KABAKOV

November 7, 2017November 7, 2017 / ypokrepa / Leave a comment

Londoners have many opportunities to learn about Russian art these days. Tate Modern will open its doors tomorrow for art exhibition “Red Star over Russia” but today you can enjoy exhibition of Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Russian artists, – “Not everyone will be taken into the future”. You can visit the exhibition until January 28.

The artworks are displayed over 10 halls and the exhibition is carefully guided, so you do not get lost and follow the path naturally.

Some installations were a bit too much for my taste, but I fell in love with some paintings and illustrations. Kabakov is also a famous illustrator for children’s books and I was fascinated by the lightness of strokes and combination of colours in his illustrations.

One section of the exhibition was dedicated to letters of Ilya’s mother. She was writing to her son and telling him about her life story. It was interesting to have a glimpse of someone else’s life, but to be honest, it was a bit tricky to read. In this section curators did a poor job: letters in Russian were positioned low so you need to sit down a bit to read them and British translations were way above your head. So it was a challenge.

All in all I enjoyed the exhibition and it was a first exhibition of such a scale for Ilya and Emilia which made it very special.

Lisson Gallery night

March 30, 2017 / ypokrepa / Leave a comment

Today Lisson Gallery had a late nigh opening of two shows: Anish Kapoor in gallery 67 Lisson Street and Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg exhibition at 27 Bell street. Both premises are in 2 minutes walk from each other so it is easy to see both. Both exhibitions are on display from 31st March until May 6.

I saw Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg first, it attracted many views. It was not big, only two rooms with major piece in the first room. The exhibition is called ‘Who am I to Judge, or, It Must be Something Delicious,’. The artwork is crafted in animated style – sought in the moment. It is surely interesting standing there and exploring each figure individually and how they interrelate. The display is bold, definitely questioning societies’ standards and pushing boundaries. See for yourself:

Anish Kapoor often works for Lisson Gallery and it is his sixteenth exhibition there. It was very refreshing to see variety of working techniques, not only his iconic cylinder shaped plates. Many abstract works were presented over two floors of the gallery and several large scale sculptures.

Opening night was busy as always with people drinking and sharing their opinions. If you are near the gallery check out these shows.

teamLab

February 10, 2017February 8, 2017 / ypokrepa / Leave a comment

Pace Gallery displays teamLab exhibition Transcending Boundaries from January 25 until 11 of March. TeamLab is a group of Japanese technologists who experiment with technology and art. They create beautiful displays using projectors, LED screens, light and sound. Some installations are interactive and visitors can control them with smartphones. TeamLab has many permanent displays, ongoing and upcoming exhibitions across the world. If you are lucky enough to be around one do not miss your chance to see it. I am sorry to say but tickets for Pace Gallery are completely sold out. Even though the admission is free, there are allocated time slots to manage the viewings. Exhibition space is rather limited there are only three small rooms, so they only let 20 people at a time.

I was lucky enough to get in and I really enjoyed it. There are three rooms and 8 artworks – 6 artworks in the first room, one in the second and one in the third. First room is the most impressive because artworks have no boundaries and the whole room becomes a thee dimensional canvas.

The star piece is the “Universe of Water Particles, Transcending Boundaries” which is a projection of waterfall on the wall. TeamLab studied behaviour of particles in the waterfall to create the same floe in the artwork. Projection is not limited by the wall space and waterfall is spilt onto the floor. The trajectory of the waterfall influences other artworks in the room.

Another amazing piece is “Flutter of Butterflies” which is produces butterflies across the room. It obviously looks spectacular but the artwork even more impressive if you know the design behind it. The flow of butterflies is created in real time and never repeated again, quantity and movement of butterflies determined by viewers in the room. Butterflies appear from the same place where the viewer stands, but if someone touches the butterfly it disappears.

Second room one display in it – digital image of the ocean. It was extremely calming and soothing. There is a bench across the artwork so you can sit there for a while and enjoy the view.

Lastly, in the third room you become part of the artwork. Visitors put on piece of white material and become a canvas. This room is dark when you first enter, it comes to live only with someone in it. Peoples movement triggers the program which generates flower buds, then depending on the movement buds start to bloom and then eventually fade away. If you stay still more flowers are generated and they bloom

Great experience. TeamLab is on my radar now and I am very excited to see what they come up with next.

Winter Lights

January 27, 2017 / ypokrepa / Leave a comment

When you are walking in Canary Wharf, commercial centre of London, you get the feeling like you are in New York or Singapore. Concrete Jungles, shopping centres, restaurants, bars and bright lights. This winter bright lights became even brighter!

Winter Lights is a lighting exhibitions with 31 artworks commissioned by international artists. The display is on for a short time only, and, I am afraid, it is coming to an end on 27th of January.. I only visited it yesterday, we did not finish it in one go (the main part of the exhibition is on the lower third floor and is open from 4 to 9pm), so we came back again today. If you are reading it and it is still before 9pm PLEASE go! It is amazing!

Canary Wharf is a magical place to have a walk in the evening anyways, the ice skating ring is beautiful and trees are decorated during all winter. But large scale lighting installations make it even better!

Inside lighting installations are interactive and are shaped by humans involvement. Some light screens recreate the shape of whoever is standing in front of the camera, one installation changes its lights and music according to how you shape it. One installation consist of 30,000 LEDs and their movement is triggered by brains activity. It is also a perfect place to practice your photography skills and play with exposure, many photographers spent hours trying to capture a perfect shot.