JUSTMADRID
18 -21 February 2010
www.urrozproyectos.com

Scope Art Fair, New York,
3 – 7 March 2010
http://69.24.73.123/SCOPE/index.php/new_york/

Art Dubai
18 – 20 March 2010
www.artdubai.ae

MiArt (Milan International Art fair)
26 – 29 March 2010
www.miart.it

Tokyo Art Fair
2 – 4 April 2010
www.artfairtokyo.com/en

Art Cologne
21 – 25 April 2010
www.artcologne.com

17^th Sydney Biennale
12 May – 1 August 2010
www.biennaleofsydney.com.au

Art Basel – Miami
16-20 June 2010
http://www.artbasel.com

6^th Berlin Biennale
11 June – 8 August 2010
www.berlinbiennale.de

Frieze Art Fair
14 – 17 October 2010
www.friezeartfair.com

Scope Art Fair, London
15 – 18 October 2010
Website TBC

FIAC International Art Fair, Paris
21 – 24 October 2010
www.fiac.com

Paris Photo
18 – 21 November 2010
www.parisphoto.fr

Istanbul Art Fair, Turkey
8 – 12 December 2010
www.contemporaryistanbul.com

Last weekend I attended a great party in London hosted by a group calling themselves Creatives Against Poverty.

Creatives Against Poverty is a coalition of journalists and creatives who donate their skills for social impact and who seek to help increase awareness of issues close to their hearts.

For the last two years, Creatives Against Poverty have been working with a number of NGO’s who’s causes include helping street kids in Mumbai, child sorcery victims in Congo and war orphans in Sri Lanka.

This particular event was hosted by Fatima Naim and her boyfriend, in a beautiful penthouse flat near Old Street. The evening was devised to get young professionals together to meet, talk, bounce ideas of one another and to discuss how they can make an impact – even on a small level. Fatima herself, is both a journalist and photographer and had a controversial photo exhibition on display, which was both poetic and political. The photos depicted images smuggled out of Xinjiang, China, where a brutal crackdown on Muslim Uighurs betrays a sinister government agenda to crush a culture they cannot comprehend.

I also met half Congolese and half French, Tatiana Giraud who lives in London and works in finance. Tatiana is an incredibly inspiring young woman who set up a charitable trust helping victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic Congo.

Tatiana explained that she set up her trust having been moved to act after watching a film highlighting the horrors of rape in war-torn DRC. She began her quest by asking her family for more information about what was happening in her home country, but they were unable to give her answers. Following further research, Tatiana was shocked to discover the amount of women suffering from human rights abuses as a result of on-going military conflict in certain parts of the country.

She first began by began by showing a group of 25 of her friends the film she had seen. Seeing their positive response, Tatiana then hired a venue and invited more people to come and see the film, charging them a fee which she put aside to help these women from the DRC. The success of that initial film showing spurned her on to set up a separate bank account for the trust and do hold more events to raise the profile of these women’s plight. The foundation is now going from strength to strength – for more information, please visit: www.tatianagiraudfoundation.org

Along with displays of stories and photographs of the various plights, the Creatives Against Poverty party provided a mixture of delectable Neapolitan and Turkish food during the evening, which we all tucked into with glee.

Group members who work in fashion organised a designer sample sale with donated pieces from Moschino, Alexander McQueen, Emanuel Ungaro, Armani, Gucci and YSL with proceeds going to different causes. A great evening was had by all. If you are interested in finding out more about Creatives Against Poverty events, you can find the group on Facebook.

Creatives Against Poverty supports the following:

1. Mobile phones into scholarships. On our mentoring program, a girl has decided to collect and recycle mobile phones to create Congolese kids scholarships. Please hand in your old cell phones. Why? Read about how the need for coltan used in mobile phones is fuelling the conflict in Congo. (ARTCLE)

2. We work with All for Africa, an NGO in NYC to build a positive conversation around African issues by highlighting innovative approaches to poverty: www.allforafrica.org/category/experts/

3. We work with the Georges Malaika Foundation in Congo, caring for their kids, awareness and funds for their school project: www.gmalaikaf.org

4. In Mumbai we work with MESCO : www.mescotrust.org

5. In Sri Lanka we work with YPF : www.youthforlanka.org

For more info get in touch with Fatima Najm at fatimazn@yahoo.com or Cristina Pittelli cristinapittelli@hotmail.com.

