I feel so bleedin virtuous after a run up in the dunes with Dylan that a bowl of oatmeal porridge has become my new favorite second breakfast. That is syrup floating off the top and eddying to the perimeter by the way, and for a table I’m using a record deck. I’m quite posh like that.

Anyone who watched my new favourite programme, School of Saatchi, last night will be wondering whether I shouldn’t lift the lid, switch on the turntable, make a time-lapse video of it as it s-l-o-w-l-y disappears, mouthful-by-mouthful, and give it a title.

I feel so bleedin virtuous after a run up in the dunes with Dylan that a bowl of oatmeal porridge has become my new favorite second breakfast. That is syrup on top by the way, and for a table I’m using a record deck. I’m quite posh like that.

FACEBOOK GROUP

JOIN MOOGEE’S CRUSADE AGAINST MEDIOCRITY

http://www.facebook.com/groups.php#/group.php?gid=181984094372

Name:
School of MOOGEE V School of Saatchi
Category:
Entertainment & Arts – Fine arts
Description:
JOIN THIS GROUP IF YOU BELIEVE THIS IS SIMPLY PR FOR SAATCHI NOT ART AND THAT CONTEMPORARY ART IN THE U.K. HAS BEEN TURNED INTO A SUCCESSION OF PR STUNTS FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE CREATORS.

X-FACTOR FOR ART?

Artists bid to catch Saatchi’s eye

(UKPA) – 17 minutes ago

Six hopefuls are aiming to be the next big thing by being granted the tutelage of art world supremo Charles Saatchi in a new TV talent search.

At stake is the chance to be given exposure on the international scene by art industry “kingmaker” Saatchi by featuring in one of his exhibitions.

The virtual unknowns – Suki Chan, Matt Clark, Eugenie Scrase, Saad Qureshi, Ben Lowe, Samuel Zealey – have been whittled down from an initial 12 who will be seen starting the series in the first episode of School Of Saatchi, broadcast on BBC Two.

Despite lending his name to the series and making the final judgment on the winner, publicity-shy Saatchi is not actually seen on screen.

Expert panellists in the show, including Tracey Emin, art collector Frank Cohen and the critic Matthew Collings, helped to advise Saatchi during the selection process

The six artists – chosen for their raw talent and creative edge – will be seen attending a unique art school, established just for them, where over the course of ten weeks they were able to develop their skills.

Collings said: “Opportunities like this do not arise every day and in most people’s lives they never arise. These artists have got to come up with something that’s got to be impressive so there’s a great deal of pressure that Saatchi is putting on them.”

Saatchi will eventually choose one of the artists to exhibit their work at Newspeak: British Art Now, his exhibition at The State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg.

Also at stake is a free studio which the winner can use for three years.

(read less)
JOIN THIS GROUP IF YOU BELIEVE THIS IS SIMPLY PR FOR SAATCHI NOT ART AND THAT CONTEMPORARY ART IN THE U.K. HAS BEEN TURNED INTO A SUCCESSION OF PR STUNTS FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE CREATORS.

X-FACTOR FOR ART?

Artists bid to catch Saatchi’s eye

(UKPA) – 17 minutes ago

Six hopefuls are aiming to be the next big thing by being granted the tutelage of art world supremo Charles Saatchi in a new TV talent search.

At stake is the chance to be given exposure on the international scene by art industry… (read more)
Privacy type:
Open: All content is public.

Have just read about a new reality show starting tonight, but I must be a bit slow, as here is an article about it from back in January!

Yes I have said the name already. School of Saatchi.

The idea I know is getting a bit tired, of a fight to win the grand prize while everyone else gets under too much pressure, collapses or bursts into tears and misses home far too much… I probably have watched more of these shows than I should, except the dreaded X Factor. That has turned into something else these days and to be honest is quite dull and shallow.

Anyway, back to the School. It seems like it is an art contest, but just as it has been dubbed ‘School of Saatchi’ and it may contain the man, Charles Saatchi, I might have to make my way to the big black square that is the television tonight at 9 on BBC Two!

