Artfeelers
Film taste: good
Music taste: also good
Hangout: east end galleries of course - join me - www.artfeelers.com
Most likes (about London): people and art
Least likes: too many things so little time
Me in 10 words: pass
Reviews
event Robert Mapplethorpe - A Season in Hell
Monday, 19 October
Comment on the preview night:
Hype works. Even though we know it denotes falsely generated excitement, we are too afraid to ignore it - in case we do miss out.
I wasn't sure why this exhibition was a 'timely reappraisal' of Mapplethorpe's work. Frieze, I imagined, had something to do with it. Mapplethorp's a big name. Another artist extinguished before his post-prime. Patti Smith, life long friend and devotee to Robert, set the record straight. Season in Hell's preview night was the 20th anniversary of Robert's death and the birthday of their hero and author of the poem 'Season in Hell' Arthur Rimbaud. Rimbaud was Patti's first boyfriend. Robert was her second. She told us this before launching into her set on the steps outside Alison Jacques. Word had got out that Patti was playing at the preview and the gallery was crowded. My pen and pad remained in bag as the photos in the exhibition could only be glimpsed when someone moved out of the way momentarily. And that's when reviewing Robert Mapplethorpe turns into an audience with Patti. And she did good. Some bum notes, forgotten chords and words. But as Patti said, that's why we love her. Her acapello of 'Because the night' was great, epitomising her appeal. She's natural and spontaneous, soulful in a hippie way and has a voice that seems to get better and better with age. We defintely didn't miss out on Patti. We will have to go back though to see Robert's heavily stylized, frozen and framed photos properly. See what the hype is all about.
Hype works. Even though we know it denotes falsely generated excitement, we are too afraid to ignore it - in case we do miss out.
I wasn't sure why this exhibition was a 'timely reappraisal' of Mapplethorpe's work. Frieze, I imagined, had something to do with it. Mapplethorp's a big name. Another artist extinguished before his post-prime. Patti Smith, life long friend and devotee to Robert, set the record straight. Season in Hell's preview night was the 20th anniversary of Robert's death and the birthday of their hero and author of the poem 'Season in Hell' Arthur Rimbaud. Rimbaud was Patti's first boyfriend. Robert was her second. She told us this before launching into her set on the steps outside Alison Jacques. Word had got out that Patti was playing at the preview and the gallery was crowded. My pen and pad remained in bag as the photos in the exhibition could only be glimpsed when someone moved out of the way momentarily. And that's when reviewing Robert Mapplethorpe turns into an audience with Patti. And she did good. Some bum notes, forgotten chords and words. But as Patti said, that's why we love her. Her acapello of 'Because the night' was great, epitomising her appeal. She's natural and spontaneous, soulful in a hippie way and has a voice that seems to get better and better with age. We defintely didn't miss out on Patti. We will have to go back though to see Robert's heavily stylized, frozen and framed photos properly. See what the hype is all about.
event Caroline Burraway
Tuesday, 21 October
Fantastic exhibition. the signal gallery is a very small space and so there is little room for error but like a greta poem each ingredient must carefully chosen and so it goes for caroline Burraway's current showcase. the press release might be deliberately warnful about the content as the works are truly beautiful; technical brilliant, nerve tingingly real and presented perfectly in tight perspex box frames, not at all the scary experience we are told to expect.
