“artistic blue balls?”
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Events
A slower week as the hoardes (and one spittle reporter) head to Basel to find out who’s hot while chowing down the Messeplatz meal deal. For those of us roasting in the UK, unmissable events include the CSM degree show; Martin Wong at Camden; David Noonan’s show at Mackintosh Lane; and Jack Otway and Richard Tinkler at 243 Luz in Margate… see ya there xo
🧊 13–14 June | 6–9pm | CSM Degree Show [Kings Cross]
🧊 13 June | 12–9pm | TUESDAY (ICA Staff Exhibition) ICA [Charing Cross] | £1, tickets here
🧊 14 June | 5.30–7.30pm | Marco Bizzarri: The Temple That Still Stands, Incubator [Marylebone]
🧊 14 Jun | 6–8pm | Niccolo Binda and Jo Hummel: Template, Fold Gallery [Goodge Street]
🧊 14 Jun | 6–8pm | Recipes from Tender Friends (Book Launch), Tenderbooks [ Leicester Square]
🧊14 Jun | 7-8:30pm | Artist Talk: Lotus Laurie Kang and writer and curator Sofie Krogh Christensen discuss Kang’s exhibition In Cascades, Chisenhale Gallery (Mile End)
🧊15 Jun | 5:30-6:30pm | Introductory talk from curators Krist Gruijthuijsen & Agustín Pérez Rubio with Martin Clark on Martin Wong: Malicious Mischief; followed by opening 6:30-8:30pm, Camden Art Centre [Finchley Road]
🧊 15 Jun | 6.30–9.30pm | Krystle Patel and Nina Davies: Me: Also Me:, Chemist Gallery, 57 Loampit Hill, SE13 7SZ [Lewisham]
🧊15 Jun | 6–9pm | 2 for 1, Curated by Throp Stavri and HAZE, Hypha Studios [Stratford]
🧊 16 June | Artists’ Film International, Whitechapel Gallery [Aldgate East]
🧊 17 Jun | 2–8pm | David Noonan: Masken, Mackintosh Lane [Homerton]
🧊 17 Jun | 5–7pm | Jack Otway and Richard Tinkler, 243 Luz [Margate]
Exhibition of the Week
Hardcore, curated by Sadie Coles and John O’Doherty, Sadie Coles HQ, until 5 August, information here
Known for its prescient trendsetting group shows (curated by the likes of Charlie Fox and Victor Wang), Sadie Coles’ Hardcore didn’t quite hit the spot. Reba Maybury’s well-written and typically punchy accompanying text describes how the ‘show stands for pleasure as something to take seriously’, yet the exhibition retained a stiff formality, a near-prudish lack of playfulness. King Cobra/ Doreen Lynette Garner’s decaying, fleshlike sculptures were repulsive (in a good way); and Cindy Sherman’s 90’s photographs of plasticised bodies with gaping dark orifices would certainly make Barbie blush. Differently, Bob Flanigan’s 90s work Sadomasochist, showing how BDSM can be therapeutic for cystic fibrosis, was an incredible and moving discovery for us; and director Bruce LaBruce’s almost-slapstick violent photographs indicate no fear in illuminating the messy yet vital relationship between blood and sex. But, knowing their filmmaking, a video might have been more pleasurable to watch.
But what we really would have liked to have seen was some lesser-known artists - both closer, and away from, home - whose works are both radical and relevant while pushing, new and identifiably-unique aesthetics in our sprawling art world. For instance, Roxy Lee’s X-rated images of queer sex work would have been refreshing. The broad practice of Russian activist and artist Slava Mogutin would have also made a strong political contribution for their unique documentation of youth culture and queer communities in Russia and beyond. Kembra Pfahler’s ‘Extremist’ horror-inspired and sometimes deemed post-gender performances and photographs would have been welcome. Maybury mentions orgasm numerous times like it’s a theme in the show - ‘An orgasm is ecstasy and probably the best thing in the world because orgasms are never moral, they arrive in their own world within the human, indifferent to social rules’ - but this key motif never really appears. Artistic blue balls, perhaps?
Hot Links
🏎️‘At 60, I bought a Bentley and had an affair’ - Maggi Hambling, known for her wavy, ghoulish and watery paintings, gets the profile treatment in The Times. Read on to hear more about vaping, being a national treasure, her obsession with Oscar Wilde and how her number plate reads: HI 0 GAY
🪑 ‘We just might have to get used to our screens looking like the inside of an IKEA showroom’ - says Roisin Lanagin in i-D. What she’s describing is why so much TV and film – like Sex Education, The End of the F***ing World, Infinity Pool, Black Mirror – contains a faux-timeless aesthetic comprised of ‘primary colours, a mish-mash of accents; European-ish, no more specific than the Schengen Zone, transatlantic American, and a regionless English twang…’
🍹 ‘Girlboss juice’ - Founders of cult NYC publication The Drunken Canal have set up a new publication: Byline. They (Gutes Guterman and Claire Banse) tell The New York Times that like Supreme, it will launch online in drops. We can’t wait for the future proposed articles: ‘polyamory as a financial coping mechanism; “Heel Hunter,” an analysis of crowdsourced foot photos; and “Hot Girl Lit,” a catalogue of “hot writers.” Girls, if you’re listening, we’re free to contribute xo
📺 It’s Basel week, and with Unlimited (the section of the fair reserved for large-scale and new-media-heavy artworks) opening yesterday, those of us not in attendance were left feeling a bit left out… Fear not, David Zwirner have a sleekly-designed OVR to take you through Stan Douglas’ 1994 work Evening, to give you the Basel experience, albeit without the champagne.
Add-to-cart
There are some treasures in the collection of ‘Queen of Disco’ Donna Summer coming up at Christie’s this week. We will be bidding on the original proof image of the Bad Girls album cover; her stretchy sequin Manolo Blahnik boots; Richard Prince x Louis Vuitton handbag; and also… her incred paintings! Please don’t outbid us!! More details here
Parting Shot
What’s the point representing Anselm Kiefer if you can’t throw your 60th bday bash with Lalamich, Tracey, and Paloma on his apocalyptic French sculpture park?! Jay Jopling showed us how it's done with his lavish, star-studded soireé last weekend. Did someone say the market was dipping…? Nevermind!
Xoxoxo
xo