MICHELANGELO PISTOLETTO - Tate Modern

Venus of the rags 1967, 1974
Pistoletto was interested in broadening the material language of Arte Povera, and in creating complex juxtapositions of modern and historical images and ideas. Venus of the Rags appears to bring together an iconic figure of classical culture with the detritus of contemporary society as the solid Roman goddess props up a randomly formed pile of gaudily coloured second-hand clothes. In fact the figure is based on a kitsch statue found in a garden centre rather than a genuine antiquity.

JOHN HILLIARD - Tate Britain

Sixty Seconds of Light 1970
Photograph on paper

MATTHEW SMITH - Limoncello Gallery

EXHIBITION VISITED









'No means No' by Matthew Smith.
I wasn't really keen on this show for a number of reasons. The coherency between the works was really hard to discover. Each work had so many different things going on in it, that it was very hard to strike conversations between the works. The playful use of colour was nice, and the stark use of acrylic to hold a drawing in was really good. nice and clean. I didn't really understand the use of the commercial racking to house the projector, it made me think of an industrial warehouse where they would stack goods. The projection was incredibly light too, and I'm not sure it was meant to be like that. The curation was slightly predictable too. I have been to many shows at Limoncello and they all seem to use the same formula, except, Vanessa Billy, who actually used the ceiling. Its not that i didnt like the work, i just feel that it was poorly set out. When i have looked at some of his other work on the limoncello website, it got me really excited, and i was very keen to see it in the flesh. Very Viner Street.

TUSHAR JOAG - Saatchi Gallery

EXHIBITION VISITED




The Enlightening Army Of The Empire
2008
Installation comprising 16 figures, perspex, plastic, brass, mild steel, wood, electric bulbs, wire and mixed media
Figure size: approximately 183 x 49 x 61 cm

Really likes the way this was curated. The way in which the lights made you walk in and look closer. A bit like the work below.

SUBODH GUPTA - Saatchi gallery

EXHIBITION VISITED




Spill
2007
Stainless steel and stainless steel utensils
170 x 145h x 95 cm


Stainless Steal steel 1
2007
Oil and enamel on canvas
198x366cm


Subodh Gupta, Frieze Art Fair, Booth B20
"Curry 2 (4)", 2005
Stainless steel
220 x 138 x 39cm




Subodh Gupta UFO
2007
Brass Utensils

Subodh Gupta employs many of the original techniques of French conceptualist Marcel Duchamp by elevating the ready-made into an art object. Gupta chooses signature objects of the Indian sub-continent and relocates them as art objects in monumental installations of stainless steel and tiffin-tins. Spill is an overbearing work of great scale that has at its centre a larger than life stainless steel water vessel, with many smaller steel utensils spilling over the edge like water pouring out.


These works were of real importance to me, when walking in the room, the sensory experience was really striking. You could not helo but be drawn to them as objects due to their shiny surface. The visual appeal of these works was really strong. The use of domestic objects, such as kitchen utensils was slightly predictable and expected but they way in which they had been transformed into somethings else was really interesting, like in UFO, 2007. This eliptical shape is like my microwave plate peice and this struck me straight away. The way in which the title completly changed the way i looked at the work. The fact they were kitchen utensils was not important anymore. The shiny surface became really the main point of interest. The surface took over. The fetishness of the bright, high-shine surface was all you could look at.

Visit my Showtime Profile at : www.arts.ac.uk/showtime/RussellHill