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Ydessa Hendeles, Hew Locke, Jessica Ramm: this week’s new exhibitions Ydessa Hendeles, Hew Locke, Jessica Ramm: this week’s new exhibitions
(6 days later)
Ydessa Hendeles, LondonYdessa Hendeles, London
Through the work of her now-closed art foundation in Toronto, Ydessa Hendeles has acquired a rep as a master showman, pioneering curation as a form of high theatre. No neutral gallery walls for this collector-turned-artist-curator: her mix of contemporary art, movie memorabilia and historical curiosities are typically found sharing space in installations that are closer to stage sets than white cubes. This exhibition, titled From her wooden sleep…, uses her collection of 150 wooden artist’s mannequins to create an uncanny symposium of mute human stand-ins. In a darkened hall they sit in rows staring down one central wooden figure. It might be a life-drawing class or an execution. Meanwhile, the objects in antique vitrines suggest further conversations about public gatherings. They include a wooden carved nose and a 19th-century French birdhouse.Through the work of her now-closed art foundation in Toronto, Ydessa Hendeles has acquired a rep as a master showman, pioneering curation as a form of high theatre. No neutral gallery walls for this collector-turned-artist-curator: her mix of contemporary art, movie memorabilia and historical curiosities are typically found sharing space in installations that are closer to stage sets than white cubes. This exhibition, titled From her wooden sleep…, uses her collection of 150 wooden artist’s mannequins to create an uncanny symposium of mute human stand-ins. In a darkened hall they sit in rows staring down one central wooden figure. It might be a life-drawing class or an execution. Meanwhile, the objects in antique vitrines suggest further conversations about public gatherings. They include a wooden carved nose and a 19th-century French birdhouse.
ICA, SW1, Wed to 17 MayICA, SW1, Wed to 17 May
SSSS
Ross Birrell & David Harding, EdinburghRoss Birrell & David Harding, Edinburgh
Through sculptures, multimedia and an atmospheric backdrop of multiple coloured windows, Birrell & Harding’s Where Language Ends conveys stories which move the viewer as much as they aesthetically transfix. Inspiration for their sculptures comes from a true historical protagonist, the infamous Syrian bear Wojtek who, after being adopted by the Polish army, was formally enlisted for the Battle of Monte Cassino before ending his days in Edinburgh Zoo. And, once again, Birrell and Harding prove themselves experts at eliciting music from mayhem as a poetic mix-up of texts lifted from Keats, Shelley and Corso are transformed into musical notation for their gratifyingly beguiling Sonata.Through sculptures, multimedia and an atmospheric backdrop of multiple coloured windows, Birrell & Harding’s Where Language Ends conveys stories which move the viewer as much as they aesthetically transfix. Inspiration for their sculptures comes from a true historical protagonist, the infamous Syrian bear Wojtek who, after being adopted by the Polish army, was formally enlisted for the Battle of Monte Cassino before ending his days in Edinburgh Zoo. And, once again, Birrell and Harding prove themselves experts at eliciting music from mayhem as a poetic mix-up of texts lifted from Keats, Shelley and Corso are transformed into musical notation for their gratifyingly beguiling Sonata.
Talbot Rice Gallery, to 2 MayTalbot Rice Gallery, to 2 May
RCRC
Jessica Ramm, GlasgowJessica Ramm, Glasgow
As an artist, Jessica Ramm sets herself up as a one-woman shamanic system, ritualising the tensions between nature and human nature. In videos and sculptural installations she documents solo performances in which she pits her vulnerable self against the vast and ultimately mysterious forces of the natural universe. Whether releasing miniature clouds into misty hillsides or attempting to make her way across moorland bogs wearing sandals fashioned from damp peat clods, Ramm’s wildlife-based theatre of the absurd convinces through its incongruous and almost comic innocence. So it’s easy to feel complicit with the intrepid spirit of this lone fairytale character, who likes to tempt fate while proclaiming: “A slow army of lichens creeps across my face … And as the earth rises from under me I hunker down inside my own coolness to wait.”As an artist, Jessica Ramm sets herself up as a one-woman shamanic system, ritualising the tensions between nature and human nature. In videos and sculptural installations she documents solo performances in which she pits her vulnerable self against the vast and ultimately mysterious forces of the natural universe. Whether releasing miniature clouds into misty hillsides or attempting to make her way across moorland bogs wearing sandals fashioned from damp peat clods, Ramm’s wildlife-based theatre of the absurd convinces through its incongruous and almost comic innocence. So it’s easy to feel complicit with the intrepid spirit of this lone fairytale character, who likes to tempt fate while proclaiming: “A slow army of lichens creeps across my face … And as the earth rises from under me I hunker down inside my own coolness to wait.”
Tramway, to 19 AprTramway, to 19 Apr
RCRC
Trial / Error / Art, ManchesterTrial / Error / Art, Manchester
Obviously, experimental art risks failure, but here failure is something actively courted as an alternative means to artistic success. This is work which eschews the motivation of an anticipated outcome: it’s the art of life-affirming contingency, of serendipitous surprise. Guido van der Werve’s film Everything Is Going To Be Alright shows the artist trudging across a frozen sea just metres before a gigantic icebreaker; while David Batchelor’s Found Monochromes 1997–2015 are deadpan photo-documents of blank signs encountered in streets around the world.Obviously, experimental art risks failure, but here failure is something actively courted as an alternative means to artistic success. This is work which eschews the motivation of an anticipated outcome: it’s the art of life-affirming contingency, of serendipitous surprise. Guido van der Werve’s film Everything Is Going To Be Alright shows the artist trudging across a frozen sea just metres before a gigantic icebreaker; while David Batchelor’s Found Monochromes 1997–2015 are deadpan photo-documents of blank signs encountered in streets around the world.
