temporarily inhabited the free plinth. It looks particularly good against blue sky and the collapsing gobbet of cream topped by the falling cherry matches the colours of the Canadian flags behind it on Canada House / La Maison du Canada.
On one side is a huge fly, undermining any initial joy at the prospect of some kind of knickerbocker glory. On the adjacent side is a drone, on a different scale, with moving propellors.

What does it all mean? There’s a sense of imminent collapse. An indication of rottenness. And a strong hint of surveillance.

‘The End’ officially took up residence on the plinth on 30th July 2020, the 13th commission there (the first was in 1998). At 9.4 meters height it is the tallest so far and one of the brightest.
The drone transmits a live feed of Trafalgar Square at www.theend.today Here’s what it looks like right now, the eye of the sculpture itself:

The artwork reflects Trafalgar Square’s heritage and function as a place of both celebration and protest, as well as its highly surveilled state.


Phillipson came up with the idea in 2016, in the shadow of Trump’s election and Brexit.
“For me, we’ve been at a point of some kind of entropy for a long time. When I was thinking of this work there was a sense for me of an undercurrent that was already there … this feels like a continuation of that.”
It was unveiled in the middle of Covid19 year, delayed a few months by the pandemic. The perfect temporal setting for the piece.

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I’ll never look into your eyes again
Can you picture what will be?
So limitless and free
Desperately in need
Of some stranger’s hand
In a desperate land
Jim Morrison & The Doors ‘The End’
Despite the title the artist does not envision the work as a dead end.
“In the end there is the possibility of something else forming. There’s the chance of radical change inside any ending… there is potentially hope for something else.”

‘The End’ ends in Spring 2022.
The End
The hidden beauty of the world
“Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley, A Defence of Poetry and Other Essays
The same is true of street photography and Instagram at its best. And of Art in general.

Pictures for Finn
![After Lunch (1975) by Patrick Caulfield [1936-2005]](https://aarkangel.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/tate-patrick-caulfield-1936e280932005.jpg)
After Lunch (1975) by Patrick Caulfield [1936-2005]

Foyer (1973) by Patrick Caulfield
![The Splash (1966) by David Hockney [1937- ]](https://aarkangel.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/bigger-splash.jpg)
The Splash (1966) by David Hockney [1937- ]

A Bigger Splash (1967) by David Hockney

California Bank (1964) by David Hockney
![Ed and Mariane (2010) by Julian Opie [1958- ]](https://aarkangel.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/julian-opie-ed-and-marianela.-4-2010-vinyl-on-wooden-stretcher-268.9-x-162.2-x-3.5-e1506936360144.png)
Ed and Mariane (2010) by Julian Opie [1958- ]

Graham Coxon (2000) by Julian Opie
![Darcey Bussell (1994) by Allen Jones [1937- ]](https://aarkangel.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/darcey-bussell-by-allen-jones.jpg)
Darcey Bussell (1994) by Allen Jones [1937- ]
Art School was Rock School
A couple of years ago I went to a meeting at University of the Arts/Chelsea College of Arts to discuss a programme idea about Art Schools in the UK. Waiting in the cafe bit near the entrance I was really struck by the proportion of Chinese and South-East Asian students in the packed room – a sign of the times. In 2016 I was teaching on an MA course at the Royal College of Art, set up by designer Neville Brody (of ‘The Face’ fame) – I had helped him shape its curriculum. Of the 18 students in the room, one was British – most of the others were European, a couple from South-East Asia. My point is about the mix and the absence of young Brits (rather than the presence of students from abroad).

Brian Eno in Roxy Music
In February 2017 I went to an event in Cecil Sharp House, Camden Town at which Brian Eno was interviewed by Tanya Byron (with whom I worked on ‘Bedtime Live‘ [Channel 4]). He talked a lot about his teacher at Ipswich Art School, Tom Phillips (a signed print of whose is sitting on this desk, just behind my screen, a present from my mum – we went to collect it from Tom’s house together). His teachers there had a formative role in his development as a musician. There’s a good account of their relationship here.
Today I was reflecting again on the vital contribution of Art Schools to British music, not least in the punk and post-punk era in which I was a teenager.

malcolm mclaren & vivienne westwood
What those schools represented among other things was a space for experimentation, to figure out what you want to do with your life and art, to come across & play with ideas. No nine grand a year debt hanging over your head. They were also a place for people who didn’t fit the mainstream tertiary education system – or rather it failed to fit them.