The prize is open to artists in all fields and is awarded to “an individual or group that uses its creative work to promote social justice, build the foundations for an open society and inspire the human spirit”.

More than 1,000 applicants from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Europe entered their work, and eventually five finalists were chosen by judges Daniel Barenboim, the human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson and last year’s inaugural winner, the Zimbabwean playwright Cont Mhlanga.

This year, the prize was awarded to Mohsen Makhmalbaf, the celebrated Iranian filmmaker and official overseas spokesman for 2009 Iranian presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi. The high profile ceremony took place on 25 November at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London where a cheque for $50,000 was presented to Makhmalbaf. Half of the money that is won must obligatorily go to a cause of the winner’s choosing. Makhmalbaf announced that he will donate his fund to the Green Movement NGO to help the victims of the incidents following the election in Iran.

Commenting on his award, Makhmalbaf said, “People of my country (Iran) are killed, imprisoned, tortured and raped just for their votes. Every award I receive means an opportunity for me to echo their voices to the world, asking for democracy for Iran and peace for the world.”

Over the past 10 years, Makhmalbaf has written and directed a large number of feature films and  short films that have been widely presented in international film festivals.

Time magazine selected his 2001 film, Kandahar, as one of top 100 films of all time. Kandahar was an inquiring film about life under the Taliban in Afghanistan. Shot largely in Iran but also clandestinely in Afghanistan, the film had its premiere in Cannes four months before 9/11, after which it went on to achieve a wide audience and win for its director the Federico Fellini Prize from UNESCO.

Other films of his include Boycott, an early work from 1985 set in Iran before the Islamic revolution which swept the Shah’s regime from power. Based on Makhmalbaf’s own experiences, it chronicles the experiences of a young Communist sympathiser who is sentenced to death. Five years later Time of Love, a frank portrayal of marital infidelity, became the first of several films of his to be banned in Iran.

Following this year’s disputed Iranian elections, Makhmalbaf diverted his attentions from filmmaking to be the voice of defeated presidential candidate Mir-Houssein Moussavi. 

Makhmalbaf’s rise to become leader of the new wave of Iranian cinema came from unlikely beginnings. When he was 15 he formed an underground Islamic militia group and was shot and jailed by the time he was 17. While imprisoned, Makhmalbaf educated himself and underwent an intellectual renaissance after which he distanced himself from violence, believing Iranian society suffers more from cultural poverty than anything else.

His nominating party, ZirZamin, an alternative Iranian media magazine said: “His works were nominated because they promote freedom, understanding, open societies, secular humanism and respect to others. His analysis and depiction tasks people to questions real in everybody’s life and social realism. He is not only a film director but an educationalist, author and analyst.”

Panellist Daniel Barenboim, acclaimed conductor and founder of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, said of Makhmalbaf: “His voice has been one of the most important artistic contributions from Iran to world culture over the last decades. His films have given international audiences a window into contemporary Iran. His work in Afghanistan, both artistic and humanitarian, has added valuable facets to the understanding of this troubled country.
The second place prizewinner was the Burmese refugee women’s group, The Kumjing Storytellers, who use giant paper maché dolls to represent their stories of ethnic persecution in Burma. Not simply an artwork, but a living art action, The Journey of Kumjing is a performance in which these martyred women can tell their stories, challenge discrimination and assert their human rights.

He has also fostered a new generation of Iranian filmmakers. Last not least, his support for the recent peaceful protests against the stolen Iranian elections made it more difficult for the regime in Tehran to silence the opposition. Especially in view of the deeply unsettling remarks and intentions of President Ahmadi-Nejad, his efforts to publicize dissenting views deserve support.”

The third place prizewinner is Afghan female artist Sheenkai Alam Stanikzai, who used video performance, installation and photography to tackle the subjugation and violent persecution of women in Afghanistan and neighbouring countries. Stanikzai is one of a generation of Afghans who grew up during the Taliban which censored culture and banned music, and her art explores the re-emergence of Afghan spirit after years of oppression.