PS. Here is something I never knew until a few minutes ago while looking on the Charles Saatchi Wikipedia page. He is married to the Nigella Lawson! I thought it was pretty cool that while he is out making the adverts to sell things, she is on the telly selling some home cooking…

x

After Julie Bennett conquered the industry of graphic design in high-end music magazines like NME, she found a new niche in painting where she could get her hands dirty. A few years ago, when she exhibited her work in the Saatchi Online Gallery, The Independent labelled her one of “Saatchi’s new stars”. Her unique style has also gained her attention from The Evening Standard, The Sunday Times and Artists and Illustrators Magazine. She’s exhibited her paintings all around London from Notting Heaven to the Sassoon Gallery to the Sartorial Gallery.

Catch her latest work in the “Girls at Gold” show at The Gallery, Goldsmiths Student Union which features eight female artists – four from Camberwell, where Julie is currently studying, and four from Goldsmiths. The show opens on Monday 23 November and runs until 11 December. More info here.

A native Londoner, Julie gives us a bit of insight into how the city influences her work, talks about her failed attempt at becoming a rock star and her infatuation with Boy George.

Andrea

LLO: How has living in London influenced your painting?
JB: I was born in London so London is obviously a massive part of my life. Even though I’ve travelled around, London is still my favourite place. I absolutely love the diversity of people. It’s great for portraits. I’m always so inspired by walking the street and people watching on the tube. I want to take photos of people sometimes, but obviously I can’t.

Girl with Feather Earring

LLO: Your background is in graphic design for some big magazines like NME and Q. What made you turn to painting, and do you find your design experience inspires your current work?
JB: I achieved all my dreams in graphic design – to work in music, at NME and Q. I worked at nearly every music magazine London holds – Kerrang!, Classic Rock. I even worked for a bit on the UK launch of Rolling Stone magazine. I needed a new dream, so I decided to become a rock star. I enrolled on a guitar course at Goldsmiths for two years, but I was really, really bad and had no talent to write my own music. So I decided to try painting. I enrolled on a painting course at Slade. It was brilliant, exactly what I needed. I was excited to use paint and get messy. You don’t get messy with graphic design. My graphics experience comes into painting in that I’m so interested in magazines and popular culture.

Come Back to Camden

LLO: Many of the characters you paint have an androgynous look about them and your signature style is also quite layered with a dripping effect slightly distorting the faces. Can you tell us a bit about your style?
JB: It’s a celebration of paint. I allow the paint to be free. Representation isn’t really important to me. It’s more about the materials. Allowing paint to drip shows it’s still paint. Sometimes it still looks wet. Graphics is so flat, shiny and perfect. My painting is about the material, about the paint. The androgynous look is not something I go about doing on purpose. It just comes out because I’m pretty open and interested in androgynous people. I grew up a massive fan of Boy George and K. D. Lang.

Izzy After Camden

LLO: What do you think is the role of painting today and where does your work fit in?
JB: Painting is a form of entertainment. Its role is really to give us something beautiful to look at and I hope my work does that.

TVs

 Thanks Julie!

Having been seconded to Asia, the summer reality TV (Apprentice, X-Factor, Sheep Idol, Shag Island, I’m a non-entity get me out of here etc), have largely passed me by.

Jedward (love them or hate them, I feel remarkably indifferent having not watched this series of X-Factor), really seem to be milking their 15 minutes. Kudos to the comms team at Labour HQ (and the Saatchi boys) for running this over the weekend…

Iain G. Morrison is a senior Marketer in the British Tourism Industry. And thinks Simon Cowell will be grinning all the way to the bank this Christmas…

“…el arte de marca funciona del mismo modo. Los amigos no podrán creerle cuando les diga: ‘He pagado 5,6 millones de dólares por esa estatua de cerámica’. Pero nadie muestra desdén cuando se le dice: ‘Lo compré en Sotheby’s’, ‘Lo encontré en Gagosian’ o ‘Éste es mi nuevo Jeff Koons”.

