London Art Guide - January

I.

Exhibition: Cezanne Portraits  
Artist: Cezanne
Venue: National Portrait Gallery
Dates: Until February 11th 2018 

I love Cezanne and I will go see this exhibition again so many times before it ends. Each portrait bears so much brutal sincerity. The best get away from our Instagram filters. 

II.

Exhibition: Monochrome: Painting in Black and White
Artists: Rembrandt, Ingres, Picasso, Richter, Eliasson, and more
Venue: The National Gallery
Dates: Until February 18th 2018

Grey gives you so much to imagine from, notice and appreciate. It's always so incredible to see how many artists are drawn to experiment with shadow and light. It's beautiful and it's bold. 

III.

Sir John Soane Museum  
(Open all year, no specific exhibition) 

My favourite cabinet of curiosities, Sir John Soane has an incredible eye and a thirst for knowledge. Every wall, every corner is covered with art and antiques. The dream for an art collector. 

Take an art tour in London with Marine to discover more!

Notions of Modernism from 1818 to 2018

2017 has been an exciting year for us over here at Oh-So-Arty! It marked our first year as an international platform with local guides in over 20 international cities. Because of this we’re oh-so-looking forward to 2018 and all that the new year has in store for us. That is why we were so excited to hear about Maya Attoun’s new art book which celebrates 2018 through the form of a weekly planner.

As the planner organizes 2018 it also looks back 200 years to 1818 and the publication of Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein. “Frankenstein was published on the first day of 1818 and I wanted to address this date by creating a book which starts exactly 200 years later,” Attoun explained when asked why she chose the medium of a weekly planner for her work. Shelley’s ominous and at times eerie novel has been interpreted into 160 pages of beautiful graphite illustrations. While the correlation between 2018 and 1818 may seem indistinct, Attoun beautifully describes the innate relationship between these years two centuries apart:

“I think there is an interesting correlation between the neo-gothic times which were the beginning of modernism and our times which are the disintegration of modernism.” She continued, “I feel that the monsters we confront today are the blasting of digital and visual information; the condition of post-truth where true or false, important and marginal lose their hierarchy.”

Attoun in her studio in Tel Aviv

As we enter a new year we grapple with our own fears or monsters and it is exactly these mundane models of modernity that are dissected in Attoun’s intricate illustrations.

While the overarching theme of the planner is Frankenstein, a major motif of Attoun’s oeuvre, not all of the illustrations are direct references to Shelley’s text. For example some images are taken from everyday photos that Attoun posted on her social media or her “instagram diary” as she refers to it. There are also depictions of plants, climate models, anatomical illustrations, graphs and other technical devices.

The power of Attoun’s project resides in its interactive component. Each illustration is given a new purpose when acted on by whomever the planner belongs to. None of the 160 pages bound in this book are static works of art and each piece takes on a new meaning every time it is written on. Attoun described her choice of a planner, saying, “I go back to using a planner because I wanted to do something which is interactive in the sense that is really involving the viewer or user.”

Simultaneously an object, an illustration, an artist book and a piece of performance art, Attoun’s weekly planner has elevated keeping track of time to an art form for the modern age.

To learn more about the Tel Aviv art scene join a private art tour with us, here.

Textual Inspirations of Art World Professionals [Part 3]

Inspiration - noun  in·spi·ra·tion  \ ˌin(t)-spə-ˈrā-shən , -(ˌ)spi- \

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines inspiration as 'the action or power of moving the intellect or emotions'. It can strike at any time and its myriad sources differ amongst individuals. As we are constantly seeking out new creative outlets to inspire us, we decided to ask our local arty guides what texts have had a profound influence on them. Their answers ranged from ancient poetry to contemporary tomes. As professional art guides it is our passion to awaken the creative side of others through the astounding power of art. 

Follow along with this ongoing series of posts to learn more about our guides and gain some inspiration for yourself along the way.

Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Local guide in Milan, Sara Cattaneo

David Joselif, After Art, 2013, Princeton University Press

As the title says, After Art is an essay about what happens after the creation of a work of art. Joselif confronts the matter of contemporary art and architecture in an age of proliferating networks and technologies, questioning about the distribution of art and its implications: ethics, and on the temporal and spatial limitations of its circulation. His reflections are routed around the power of imagination, in order to predict its new development. Lately artistic innovations are brought about not by the seems they examine, yet by the connections they manage to create with the public: images open new ways of cultural diplomacy.

After Art made me reflect on the developments of contemporary art and architecture raising new questions, such as: how important is the cultural context in the era of globalization and digital technology? How important is the art distribution network in respect to the art itself?

A milestone for the understanding of art and architecture in the times of Google.

