Ai Wei Wei - Sunflower seeds at the Tate Gallery

Ai Wei Wei is an established Chinese Conceptual artists who in the past years has been constantly delivering imagery and polemic ideologies that question pretty much everything you can think of, and specifically the Chinese government system and politics, sometimes pairing it up with culture and tradition.

In this case he creates an installation for the Tate Gallery in which he makes thousands of porcelain hand- painted sunflower seeds. These are set up on the floor on a space of approximately 5 square meters and the finality is that people walk on top and through this quirky setup. He has said that some people have tried to eat them because they look so real. Up front they do look like real sunflower seeds, in the inside it is actually years of Chinese tradition.

Ai Wei Wei works with a little village that traditionally made the Emperor’s porcelain for him and the palace. They are now in charge of creating thousands of sunflower seed for the Tate show, this according to the artists has put them back on the limelight, this as the Emperor once did will be a part of the history and tradition, of course they will continue working with Ai Wei Wei if he keeps working within these parameters. 

He was recently a part of the 2010 Sydney Biennale with his metal bound bonsais


http://channel.tate.org.uk/media/635714717001

Saturday Art keeping

Dear blog followers today I was reading Art Almanac’s November version and found an ad for a photography show that quite struck my attention. Personally I am a bit of a fuss when it comes to photography, it might be because I’m an art student or maybe because my dad was a photographer so I’ve been around a bunch of people who are equally fussy and they’ve shown me what is great and what isn’t.

Anyways, this woman spends her time taking snapshots of small traders who have been around for the last fifteen years. Quite impressive I must say and at the same time it’s a snapshot of life, because they’ve been around us for so long and have probably seen quite a bit of local history. Shulman says that one of her main interests is to portray how old techniques are disappearing and how certain individuals keep them. This of course is a way of preserving history and tradition.

It kind of gets you thinking about new technologies that are certainly improving our lifestyles but at the same time we forget how it was before them, people tends to forget quickly what life was like before certain gadgets started coming out even if it’s only been a couple of months.

You’ll find Lisa Shulman’s ‘Shopfront’ exhibition at the Town Hall Gallery, Rear entry Lower Level, Hawthorn Town Hall

xoxo

kg

Chromoson

Samantha Mitchell- Fin has pared up with Belinda Montgomery and Fiona Hill to do an audio- visual installation at Delmar Gallery. The entrance is $25 and we recommend booking as soon as possible, they are about to run out. Trinity Grammar School Society of the Arts presents this and if you are a member of the latter or are a student in your uniform you get in for free.

Ph (02) 9581 6070

As the artists describe it Chromoson  is:

Chromo (kroh-moh) chromo…, colo(u)r-…

son (suhn) M sound, noise.

It is an intensive performance inspired by the multi- sensory phenomenon of synaesthesia. A conjunction of colorful lights and movement that are accompanied by vocals and music.

Don’t miss out on this wonderful performance.

love

kg 

New York Oh my!!

Oh my! Yours truly is surely a lucky one in a couple of months I will be going to the ravishingly cultural/ artsy/ designer/ chic city of New York. Eat your heart out healthily dear KG lovers and followers I will be in one of the many hearts of art, fashion and design yippee how excited I am. Anyways just to start off with a bit of a fashionista handbook even though it was written in the beautiful London I figured why not follow you NYC style.

So big apple style I decided to start digging into Camilla Morton’s How to walk in High Heels: The Girl’s Guide to Everything.

Amongst other things that you might not find as handy, such as how to change a light bulb and how to operate your vacuum cleaner, you do come up with handy little hints and other tips that as obvious as they might be she just gives them a lovely twist and turns them into a quirky and funny occurrence.

She starts the book with

“For the aspiring Cinderellas everywhere… and to John and Manolo for waving their magic wands.”