Hay más palabras que suenan a música en los oídos de los clientes de las galerías o casas de subastas, como “está en la colección de Saatchi” o “Saatchi lo quiere”. Si una obra de arte es del agrado de uno de los coleccionistas más notables del mundo, ¿cómo no va a quererlo en su casa un VIP que se precie? No importa que respetabilísimos críticos de arte como Robert Hughes califique la obra de Hirst de “mercancía absurda y hortera” o que afirme que Koons “probablemente no sería capaz de escribir bien sus iniciales en un árbol”. Al fin y al cabo, como le indicó a Thompson Brett Gorvy, director del departamento de arte contemporáneo de Christie’s, “esto es un negocio, no historia del arte”. (leer completo en El Pais)

.

publicista judío que duerme en la cama que TRACEY EMIN le armó para cuando cierra la tate y no está en el Prado,promotor del primer HIRST, constructor y demoledor de carreras de los jóvenes artistas británicos,poseedor de muchas Paula Rego y los primeros Cindy Sherman,  amante de goya,  personaje de un libro ( (Todo lo que necesitabas saber sobre arte, publicidad, la vida, Dios y otros misterios y no te dio miedo preguntar) que va a ser bestseller de la correcta y oportunista editorial PHAIDON, hoy pone el ojo y la chequera en China.
en una sociedad hiperhedonista donde el consumo es la meta final, el comisario del pueblo pone al arte como un producto a instalar de nuevo en la gente , como si el eterno cuestionamiento y la ruptura del sin contenido con la massmedia de los jóvenes contemporáneos ahora etiquetado y descodificado en producto  nos permitiera viajar en primera, mas liviano, sin culpa, en un mercado que el propio WARHOL con sarcasmo dice ¨ un buen negocio es el mejor arte ¨.

las obras son de ROBERT FRY, RYAN MOSLEY y el porteño PABLO BRONSTEIN, un bloody para Charles Saatchi : comisario del pueblo.

Una de esas gráficas que tanto nos gustan. Sencilla, inteligente e impactante. Campaña de Saatchi & Saatchi Switzerland para buyresponsibly.org

Vía Ads of the World

Here’s the Australian commercial, followed by the article at CarScoop:

Toyota’s Australian division is ramping up its advertising efforts on its hybrid synergy drive technology as the company is getting ready to introduce a total of eight new hybrid models to the market over the next four years, starting with the locally built Camry Hybrid in February 2010. To get the key message around, Toyota aired a new locally produced television commercial called “Better Together” that was created by Sydney advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi.

There are no cars in the advertisement which shows a man with another version of himself standing behind and helping him around with his daily chores – just like an electric motor assists the gasoline engine in Toyota’s hybrid models.

“The key message is ‘Better Together’ – that two things working together can achieve more than any one thing ever could,” says Toyota Australia’s senior executive director sales and marketing, David Buttner. “It is a metaphor for Hybrid Synergy Drive technology, which continues to improve, produce more power and use less fuel with fewer emissions,” he said.

The Hybrid Synergy Drive ‘Better Together’ commercial went to air in Australia on the evening of Sunday, 25 October.

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Less Original

“Seriously Unappealing – Hair Nose Trimmer”

“Realistically Unappealing – Hair Nose Trimmer”

Advertising Agency: SaatchiLAB, Jakarta, Indonesia
Creative Group Head / Copywriter: Budi Santoso
Art Director: Willy Apriando
Illustrator: Eko Bintang
Published: July 2009

Original?

“The nose trimmer from Braun”

Advertising Agency: BBDO Duesseldorf, Germany, 2008
Executive Creative Director / Creative Director: Toygar Bazarkaya
Copywriter / Art Director: Daniel Aykurt
Photographer: Ralf Gellert
Art Buyer: Birgit Paulat

An interview with Shirley Elghanian from Magic of Persia.

Magic of Persia Contemporary Art Prize finalists exhibit in London this month, as do the artists involved in the Iran Unbowed exhibition which Magic of Persia have curated to coincide with the Frieze Art Fair. With luminaries such as Abbas Kiarostami on board and Sheena Wagstaff chief curator of the Tate, Magic of Persia works to promote Iranian arts and culture outside of Iran.

