Pleasure and Pain at the Victoria & Albert Museum (V & A)

2000 years of shoes...

"The exhibition explores the pinnacle role shoes play in several societies, not just the fashion world. Yet Pleasure and Pain is by no means perfect and spectators may feel disappointed." Click here to read full review.

Unfinished... Works at the Courtauld Gallery

19th century poet Christina Rossetti once wrote, “Can anything be sadder than work left unfinished? Yes, work never begun”. In a similar vein, the Courtauld Gallery has curated a special exhibition dedicated to art from its permanent collection that was considered unfinished, from Renaissance to early 20th century. Unfinished…Works ... Click here to read more on LDNCARD blogs.

V & A Museum: Savage Beauty: Alexander McQueen 2015 ★★★★★

My written review for US review site: Culture Vulture can be found here I highly recommend you look at the photographs before or whilst reading the review to get a better picture of the exhibition, Savage Beauty: Alexander McQueen. 

(Victoria and Albert Museum)

London (Photos by @MaryGNguyen)

London (Photos by @MaryGNguyen) http://culturevulture.net/art-architecture/savage-beauty/

Image of 'Lee' Alexander McQueen (changes to image of a skull) (Photos by @MaryGNguyen)

Savage Mind (Photos by @MaryGNguyen)

London (Photos by @MaryGNguyen) 

Romantic Gothic (Photos by @MaryGNguyen) http://culturevulture.net/art-architecture/savage-beauty/

Romantic Gothic (Photos by @MaryGNguyen)

Claire Wilson, curator of Savage Beauty, interviewed at press preview (Photos by @MaryGNguyen)

Romantic Gothic (Photos by @MaryGNguyen) http://culturevulture.net/art-architecture/savage-beauty/

Savage Mind (Photos by @MaryGNguyen)

Savage Mind  (Photos by @MaryGNguyen) http://culturevulture.net/art-architecture/savage-beauty/

Romantic Nationalism  (Photos by @MaryGNguyen)

Romantic Primitivism (Photos by @MaryGNguyen)

Romantic Nationalism (Photos by @MaryGNguyen) http://culturevulture.net/art-architecture/savage-beauty/

Romantic Primitivism (Photos by @MaryGNguyen)

Cabinet of Curiosities (Photos by @MaryGNguyen)

Romantic Naturalism (Photos by @MaryGNguyen)

Romantic Exoticism (Photos by @MaryGNguyen)

Cabinet of Curiosities (Photos by @MaryGNguyen) http://culturevulture.net/art-architecture/savage-beauty/

Cabinet of Curiosities (Photos by @MaryGNguyen)

Plato's Altantis (Photos by @MaryGNguyen) http://culturevulture.net/art-architecture/savage-beauty/

Opera Erratica's 'Triptych' at the Print Room - New opera merged with contemporary art. The insights are endless ****

Who would have thought that talented opera voices, in this case Opera Erratica, a repurposed recording of an English audio course and a socially polite orgy, could work together simultaneously and make an audience chuckle. This comes as the comedic and middle part of the three sections that make up ‘Triptych’ named ‘A Party.’ Its composer Thomas Smetryns attempts to prove how socialisation depends on the language we use and does this with panache. The singers, stroke, performance artists, hold cheeky smiles and mischievous twinkles in their eyes that lead to a silly yet playful performance of throwing clothes in the air, whistling, reversing and slowing down the tempo of voices (which amusingly mimic foreign languages) and conclude with a group synchronised sexual climax from a 1950s LP repeating the verb, ‘to come’ in the background.    

‘Triptych’ which is showing at the Print Room, is a fresh contemporary opera that experiments with various mediums including visual art, voice, fashion, performance art, projected images, electronica and video. Gavin Turk, international contemporary artist designed the set as a ‘fake’ art gallery securing physical focal points for the singers which was adaptable for all three parts: a comedy, tragedy and a story about nuns which echo the musical mastery of opera composer, Puccini and his Il trittico. However, besides this distinction, there is no resemblance to the 19^th century classical opera in any shape or form.

