Frank Auerbach: Portraits of London – Offer Waterman and Francis Outred (Top Photo)
One of the highlights of Frieze week is the exceptional – institutional-level – exhibition Frank Auerbach: Portraits of London at the newly opened Offer Waterman and Francis Outred Gallery in Mayfair. The ideal counterpoint to the stunning gem of an exhibition at the Courtauld, Somerset House, ‘Monet and London, Views of the Thames’ painted from a room in the Savoy 120 years ago, Auerbach’s show is the first survey dedicated to the artist’s London landscapes which will unite a carefully selected group of paintings from his seven-decade career.
Auerbach found his home in London after his parents sent him to Britain in 1939 under the Kindertransport scheme. This exhibition gives us his feelings for a place both in paint and in a careful selection of quotes, sympathetically placed on the freshly painted walls in soft, muted tones. “I feel London is this raw thing,” said Auerbach in 1990. “This extraordinary, marvellously unpainted city.” Loosely chronological, these paintings trace the evolution of London as it recovers from war, regenerates and flourishes into a major metropolis at the turn of the 21st century.
Auerbach captures something essential about his anchoring, solid relationship with this capital city in a blend of fluid and impasto brushwork. Powerful and dynamic, we feel the gritty bustle of Oxford Street, the fleeting presence of St Pancras and Euston, and then marvel at the sweeping panoramas of Primrose Hill, Hampstead Heath and Regent’s Park. London’s iconic architecture co-exists with the landscape, each impressing a sense of community and identity on the other. We see his extraordinary commitment to his adopted home in the repetition of neighbourhood motifs found near the artist’s studio around Mornington Crescent and Camden Town. The notion of the city evolving over the decades is mirrored by a parallel shift in colour, texture and form within Auerbach’s painting as he observes the changing city.
There are so many masterpieces in this show, many under embargo, from major museums and private collections. It is a once-in-a-lifetime must-see, beautifully installed and curated, including a publication that expands on the selection of quotes; this exhibition offers viewers a cohesive and heartfelt insight into Auerbach’s London. It celebrates the artist’s evolving perspective of the city and pays tribute to the depth of his relationship. “No one, however, has dedicated their life to painting their environs, season by season, year on year, over seven decades in the same way as Auerbach,” say Waterman and Outred – Until 7th December
Marlene Dumas – Mourning Marsyas – Frith Street Gallery
What is going on with the painter Marlene Dumas? One of the leading lights of the South African diaspora is apologising for painting! Born in 1953 in Cape Town, Dumas trained in Haarlem (Frans Hals) and lives in Amsterdam. Much lauded for her intensely psychological and emotionally charged portraits, whilst she never paints directly from life, somehow, she captures its complexity (and an awareness that none of us will outlive our image). Her subjects are drawn from personal references, including her daughter and herself, and the public, from total strangers to high-profile figures such as Amy Winehouse, Naomi Campbell, Princess Diana, and even Osama bin Laden. The results are often intimate, stark and occasionally controversial; she overlaps typically separate categories. Blending politics with the erotic or investing the otherwise unremarkable with a political tone, one cannot describe her works as portraits – they are distillations of character.
In this, she bends preconceptions, catches us off guard and messes with our expectations. We don’t want to feel attracted to this dictator, yet we understand why he is so compelling. However, now the artist is faced with a current, seemingly endless stream of human atrocities – all channels of distribution, a glut of broken faces – and war spreading beyond all our worst nightmares. Presently, it seems she is mourning the whole world, and at an intense level, she is right. Nothing says it more than her titles, such as this first image, “The Enemy”. A diptych, once painted with two figures facing each other, now hangs back-to-back. I am heartbroken, this work says, and I know you are too. How can we turn things around?