This interview was broadcast live from the Resonance 104.4FM studios on October 5th 2009.

Tema: Konsept. Gjesteforeleser: Patrik Bergfjord

Patrik Bergfjord jobber som Planner i reklamebyrået Saatchi&Saatchi. Patrik, har bl.a. bakgrunn fra Synovate i Sverige, kommer fra IKEA-systemet, der han var ansvarlig for innsikt og strategi ved deres globale hovedkontor i Belgia. Hos Saatchi har han ansvaret for å realisere og videreutvikle byråets Lovemarksfilosofi, både hos nåværende og fremtidige kunder. http://www.saatchi.no/ En planner driver hovedsaklig med idémyldring og har mange oppgaver med frie tøyler. En planner søker innsikt, lager strategier og inspirerer til den kreative prosessen, slik at kommunikasjonen gjør sin jobb. Hans lovemarks er IKEA,Filson og APC.

Som nevnt jobber Saatchi & Saatchi med noe de kaller Lovemarks. Det er hovedsaklig “an organinzing idea”, som består av;  “To develop a single organizing idea that inspires all communication partners, (creative media & interactiv idea)”.  Et eksempel er for JC Penney, et amerikansk varehus. For dem ble det “Everyday Inspiration”, før hadde de “Everything you need everyday”.

<script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://www.lovemarks.com/_whatshot_widget_js.php”> </script>

Vi  ble introdusert for kommunikasjonsprosessen som har 4 faser: 1. Discovery & Exploring. 2. Inspiration. 3. Attraction. 4. Evaluation. Patrik skulle lære oss om konseptutvikling, men vi fikk oss en overraskelse også.. Vi fikk brief for katapult 2.

Kunden var Bank 2, som er en nisjebank som driver med refinansieringslån for folk som har betalingsanmerkninger, men sikkerhet i fast eiendom. Det er ca. 20% som kjenner til Banken og kun 5% av de vet hva banken står for i dag. Forrige konsept de hadde var røde tall og var med i “Luksusfelle”n på TV3. Vår oppgave ble å finne et nytt konsept som ikke fokuserer på at banken er en “taperbank”, men heller en bank for folk som har midlertidige økomiske problemer som har gått på en smell. De ønsker å øke de seriøse hendvendelsene, og har et program som retter seg mot gründere og småbedrifter. John Arne Riise er en av kundene..

Vi ble i løpet av uka delt opp i 4 grupper og vi skulle alle finne på et godt konsept som Saatchi&Saatchi kan komme tilbake med til kunden. Dette leverte vi fredag 25.09 kl. 12. Vi hadde alle tydelige konsepter og ekstremt forskjellige. Hvem vet, kanskje noen av våre konsepter blir valgt.. Og et av produktene vi alle leverte var radiospots.. Det var en morsom og lærerik uke som gikk ekstremt fort.

-Taj

Voteaza-l pe Brâncuşi AICI, ca sa poata aparea in galeriile Saatchi.

Da Cattelan a Hirst, ai nuovi emergenti. Sarah Thornton mette a nudo i meccanismi alterati del sistema globalizzato

di Simona Maggiorelli

Cattelan, collezione Pinault

Sembrava che dopo lo sferzante ritratto del mondo dell’arte contemporanea tratteggiato da Tom Wolfe poco altro restasse da dire sul sistema adulterato delle aste, sulle quotazioni stratosferiche di “sculture” improponibili come le aspirapolveri di Jeff Koons e più in generale su quella comunità ristretta di collezionisti e frequentatori delle fiere che già negli anni Ottanta Wolfe aveva battezzato «statusfera»: un mondo di poca cultura, dove l’opera è una merce che fa status symbol, anche se ci si affanna a dire che l’arte non ha prezzo.