The Holden Gallery, to 8 May (closed 30 Mar to 10 Apr)The Holden Gallery, to 8 May (closed 30 Mar to 10 Apr)
RCRC
Treasured Possessions, CambridgeTreasured Possessions, Cambridge
This is a show for anyone who fantasises about a time when fashion wasn’t fast and not every marvel came with an imminent upgrade. It’s a survey of shopping culture which begins in the Renaissance, when one-off items, such as an exquisitely crafted silver goblet in the shape of a nautical shell, were made for the moneyed few. By the 18th century, to “go shopping” had become a thing: Enlightenment men and women would spend their leisure time perusing the exhibition’s nattily painted fans and embroidered silks and slippers in shop windows and pattern books. Crockery makers dished out good taste to the new middle classes (one of the more novel items is a teapot in the shape of the era’s most expensive and covetable fruit: a pineapple). It was in this age too that globalisation and larger-scale production began to gather steam, birthing crazes for chocolate and Chinoiserie, and changing the consumer landscape forever. This is a show for anyone who fantasises about a time when fashion wasn’t fast and not every marvel came with an imminent upgrade. It’s a survey of shopping culture which begins in the Renaissance, when one-off items, such as an exquisitely crafted silver goblet in the shape of a nautilus shell, were made for the moneyed few. By the 18th century, to “go shopping” had become a thing: Enlightenment men and women would spend their leisure time perusing the exhibition’s nattily painted fans and embroidered silks and slippers in shop windows and pattern books. Crockery makers dished out good taste to the new middle classes (one of the more novel items is a teapot in the shape of the era’s most expensive and covetable fruit: a pineapple). It was in this age too that globalisation and larger-scale production began to gather steam, birthing crazes for chocolate and Chinoiserie, and changing the consumer landscape forever.
Fitzwilliam Museum, Tue to 6 SepFitzwilliam Museum, Tue to 6 Sep
SSSS
Isa Genzken, Diana Thater, LondonIsa Genzken, Diana Thater, London
Isa Genzken’s rowdy assemblage sculpture has made her one of the most influential and idiosyncratic forces in contemporary art. Her formally elegant conflations of consumer-culture trash – from fake flowers to paint-spattered shop dummies – comment on capitalism, war and politics in a way that feels both poetically weird and bitingly direct. Her latest paintings are no exception, and include real euro notes and coins, a toy gun, and magazine images of male pin-ups against rough and raw brushy paint. It’s a fevered amalgamation of money, masculinity, sex and power dynamics. In H&W’s other gallery, Diana Thater’s latest video installation, featuring the tribes of monkeys that inhabit the Galtaji Temple, a site of Hindu pilgrimage near Jaipur, collides human spirituality with animal mystery.Isa Genzken’s rowdy assemblage sculpture has made her one of the most influential and idiosyncratic forces in contemporary art. Her formally elegant conflations of consumer-culture trash – from fake flowers to paint-spattered shop dummies – comment on capitalism, war and politics in a way that feels both poetically weird and bitingly direct. Her latest paintings are no exception, and include real euro notes and coins, a toy gun, and magazine images of male pin-ups against rough and raw brushy paint. It’s a fevered amalgamation of money, masculinity, sex and power dynamics. In H&W’s other gallery, Diana Thater’s latest video installation, featuring the tribes of monkeys that inhabit the Galtaji Temple, a site of Hindu pilgrimage near Jaipur, collides human spirituality with animal mystery.
Hauser & Wirth, W1, Thu to 16 MayHauser & Wirth, W1, Thu to 16 May
SSSS
Hew Locke, LondonHew Locke, London
Hew Locke is giving HMS Belfast a makeover. The artist, known for exploring globalisation, has created a tongue-in-cheek party fantasy for the mannequins on the one-time Royal Navy warship. One of its final voyages took in Trinidad: Locke imagines it rocking up in time for Carnival, and has dressed its wax sailors accordingly. Their masks are bone white – the colour of colonialism – and are crafted from wicker, fur and pearls, suggesting embellished skulls and stormtrooper helmets, both sinister and gorgeous. A painting in Locke’s concurrent show at the Imperial War Museum (SE1, to 4 May) of a rusting HMS Belfast floating amid warring unicorn mermaids reinforces the sense of surreal violence.Hew Locke is giving HMS Belfast a makeover. The artist, known for exploring globalisation, has created a tongue-in-cheek party fantasy for the mannequins on the one-time Royal Navy warship. One of its final voyages took in Trinidad: Locke imagines it rocking up in time for Carnival, and has dressed its wax sailors accordingly. Their masks are bone white – the colour of colonialism – and are crafted from wicker, fur and pearls, suggesting embellished skulls and stormtrooper helmets, both sinister and gorgeous. A painting in Locke’s concurrent show at the Imperial War Museum (SE1, to 4 May) of a rusting HMS Belfast floating amid warring unicorn mermaids reinforces the sense of surreal violence.
HMS Belfast, SE1, Thu to 7 SepHMS Belfast, SE1, Thu to 7 Sep
SSSS
• This column was amended on 26 March 2015. An earlier version of the item Treasured Possessions, Cambridge, referred to a nautical, rather than nautilus shell.