Frida Kahlo: Butterflies Through Others Eyes #12

Frida Kahlo: Self Portrait With a Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird

Dream-like, reflective self-portrait with silver butterfly clips in her hair, and two unusual winged-plant hybrid thingies hovering above.

New Work: Interstice

Snippets of a new large, gold-leaf work entitled Interstice, freshly delivered to, and available from The Rowley Gallery.

mischer'traxler: Curiosity Cloud

There have been so many projects in London over the last couple of weeks or so, organised as part of the London Design Festival. Much of the quality of the projects was variable.

One project which I thought was particularly imaginative however, was the wonderful Curiosity Cloud installation in the Norfolk House Music Room at the V&A, by Austrian design duo mischer'traxler.

The installation consisted of 250 mouth-blown glass jars made by famed Viennese glass makers Lobmeyr, suspended from a ceiling panel containing a handmade insect such as a butterfly or dragonfly. There are 25 different insect species represented in the jars which fall into categories such as extinct, common and recently discovered. Inspiration for the project was also found in the Art Nouveau movement who's designers were also greatly inspired by and depicted insect forms in media such as glass, jewellery and ceramics. Fittingly the installation was sponsored by champagne company Perrier-Jouet, whose bottle design was also created during the Art Nouveau heyday by no lesser talent than Emile Galle.

Each insect lay dormant but as the viewer approached a jar, a sensor was activated which set the insects whirring around madly in the jar creating a lovely pinging noise as their wings beat against the glass. As the viewer withdrew the insect calmed down and and its movements ground to a halt.

It was a really inspiring installation, and was perfectly suited to its ballroom setting.

Also on display on the ground floor of the V&A was Barnaby Barford's Tower of Babel which I posted about previously here. I visited the Rowley Gallery to deliver a new artwork recently, and Chris, (one of the directors), confirmed that they did manage to buy Barford's little ceramic Rowley Gallery shop, which formed part of the installation, for the gallery. I look forward to seeing it displayed centre stage in their window when Tower of Babel is dismantled.

There was also this massive installation at the main entrance to the V&A entitled Zotem - the work of  designer Kim Thome. It is an 18 metre tall, black monolith studded with huge Swarovski crystals forming colourful geometric patterns which reflect the light and coloured stripes in its core.

Sybil Andrews Linocuts

Another very good exhibition of linocutting can be found at Osbourne Samuel.

This is a retrospective exhibition of the print works of Sybil Andrews. Sybil Andrews (1898-1992) had an interesting early life as a welder, and then art teacher, who next went on to become one of the leading lights of the Grosvenor School of Modern Art - a group of artists who taught art in day and evening classes at this private school from 1925 to 1940, and whose aim was to produce affordable art for the general public. 

The Grosvenor School artists were strongly influenced by the artwork of the Futurists and Vorticists movements. They produced dynamic, graphic images based on speed - racing cars, speedway, fairground rides, the movement of machinery, men at work, and sports such as tennis and rowing. Music and religion were also strong themes in their prints.

These are wonderful stylised images and I was really surprised by how fresh, bright and vibrant the colours in these prints are considering their age. The prints are highly regarded and avidly collected, this is reflected in the prices they achieve, particularly Speedway, by Andrews below (£90,000 if you please!).

Towards the back of the gallery are a number of iconic prints by other members of the Grosvenor School such as Claude Flight and Cyril Power. There is also a lovely huge linocut by Edward Bawden (below), which complements beautifully the work of the Grosvenor School artists.

Sybil Andrews And The Grosvenor School Linocuts
until 10th October
Osborne Samuel
23a Bruton Street
London
www.osbornesamuel.com

Charles Petillon: Heartbeat

Another visually impressive art installation, this time in the historic Covent Garden market building. Heartbeat is the work of artist Charles Petillon and the latest in his Invasions series, in which he installs clusters of white balloons in various locations.

Heartbeat consists of approximately 100,000 white balloons, is around 54 metres in length by 12 metres wide, and fills the space beautifully. It is suspended by a series of wires which adds to the illusion of a giant floating cloud. There is also a gently pulsing white light which symbolises the beating of a heart.

"With Heartbeat I want to represent the Market Building as the beating heart of  this area - connecting its past with the present day to allow visitors to re-examine its role at the heart of London life. Each balloon has its own dimensions and yet is part of a giant but fragile composition that creates a floating cloud above the energy of the market below. This fragility is represented by contrasting materials and also the whiteness of the balloons that move and pulse appearing as alive and vibrant as the area itself."

This is a lovely playful intervention which utilises the space wonderfully.

Charles Petillon - Heartbeat 
until 27th September
Covent Garden Market

Ai Weiwei: Tree

Another post, another London art installation. This time a petrified forest of Frankenstein-style trees by artist Ai Weiwei in the Royal Academy courtyard. This display consists of eight of Ai Weiwei's 'trees' - the most that have been exhibited together at one time, which originally came from the rural mountains of China.

The trees died naturally on the mountains of southern China and are then cut up and sold as decorative pieces of wood at the markets of Jingdezhen. Ai Weiwei purchases the sections of trees from Chinese landowners at market and then has them transported to his Beijing studios where he collages them together to create these unusual hybrid 'Frankenstein-like' trees. I like the fact that he has collaged/spliced them together like a mad scientist creating new hybrids. It is hard to improve on Nature, especially trees, which are so perfect, and basically sustain life on this planet, but apparently these works were created as a commentary on the diversity of Chinese society.

I loved seeing the beautiful natural textures of the bark and wood grain of these trees, and also the contrast of the man-made metal nuts and bolts holding the natural wood of the trees together.

Apparently this Tree project was crowd-funded to the tune of  £100,000 from a Kickstarter campaign, and this is the first time they have been exhibited together en masse. There are more of Ai Weiwei's well-known works such as the dipped pots, and the notorious prints of him dropping a Han Dynasty urn on display in the galleries of the RA which also form this retrospective of his work.

Ai Weiwei
until 13th December
Royal Academy of Art
Burlington House
Piccadilly