The Artist is Absent

It seems that these days most people sadly want to be famous, whether they are a chef, a singer or simply for just existing (see The Kardashians and TOWIE et al).  Superstardom is the ultimate raison d'etre.  This is just as true in the fashion world, this is the industry which gave us Karl Lagerfeld, John Galliano and Yves St Laurent for crying out loud.  Even the designers who like to keep a low profile, such as Phoebe Philo are idolised, probably even more so for their reticence.  Martin Margiela takes this to a new level.  There is famously only one unverified fuzzy photo of him in the public realm.  Just like Daft Punk, we've never seen his kipper, let alone been party to his life and thought processes. Yoox have made this short film of the hugely talented and enigmatic designer, have a look it's boss.  Oh and no, he still doesn't show his face.

A Belated Transmitting Andy Warhol

Well first of all apologies for my tardiness in getting this blog post up, two months in fact, that's quite good for me really.  Now if you have forgiven me can I wish you all a happy, prosperous and stylish new year?  OK now that's out the way shall we have a little look at what Tate Liverpool currently have on show until the 8th February?  It's only the first major solo exhibition in the North of England of the master of popular culture himself Andy Warhol!

You would be hard pressed to find anyone in Britain who has not heard of Andy Warhol, recognises his screen prints or uses the quote 'In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes'.  It was his belief that art should be for everyone, and from my way of thinking this was his greatest achievement.  He was instrumental in finding new ways to spread art, via his paintings, film, Interview magazine and most intriguingly lifestyle.  The Factory was one of the most iconic hangouts of not just the 1960s but the 20th Century.  Frequented by a vast array of people from all backgrounds, it gave birth to the Warhol Superstars and one of the most influential bands of all time, The Velvet Underground.  All were ways in which he democratized art.  Using easily recognisable images, and serial repetition 'transmitted' his ideas into the public consciousness.

The exhibition is not just a display of these well known paintings, there is a vast array of the other media which shows the breadth of his work.  The most special for me is the recreation of the Exploding Plastic Inevitable.  As a youngster I wanted to be Edie Sedgwick, all leotards and big earrings.  I devoured anything I could get my hands on which related to her and the Factory, which was not easy in those pre internet days.  I would have given several digits to have experienced the 'total art' environment, to have seen the Velvets live and to have lived that debauched glamorous lifestyle.  Now on a November evening down at the Albert Dock I got my chance, and it was boss.

I will leave you with some of the great man's quotes which I hope will leave you both smiling and thinking.

"My fascination with letting images repeat and repeat, or in films case 'run on', manifests my belief that we spend much of our lives seeing without observing".

"I think everybody should like everybody".

"Art is what you can get away with".

"Isn't life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves".

"I have Social Disease.  I have to go out every night.  If I stay home one night I start spreading rumours to my dogs".

Transmitting Andy Warhol is on till 8th February 2015 at The Tate Liverpool, go you won't regret it.

Nook and Cranny & INSPO Magazine

Bold Street is possibly one of Liverpool's greatest streets, iconic, full of local businesses and watched over by the Bombed Out Church.  Over the last couple of months you may have noticed a new shop opening, full of pretty cards and gifts, its focus on good design saves it from being twee.  Nook and Cranny was originally based in the Bluecoat complex and I had visited a couple of times and was impressed even then.  With Christmas consumer madness just days away, can I suggest you have a look in here before you visit the large High Street shops.  Not only will you be supporting a local independent business but you will come out with some truly gorgeous presents.

Last week Nook and Cranny held a blogger event in conjunction with INSPO magazine.  The shop has a space to the rear which they are using to host various events from a fashion exchange to life drawing classes.  Last week's event was to celebrate the launch of the Celebration of Style conference that was being held in the city.  They had work on display from fashion students from Liverpool City College, and it was a chance for local bloggers to get together, have a bevy and swap ideas, so of course I gabbed the leg off everyone and took a load of pictures, as I do.

INSPO magazine was a bit of a revelation as I had never heard of it before.  Based in Gostins Building it covers fashion (men and women) and beauty and is aimed at the twenty something creative demographic.  It is glossy and well laid out, but what most impressed me is the fashion shoots.  They had avoided that cheesy Cheshire set look that most of the local lifestyle magazines have and have opted for edgy instead.  This is not the sort of magazine which would suit the big hair big tan girls but for people who are interested in good design and more challenging ideas.  I sincerely hope it goes from strength to strength, they are trying something new and this is so refreshing.