Paul Simonon of The Clash [photo by Sheila Rock]
- John Mayall – Regional College of Art (Manchester), 1955-1959
- Charlie Watts – Harrow Art School, 1956-1960
- John Lennon – Liverpool College of Art, 1957-1960
- Keith Richards – Sidcup Art School, 1959-1962
- Jimmy Page – Sutton Art College, 1960-1964
- John Cale – Goldsmiths, 1960-1963
- Viv Stanshall – Central St Martins, 1961-1962
- Ronnie Wood – Ealing Art College, 1961-1964
- Eric Clapton – Kingston Art College, 1961-1962
- Pete Townshend – Ealing Art College, 1961-1964
- Ray Davies – Hornsey College of Art, 1962-1963
- Cat Stevens – Hammersmith School of Art
- Syd Barrett – Camberwell College of Art, 1964-1966
- Roger Waters – Regent Street Polytechnic, 1962-65 [architecture]
- Nick Mason – Regent Street Polytechnic, 1962-65 [architecture]
- Rick Wright – Regent Street Polytechnic, 1962-65 [architecture]
- Bryan Ferry – Newcastle College of Art, 1964-1968
- Brian Eno – Ipswich Art School, 1964-1966 & Winchester College of Art, 1966-1969
- Malcolm McLaren – St Martin’s & Chiswick Polytechnic & Croydon College of Art & Harrow Art College & Goldsmiths College, 1963-1971
- Ian Dury – Royal College of Art, 1964-1967
- Freddie Mercury – Ealing College of Art, 1966-1969
- Joe Strummer – Central St Martins, 1970-1971
- Adam Ant – Hornsey College of Art, 1972-1975
- Jerry Dammers – Lanchester Polytechnic, Coventry, 1972-1975
- Mick Jones – Hammersmith School of Art, 1973-1974
- Paul Simonon – Byam Shaw (London), 1975-1976
- Marc Almond – Leeds Polytechnic (Leeds Beckett University), 1976-1979
- David Ball of Soft Cell – Leeds Polytechnic (Leeds Beckett University), 1976-1979
- Andy Gill of Gang Of Four – Leeds University
- Jon King of Gang Of Four – Leeds University
- Sade – Central St Martins, 1977-1980
- Jarvis Cocker – Central St Martins, 1988-1991
- Graham Coxon – Goldsmiths, 1988-1989
- Damon Albarn – Goldsmiths
- Alex James – Goldsmiths
- Justine Frischmann of Elastica – Central St Martins
- PJ Harvey – Yeovil Art College, 1990-1991
- Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian – Stow College (Glasgow Kelvin College) 1995-
- Stuart David of Belle and Sebastian – Stow College (Glasgow Kelvin College) 1995-
- Fran Healy of Travis – Glasgow School of Art
- Corinne Bailey Rae – Leeds University
- Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine – Camberwell, 2006-2007
- Paloma Faith – Central St Martins

Damon Albarn of Blur by Julian Opie
If you know other British musicians who came out of art school, please add them in the comments below.
Finishing art works [quotation]

Glen Head, Glencolmcille
When I was on a painting holiday in Glencolmcille, Donegal in the summer I found myself thinking about how do you know when you have finished a work of art? When are you just noodling? It’s a key question for artists in all disciplines.
The French poet Paul Valéry put it well and WH Auden boiled down Valéry’s words to this:
‘A poem is never finished; it is only abandoned.’

Paul Valéry – photograph by Henri Manuel

WH Auden
Background on this quotation and its attribution.
I recently heard, in connection with my Art Vandals project, about the occasion when the French Impressionist painter Pierre Bonnard in his later years was arrested in the Louvre with a small palette and brush, retouching one of his paintings. The security guards grabbed him – he was shouting “But I am Bonnard! It’s my painting!” – and they responded “The painting is in the Louvre. It’s finished!”
A Good and Purple Heart
This is an extract from a really uplifting and heart-felt blog post by a 52-year old mature student at Yale, ex-military, James Hatch.
In my opinion, the real snowflakes are the people who are afraid of that situation. The poor souls who never take the opportunity to discuss ideas in a group of people who will very likely respectfully disagree with them. I challenge any of you hyper-opinionated zealots out there to actually sit down with a group of people who disagree with you and be open to having your mind changed. I’m not talking about submitting your deeply held beliefs to your twitter/facebook/instagram feeds for agreement from those who “follow” you. That unreal “safe space” where the accountability for one’s words is essentially null. I have sure had my mind changed here at Yale. To me there is no dishonor in being wrong and learning. There is dishonor in willful ignorance and there is dishonor in disrespect.
The full text is here
It’s a brilliant springboard to make 2020 a year of bridge-building, connecting, withholding judgement, seeing what’s good about people and ideas.

Italian artist Lorenzo Quinn’s ‘Building Bridges’ at the 58th Venice Biennale at the entrance of the Arsenale in the Castello district – May 2019
Quotation: the merit of craft
“First learn to be a craftsman; it won’t keep you from being a genius.”
Eugène Delacroix

Picasso – age 15 (1896)

Picasso self-portrait – age 90 (1972)