Ares Kalogeropoulos, 2012

Bruno Munari, Art Theorems, 1961, Scheiwiller

“The biggest hindrance
 to understanding a work of art
is wanting to understand.”

Art Theorems is a collection of eighteen theorems about art. The first eleven were published around 1945 in different art magazines, with the intention of proving the falsity of some preconceptions about art, through logical deductions, while the remaining seven were instead written for this publication. 

The strength of these writings is that they are still very relevant after so many years from its first appearance, together with Munari's ability to condense such complex concepts in a few words. For me, this small book is a little manual to never lose the compass in such an immensity like the one of the contemporary art scene.

Munari, Casati, Pedeferri

Take an art tour with Sara in Milan to discover more!

New York Art Guide - December

I.

Exhibition: David Hockney
Artist: David Hockney
Venue: The Met
Dates: Until February 26th, 2018

A retrospective of David Hockney at the Metropolitan Museum that explores 60 years of massive and diverse work by the great English-American painter. The show includes works from the early 60’s when Hockney was as a student at the Royal College of Art in London, His most famous paintings of L.A. leisure and good life scenes painted flat and geometrical. Collages from the 70’s and 80’s influenced by cubism are also included in this show and last but not least- his recent painting large, vibrant scenes of the Yorkshire countryside and his California garden that nod to the works of Van Gogh, Munch and Matisse.

II.

Exhibition: Whiteout
Artist: Erwin Redl
Venue: Madison Square Park
Dates: Until March 2018

This immersive art installation is made up of hundreds of transparent globes illuminated by white LED lights that are suspended two feet off the ground. The lights  are programmed to flutter in an odd way. Erwin Redl is an artist that uses LEDs as the main medium of his work. Redi was born in Australia and is currently living in the United States. His work includes installations, videos, graphics, computer art and electronic music.

III.

Exhibition: The Holiday Train Show
Venue: Bronx Botanical Garden
Dates: Until January 15th, 2018

The Holiday Train show at the Botanical Garden is truly something you won't forget. Every year, the garden celebrates its collection of crafted trains that chug along a nearly half-mile track followed by 150 miniature of NYC landmarks. Established in 1891, The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a National Historic Landmark that's 250-acre (100 ha) site's verdant landscape supports over one million living plants in extensive collections.

Take a tour in New York to discover more!

Lisbon Art Guide - December

In December, Lisbon as well as other cities, is preparing itself for Christmas celebrations. In the galleries, there is not much movement and the majority of them are preparing their season sales or other special offers before the New Year will arrive. Although, it’s beautiful moment of the year to visit the city, there are only two exhibitions I would like to recommend this month. Trust me, 2018 will be fresh and exciting again, I already know it!

I.

Exhibition: Revisão da Matéria Dada
Artists: Albano Afonso / Sandra Cinto, Albano Silva Pereira, Albuquerque Mendes, Ana Vieira, Efrain Almeida, Eliane Duarte, Gonçalo Pena, João Galrão, Jorge Vieira, Joaquim Rodrigo, Lygia Pape, Miguel Soares, Nelson Leirner, Noronha da Costa, Nuno Ramalho, Nuno Sousa Vieira, Pedro Tudela, Rita McBride, Rui Chafes
Venue: Galeria Graça Brandão
Dates: Until January 13th, 2018

This exhibition is a perfect possibility to learn more about Portuguese contemporary art between 1980 and 2015. It’s built as a memory book of its curator and the owner of the gallery - José Mário Brandão. By visiting ‘Revisão da Matéria Dada’ we can try to understand his personal taste and approach to art. To me, it’s like a catalogue of art, presented in the gallery space and a lesson about variable and constant trends in local art. 

Nelson Leirner, Yes, nos temos bananas, 2005, Galeria Graça Brandao

II.

Exhibition: Tracção e Compressão simples entre limit
Artist: Pedro Calapez
Venue: Galeria Belo-Galsterer
Dates: Until January 20th, 2018

For the occasion of 5th Anniversary of the gallery Belo-Galsterer, visitors can see a solo exhibition of one of the most well-known Portuguese painters - Pedro Calapez. His practice is related with colors and abstract shapes, which usually cover aluminum elements in various dimensions. This time, artworks were specially prepared for the gallery space. All the details are precisely measured and planned in rooms. The artist takes us for a journey through the limits of form and approaches towards painting.

Pedro Calapez, Hit the road, 2017, Galeria Belo-Galsterer

Wish you all Merry Christmas and a happy new year!
Hope to see you in Lisbon in the artsy year of 2018. 

Take a tour with Katarzyna in Lisbon to discover more!