From then on it’s nothing but great comments and quirky quotes that make a dull day interesting and fun. This book is a keeper for a bedside table and a centerpiece entertainment that you can keep coming back to and enjoy a moment of practical reality for the everyday fashionista that we all have inside us. Pretty much everything a man does, in designer heels and perfect makeup. What else do we want ladies.

So this being said wait until I actually kick into the big apple and start rampaging my through museums and shops because oh my here I come Moma and those oh so wonderful Vivienne Westwoods I have been craving for ages. So watch out Gossip Girls I will come, see and conquer with a Starbuck’s in hand and hopefully the latest publishings on arts admin, galleries, museums and artists.

xoxo

kg 

Insights on a rainy day

Dear KG followers I was recently reading the latest Tharunka Women’s Edition of 2010 and was pleasantly surprised with the great articles that were published in this edition, not to say that they haven’t been good in the past. It’s just enjoyable to see women talking about everyday facts without diminishing men.

I must state that I myself am a fervent feminist but I don’t think that men are less or should be treated as scum, not at all, I have great male friends and I really love my boyfriend. I do think on the other hand women are underrepresented and not taken into consideration in numerous public areas.  We must look for equality and balance considering that there are obvious differences between both genders. I will on the other jump eagerly at someone’s throat (figure of speech) if I am or anyone else, if abused in any way just because I am a woman. That is NOT acceptable.

I was brought up in a family that you would refer to as averagely traditional, with a flower power mother and a ‘suit’ father so you could say that it is averagely OK. The Mediterranean way does state that you will take care of your men as a woman and make sure they have everything they might need or want, they, in return, will take care of you. This said I enjoy being taken care of I like to have someone who cares enough about me that they will do anything in hand to protect me, and at the same time Sisterhood is much appreciated.

Enough about me and more about this Vol. of Tharunka @UNSW. The variety of articles just makes it more enjoyable and interesting on how things as simple keeping a house clean between flat mates is reduced to being completely gender biased. How is it possible that people who are receiving and education decide to resource to “Mom” calling someone because they are asked to remove the mold from the communal bathroom and please pick up after themselves? BTW I am not the cleanest person, my boyfriend has defined my room as something that has been attacked with an atomic bomb at times and he does have quite a bit of OCD, but frankly communal places are a bit too much don’t you think.

Situations such as these I am afraid to say my dear cavemen out there unacceptable if you are living on your own, you are not with your mother or any related female so please do something about it and don’t be infants, that is just not appealing. As a girlfriend yes I have ironed the ‘dude’s’ shirts sometime as much as I avoid ironing personally I despise it with passion. But I must state that it goes both ways, I will iron and he will keep my computer on the dot of efficiency. Not only that but it’s just in many ways where you must look for a balance and work out what you will or will not do.

Lesley Vogel- Grass Roots

Kg art lovers how have you been? I apologize for my absence, when uni calls I am afraid that hermit mode is the option, or as a friend would do just switch on ONE song per day, and I will make some emphasis on the quantity, and play over and over until your project is done and finished to present. This of course only applicable if you are doing some sort of studio based degree and can deal with the same song for 24 hours, I can’t do the latter.

When I finally ‘apparated’ back into the gallery space (yes I am a Harry Potter fan) I found myself with Lesley’s wonderful textures and landscapes that just make you think of the Australian outback and colourings. The strength of her brush strokes and the textures she manages to create are just as potent as the beautiful outback that I personally love so much (as you might have picked up). It is not only this that moves her creations it is also the beaches and the snow, nature in general that if looked at closely is full of details and life.

Her opening night was of course an absolute success and half the show went onto new and loving owners, today I proudly sold another one and by the way my favourite “Grassy haze” a beautiful piece of art wher the texture and movement take over the entire surface and re introduce the public with the details and beauty of textures made my pure raw materials. 

"At my feet", Oil and gesso on canvas.

Ma Gallery Pop Up Show at KG

you feel like a piece of cake and a cuppa, come along and ask Rosa Valerie Campbell for one of her surprise High Teas

Ma Gallery 'Back from the Dead' Pop Up Show