The Youth Prize winners were Poimboi Veeyah Koindu, former child soldiers from Sierra Leone who use dance to promote community healing.

Founder Richard Chandler said he was humbled by the bravery of this year’s winners adding their courage and stories epitomised the daily sacrifices made by artists on frontlines from around the world.

For more information about the prize, please visit: www.freedomtocreateprize.com

Full Circle has been created as an integral part of the King’s Cross station upgrade. It references the impressive contemporary architectural setting of the modernised Tube. The size and form of Henriksen’s sculpture is frequently defined by such architectural specificities as the height, depth and materials of a given location. These become starting points for his work and in this case the circular end wall of the concourse tunnel is the origin of his concept. The circle is truncated where it meets the floor, implying a ‘lost’ segment of circle beneath. This segment has been ‘reinstated’, conceptually exhumed by Henriksen, and mounted as an integral architectural feature of the end wall. It is fabricated by the station upgrade contractor from the same material (shot-peened stainless steel) as the wall itself. The effect is of a minimalist relief: a subtle, elegant work in metallic grey.

Henriksen’s practise is underpinned by a preoccupation with and critique of key Modernist principles – form fitting purpose and truth to materials; minimal embellishment.

In the 1930s, London Underground’s Managing Director Frank Pick, fired up by European Modernist ideals, championed a unifying principle of the Tube network, which became known as Total Design. Through this concept such elements as the Roundel, the Tube map, the Johnston typeface, artists’ designs for posters and station designs, exemplified by the work of architect Charles Holden, have combined to become central to London Underground’s world renowned identity. Henriksen’s Full Circle brings this vision up to date, seamlessly becoming part of the Underground’s tunnels and passageways.

The installation at King’s Cross St. Pancras is just one of a number of significant permanent artworks commissioned by Art on the Underground for key stations on the network over the coming years. For example, Daniel Buren will create a dramatic new work for the Tottenham Court Road Tube station, which is undergoing a major upgrade.

For more information about Art on the Underground, please visit www.tfl.gov.uk/art

Text credit: Asthetica Magazine
Photo credit: Daisy Hutchison

This week, Little Black Book of Art goes to Battersea in London, interviewing young British sculptor Tanya Brett…

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Animals In Art

Throughout the ages, animals have always been depicted in art within all cultures. Along with the human form, they were subjects of the earliest art ever created by our ancestors, who painted horses, bison and deer on cave walls. Classical artists used animals symbolically and allegorically as seen in the art of Ancient Egypt (when artists depicted many of their gods with the heads of animals) and in the Middle Ages (when artists used mythical beasts to decorate medieval manuscripts).
In Europe, during the Renaissance period, the depiction of animals themselves was neglected in favour of supposedly more elevated subjects, yet re-emerged in 17^th century art when hunting scenes illustrating dramatic life and death struggles between man and beast became a popular subject amongst patrons.
The 18^th century then saw artists such as Stubbs, Géricault and Delacroix choosing to celebrate the natural beauty and majestic power of animals in their natural habitats and following that, Victorian artists began painting sentimental pictures of their domestic pets and livestock.
The representation of animals also played an important (and often overlooked) role in the development of Modernism, which often sought subjects far away from the anecdotal or heroic allegories of academicism.

Today, artists are exploring the entire range of animal genres. We commission pet portraits, indulge in wildlife photography and it’s now sometimes easy to overlook animals in art, but not so with Tanya Brett’s one-off, hand sculpted pieces…

Tanya’s interest in working three-dimensionally probably began when her mother sent her every Saturday from the age of five, to ‘The Chelsea Pottery’ whilst she did her shopping on the King’s Road.

The Chelsea Pottery was a legendary place located on Radnor Walk in SW3. Children could play around for hours there creating whatever they wanted in clay one week, glazing their designs the second week, then taking their pride and joy home to their parents on the third week. Tanya loved the place so much that she even taught there aged 17 before the much-loved pottery studio shut down in 1994, after the owners were not able to renew the lease on the property.

Since childhood, Tanya has been drawn to animals and representing them in art. Years spent at the Chelsea Pottery enabled her to experiment and to learn the principles of working with clay.