L’accelerazione dei processi di globalizzazione degli ultimi trent’anni, a cui si è aggiunta la recente crisi economica, di fatto ha aperto ulteriori nuovi spazi per la lingua franca dell’arte, capace di travalicare i confini linguistici. E ne ha internazionalizzato il mercato, con conseguenze non di rado estreme e paradossali. In anni recenti, racconta la canadese Sarah Thornton nel libro Il giro del mondo dell’arte in sette giorni (Feltrinelli), sempre più «il mondo dell’arte si comporta come una comunità di credenti», con competenze ridotte, con poco tempo per approfondire e molta fede verso le ultime tendenze. Poco importa se da New York a Londra, a Berlino è una manciata di collezionisti plurimiliardari a imporle. Complici le aste, uno stuolo di intermediari ma anche premi, mostre e scuole che sfornano artisti griffati, pronti a uniformarsi al sistema.

Da sociologa e storica dell’arte, raccontando sette “piazze” emblematiche – l’asta, il master, la fiera, la rivista, lo studio d’artista e la biennale – Thornton analizza i meccanismi e le ideologie sottese a questi diversi contesti e i processi di valutazione dell’opera da quando lascia lo studio a quando entra in un museo (perlopiù passando per collezioni private blasonate). L’iter con cui un pezzo di Damien Hirst diventa “opera d’arte” è ben noto: Warhol docet nel captare le tendenze del mercato. Ma anche Duchamp quanto a gusto per la bizzarria e l’assurdo e per la capacità di produrre uno choc nel pubblico. Così, uscito da un “artistificio” come la scuola Goldsmiths di Londra, dopo aver incontrato un intermediario come l’ex pubblicitario Saatchi, ideatore del “brand” young british artists, Hirst a meno di quarant’anni anni aveva già compiuto un iter ad hoc e il suo squalo, le sue teste di bovini scuoiate e tutta la sua pharmacy erano pronte per quotazioni da capogiro.

La consacrazione è avvenuta quando il tycoon francese Pinault ha comprato una sua opera per 8 milioni di dollari. La testa di toro acquisiva così un valore di mercato certo sulla scena internazionale. E molti altri collezionisti avrebbero aspirato a possederne una. Poi il “colpo da maestro”: in barba all’immagine d’artista disinteressato alle aste, saltando ogni intermediario, Hirst ha fatto battere da Sotheby’s tutte le sue opere incassando il cento per cento del fatturato, con grande attenzione della stampa. Diversa la strategia di Maurizio Cattelan. Costruitosi un’immagine di artista spiazzante e imprevedibile con interventi come i fantocci di bambini impiccati a piazza Duomo a Milano, Cattelan è attento a non produrre più di quanto il mercato possa assorbire. L’artista giapponese Murakami, invece, ha portato all’estremo l’idea della factory di Warhol. In tre studi d’artista (che dirige in videoconferenza e con attenzione ossessiva al dettaglio) ha in cantiere quaranta progetti in contemporanea. Evocando l’immagine della bottega rinascimentale ma con un sistema simil fabbrica Toyota, Murakami produce i suoi dipinti «superpiatti» (termine coniato da lui stesso), facendo disegni e poi affidandoli ai computer grafici e ad assistenti pittori. Che lavorano in silenzio a ritmi serrati. Quando Thornton chiede se c’è creatività nel loro lavoro una pittrice risponde candidamente: «Assolutamente no». Al lettore non resta che riconoscerne il coraggio. Alla prestigiosa Carl art di Los Angeles, come nei templi della Tate gallery e del Turner prize, l’autrice aveva ricevuto risposte ben più elusive e imbarazzate.

da left -avvenimenti 28 agosto 2009

HONG KONG CHINESE PHOTOGRAPHY ART

Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, born in the early 1970s and both alumni of the prominent Beijing Central Academy of Art, have a long-established  reputation in Asia for their controversial collaborative installations featuring animals, human tissue and baby cadaver specimens.

In the west they made a big splash in 2008 at the record crowd-drawing Saatchi exhibition of new Chinese art, The Revolution Continues with a satirical work called Old People’s Home (click for video). Both popular and critically-acclaimed, this life-sized 2007 work featured sculptures of decrepit old people “looking suspiciously like world leaders… now long impotent”‘ rolling slowly in wheelchairs around the gallery and occasionally crashing into one another.

