Art Monthly 406: May 2017

Contents

Rodney Graham The Gifted Amateur, Nov. 10th, 1962 2007

Interview

Portrait of the Artist

Rodney Graham interviewed by Elisabetta Fabrizi

The Canadian artist discusses his move away from conceptualism to performance and film, his interest in the mechanics of film, from the loop to the apparatus itself, and, in the later lightboxes, in its relationship with photography and painting, particularly self-portraiture.

It is the apparatus. It is the same as the idea of the loop. The loop is something that is required when you are showing certain works in a museum context and I really like what that leads you to create.

Marcel Duchamp Rotorelief – Spirale Blanche – Modèle Déposé 1935

Feature

Looping the Loop

Brian Hatton proposes a theory of the loop that predates its popular usage in film and video art theory

Formally, aesthetically and even politically, the loop can be applied not only to recent art but also to modernist and mannerist art, and even to the Parthenon frieze. From Pollock to Parmigianino, from Dan Graham to Rodney Graham via Duchamp, artists of all stripes offer examples of phenomenal, literal and performative looping in art.

The beholding of static images in artworks already involved looping, both in their scanning and in the feedback loop that held attention throughout contemplation and rendered a sensation, so often valued, of 'arrested' time.

Pratchaya Phinthong Broken Hill 2013

Feature

(Mis)translation

Sophie J Williamson argues that translation can both help and hinder understanding

In an era when identity politics is being co-opted into wider nationalist agendas and diversity increasingly embroiled in ethnic division and separatism, how have artists such as Simon Fujiwara and Pratchaya Phinthong engaged with cultural translation to open up the act of interpretation?

If we can admit defeat in transparent translation, is there then instead something to be gained from recognising and embracing a lack of understanding? Can we transcend languages, whether linguistic or visual?

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From the Back Catalogue On Translation Mark Prince analyses the language of objects

Comment

Editorial

Flying the Flag

While the rainbow flag has a complex history, it is today understood as symbolising freedom from oppression of all kinds – an idea even Tate Britain is keen to endorse as it flies the flag over its portico this spring.

Sometimes referred to as the 'freedom flag', the concept of a flag bearing the colours of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet) has long been associated with dissidence.

Letters

Incoming?

Paul Carey-Kent questions Peter Suchin's review of Richard Mosse's exhibition at the Barbican, and Suchin replies.

GPO v GPO

Michael Hampton recalls Genesis P-Orridge's Mail Art court case with the General Post Office.

Artnotes

Red Flag

Oliver Ressler found an artwork of his in the middle of a media storm the day after the Westminster Bridge terror attack; FACT recently hosted the protest artwork He Will Not Divide Us, but hauled the flag down on police advice after only two days; New York's Met Museum is finally bringing its Native American collection into its main American Wing; the Creative Industries Federation vows to lobby the government during the Brexit process; Nicholas Serota's first action as chair of ACE focuses on the effect of art on children's development; plus the latest news on galleries, appointments, prizes and more.

Obituary

James Rosenquist 1933-2017

Maeve Brennan The Drift 2017

Profile

Maeve Brennan

Isobel Harbison on an artist who divides her time between Beirut and London, and whose work explores conflict, conservation and culture.

Each man is, in his own way and to different degrees, expert and smuggler. So while Brennan's new work presents alternative images of individuals holding on to life through objects in the Middle East, it also presents a paradigm shift to western viewers.

William E Jones Villa Iolas (Aphrodite) 1982/2017

Exhibitions

Queer British Art 1861-1967

Tate Britain, London

Huw Lemmey

Perverts

Cell Project Space, London

Mark Prince

Adrian Piper: The Probable Trust Registry

Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin

Melissa Canbaz

Jimmie Durham: At the Centre of the World

Hammer Museum, Los Angeles

Lee Foley

These Rotten Words

Chapter, Cardiff

Niki Russell

Remko Scha

TG, Nottingham

Tom Emery

Sharjah Biennial: Tamuwuj

various venues

Nadia Quadmani

North-East Round-up

MIMA • Baltic • Workplace

Paul Carey-Kent

William E Jones

The Modern Institute, Glasgow

Catherine Spencer

London Round-up

The Sunday Painter • Narrative Projects • Kunstraum

Kathryn Lloyd

Reviews

Film

Courtisane Festival: Notes on Cinema

Herb Shellenberger

Each spring, a devoted set of artists, curators, academics and cinephiles convene in the Flemish city of Ghent for Courtisane, a small yet increasingly influential five-day showcase of cinematic art.

Here is Information. Mobilise: Selected Writings by Ian White

Multiplexing II

Naomi Pearce

The whole stage was charged by what Ian White might have described as 'the extraordinary negation' of his no longer present body.

Reviews

Performance

Ten Days Six Nights

Niki Russell

Artworks are offered up as something that our bodies encounter not only spatially but also across time – a choreographed experience.

Reviews

Books

Michael Gibbs: All or nothing and other pages

David Briers

Michael Gibbs did not abandon his deep-rooted relationship with print on paper after the advent of the internet. It is not easy to think of many artists who have understood and fostered the links between the pre-digital and post-digital worlds.

Report

existing condition of the Kasthamandap temple
from which Kathmandu gets its name

Letter from Kathmandu

Ancient and Modern

Skye Arundhati Thomas

The art world's proximity to privilege and wealth is rather neatly established as we drive in from a city otherwise torn apart by the earthquake of 2015.

Artlaw

Moral Rights

A Landmark Case?

Henry Lydiate

On 7 March 2017 another bronze sculpture was installed on the site: a young girl with hands on hips and chin up, defiantly facing the Charging Bull. Fearless Girl was commissioned from US sculptor Kristen Visbal to spearhead SSgA's advertising campaign celebrating the first anniversary of its 'gender diversity index' fund.

Listings

Events

Calendar

The updated events and exhibitions calendar can also be viewed online.

Exhibitions

Exhibition Listings

Art Monthly's exhibition listings can be viewed online.