After leaving school, Tanya completed a foundation course at Chelsea College of Art before studying three-dimensional craft at the well-reputed Brighton University. A sell-out end of year show prompted her to become a full-time artist.

Tanya’s work is instantly recognisable, yet at the same time, no two pieces are alike. Her passion for animals and nature has always been her preferred subject matter.  She’s interested in what animals mean to man – how we characterise them, and how they elicit emotions from devotion and affection, to cruelty.

“Animal representation is often sentimental. I want to show the raw power of animals, along with their innocence.  In my sculpture I am interested in using techniques associated with drawing and painting – brushstrokes, lines and scratches to convey a sense of immediacy, vitality and life.”

The reason I think Tanya’s work is special, is that what she creates aren’t just naturalistic portrayals of a series of animals. When you look at Tanya’s pieces, you can’t help feeling a strong emotional response – there’s a tenderness in the animals she depicts. You can see she clearly has great sentiment for her subjects which in turn enables her to bring to life each animal she represents, creating truly exquisite work that illustrates the character, likeness, personality and expression in each commission.

Photo credit: Ella Webber

Tanya’s 10 ‘quick questions’…

1. Home is…
Brixton

2..Earliest memory
Crabbing in Wales with my father

3. What is your life philosophy?
The most wasted day of all is that on which you have not laughed

4. What is your favourite discovery?
Crabs under rocks

5. What makes you happy?
Nature

6. Worst nightmare?
Parking tickets

7. Favourite escape?
South Downs

8. Do you own any art? And do you collect?
Yes, yes

9. The book you have read the most?
The Giant Jam Sandwich

10. What talent would you most like to have?
To be patient … then to be able to play the piano to perfection

Describe a day in the life of you, Tanya the sculptor…
I usually wake up at 8.30am anxious about everything I have to get done and specifically about the fact that my car needs to be moved from the residence bay as I haven’t yet managed to sort out my permit. I then take my dog for a walk on the common before heading to work in my studio under a railway arch in Battersea. I spend my day working from the my studio but it is usually broken up with meetings either on site or sometimes the more preferable option – over a nice lunch then back to the studio. The end of the day I normally relax with some fine wines, friends and then home to a hot bath.

What is your opinion of arts education? Is an artist born or made – or both?
Well, before Art school or even the notion of education at all I was drawing horses and other animals. I would use anything I could get hold of to draw on from my mum’s cigarette packets to my bedroom walls, so I would definitely consider art to be something in the blood, nature over nurture initially. My art education was valuable for the time it allowed me to find my own style and being surrounded by like-minded people is inspiring in itself. So ultimately I think it is both.

I understand both your parents were artists – did they have any influence on your choice of career path?
I was definitely influenced by my parents being artists although neither of them wanted me to be an artist because of the financial instability of it and it’s general ups and downs.

Was art your first love or do you have another passion?
Animals and the outdoors are my first love and my work was a natural progression from that.

How does making art make you feel? Anxious.

What kind of work did you begin making as an artist?
A clay bust of Morten Harket from Aha.

Please tell us about your technique, what materials do you like to work with? What appeals with the regard to the medium you use?
I enjoy using plaster and clay for their forgiving nature and ability to be spontaneous and I like a bit of charcoal for a life drawing sketch.

Have you found any challenges in your work?
Physically it can be, but I love a challenge.

What have you learned from another artist lately?
My mother told me getting a permit for my car might help alleviate my anxieties, I think she might be right…

I am guessing you work mainly on commissions – what was the most exciting project you’ve worked on?
Always my most recent project, I like new work and new challenges. At the moment it’s a life-size bronze moose for a Canadian diplomat.

Tell us a bit more about your next exhibition
I am working towards a show in LA in collaboration with two other artists, and in the meantime continuing to do private commissions.

What are your ambitions?
Health and happiness…and world domination.

I am always interested in what holds artists back: is there anything holding you back from achieving the next level or accomplishing your next artistic mission?
Hangovers…but 2010 is a whole new me.

Which medium do you feel is the current spokesman of the arts?
Stuffed animals once again…!?!

What are your ambitions?
To have a view of the sea from my window and own a horse.