Taking a surprising new direction, their exhibition Hong Kong Intervention (Aug 22 – Oct 10) at Osage Gallery delves into the working environments of Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong.

Each of the 100 Filipino participants took a photograph of a toy grenade placed in his or her employer’s home. Sun Yuan and Peng Yu talk with Wendy Ma about whether or not this experiment in spatial intrusion by Filipino maids creates tensions.

Toy grenade placed in the center of a dining room and the back of the Filipino maid. Photography by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu. Image Courtesy to Erin Wooters.

AR: What inspired you to make photos with Filipino domestic staff?

Two years ago at a square in Central I observed the mass congregation of Filipino girls. I thought it was a very interesting situation since each one is connected to a family in Hong Kong. I started chatting with them and obtained their agreement to volunteer to do the photo shoots. Through them I could intervene in an relationship.

AR: Why do the photographs include the image of a toy grenade?

To intervene, I wanted to use a toy specifically bought in Hong Kong. It was up to them to place it anywhere inside their owner’s house, e.g. inside a garden, on the bed, blending it with the environment. Then they take a photograph of the scene. The toy is a legal product. When your kid plays with a toy grenade, you might find it cute, not dangerous. It was a chance for the participants to exercise their creativity. We wanted to use a very simple object to show how it can open up possibilities.

AR: Is it just a game or does it carry other implications?

It is a game because there are no real consequences. An example of something that is not a game would be the recent incident when a reporter threw a shoe at George Bush. However, it would’ve been a game had he said, “I’m going to throw it at you, first at your head then at your chest.” By not carrying it out, it would have remained just a concept. If something happens in reality, it changes the environment. But right now our work is only a photograph.

The proposition of the game is neutral. It doesn’t carry implications of danger. Last night someone told me that they treat their Filipino maids like guests.

Hidden toy grenade on the book shelve and the male domestic worker. Photography by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu. Image Courtesy to Erin Wooters.

AR: Why is the photograph of the back of the worker juxtaposed next to the surroundings?

Actually, neither the person nor the environment is significant. They are entities with no individual characteristics. Instead of specifying a particular being, I just want to describe a phenomenon.

AR: What have you found out about their lives and about contemporary Hong Kong society?

One third of the Filipino population live outside their country. They are a special group in Hong Kong. During the week they enter into the homes of different families. On Sundays, they bond and return to their own world. When they work, they disappear into the families of Hong Kong. They play different roles in their working and living environment. They use their culture to communicate. As for us, we work outside the family and we bond when we return to our home. For them, they enter our families to work. It’s the reverse.

Bedroom and Filipino maid. Photography by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu. Image Courtesy to Erin Wooters.

AR: Why is the exhibition called Hong Kong Intervention?

Intervention in Chinese can be small (eating a crab) or large-scale (invading a country). It can be magnified in the imagination of readers. You can imagine the explosive possibilities of the toy grenade, despite the fact  that in reality it cannot explode. How the viewer perceives ‘intervention’ is beyond my control.

Intervention can be a strategy to communicate ideas. Ours is the study of a social phenomenon. It does not necessarily mean invasion or changing a situation as it does in the English expression “tossing a grenade”.

Words acquire different meanings in different situations. They cannot be precise. Words cannot express what you actually feel. So art is not expressed through words or titles but through a different means to pull you closer to the underlying meaning.

AR: Are you concerned that the proprietor might feel violated if he saw the photograph of his home on display?

We had no intention to expose individuals. Like I said, the photos of the maids and the homes are not meant to be specifically meaningful; they only a representation and a portrayal of the mass.

Bedroom of a Hong Kong owner and the Filipino maid. Photography by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu. Image Courtesy to Erin Wooters.

AR: What is the role/identity of Filipinos in your work? Creators, participants, or assistants?

I consider all the participants as collaborators: not just Filipinos, but also the audience involved in the discussions. They are common authors of the work. As part of the contract, we don’t have to give credit to them by listing their names as they transferred the copyright to us.

