2023 - Issue 54
Showcasing artists and works that caught my attention.
〰
AI, kawaii, eggshells, snakeskin and schoolwork from now famous artists.
You might feel like an insignificant insect walking through the giant 3D printed feathers, and then you’ll see a series of works that many might find challenging. Mainly because you can’t even see them head-on due to the blinding backlights. Stick with it. See if you can figure out what’s going on and how they’ve been made. Upstairs the intrigue continues with a series of mesh figures that evoke classical sculptures. This entire show by Recycle Art Group (@recycleart) is driven by AI and an overwhelming use of plastic. Vaguely familiar imagery lures you in, but the output isn’t clear and the intentions are even less obvious. It’s all a bit Matrix, and made me feel uncertain about everything.
‘Sapient’ at Gazelli Art House (@gazelliarthouse) until 18 Mar
Spoiler: The three double-panel sets are mirror images, carved from a single plastic panel that’s been pulled apart, to create imagery based on Artificial Intelligence thoughts about government.
Londoners are loathe to admit it, but we could all use a little Kawaii in our lives. This show has more than enough to brighten up the most dreary London day. Head straight to the back if you need a big saccharine hit, provided by Nomiss (@nomiss_studio) and Chizu Wada (@wadachizu). Or like me, maybe you’ll linger up front with the twisted day-glo works by Zoe (@zoezoezooooeeee) and the subdued guitarists by Takuro Tsuchida (@tsuchida.shoten) that look like they’ve given up trying to play on a windy day. This sugary show will make you feel as footloose and fancy free as the Yool Kim (@yool___kim) pipe-cleaner figures dancing the day away.
‘Hero’ at Rhodes Contemporary (@rhodescontemporaryart) until 18 March
Karen Tronel (@karentronel) makes creative use of offcuts and other found materials in a variety of abstract, sometimes silly works. The story behind her lockdown doodles is a great case study about the adaptability and urgency of an artistic mind to express itself. But the unequivocal stars of the show are the eggshells. Using tweezers and time — lots and lots of time! — Tronel has made a variety of shell mosaics that includes abstract patterns, visual puns and textures to augment 3D works. Anyone who’s ever frustratingly tried to pick a wayward eggshell out of the egg you just cracked will appreciate the insane amount of patience it must have taken to make these.
‘Making Sense of What Remains’ at Fiumano Clase (@fiumanoclase) until 06 April
Josef Albers may be worthy of a solo show, but you need only glance through the ground floor door to get the gist of his colour studies. I suggest you head straight to the top — Is it me or does Zwirner always put the best stuff up top? — where you’ll find a selection of small works that many of his now well-known students made at a rural North Carolina college in the 1930s-40s. Including works by Ruth Asawa, Elaine de Kooning, Buckminster Fuller and Sheila Hicks, amongst others. Finding out that all these artists studied together is a bit like learning Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Glenn Frey all used to be in a band before their solo careers.
‘Josef Albers: Paintings Titled Variants’
and
‘Black Mountain College: The Experimenters’
Both at David Zwirner (@davidzwirner) until 15 April
Polly Morgan (@PollyMorganArtist) ably demonstrates how contrast can be an essential artistic element by squeezing slithery, shimmery snakeskin into cold hard concrete. Snake lovers can sleep easy knowing it’s actually painted polyurethane, but the concrete forms are the real deal. A behind-the-scenes video explains the large outdoor sculpture — Open! Channel! Flow! (2023) — which is Morgan’s first, funded and supported after she won the ‘First Plinth Public Art Award 21/22’. The show also includes three very scary tea mugs, or ‘anthropomorphic pots’ as the write-up calls them, by Leena Similu (@yayasituation).
‘False Flags’ at Royal Society of Sculptors (@royal_sculptors) until 29 April
PLUS — don’t forget to check the What’s On page so you don’t miss any other great shows closing soon.