How do you feel you evolve as an artist?
Moving forward, don’t stagnate.

What other artists do you admire?
Eric Gill, Marino Marini, Picasso, Paula Rego but to name a few…

What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
The best advice I have ever been given was by my favourite tutor at college. He said always have  an armchair in  your studio, to sit back for a while comfortably and reflect on what work you have done.

What’s in the future?
If I knew that world domination would be mine.

For more information about Tanya’s work and to see her beautiful drawings, please visit her site at: www.tanyabrett.com

Last week, Lorenzo Quinn’s monumental bronze sculpture Give & Take III, measuring almost four metres high, was unveiled in Berkeley Square, London.

Taking more than a year to create and cast from bronze and brass, the sculpture weighs in at over 1,300kg.

The piece, which will be resident in the square for the next six months, forms part of Lorenzo’s major new solo exhibition, Equilibrium, which opened at Mayfair’s Halcyon Gallery, 24 Bruton Street, on Wednesday. Give and Take III will spend six months on public display in Berkeley Square until May 2010.

ArtBarter is a platform for exchange between artists and the public.

Curators Lauren Jones and Alix Janta are organising a show featuring work from 50 London based established and emerging artists.

The list includes Tracey Emin, Gavin Turk, Mat Collishaw, Gary Hume, Abigail Lane, Polly Morgan, Boo Saville, Abigail Fallis and Paul Fryer.

The event will open its doors from the 27 November to the 29 November 2009 and will be held at the Rag Factory in east London, the former studio of  Tracey Emin and Gary Hume.

The Art Barter event revolves around the idea that artwork will be acquired by individuals through alternative means to money. Artists have always been familiar with the use of barter. From Picasso exchanging sketches for his meals, to hotels (such as The Chelsea Hotel in NY) accepting art as payment for rent and select YBA’s having tabs at restaurants such as The Ivy in exchange for pieces of their work to adorn the restaurant walls. However, the ArtBarter event is unique because it is the only exhibition to promote such a form of exchange amongst a wide array of artists and the general public all at once.

There is a catch at ArtBarter where you will not know which artwork belongs to which artist until after the show’s end. This will create a gamble for the public and will make people value the art for what it really is, not for the name or price tag that formerly was attached.

Curator Lauren Jones says, “We want to make art available to a more diverse crowd, not just people with disposable income. ArtBarter is the perfect setting to make this happen, whilst also providing a fun way to get people involved with the arts.”

So whether you have a special talent or skill to offer or something unused that may be desirable to others; or if you just wish to view a great exhibition and try your luck with bartering, come down and become part of ArtBarter.

ArtBarter would also like to take this opportunity to announce that they have linked up with charity Arts Against Knives. ArtBarter feel passionate about this cause and will be collecting donations during our event.

ArtBarter
24 Princelet Street,
London, E1 6QH

For more information contact Lauren Jones at: lauren@artbarterlondon.co.uk
Web site address: www.artbarterlondon.co.uk

Address: The Rag Factory, 16-18 Heneage Street, London E1 5LJ
27 & 28 November 10:00 – 19:00, 29 November 11:00 – 21:00

Yet another new contemporary art fair has been born, calling itself JUST MADRID. It will be taking place at the same time as ARCOMadrid from 18 - 21 February 2010, taking into account the international public travelling to the city during this time.

The fair will be held at La Lonja and Nave de Terneras in two unique industrial buildings with metal, brick and glass structures - perfect for hosting a fair of this kind.

JUST MADRID is being curated by art director Virginia Torrente, and is dedicated exclusively to emerging artists.

The fair aims to cover a pressing need in the Spanish contemporary art market to provide room for galleries that represent promising new artists, so it’s a shame that over 60% of galleries participating are coming from outside Spain.

JUST MADRID also has fringe sections titled Curators’ Desks, featuring curated spaces and Big Size Outside, a selection of installation-sculpture pieces presented by participating galleries and located in the area surrounding Nave de Terneras.

All the projects on show at JUST MADRID will be created specifically for the stands at the fair, and based on innovation, risk-taking and new formats showcasing a range of talent and promising new artists.