Her statement for the show is one of the most human things I have ever read in a gallery:
“There is nothing new about these works. Neither in their themes nor in their process of becoming. What Dracula said to his love applies to my painted figures, “I have crossed oceans of time to find you.” These works are heavy with the weight of a bad conscience, deceased lovers, past failures and present atrocities. To paint is an apology for painting. Live in the moment? At this moment, children are dying in Gaza while I am reading Ovid. In his epic Metamorphoses, everyone tells everyone stories. Revenge rules.” Go see this show and sit with your feelings in witnessing this work to participate in acknowledging what is going on. Don’t give up, Dumas! We need you… Until 16th November.
Deborah Tarr – Cadogan Contemporary
Cadogan Contemporary opened a brand-new space in Knightsbridge, and it is marvellous. Whilst many other galleries are closing their doors, this move for the family-run gallery is bold and timely. It is also remarkable for two monumental new works by one of the most elusive but, in my humble opinion, greatest British painters, Deborah Tarr. The artist was not present at the opening, as is her way, but that did not matter. She does not need to speak for her paintings; they hold all our attention as if we were standing on the dramatic edge of a coastline, looking out to sea. If you do not know her work or have the great fortune of owning one, get in line.
Simultaneously understated and imposing, like the edge of a forest at dusk, Tarr’s works have a peculiar way of showing you the modern painter’s dance between abstraction and figuration. We might see the dominant line as pointing to something, yet it is entirely independent of the supporting tones. We look at the work and know there was a struggle, a feeling for something, and it was resolved on the picture plane. The hand meets the eye and holds it steady. Timeless and geological, these works bring a whole collection together, and it is a bit wonder Cadogan had them front and centre at their opening. We cannot wait for her solo show. – Until 8th February
Tiffanie Delune ‘The Geography of Feelings’ – Gallery 1957
Tiffanie Delune is a showstopper megastar. She opened her first solo show with Gallery 1957, ‘The Geography of Feelings.’ She is also part of the critically acclaimed group show Fabric of Life with Vortic at the new Paul Smith Art Space, with her work giving pride of place in the window on Albemarle Street. Having written about her previously, it is a joy to see this beautiful artist embracing a newfound confidence and boldness of palette.
Born in Paris, this multinational artist (French Belgo-Congolese) recently moved her studio from Lisbon back to France. This decisive move was immaculately timed. In permitting herself to return, she is also ready to claim it. Her new works, on paper, canvas and textiles, demonstrate a move beyond the borders (of ethnicity) and boundaries (of mediums) that a certain kind of art education tries to impose. “If someone tells me I cannot or must not do something, then I try it,” she tells me with a glint in her eye. “Like these round works, such a difficult format, that now sit so beautifully in their bespoke square frames.” Alternative worlds, I think, or perhaps new cells teaming with life, the colours swirling in harmonious circles, salmon pinks spiralling out of cerulean blues.
In a lovely, meandering essay by Jennifer Higgie for the show, we find this description of Delune’s process: “Working instinctively, Delune makes sketches, which she then transposes onto canvas, weaving in fragments of dreams – which, she says, are ‘very, very important’ – and recollections, ‘symbols of my mixed-race family, hints of femininity and flux of spirituality’.” In translating her drawings onto the canvas, Delune allows for the possibility of mistakes that manifest as happy accidents. Suppose the material takes her in another direction. In that case, she follows it, building the image in a mysterious dance of intuitive composition and tonal flow that allow “things to happen that you can’t control”. In welcoming the unexpected or allowing herself to work without thinking about the finished piece, she invests each work with a palpable joy. They radiate with positivity and captivate with assurance.
