Street art in Madrid
Wednesday
listening-- pink floyd- the wall-- just like when i was 16-
i went to see a play called "statement of regret" last night.. written by kwame kwei-armah (the guy that used to be in casualty..),,, it was all about a black think tank and the guy that runs its is going through some kind of crisis because his ol'fella has snuffed it.. its was definitely big on the black issues front,, repatriation,,, intra african/west indian racism, black homophobia,, the lot. if anything, there were too many issues,, but it all came together quite well in the second half,, and the ending was surprising bleak. one criticism i'd say, is that although there were two female characters in the story, they didn't have particularly prominent roles, which i thought was a bit of a shame,, as i think that's unrealistic in relation to the world the play described.. one funny thing i noticed,, i think all the suits in the play were sponsored by oswald boateng,, all those black guys certainly looked sharp..
Sunday
listening-- oracle night by paul auster
good morning. my head hurts. it's the morning after the tim and sue opening at go-go's and i am not feeling very clever, actually, i'm mashed... but it was tim and sue and it was always going to be an extra large one, and to be fair, they did not disappoint.... so, firstly, we have to remember there was art involved in this equation,, a single piece in the gagosian davis street space,, t+s made this massive revolving bleeding heart with twinkling lights that went on an off and up and down... and it did look really great,, particularly as you could see it walking past the gallery from the main road in swanky mayfair.... and then there was the aftermath, which, was completely out of proportion in comparison to the show,, i mean, it was a fairly small show with a whacking great big party at claridge's attached,, and the pink champagne was flowing aplenty, hence my fragile state this morning... i didn't know most of the people there,, i did however, literally bump into alexander mcqueen in the toilet, which has to be an anecdote worth sharing,, maybe not...it got more messy and more ridiculous, but for reasons of dignity, i'll stop here.
Thursday
sometimes i think i'm living in dickensian london......
listening-- paul auster-- the new york follies--
Went see the painting of modern life at the hayward.. and also a talk on the show "becoming dutch", a show which hasn't happened yet.
Monday
We're doing secret santa at work,, so as i was going to the ica anyway,, i thought i'd pick something up there... not the most obvious of places to by a secret gift for a co-worker,,, but hey, what else are you gonna do on a monday night at 7.30 in the evening, and don't forget, the ica bookshop is on the way to the ica bar. the secret santa limit was supposed to be 5 pounds max,,,, so I was torn between a copy of modern toss and a little david shrigley book,, the shrigley book was actually 6.99,, but with my friends' staff discount,, i was still set to come in on budget... then the very helpful bookseller behind the counter informed me that they were also in possession of a strictly limited number of signed shrigley books of his latest run. what could i do? no secret santa worth his cheese board would let that slide... yes, it put the budget into deficit chaos, but i'm hopeful the quality of the gesture will win through...
before the ica i popped in to tim taylor to see ballet mécanique,,, i very rudely attended the opening party,, but didn't make the show,, which is the most clichéd of things to do,, though i did have a legit excuse-- and it even involved charity,,, anyhow-- i want to attempt to save comment on ballet mécanique until seeing steve claydon's show at camden,, as i think there may be cross overs...
Monday
Here's a little tip,, if you've got no clean plates and can't be bothered to wash up,, gagosian invites will act as a very good stand in.. i just had breakfast off the ed ruscha invite,, their invites are so big,, and they use such thick card,, it seems a waste not too..
Monday
I've been a bit hectic of late,, hence no blog..... on saturday the punk and i went to see no country for old men.. it's ok,, but not the co-bro's best in my option. it's very beautiful, but the story is not interesting enough..
Monday
I was stopped and searched on the way to work today,, under the anti-terrorism act....they were randomly searching people at the train stain,, and they "randomly" searched me.... i haven't got anything against the police,, they do a good job,,, but i do think it's a bit of a liberty to go through peoples bags while they're on their way to work.... i'm mean,, i'd like to know exactly how many terrorists have actually been caught and prosecuted due to this form of questioning?
Tuesday
Hello.. i'm just home from work,, eating a rather amazing pasta dish i just knocked up,, and i've got that crazy feeling of being quite tired,, but also full of energy.. do you ever get that? anyhow,, i've been at the bonhams "urban art" action (i've put urban art in commas as i'm a tad sceptical about the label),, but it was different,, the auction,, i'd never been to an art auction before... of course banksy was the big draw of the evening,, and every time one of his works came up,, everyone gasped,,, i think financially,, the money being spent in this area is much lower that the mainstream contemporary market,, but it's still a lot of money... there was also the larry clark pv and doig pv tonight,, but i was stuck at the auction... i saw the lead singer from the stone roses,, and we were both staring at each other (probably more me than him),,,, in that weird double-take way... and apparently alistair campbell was there,, but i didn't see him...