Hopefully, collectors and institutions investing in new talent will find in JUST MADRID an exciting selection of galleries and artists and it will be interesting to see what kind of response the show creates.

For more info or other press requests related with this project please contact:

URROZ PROYECTOS
Serrano 162 · 28002 Madrid
info@urrozproyectos.com
www.urrozproyectos.com

Tel: 00 34 915648856

Six international masters of their trade were given the opportunity to work in collaboration with Vuitton to design a unique piece embodying their exceptional expertise in their respective professions.

The custom pieces created were a butterfly armoire by Damien Hirst, a trolley case with knife tray by chef Ferran Adrià, camera bags by photographer Annie Leibovitz, an instrument case by musician and composer Gustavo Santaolalla, a dog carrier by Vuitton creative director Marc Jacobs and an alligator tool kit by Patrick Louis Vuitton, the head of Vuitton’s Special Orders department and a member of the fifth generation of the Vuitton family.

The evening went down a storm with guests including Brian Ferry, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Woody Allen and his wife Soon-Yi raising a total of £495,000 for the Nigerien Red Cross Fighting Malnutrition Programme. Damien Hirst’s suitcase alone went for £360,000.

If you were not able to make the auction, you can still do your bit for charity, head to the website (www.louisvuitton.com) and order any of four classic Louis Vuitton handbags – the Speedy, the Keepall, the Noe, and the Alma – and 10% of your purchase will be donated to the American Red Cross.

‘School of Saatchi’ is an X Factor type show – a contemporary art contest filmed in a documentary type style, where Saatchi plays the Simon Cowell figure and where over 50 unrepresented young artists (some graduates and some pure amateurs) compete to win patronage from the famous art-obsessed, advertising guru and recluse. 

The first episode shows round one, where the aspiring hopefuls present their work to a hand-picked panel of leading figures in the art world. The on-screen panel chosen by Saatchi includes Tracey Emin, critic Matthew Collinge, curator at the Barbican Kate Bush and collector Frank Cohen (known as the ‘Saatchi of the North’)  -  all heavyweights in their own right and who’s opinions Saatchi particularly respects. These four judges initially decide whose work deserves to be seen by Charles Saatchi, and they eventually pick 12 finalists. 

It is then up to Saatchi to select whom he wishes to enter the art studio he’s established in east London. The chosen six, who’s work shows promise, raw talent and creative edge, then develop their skills over the course of ten weeks, helped by prominent artists such as Martin Creed and Mat Collishaw. 

During this time, Saatchi sets the six contestants ambitious commissions and new artistic challenges. The resulting work is then judged by him with his opinions being transmitted through one of his gallery representatives. (The fact that Saatchi will not be seen or heard on camera is not unusual for the publicity-shy millionaire, who doesn’t even attend his own gallery openings). 

After completing the 10-week stint, the winner will be given exposure on the international art scene by featuring in one of Saatchi’s exhibitions which he’s organising in the State Hermitage Museum in St.Petersburg, Moscow.  He or she will also receive a studio space and sponsorship for three years. 

Cohen says of the show: 

“Saatchi wants the programme to come over as a serious take on the processes of contemporary art rather than a competition.  It doesn’t cheapen art at all; if anything, it’ll educate people in how contemporary art is made and what it means”. 

I agree with Cohen in that I think the programme helps the public to a certain extent get more of an understanding on contemporary art, but I’m not sure quite sure what’s in it for Saatchi…he claims to want to lead a private life but his actions tell a different story and not appearing in the programme actually creates more intrigue around him. Maybe he’s trying to regain the influence he’s lost in the last ten years? He was definitely a key figure in the 90’s helping commercialise contemporary British art and making everyone aspire to owning it, but his influence has since wained. Will ‘School of Saatchi’ raise his profile once again? Who knows?…  

What we do know to be true is that the art scene has changed. The people that matter in the art world now and that have the greatest influence are not always patrons and collectors. This is clearly evident judging by this years prestigious ArtReview Power 100 list, where Saatchi slipped from 14th place to 72nd.  The art world is changing more than ever at the moment, it’s an exciting time and it’ll be interesting to see how the current economic climate affects the market and the type of work that is produced.

School of Saatchi is aired on Monday evenings on BBC2 at 21:30.