Delune’s use of colours has become bolder, too. While searching for “the right vibration”, she also tests herself in selecting colours she has previously not used. “This painting over here is full of purple, which I now love, but I found it very hard to use at first. I had to make friends with it.” In this, she opens up the possibilities of abstraction, moving with the colour instead of the form “is a kind of pure energy. And it gives you the freedom and confidence to develop your language, shapes, and lines.” One of my favourite things about talking to artists is their attitude to mistakes, which they see as essential knots in the tapestry of what makes you an individual. Delune embraces this with flair. “I understood something,” she tells me, “If I made it this far, nothing can break me. I have to keep going.” (Photo: Tiffanie Delune and the lovely curator/critic Corinne Julius (Photo Nico Kos-Earle) Until 21st November
Delaine Le Bas – Yamamoto Keikoro Chaix
One of the four nominees for this year’s Turner Prize is Delaine Le Bas, who has also opened her solo show in Spitalfields at the Yamamoto Keikoro Chaix, a gallery worth having on your radar. My first encounter with her work was at the Tate Britain, and it elicited such a robust emotional response that I had to stand in the corner with my back to the passing crowd and let it heave through me. Her atmospheric installations devour you, and they are an essential reminder that it is OK to see things and feel something but not understand them. Mystery is good; embrace it. I have no idea what all the painted veils and floating cutouts symbolise, but it does not matter, the whole installation was cohesive and fully immersive. I cried at the creepy altar and shivered when a black horse streaked past me in the reflective walls – bonkers marvellous. Le Bas was nominated for the Turner Prize for her Incipit Vita Nova show. Here Begins The New Life/ A New Life Is Beginning at Secession, Vienna – inspired by Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze. The title is a little long, but it underlines the work like a chant, and you feel the totality of her vision. In her gallery, you can find smaller, more commercial iterations of her work – and I have my eye on “The Archipelago on Fire”, which sits magnificently in an antique frame, not unlike one Deborah Tarr might use. – Until 25th January
Melania Toma – Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery
London-based Italian artist Melania Toma has a feeling for the hidden colours of the Earth. In her exhibition, Five Hearts at the Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, ten new paintings on canvas or paper carry that feeling into sweeping, biomorphic gestures in glorious tones. Bursting with light and furry at the edges – we seem to be simultaneously looking at something botanical and animal. The word fantastic springs to mind. Taking its title from the earthworm with its five pairs of hearts, these paintings express the artist’s fundamental belief that there is no hierarchy between human and non-human creatures. In the catalogue essay for her show, Marcelle Joseph writes, “At the end of life, all creatures break down into a skeleton of sorts with our flesh transformed into a myriad of bacteria species that enrich the soil and nourish the earthworm. Toma’s work in this exhibition depicts soil travel in a post-humanist world envisioned as a new beginning where humans live in synchronicity with their earth and others. As the artist said, ‘I depict the movement of the earthworm; it’s both a movement in the soil and a Fluxus of energy. I travel the tunnels of the earthworm with my memories and personal narratives to rebuild myself…to disintegrate and be reborn in a new earthworm’s egg.’” Marcelle Joseph.
Are we living in a post-humanist era? What does that mean if we are all travelling around in these bodies that belong to the human species? Like Sarah Lucas, who is staging an egg-throwing competition next week, the ovum – regardless of species – is the metaphor du jour. There is another critical term that is sometimes attributed to Toma’s practice: Hybrid femininity. This theory describes how women who participate in activities or behaviours that are typically masculine can gain status advantages. It’s a gnarly furry term that doesn’t seem to get to the point of these sensational works. However, they are powerful, and she will be very successful. Artlyst selected these hybrids as top picks. (Melania Toma and my participating in Lucas 1000 eggs (Photo Nico Kos-Earle) – Until 19th October
Davide Balliano – Cardi Gallery
Turin-born, New York-based artist Davide Galliano opened his second solo exhibition with the Cardi Gallery, his first major presentation in London. A selection of works on linen, displaying Balliano’s unique brand of geometric abstraction, is elegantly staged across the gallery’s paired-down, whitewashed townhouse on Dover Street. In the artist’s signature two-tone palette, a large-scale work occupies a central position on the back wall. Above each beautifully restored fireplace is a more minor work, beautifully echoing the black void of the fireless space. Occasionally, the space is punctuated with red pillar boxes, which heralds the reintroduction of colour in Balliano’s paintings after more than a decade.