Contributed by Wendy Ma

Related Posts:

Editor’s note: This post is interesting to contrast with a recent exhibition at Para/Site in Hong Kong in which Filipino domestic helpers were invited to receive manicures given by the Australian artist collective Baba International.  Whereas Baba International sought to nurture and engage with their subject physically, the “‘Intervention”‘ exhibition carries intriguing tones of depersonalisation and violence. Baba was keen to explain the intentions behind their work whereas Sun Yuan and Peng Yu step away and allow the viewer to explore and fully shoulder the responsibility for interpretation.

• Hugs in Hong Kong by mainland artists formerly branded national criminals – interview Gao Brothers -Sep 09
• Thai Chinese artist Nipan Oranniwesna shows installation art made of baby powder in Hong Kong – review- Aug 09
• Embedding the Bed in Public Space – interview Hong Kong artist and ParaSite director Tim Li - Aug 09
• Wallpaper’s guide to Beijing art districts – Jul 09
• Young Chinese Artists The Next Generation – book review – Jun 09

Subscribe to Art Radar Asia for more interviews on Beijing artists in Hong Kong

These images are brilliant! Artists from the Saatchi collection are asked to revist their photography and make new work from it. I’meally noticing similarities to a trend with our students here at Otago Polytechnic of look past the initial image and into alternative, new and ‘traditional’ photographic practices to create a very new photograph…the result here is exciting, fresh images…look on!

Giovanni (2009) by Maurizio Anzeri.

Check this image, and the rest out by following this link to the guardian.co.uk

Six, fresh and exciting images, a preview of an exhibition of new works by six artists from Saatchi artists online, opening in London tomorrow. Working from their own photographs – found or made – the artists have spun the images into unique and unusual works of art. Starting with a Photograph is at the Michael Hoppen Contemporary gallery until 12 October 2009

Okay, here’s one more…

Blue Lake Revisited by Robin Cracknell.

I haven’t had time to update in what feel’s like ages but in reality about a week? I’m trying to figure out what i’ve been pre-occupied with exactly but time flies by. I mentioned I went to the V&A last week (an arts and crafts museum) where I was met by my auntie who had a urine infection…that was soooo that I needed to know (as well as anyone else reading this).

Carry on reading after the cut, it’s picture heavy by the way.

They had a Future Fashion’s mini-show case which I impressed and motivated by, here’s a few photos:

This is their newly refurbished crazy origami toilet ceiling. Arty of what? I was so getting headaches when flushing the loo.

Here’s that yummy Galaxy Cookie Crumble bar I keep snacking on too:

Recent stationary I’ve bought for uni stuff, I LOVE PENS AND CRAP:

I’ve also eaten some goooooood food:

I wish I was indian at times so I can get cooked curries at home hehe.

I went to Chelsea yesterday to show my cousin around and I don’t usually go down there, good thing because when I got there it was like urgh. Everyone has blonde highlights, Chanel sunglasses, Longchamp bags and a rich boyfriend on their arm. I found the most beautiful Giambattista Valli cropped black jacket from Joseph’s sample store (it’s a pretty known boutique branch in London that stock design wear as well as their own). Anyway it was soooo buff and was £263, okay I realise that sound’s excessive but compared to it’s original retail price of £1269 it’s not THAT bad. But because I wouldn’t be stupid enough to spend my hard earned cash on that I was drying my tears for the rest of the day.

Also visited the Saatchi permanent collection just off Kings Road which was fun and strange, the mansion was like something from Pride and Prejudice but re-done with glass walls and some ugly contemporary art.

I LOVED this one though which was a load of fake old war veterans sitting in their wheel chairs spinning around. I got so confused and scared when I was walking down the stairs thinking why are those grandads spinning around in circles… it was kinda difficult to take photos because for some reason they kept following me. Maybe they had some motor sensor under their wigs? It was crazy realistic.

Hanging with my cousin. She’s 28 years old…

They had an exhibition for up and coming Korean artists upstairs so checked that out and found this one funny..

no my camera’s not broken and you’re not looking at one of those circus mirrors.