Factory Settings

Edie, Nico, Baby Jane Holzer, Candy Darling:  Warhol Superstars all of them.  The Factory in all it's seedy silver glory was one of the most iconic fashion periods of all time.  Black leather jackets, denim, striped tops and metallic dresses are a goldmine of inspiration and are classics which have never been bettered than when they were worn here.

With the launch of Transmitting Andy Warhol at Tate Liverpool last week, for which I will be treating you all to a full blog post, I thought I would get you all in the mood by having a look back at this gloriously chic time.

Mondrian at the Tate

A few weeks ago I was kindly invited to the private view of Tate Liverpool's summer exhibition of Mondrian and his Studios.  I did intend to write about this much earlier, but life intervened as it often does.

The exhibition is timed to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the artist's death and it tracks his path from figurative art through to abstraction.  As well as the largest number of neo-plastic paintings by Mondrian ever exhibited in Britain, it also has a life size reconstruction of his Parisian studio.  I'm not a huge fan of Mondrian's paintings but this and the personal items on display are absolutely fascinating.

Yes I saw that you all baulked when I said I wasn't a fan.  Personally if you've seen one Broadway Boogie Woogie you've seen them all, however,  the principles of De Stjil are right up there in my book.  De Stjil was the Dutch avant-garde movement which Mondrian founded and it is their principles which has had such a profound effect on both the art and design worlds.  There is a direct line from the ideas propounded by De Stjil to modernism and minimalism, both of which I am very fond of.   Yes we have had the Yves St Laurent De Stjil dress, Sarah Schofield's De Stjil swimsuit as well as a million tacky Mondrianesque prints on everything from trainers to plastic bags.  

It is the idea of distilling both colour and form down to their essential forms as well as the use of asymmetry is where the real impact, especially in fashion is felt.  Without Mondrian and his ideas on abstraction, we would not have the concepts of colour blocking, nor the elegant simplicity of designers such as Raf Simons work at Jil Sander, Phoebe Philo at Celine or Maison Martin Margiela amongst many, many others. 

Raf Simons for Jil Sander Fall 2012

Phoebe Philo at Celine 2011

Maison Martin Margiela SS 2013

Individual collections such as Prada's Fall 2011 collection have also directly referenced Mondrian with the use of grid lines and colour blocking.

Running alongside the Mondrian exhibition is another lesser known, but still extremely influential artist, Nasreen Mohamedi.  Born and bred in India, she too moved from the figurative to minimal abstract art.  This for me, is the highlight of the Tate's summer offering  and I urge you all, no scrap that, I command you all to go and see it and drink in its monochromatic simplicity, tis pure beauty.  Her photographs especially are worth a long shufty.  In comparison to the familiarity and coldness (in my eyes anyway) of Mondrian, Mohamedi's work has a quiet elegance which I found quite moving.

Mondrian and his Studios and Nasreen Mohamedi runs from 6th June to 5th October.
More info can be found here Tate Liverpool

Me and the Bombed Out Church

Reading:  Twitter
Listening to:  Dead Skeletons
Smoking:  A rollie


Liverpool this last fortnight has been outraged by the rumour of the Council's plans to sell off a much loved building to private developers.  St Lukes, or the Bombed Out Church is one of the cities most recognisable buildings.  Probably the rest of the world thinks of the Liver Buildings, or the cathedrals when they imagine the architectural icons of the city but ask a Scouser and the Bombed Out Church will be high up on that list.

During the Blitz of 1941, the church scored a direct hit.  Since then it has remained a shell, and a constant reminder and memorial to all those people who lost their lives in the german bombing of the city during WW2.  For many years now it has hosted various events, yoga classes, film screening, concerts and today it was closed while a band filmed a video in there.  It's a versatile space and we love it.

When I asked the very talented artist Katie Craven to design my blog header, I wanted an iconic building on it which would instantly identify my blog with the city.  St Lukes was a no brainer.

With all these in mind, I decided to do a series of street style pictures on the steps.  The steps where many have waited for a hot date, have rested before the trek up Hardman Street and where many a drunken bag of chips and pizza have been consumed in the early hours.

I was accompanied today by a student photographer, Victoria Hyam (who will be guest blogging here in the future).  Victoria is using me as the subject of her 2nd year project.  Photographing me photographing people.  The premise of her project is that street style photography will be seen in years to come as a valuable source of documentary material about the times we live in now.  I'm sure she will keep you updated on this here.