These works are multitaneously sat in front of the wall and show what is happening behind it. As if a rectangle has been cut into the plaster, we observe repetitive, undulating shapes in mostly monochrome tones that expose hidden circuits or wires, or the mega board of some strange computer – except they are also like ghosts. Slightly faded with chalky dust or frayed at the edges and corrupted with accidental lines, there is an archaeological aspect to them as if they have been recovered from some lost or alternative dimension.
Interested in space between painting and sculpture, Balliano’s richly textured canvases are grounded in material exploration. These latest works comprise layers of gesso and plaster – chalky mediums usually associated with architecture and sculpture – which have been methodically stripped on the surface. In this way, we register the unforeseen details revealed through this contemplative, careful excavation process. “This subtractive action invites elements of chance into which is otherwise a highly controlled practice,” says Balliano, “enacting a tension between the formal order of the composition and unpredictable effects of time and erosion”. Through this mesmeric geometry, the works invite us in and then ask us to notice everything: a little crack here, a line there, and question what future corruptions might unfold. They are both a timeless expression of a particular moment and a reminder that it is impossible to preserve it fully. – Until 14th December
Fabric of Life – Paul Smith Art Space
Paul Smith was full to bursting last week with the opening of a permanent, dedicated gallery space found downstairs at No. 9 Albemarle Street. The designer, known for loving the Matisse palette, has long had a symbiotic relationship with the art world. He opened his first gallery in Nottingham in 1970, called the Push Pin Gallery, a small room (3m x 3m) within a basement, and more recently hosted numerous exhibitions in his flagship store on Albemarle Street, Mayfair. In July 2024, Katie Heller took on the art and exhibitions manager role with a vision to formalise the space. The ‘Paul Smith Space’ will have a complete programme of exhibitions throughout the year, introducing carefully selected works across all mediums that tie into the joyous design ethos of the brand. It opened with a sensational group show, ‘Fabric of Life’, curated by Catherine Loewe, who has dedicated years to researching how artists – many overlooked – push boundaries and experiment with techniques when incorporating textiles into their practice. In collaboration with digital producer Vortic, as part of its Vortic Curated series, this uplifting, colourful show focuses “on the power of fabric to reveal deep psychological narratives,” says Loewe “exploring a wide range of themes that carry personal, social, political and cultural histories”. Showcasing work by a group of established and emerging artists – from the Biennale showstopper Emma Talbot and rising star Tiffanie Delune (stealing the show in the window) to the subtle beauty of Andreas Eriksson and Carolina Mazzolari – who employ a variety of materials and techniques such as weaving, embroidery, dyeing, sewing, collage, digital and painting.
Opening to coincide with Frieze London 2024, this show contains the threads for something institutional in many ways. By including such a wide range of artists (Hangama Amiri, Sara Berman, Bea Bonafini, Delphine Dénéréaz, Camilla Emson, Ferren Gipson, Secundino Hernández, Christian Holstad, Alice Kettle, Basil Kincaid, Kimathi Mafafo, Emily Moore, Maria Nepomuceno, Anya Paintsil, Cindy Phenix, Allison Reimus, Erin Riley, Eduardo Terrazas, Anne von Freyburg, Mia Weiner, Tina Williams Brewer, and Sarah Zapata, among others), Leowe is showcasing the contemporary power of textiles and their potential for individual and cultural transformation. Consolidating the trend of big fashion houses aligning themselves with fine art (Stone Island sponsored Frieze Focus), this collaborative show is a beautiful example of how we can support each other in an increasingly complex market. What holds you together when you are having a bad day? If this show has anything to say, it’s noted whilst wearing a well-cut suit. – Until 3 January.
Words/Photos Nico Kos Earle © Artlyst 2024
Tags
Other Articles
No Comment! Be the first one.