Wellcome Collection: Death, A Self-portrait
November 14, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Opening tomorrow is the new exhibition at the Wellcome Collection, Euston, London: Death, A Self-portrait (15 November 2012 – 24 February 2013).
I attended the Private view last night to get a provisional glimpse of the exhibition assembled by Richard Harris (the main contributor of works to the exhibition).
“the collection is spectacularly diverse, including art works, historical artefacts, scientific specimens and ephemera from across the world. Rare prints by Rembrandt, Dürer and Goya will be displayed alongside anatomical drawings, war art and antique metamorphic postcards; human remains will be juxtaposed with Renaissance vanitas paintings and twentieth century installations celebrating Mexico’s Day of the Dead” [from the site]
You can see a comprehensive selection of the artworks in the exhibition here.
Images above from top: In the Eyes of Others, Jodie Carey, 2009; John Isaacs, Monolith, Balint Zsalko, 2011
Rachel Harmeyer
August 17, 2012 § Leave a Comment
The above embroidered and embellished paper collages by Rachel Harmeyer are entitled Hysteria I, Hysteria II and Hysteria III. They’re currently on display at the Backyard Moonshine Art Collective’s exhibition “Bridging the Gap: Feminism and Femininity in Art,” which will be up from Aug 11, 2012 – Sept 9, 2012 at the SKIN Gallery in Houston. Here’s the text that isincluded with the works at the show:
‘The Hysteria series combines the traditionally feminine domestic crafts of embroidery and collage and juxtaposes them with images of the female reproductive system from an 18th c. anatomy book. Hysteria was thought to be a specifically feminine malady: the feminine reproductive organs were seen as the cause of feminine weakness, irrationality, and madness. By appropriating and altering these images of female anatomy and turning them into decorative art, I am reminding the viewer of the misogyny of medical history and challenging received ideas of femininity, beauty, and the function of female domestic craft.’
Objectify This: Street Anatomy Exhibition
August 9, 2012 § Leave a Comment
I’m really excited to announce this latest exhibition by the Street Anatomy team, bringing you the most gorgeous anatomical art inspired by the female form. This group exhibition features artists; Fernando Vicente (poster image above), Jason Levesque, Cake, Michael Reedy, Emily Evans (me!), Danny Quirk, Pole Ka, Tristan des Limbes, Amylin Loglisci.
Exhibition runs in Chicago, September 7th – 29th 2012. For more information see the SA facebook invite or post.
Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomist
May 4, 2012 § 1 Comment
Brains: The mind as matter at the Wellcome Collection
April 10, 2012 § Leave a Comment
The latest exhibition showing at the Wellcome Collection, London, is Brains: The mind as matter. More than 150 objects are only display ranging from more scientific items such as segments of real brains preserved form Einstein to art pieces created around the theme of the brain. Wellcome are hoping the viewer comes away with an appreciation of the brain not necessarily from a detailed psychological perspective, but rather from a social and cultural perspective.
Above (top) is an MRI of an artists set in perspex that you can walk through, A silver cast of a skull ‘From Within’, Annie Cattrell; Silvered bronze cast, 2006 (bottom left), Professor Dennis Spencer and team performing brain surgery; Colour photograph, Terry Dagradi, 2010 (bottom right).
Helen Pynor is an artist we have covered before, and whose image was chosen as the cover image of the exhibtion (shown below): Headache (2008) by Helen Pynor. Courtesy the artist and GV Art.
Damien Hirst Retrospective opens at Tate Modern
April 4, 2012 § 2 Comments
Unless you live on another planet (or indeed outside of London), you will be aware of the Damien Hirst exhibition at Tate Modern opening today. Either your eyes will roll to this or you’ll be as excited as me. It would seem predictable that I like his art, so let me explain my relationship with his work;
The year Damien won the Turner prize in 1995 was the year of my art foundation. We were sent down to Tate to write a project on it (his piece was ‘Mother and Child divided’ – the cow and calf in formaldehyde) and I was thrilled he won as I thought it pushed the boundaries of what we expect to see in an art gallery. I already had my Uni place to study Anatomy, so I gave up my art foundation in favour of dissecting cadavers. A gift to commemorate this act from a friend was a little plastic anatomical man, so you can imagine when I saw ‘Hymn’ (below) in 2000 at Saatchi Gallery, I just couldn’t believe it – he still sits on my studio shelf. (I also love scuba diving with sharks, and I travelled to Brooklyn NY to see Hirsts Shark in the Sensation exhibition of 1999… but that’s another story)
In 2008 I had started taking stone carving classes alongside my medical illustration and anatomy/dissection teaching, naturally carving hearts, brains and lungs etc. So when I saw ‘Anatomy of an Angel’ (below) I was blown away. To carve a life sized marble angel is immense in itself (yes, he didn’t do it, it was carved in Italy out of Carrera marble), but that wasn’t the point, he would not humanly be able to make all his ideas real by the limitations of his own hand. Here was a man who had the ideas, and actually had the money to make it happen. Just like ‘For the love of God’ (top image) which cost him £14million in diamonds to make, and was beautiful and breathtaking when I saw it at White Cube. I’d like to think if I was loaded, I’d make art with it.
So whatever you think of Hirst, if it’s ‘art’, if he should ‘make it all himself or not bother’, if you’ve not seen ‘Hymn’,’ Anatomy of an Angel’, or ‘For the Love of God’, maybe swing by the exhibition… you just might love it!
[All images taken from Damien Hirst Site]
See interviews with Hirst on Channel 4OD
Gerhard Richter Skull Painting at Tate Modern
October 10, 2011 § Leave a Comment
A retrospective of the prolific German photorealist painter Gerhard Richter has just opened at Tate Modern. This exhibition takes you on a journey through his fascinating relationship with paint and there are some truly breathtaking paintings. His technique of painting an image that looks like an out of focus photograph by dry brushing the oil paint surface is just beautiful. None more so than his skull series of 1983, the top image is in the current exhibition and prints are available from the Tate shop.
Art and Science Group show at GV Art
July 5, 2011 § 1 Comment
‘Merging Art & Science to a Make a Revolutionary new Art Movement’ states GV Art of their new Art & Science exhibition starting this week. Featuring 12 artists working within the field, this London gallery looks set to put on a great show. Private view 7th July, exhibition continues until 24 September 2011. The above artwork is entitled ‘Pig Wings’; pig bone marrow stem cells cultured on a polymer scaffold and grown for nine months in shape of wings.
Guts For Garters
June 28, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Installed in the COB Gallery in Camden, Guts for Garters is run and curated like a gallery, but manages to blend fashion and art and interiors housed in an interactive space. Themed ‘Buying Exhibitions’ are run for six week periods creating an alternative mode of displaying art. There’s an online store with an eclectic mix of products including anatomical items such as this fertility glass above. Watch out for their Anatomy themed exhibition commencing 15 September 2011. Above, ‘Grace Du Prez, Does my bum look big in this?’.
Wellcome Medicine Now Gallery
May 30, 2011 § Leave a Comment
The Wellcome Collection’s Medicine Now Gallery, London, is a permanent exhibition displaying pieces largely by current contemporary artists exploring the field of medicine. Focusing on themes such as the body, genomes, malaria, obesity and living with medical science, the work spans an impressive mix of media. To enhance your visit, every Saturday at 2.30pm there are free guided tours of the Medicine Now gallery to explain the significance of the objects and artworks.