The first part, ‘Reunion’ by Christian Mason is a sacred ceremony that is sung mercifully in the name of God in tandem with an interview with a would-be nun talking to her ex-lover of past and present experiences. All singers of Opera Erratica (Kate Symonds-Joy, Lucy Goddard, Oskar McCarthy, Callie Swarbrick and Catherine Carter) show off their true operatic prowess by letting their voices describe the sorrow and holiness of the convert’s sacrifice. The execution of light humming that build up to a vocally strenuous and highly concentrated harmonisation from all voices give an audience a hefty performance which puts church choirs to shame. This, and interesting backdrops of moving dots which float in parallel to the voices as well as Swarbrick’s zoomed in pretty face develops the visual senses and heightens the intensity of the opera. However, Swarbrick needlessly stands naked with her back to the audience, which is an artistic device that was pointlessly added. ‘Reunion’ is a multi-layered piece of voices which although intriguing only warmed to the audience half way through its performance.

The last piece is Chris Mayo’s ‘The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered’, which goes back to 1972 reliving the mysterious life of Richard Nickels and his fascination of Louis Sullivan architecture. Electronic music creeps in and large projections of moving blue prints of these building glide across the set, however a lot of questions are left unanswered. Singers start a sentence and pass the words to each other to create a cleverly constructed musical collage - and creative collaboration - that make up bits and pieces of Nickel’s character. Yet, still it was hard to appreciate all part of Mayo’s piece but the music.

Opera Erratica’s director Patrick Eakin Young has introduced a stylish mish mash of what hasn't been done before. Smetryns’s piece is the favourite, which interestingly enough has the least opera, proving that there is still a lot more Opera Erratica can offer. There is potential when there’s an open-minded audience willing to see new opera merged with art, which deconstructs the norm. The insights are endless.

(Production dates: 17 May - 7 June 2014)
 www.the-print-room.org

Reeps One - Debut art exhibition of the Beatboxing Champ

Originally featured on: http://www.ldncard.com/blog/reeps-one-debut-art-exhibition

A.D.O (Attention, Deficit and Order) is Reeps One aka Harry Yeff debut art exhibition that brings his musical talent - beat boxing - into the visual art world. Winner of the numerous beatbox championships and described by NME as a “vocal percussion on another level”, Yeff managed to impress spectators last night through his cleverly fresh exhibition that was categorized into four aspects: ‘visual art, sonic musical performance, the union of the audio and visual and the theoretical, neurological and anatomical insight.’ The exhibition may sound like a mouth full, but turned back cap Yeff spoke to everyone and anyone about his art, bringing clarity and order to what appeared disorderly.

Yeff is original, as a performance artist and visual artist that can talk articulately about why and how he creates what he does. The force behind the exhibition derives from Yeff’s past where he was initially diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder and dyslexia at a very young age. However, by human error, he was told later on that it was a misdiagnosis.  Through this experience, he expresses how irrelevant labels and names are in people’s mental processes, which society says otherwise. 

As you enter the exhibition, you see a flawless girl’s face photographed by Ben Hopper, with thick pen marks and trails prescribed by Yeff called ‘Slant Array#3.’  Then, enter the first room with a chess board in the centre surrounded by a mass of what looks like graffiti art through over indulgent black felt tip pen marks and cartoon drawings on large white pieces of paper. However, on closer inspection, it’s actually logical. Yeff’s piece, ‘Beatbox Theory’ presents his thought processes and musical sequences when producing sounds with his mouth. Through ‘Marks and Thought Process,’ a collection of 12 paper drawings, Yeff explained how the chessboard and its players go through a paradox when strategizing which pieces to move that suddenly transform into a spontaneous reaction which represents his thinking process as he draws.

 

 

In one room, viewers can watch videos of Yeff producing art, beat boxing in the studio and performing at the Elgar Rooms at the Royal Albert Hall. In another room, there was an opportunity for people to attempt beat boxing on the mike and watch their vocal cords produce symmetrical cymatic patterns. 

 

The highlight of the night was his live audio and visual performance where he beatboxed a combination of deep funky house, jungle and dub step tunes. Behind him was a backdrop of a live view of a speaker with white power and liquid bouncing, fluttering and shaking to the vibrations of his beatboxing bass sounds with the support of Linden Jay and Zach Walker.

 

Some may think Yeff’s art conveniently sits with Banksy and Shepard Fairey but since he is an established music artist as well, his work won't need to fit in. He has set a new trend, which he has clearly conveyed. The exhibition runs until the 27^th but this Saturday 22^nd he shall be drawing live and beatboxing in the dark.