"how to think yourself into being adored and paid for"
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This Week
đŠ âdeceasedâ, âdeadâ, âlmaoâ, âlmaooooooooâ
đŠ empathetic and financial investments coalesce
đŠ âYes I think it would be steeling from the governmentâ
Events
Lots of solo shows from emerging artists this week!! Weâre looking forward to the artist Louis MorlĂŠ giving a talk at Moarain House, Harrison Pearceâs monochromatic machines at Carl KostyĂĄl, and Saturdayâs nightâs musical offering at Cafe Oto.
đ§ 2 February | Hannah Lim, Changing Room Gallery [Oxford Circus]
đ§ 3 February | 6â10pm | Sara Esme Harrison, Saint George Street [Oxford Circus]
đ§ 3rd February | 7pm | Ecce in Semper Aeternum, Film screening and discussion, Morain House [Bethnal Green]Â
đ§ 3rd February | 6â8pm | Harrison Pearce: Host, Carl KostyĂĄl [Picadilly Circus]
đ§ 3 February | 6â8pm | Julie Maurin: (m)other, South Parade [Deptford]
đ§ 4 February | 6â8pm | Louis Blue Newby and Laila Majid, San Mei Gallery [Brixton]
đ§ 5th February | 8pm - late | Lawrence Lek, Lila Matsumoto and Edmund Hardy, Cafe Oto [Dalston Junction] | ÂŁ7
Exhibitions of the week
Testament at Goldsmiths CCA, until April 3rd 2022.
The monument proposals that fill Goldsmiths CCA are testament (couldnât help it) to the idea that the statues of slavers/aristocrats of times-gone-by are in need of an overhaul, to say the least. The participating artist-list-of-dreams variously offers us a looming, goofy green monster in whose teeth you can sit on a beanbag (Monster Chetwynd); a fountain which gives an enema to a politician (Dominic Watson); a âCulture War Memorialâ for family and friends lost to misinformation (Jeremy Deller); and an inflatable common-or-garden British pub (Ghislaine Leung). Cheeky and satirical, these offerings riff on the austere statues staring down locals in town squares across the country, imagining what would be most meaningful to a public that voted unanimously to name the governmentâs new polar research ship, âBoaty McBoatfaceâ. But there are more pensive proposals too; issues of migration considered through a proposal for a Parakeetâs garden (Adam Faramawy); working class identity memorialised by charred bricks placed on white plastic garden chairs (Oscar Murillo); and the most shocking, representations of the bound legs of a dismembered woman (Phyllida Barlow). A huge, almost ungraspable show.
Gisela McDaniel: Manhaga Fuâuna, at Pilar Corrias
Escaping beyond the canvas, diasporic, indigenous Chamorro artist Gisela McDanielâs new works at Pilar Corrias say fuck you to the clean and 2-D conditioned confines of figurative painting we are used to! Employing paint in addition to found objects like teeth and chains, McDanielâs body of work â shown for the first time in London â explores the subjectivity of individuals who are the survivors of extreme trauma. ââAs she says, these figures âhave difficult but important stories that other people need to hear. Theyâve been erased historically.â McDanielâs project deliberately pushes and traverses hierarchies and structures of presentation and taste; forcing audiences to look longer and harder.
Hot links
đ âcryingâ, âI am screamingâ, âI am roaring!â, âI am howlingâ, âdeceasedâ, âdeadâ, âlmaoâ, âlmaooooooooâ - Rachel Connolly charts the multifarious ways we laugh - or donât - on the internet. Turns out it has a lot more to do with posturing and performativity than we would have guessed lol.
đ âAm I here to be the most sweetest most cunty angelic girl in town or am I here to know what god knows?â - Biz Sherbert dissects the girl blogger, examining surprising facets of the phenomenon such as spiritual manifestation (âhow to think yourself into being adored and paid forâ), the type of frail femininity that peaked in 2013 (âgirls with messy buns crouched over chunky aluminum MacBook Prosâ), and the eating disorder epidemic.
đŸ How many of todayâs NFT collectors once owned a Tamagotchi? - Gabrielle Schwarz on the cute ân blobby cartoon characters that Ed Fornieles made into NFTs for Outland Art. Each tamagotchi-like cutie is tied emotionally to a crypto currency - âbecoming happy and buoyant when the currency they are linked to does well, and sad or even sick when it performs poorlyâ - an ingenious reflection (and critique) of crypto-mania.
đ„Ș Step up your sub game - Sandwiches are back, better, and bigger than ever! Here, the Financial Times details the rise of Big Sandwich, with a handy little round-up of the worldâs best, including some of our London faves!Â
đ§ âthereâs no denying that neuropsychological strings are being blatantly pulled to extract attentionâ - a neuropsychological analysis of the effects of tik-tokâs highly-repetitive and seemingly brainless content on our silly little social-media addled brains. The take-away? Weâre pavlovâs-dogging ourselves stupid.Â
đ Filth is my politics. Filth is my life - spittleâs favourite art/interiors substack, Decorazione, dives into the history of taste - both good and bad - through the lens of figures as wide-ranging as Pierre Bourdieu, John Waters and Marie Antoinette (tldr: âtaste is a perpetuating edifice, a house of mirrorsâ).
Add-to-cart
spittle fave, artist Gray Wiebelinski, has launched a gorgeously animistic and bondageâderived fundraising print for BitterSweet Review, a new âLiterary Magazine for Queers & Their Friendsâ (brainchild of writer BenoĂźt Loiseau). The exciting publication â committed to fighting racist, classist, ageist, ableist and intellectualist biases â launches later this year and looks soon to reach its ÂŁ7k kickstarter target. Support the magazine and buy the print â or a pair of socks â here!
Parting shot
Jake Chapman reposted a Daily Mail article after noticing Dominic Cummings may have stolen an artwork from Downing Street by him (and brother Dinos) after being sacked last year. Primal Scream, Sam Taylor Johnson, Pam Hogg and even Tracey Emin get involved in the Instagram comments, but spittle wants to know - will Sue Gray investigate?
Love,
Londonâs beating âart <3 <3 <3 <3