Friday
I'm in Berlin again,,, the flight and journey was good,, and i met an interesting guy in the caviar house at gatwick.. (my theory is you might a well treat yourself at the airport, it leads to good things,, I mean when was the last time you met some interesting in an airport burger bar?),,,but have you noticed how all the art magazines have suddenly got fierce debates going in their editorial pages?? Check the frieze website for the ben lewis debate, and robert storr's replies to his Venice Biennale slatings... it's always nice to see a bit of lively debate...anyway,, must dash...
Tuesday
I've got a headache,, so i'l keep it brief.... i'm just home from the ica,, which i popped into on the way home from work... the show was called double agent, i didn't think i was gong to like it,, as i had the pre-conception it was going to be lots of dry conceptual stuff,, and though the show was a little bit heavy on the video art for my taste,, i did actually find the installation and the way a couple of the works featured live components quite interesting,, also the relationship between the rooms,, where you had to look back at one room to see the work in another,, if you follow... so that was that. i didn't finish talking about berlin did i? hmmm,, i'll do it later,,
Thursday
I'm in Madrid to do some filming,,, i popped by arco yeasterday,, but didn't get a chance to look at it properly because i had to interview an artist and that took up most of the time.... today i'm going to do some studio visits and other research... the hotel is very nice,,, but i'm not sure how much of the city i'll get to see.
Friday
Had a crazy day in madrid today.... these street artists,,,, wot are they like? slack as a whore's breeches.... seriously,, i love em´,, but i could kill a few of them sometimes,, we were trying to get this guy out of his studio today to take a couple of photos,, and, i piss you not,, it took him 3 hours to make lunch,,, and his lunch was a freaking bacon sandwich with chips! then they finally decided to do this work on the street,, which is legal as they do it on bill posters of disused buildings,,, and the police showed up,, but let them carry on painting and everything was fine,, until they tried to arrest our cameraman,,, who was filming them,,, it was a pretty sticky moment... but as he hadn't really done anything wrong,, they let finally left him alone...
Saturday
We went to see Be kind rewind.. much better than I thought it would be.
Thursday
I just popped out in my lunch and checked out the russian show at the R.A. it's kind of special. there are a lot of amazing works in there.... loads of them i'd never even heard of.... it's one of those shows,, that if you don't see it,, you'll problem never get a chance to see those works again,, unless you go to russia... there was literally a queue round the block and it was crowded inside,, but i don't mind that,,, i like empty art galleries,, but when there rammed full,, i also quite like it.. i wasn't looking deeply at the works really,, just a quick overview... its not what stood out,, its what i can remember now i'm back at my p.c.. i was thinking how much i like kandinsky when he has figurative elements... also there was a great monet, which i'd never seen before.. there really is too much to mention,, because there must be about 200 works in the show,, and there are all worth mentioning, so what can you do? i also stopped by thomas dane who were showing albert oehlen,, and hauser and wirth who had roman singer... i've talked about oehlen before, so i won't repeat my theory,, and the roman singer failed completely to attract my interest.
Friday
I was in paris last week,, but didn't get a chance to get to a pc...we where there doing some filming for channel 4... we went to visit this artist's studio about 45 mins outside paris... he had an amazing house,, like a little farmhouse surrounded by a massive garden... and loads of antiques and and stuff... then all his own studio and artworks around the place also.. nice life style.. it was only one night in paris,, but i managed to get some good eating in while i was there... the food in paris really is on a different level.... from the croque monsieur to the highest brow nosh... it's just all so, so good... me and the film crew started a club, steak club, but the first rule of steak club is you never talk about steak club...
i also managed to see a couple of shows in paris,,, an absolutely amazing gelatin show at the musée d'art moderne... just so wild.. i've raved before about gelatin,, so i won't go into it.. except to say it was massive and extreme,, there was lots of poo,, and penises and the invigilators had weapons to project themselves from various flying demons that might attack them or the artworks....
i popped into yvon lambert,, where i'd never been before,, it's an impressive space.. but the show was a little stale,, some kind of thomas ruff-like photos.. what was really good and interesting was a little show at a gallery called jean marc patras, who were showing samuel fosso.. the photographer from cameroon, i mean, the work is super well known by now,, but i still think it's very interesting.. the sensibilities are so out there,,, but in a way there trying to be so normal... i don't know,, i'd like to write a proper text on it.. but not today.
Cedar Lewisohn
Cedar Lewisohn is a Programmer of exhibitions at Tate Modern, London. His book on Street Art will be published this Spring by Tate Publishing.
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