Art news
Tangled within the white corridors of King’s College in London is a Materials Library, a library for doing rather than reading. Here are shelves and drawers filled with interesting things – from aerogel, the lightest solid in the world, to prosthetic breasts.
Run by an artist and scientist, the Materials Library is somewhere between a gallery and a laboratory. They use scientific equipment like microscopes and Bunsen burners to carry out strange experiments like testing to see what ‘Art’ is made of for the Tate Modern including testing what paintings sound like and whether Piero Manzoni's Can of Shit really is what it says on the can. Their upcoming workshop, presided over by a butcher, surgeon and flesh artist from Madame Tussauds, probes the materiality of human flesh .
WORDS BY KATE KILALEA
Curvy contributor Paula Castro exhibits her dark and detailed drawings this week in a Nike collective show at Centro Cultural Recoleta Buenos Aires, Argentina.
I have a friend who collects Banksy. He's been collecting them for years. He is smart. Much smarter than you or I. Forgive me for being so assuming; it's not that I (or anyone else for that matter) am particularly unintelligent, it's just that my friend is smarter. You see, Banksy; guerilla artist extraordinaire- one who has traveled the world, risked his life painting in war-torn countries and hosted a spate of popular exhibitions is, right now, one popular man. In is latest work, entitled "Trolley" Banksy "attempts to capture all the timeless poetic majesty of tracking a pack of chicken nuggets in the dawn light". Upon going on sale, "Trolley" sold out in a matter of hours. If that wasn't proof enough of his growing popularity and notoriety, a quick search on ebay proves you won't walk away with much change from $4000 if you want to own one of his highly coveted prints. For those of you who don't quite have that kind of disposable income, his latest book,
Banksy: Wall and Piece won't quite fill that blank space on the wall, but it will make a nice addition to your book shelf.
With Led Zeppelin’s reunion concert close at hand,
Make an effort to head down to the Somedays gallery this week to catch Memeplexes; an exhibition from emerging local artist Kerryn Benbow. Having taken photos in Syria, Sydney, Turkey, Thailand, Tokyo and New York, Benbows Beautiful, clear images aim to explore the human condition and show Memetic theory at work. In case you are wondering, a “Meme” (it rhymes with dream) is “an idea or a piece of cultural information transmitted from one mind to another in the same manner and with the same evolutionary effect that a gene transmits biological information”. It sounds complicated but, having seen the exhibition myself, I can tell you that the theory is perfectly explained by Berbow’s pictures and the insightful Essays that accompany them. Memeplexes is showing until 6 November.
Tattoo artists from all over the world travelled to London for a 3 day Tattoo convention. I’m not sure if convention is the right word as the incredibly talented people seen here are far from conventional. The wide range of artistry translated onto the human form is nothing short of remarkable. Anyone who perceives tattoos as a ‘fad’ is very much mistaken. Paying tribute to tattoo art tradition, from Polynesia through to The Royal Navy, my personal favourites were:
Corazon Tattoo Jacqueline from Luzern in Switzerland is most well known for her Tribal tattooing. She is one of very few given permission by New Zealand elders to do this, and in every tribal tattoo of hers is a special symbol given to her by elders that represents the hills in Switzerland.
Frith Street Tattoo A fairly new parlour in London that does a lot of Mexican and traditional inspired pieces including Roses and Mexican day of the dead skulls.
