“Facts are not Wack”
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This week
💦 sadie coles: confirmed kooks fan
💦 lots of openings on wednesday
💦 the hottest headpieces to wear in venice
Events
What a week! We’re slightly heartbroken so many amazing openings are happening on Wednesday! We’re looking at you Raven Row, Stuart Middleton, Maiko Tsutsumi, Sibylle Ruppert, Nina Silverberg… the list goes on. The spittle team will have to divide and conquer xoxo
🧊 6 March | 6-9pm | Nina Silverberg: The Library, SOUP [Elephant & Castle]
🧊 6 March | 6-8pm | Shu Lea Cheang: Scifi New Queer Cinema, Shu Lea Cheang 1994-2023 & Sibylle Ruppert: Frenzy of the Visible, Project Native Informant [Bethnal Green]
🧊 6 March | 6:30-8:30pm | Some May Work as Symbols: Art Made in Brazil, 1950s–70s Raven Row [Spitalfields]
🧊 6 March | 6-8pm | Stuart Middleton: The Human Model, Carlos/Ishikawa [Whitechapel]
🧊 6 March | 6:30-8:30pm | Maiko Tsutsumi: Meditations, Corvi-Mora [Kennington]
🧊 6 March | 6:30-8:30pm | Jennifer Bornstein: Music Swims Back to Me, Greengrassi [Kennington]
🧊 7 March | 6-9pm | JEROME: Stuck In This Idiots Eden, FILET [Old Street]
🧊 7 March | 6-8pm | Kobby Adi: Music, CABINET [Vauxhall]
🧊 7 March | 6-9pm | Matt Connors: Finding Aid, Goldsmiths CCA [New Cross Gate]
🧊 7 March | 7-8:30pm | 3EIB x AWAN: Patterns of Protest (panel discussion and performance), Mosaic Rooms [Earls Court] £5-10, tickets here
🧊 7 March | 4-5pm | Ding Shilun in conversation with Julia Greenway, Bernheim Gallery [Oxford Circus] rsvp info@bernheimgallery.com
Exhibition of the Week
SHINE ON, Sadie Coles, Davies Street, until 27 April, information here.
In January, spittle overheard one p edgy & elusive young gallerist excoriating group shows with weak curatorial ‘themes’ – those shows with tortuous press releases that are evidently devised as a way to just bring a loosely connected group of artists together. ‘I’m more interested in just showing artists that I’m interested in – presented together because I like them, with no pretence’, they said. I thought about this conversation when I walked into Sadie Coles’ group show Shine On, which assembles loads of artists (some from the roster, like Sarah Lucas and Jim Lambie; some from outside like Anicka Yi and Isa Genzken) who all are presenting artworks that have lights, illuminate and, erm, shine… Densely installed, the gallery resembles some kind of kooky bazaar, and from the street looks bonkers in the best possible way. Reader, we wanted to add almost everything to cart.
Highlights include Cary Kwok’s wall sconce shaped like an ejaculating penis; Franz West’s exaggerated but-still-chic Große Lampe; an early crude Sarah Lucas where bulbs are placed to resemble breasts and a phallus; and ethereal minimalist clouds by Urs Fischer. The large, mural-sized work by Alex da Corte (referencing Jo Skymer Lighting, a now-closed lighting shop in Pennsauken, New Jersey) is so satisfying and just cool TBH — at once so nostalgic but also of our moment in a creepy, ghost/relic of the past kind of way.
Installing this must have been an absolute nightmare. Wirings, plugs and transformers are everywhere, as well as random holes in the wall for them. We can only imagine the horror of sourcing bulbs etc (confirmed by a member of staff). So shout out to the PAT-tested techs who made this happen! All in all we adored this show. I mean good, rare, unusual works by cool artists together in one place maybe only do need a cursory line of thread to bring them together. The possibilities for this kind of show are perhaps endless, I’m thinking about Robert Spragg’s Instagram @generalinformation.art which groups artists together by their choice of medium (think: piss, sand, inflatables etc). In the words of our guilty-pleasure fave indie band The Kooks, whose iconic track Shine On we can only presume the exhibition was named after: Shine, shine, shine on. Yes, won't you shine, shine on?
Hot Links
🐩 “They Say You’re A Homeschooled Jungle Freak Who’s A Less Hot Version Of Me” – The New Yorker’s Critics at Large investigate the socio-cultural history of the ‘mean girl’. Discussing icons including Carrie, Serena van der Woodsen, Cruella Devil, Truman Capote's Swans and The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, this is both an educational and aspirational listen.
❓“NOOOOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOO! But But ok, ok, thanks thanks” – Since dedicating last week’s parting shot to the Who’s Who Insta account, Plaster mag’s Harriet Lloyd-Smith has outed the owner: Ryan Kortman, a 45-year-old Chicago-based collector who blamed enshittification of the Instagram algorithm for giving up on posting.
🫦 “I was 23 and a daughter of Hollywood, alive with groupie fervor, wanting to f–k my way through rock 'n' roll” – Is it every girl’s dream to be snapped in the nude playing chess with Marcel Duchamp, or just ours? Eve Babitz was the star of that photo and we are highly emotionally invested in devotee Lili Anolik’s investigative biography of the LA literary dream girl and OG groupie. Tune in for ludicrous 80s glamour and to be awed by Eve’s astonishing list of art world conquests. Truly one for the history books x
🐁 “Another middle-aged man says, ‘I can be a child again for a day’” – The New Statesman delves into the weird and whimsical world of Disney Adults. Looking at the history of the phenomenon (spoiler alert - the movement was manufactured by Disney to boost profits… duh!!) the piece includes a Very Official Survey the author conducted via reddit, this article considers the phenomenon with all the respect and detail it deserves. Just remember kids, ‘Disney can be a great alleviator of symptoms, but it isn’t a cure for personal or mental concerns’.
🕴️ “It’s the real deal” – We’ve been saying it for years, and finally The Face are catching on – Harlesden High Street is officially the coolest gallery in London!! In the article, Johnny Tanna talks community and legacy, featuring some stunning pics from Akinola Davies Jr’s opening!!
🪱 “I had this weird experience when I interviewed Bret Easton Ellis: he was nice…” – This candid Worms mag conversation on the state of the arts with Natalie Olah had us totally reevaluating our lives on the Central line last week. Among many topics they chat about imperialist mindsets, creativity, and how - once you achieve success and fame - you lose your perception of magic. We have taken note and vow never to achieve success and fame x
Add-to-cart
We are soo excited to see that diddiest Bethnal Green gallery Sherbet Green have just dropped a limited print run of Juliette Lena Hager’s gorgeous Triptych (notations). Find all three here for a reasonable £250 each – but don’t hang about, these babies are only on sale until 6pm on Friday 15 March!
Parting Shot
Venice looms – and all we can think about is what shall we wear on our tiny little heads? Tossed in the waves of self doubt and uncertainty, we find a life raft in ceramicist Takuro Kuwata and their headpiece designs for Noir Kei Ninomiya’s Paris runway show. We want them ALL. A glance at the artist’s instagram and we become obsessed with Kuwata’s unique aesthetic (see below). If spittle ever needs a visual identity we know who to call…x