So the point of all this?  Well every day this week, I will be posting some street style from the steps.  The steps of hopes, dreams, lost love and chips.

More information about events at the Bombed Out Church can be found here Urban Strawberry Lunch.

Photo Credit:  Victoria Hyam  (dead talented isn't she)

Local Talent: Paul Holden

One of the best things about Twitter is when you accidentally stumble across someone who happens to be outrageously talented and a Scouser to boot.  This is how I came across Paul Holden's video for One Sign of Life.  A haunting beautiful song which touches your heart and stays there.  

Paul started recording in 2002, after being taken under the wing of Liverpool legends, The Real People.  After some solo shows, he formed a band The Talkabouts in 2004 who were on the edge of serious attention, after supporting giants such as The Pretenders, Shack and The Bluetones before they split.  

He signed to Martin O'Shea's Bold Management in 2011 and it busy putting the final touches to an as yet untitled EP, which he assures me is " 5 tracks of the best stuff I have written by a country mile".  Another local legend (yes I know, we have shedloads of them here in this fine city), Ian McNabb plays on four of the tracks, which just goes to show how highly Paul is thought of by Liverpool musos.  

Keep an eye out here for news of the release of the EP, Paul has promised us an early listen and I will be banging the drum for it here very loudly.

The New Merseybeat

Think you know Liverpool?  Want to know Liverpool?  Then have a gander at this wonderful video for Liverpool International Music Festival.  Created by a partnership with Seven Streets, Picturebook and Liverpool's finest photographer Mark McNulty, this is Liverpool today.

Sleepdancing

I have followed Ragz Nordset's career ever since I photographed her here and discovered what a sublime voice she had.  Well things are now moving for the Norwegian/Scouse chanteuse as she has a four track EP out now.  Produced by Mario Leal it is designed as a story, each track being a different chapter.  

Ragz originally came to Liverpool from Norway to study at LIPA and has been a stalwart of the city's acoustic scene ever since.  No longer it seems, as she is moving soon to either Oslo or London, Liverpool's loss is most certainly their gain.

If you want some beautiful sounds in your life, click on the link below, I doubt you will be disappointed.

http://mynunorthernsoul.bandcamp.com/album/sleepdancing

Disgusted

After buying Vogue and the other glossies religiously since the mid eighties I've now totally given up on them.  Why?  Well because I am getting rather fed up of spending money for the sole purpose of being flogged a load of overpriced goods which I don't want.  Page after page of glossy ads for the big fashion houses, minimal interesting and innovative articles (if any) and more selling in the editorials, well at least they are pretty.

There have been countless articles about the decline of the printed word, books (sad), newspapers (a bit sad) and magazines (haha).  Blogs and the internet are getting blamed for this decline.  Well in the case of magazines, they are dinosaurs and internet is their extinction event.

Yesterday I bought two magazines, one Oh Comely which I will come to in a bit and  AnOther which is edited by Jefferson Hack.  For the grand price of £6.95 I had to flick through 57 pages of adverts before I got to the first article.  OK I thought, they've got them all out of the way to make way for lots of great articles.  Nope, every other page is yet another ad.  In balance it does contain some beautiful pictures in the fashion editorials, of which there is a lot.  Then I looked closer, each outfit was for a designer, not a styling mishmash using these amazing clothes to show the unique creative vision of the stylist.  More selling.  There is a bit of text accompanying each fashion story, which was such pretentious twaddle I had to laugh out loud.  Once again, for balance, there was one great piece on Edward James who was a fascinating character and an OK interview with Ai Weiwei.  This was however, not worth £6.95 and it left me feeling empty and just a little bit depressed.

Back to the aforementioned Oh Comely, this magazine is a total delight.  With minimum adverts it gets stuck right in.  Interesting articles and examples of new writing as well as some fresh fashion, it is exactly what I want to spend my money on.  Priced at £4 it is published every two months.  This magazine is a real item of beauty, fabulous photography, great paper and even an item on how to make cheese, something I never thought I'd want to read about, let alone enjoy.  I finished reading this magazine and felt uplifted and looking forward to the next issue in two long months time.

I think I'll email Jefferson Hack and suggest he changes the name of his publication to Disgusted.

The Medium is the Medium

Those lovely folks over at The Double Negative have been at it again, curating the following event with Liverpool Biennial.

A day of expert debate around why critical writing is important in a mature and thriving arts landscape. 

Curated by The Double Negative and Liverpool Biennial as part of the Biennial Public Programme 2012.

At a time of rapid technological and cultural change, we increasingly take to new media for information. With everyone able to write or start a blog, where does this leave traditional art criticism? The Medium is The Medium asks whether open participation points to more democracy and a richer debate. Special guests include Miranda Sawyer (The Culture Show, The Guardian), Cherie Federico (Editor, Aesthetica Magazine), Rachel Jones (writer, The Double Negative), Edgar Schmitz (lecturer in Critical Studies, Goldsmiths) and Franceso Manacorda (Artistic Director Tate Liverpool).

Read Creative Tourist's article on the event, 'Liverpool Biennial: art blogs vs the critics': http://www.creativetourist.com/news-culture/news-and-blog/liverpool-biennial-art-blogs-vs-the-critics

SPEAKERS

Miranda Sawyer (born 1967) is an English journalist and broadcaster. She moved to London in 1988 to begin her career as a journalist on the magazine Smash Hits.

In 1993, she became the youngest winner of the Periodical Publishers Association Magazine Writer of the Year award for her work on Select magazine. She formerly wrote columns for Time Out (1993–96) and The Mirror (2000-3), and was a frequent contributor to Mixmag and The Face during the 1990s. She is now a feature writer for The Observer and its radio critic. Her writing appears in GQ, Vogue and The Guardian and she is a regular arts critic in print, on television and on radio. She was a member of the judging panel for the 2007 Turner Prize and the panel that awarded Liverpool its Capital of Culture status.

In 2004, Sawyer wrote, researched and presented an hour-long documentary for Channel 4 about the age of consent entitled, Sex Before 16: How the Law Is Failing. In 2006, she made a highly personal documentary for More 4 on abortion rights in the US, A Matter of Life and Death, as part of its Travels With My Camera strand.

Her first book Park and Ride, a travel book on the Great British suburbs, was published by Little, Brown in 1999.

She is also an occasional guest on the UK arts programme Newsnight Review on BBC2, The Culture Show (BBC 2) and also BBC Radio 2's Radcliffe and Maconie Show.

http://mirandasawyer.com/

Cherie Federico is Managing Director and Editor of Aesthetica Magazine. Aesthetica is a British arts and culture magazine. Founded in 2002, Aesthetica Magazine covers literature, visual arts, music, film and theatre. It has 60,000 readers and national and international distribution. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Aesthetica was founded by Cherie Federico and Dale Donley, when they were students at York St John: A College of the University of Leeds (now York St John University) in 2002.

Cherie thinks the art of conversation is truly important. She enjoys good coffee, nice people, travelling, speaking foreign languages, art exhibitions, gigs, films and walks in the countryside. Her favourite place that she’s visited is a little town in southern Italy. One of her favourite films is Il Postino.

http://www.aestheticamagazine.com/

Francesco Manacorda was appointed Artistic Director of Tate Liverpool in April 2012. He was previously director of Artissima, Turin's international art fair, and a curator at London's Barbican Art Gallery. Manacorda graduated with a MA in Curating Contemporary Art in 2003 and is now visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Art. He has been working with Artissima since 2010. As well as his work in London, he previously curated pavilions at the Venice Biennale art show.

Tate Liverpool, which attracts around 600,000 visitors a year, opened in 1988 in a former warehouse on the city's waterfront.

http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-liverpool

Rachael Jones is a freelance copywriter and social media manager based on the Wirral. After gaining

a degree in English Literature from Newcastle University in 2008, she began assessing the various

career options available to her. Eventually settling at From the Red Carpet, a rad film news website,

she discovered an ideal platform to develop and showcase her natural flair for social media while

indulging her fanaticism for all things film. She also works as a web copywriter for clients across the

world, and feels incredibly lucky to be making a living doing what she loves.

When she’s not up all night chasing deadlines, Rachael enjoys sampling new flavours of cheesecake, the art of punnery, being perpetually connected to the Internet and filling her house to the rafters with various pieces of charity shop tat. If you asked her she’d call herself a writer, web aficionado and cineaste, but her primary expertise lies in all things Twitter.

https://twitter.com/theresabluebird

Edgar Schmitz is an artist, the co-director of A Conversation in Many Parts, an international discursive platform for contemporary art and concepts, and a lecturer in Critical Studies at Goldsmiths. Recent exhibitions include British Art Show 7 – In The Days of the Comet, Hayward Gallery and touring (2010/11), extra added bonus material, FormContent (2010), Dictionary of War, Steirischer Herbst Graz (2006); A-C-A-D-E-M-Y, Vanabbemuseum Eindhoven (2006); and Liam Gillick: ‘Edgar Schmitz’, ICA London (2005).

He has also written extensively on contemporary art, with contributions to Kunstforum international, Texte zur Kunst and artforum as well as contemporary, tema celeste and numerous catalogue essays, including texts on Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Phil Collins, on Brian Jungen’s animalities, on humour in Deleuze and Slominski, and on Sarah Morris’ LA. His book on Ambient attitudes is under negotiation with Sternberg Press, Berlin/ NY.

http://www.gold.ac.uk/art/research/staff/es/01/

HOSTS

Liverpool Biennial - The UK Biennial of Contemporary Art. For ten weeks every two years the city of Liverpool is host to an extraordinary range of artworks, projects and a dynamic programme of events. It is the largest international contemporary art festival in the UK.

Liverpool Biennial unfolds through a programme of exhibitions and projects that lead to a rediscovery of the city. Newly commissioned and existing artworks and projects are presented in diverse locations, including unusual and unexpected public spaces as well as the city’s galleries, museums and cultural venues.

http://www.biennial.com/

The Double Negative - Passionate about the arts in Liverpool and beyond. The Double Negative is an online magazine featuring the latest arts, design, film & music coverage in the Liverpool City Region. Our mission: to hold a mirror up to the creativity of the city and reflect it, uncovering and exposing the best of the city and the talent based here.

http://www.thedoublenegative.co.uk/

Camp and Furnace - A new kind of venue. Pop-up, fold-down, drive through. We’ll be rolling out an exciting programme of events over the coming year as well as adding a bar/eatery, photographic studio and boutique caravan hotel. Events to watch out for include Art installations, exhibitions and performances; theatre, cabaret, comedy and music; street food markets, dinners, pop-ups and food slams; arts festival village; thrift market and a vintage bike shop. Why not add your own?

http://www.campandfurnace.com/

The Medium is The Medium

2-5pm Saturday 22nd September 2012

The Blade Factory, Camp and Furnace, 67 Greenland Street, Liverpool L1 0BY

FREE EVENT, BOOKING ESSENTIAL: https://uk.patronbase.com/_LB/Seats/NumSeats?prod_id=1000&perf_id=1&section_id=M&seat_type_id=S

Lampshades and Broken Teapots

I stumbled across this lovely exhibition of student work at the Foresight Centre Chapel last week.  Showing displays for various brands, this exhibit for Liberty really caught my eye.  A dress made from a lampshade a a broken teapot, i thought it was genius especially fitting for Liberty.  I have no idea who created this display, so if you read this, please leave a comment and tell us the details.

The Double Negative at Camp & Furnace

Saturday night saw the launch party of Liverpool's best arts magazine The Double Negative.  You may remember I photographed Laura last year and promised to cover the magazine when it was launched.  

The party was held in the best venue ever, Camp and Furnace.  Recently opened it is currently a bar and exhibition space, with facilities for live acts.  Two things which make it stand out is the boutique caravan hotel due to be rolled out soon.  If you are planning a trip to Liverpool, please check availability with these guys first, it has to be the best way to stay over.  Secondly is the fag garden.  Yes you heard me right, the fag garden. It is a high walled triangular courtyard with two fire bowls lit with scented crackling fires and wooden spools so you can sit around the campfire smoke fags and chunner nonsense to the others gathered round.  It was magical.

I did remember to take my camera, although due to the huge glasses of wine they serve most of the pictures are a bit blurry, but enjoy...

Well I did warn you they were blurry.

Giant Street Style

It's not easy making an effort for a 9.30 start, but these two have managed it.

Wakey Wakey Little Girl

On a beautiful sunny spring morning in a quiet park in Liverpool, an estimated 15000 people have gathered to see a lost little (giant) girl and her faithful hound wake up and set off on her journey to find her Uncle.

Once again Liverpool has given us an event where words quite simply fail me it is so moving. The sight of thousands of school children dressed in period costume and adults with huge amazed smiles on their faces.  An event which instills the wonder of childhood in us all.