by three art exhibitions
running right now which I dearly wish I could visit:
1. Anselm Kiefer at the Royal Academy in London. I have long loved his work and follow it online. I was so very lucky to see one of his shows in Munich in yr. 2000 – wow! Be sure to also visit the link to Kiefer’s astonishing 200-acre art studio! I always appreciate Jonathan Jones’ comprehensive reviews.
2. The late and great Canadian artist Alex Colville at the Art Gallery of Ontario. There is even a link to a wonderful website in his name that seems to show most of his long life’s work.
3. Hokusai at the Grand Palais in Paris, thanks to a post by Charles T. Downey of Ionarts. You know how I love printmaking and the Japanese masters.
Because I don’t travel far these days, the internet does compensate a bit. I’d love to see photos and reports from any readers that do visit any or all of these shows.
Added November 3rd, 2014: My good blog friend, artist Olga Norris went to see the Anselm Kiefer exhibition and found it monumentally visceral.
And the very next day, artist and friend Natalie d’Arbeloff wrote a superb review of Kiefer’s work along with some excellent links!
I am sooo envious.
Added November 26th, 2014: In a comment at a later post, Olga Norris mentioned an excellent and powerful review of the Kiefer exhibition, the best I’ve read about this artist. It’s by a blogger new to me and whose blog That’s How the Light Gets In looks rich in material so I have bookmarked it for further reading.
October 14, 2014 in Art Exhibitions, Other artists, Printmaking by Marja-Leena
I noticed the Hokusai exhibition when we were in Paris, but wouldn’t really have had time to go; even when one gets close to these things sometimes the opportunity is lacking, you can’t see and do everything there is, even on the internet!
Thanks for the link to Ionarts, it’s a really interesting blog.
Lucy, I agree, having been in Paris (and London) where there are sooo many sights, museums, concert halls. Viewing exhibitions as well as the sights can be exhausting and we did not see all that we hoped to in our time in those cities. And yes, there is also a lot to explore on the internet but we can do it in smaller bits of time.
Ionarts has been on my reading list for years. It is mostly about music but there is much on art and films too, often French.
I’ve read the Guardian articles you linked to about Kiefer. The photographs of the paintings show them to be very powerful and, likely monumentally sized, works. It seemed to me they’re hard to judge in a screen format. Some paintings, like those by Rembrandt and Monet has to be experienced first hand.
I haven’t seen a lot of Alex Colville’s work but his paintings are very distinctive and the exhibit would definitely be worth seeing. Many of his paintings remind me of serigraphs.
Lastly, there no doubt in my mind which show I’d choose to seen first – or if the was only one I could see: Hokusai.
Susan, thanks for taking the time to read the links. Kiefer’s work is indeed monumental in size and can feel rather oppressive because of his subject matter and dark colours, yet there is beauty in his textures, to me. Certainly hard to grasp in a small screen.
Colville’s work is probably more accessible for average viewers being so very realistic, yet there is a kind of deathly stillness about them. I think I’ve only seen one or two of his works in person.
Hokusai’s work is most beautiful. I’ve only seen a few of his prints in person.
As I’m sure you know, to really do justice to each artist, and to our own enjoyment, one needs to see their work live. Books and the net are not enough, though better than nothing. I’m still grateful for the net’s offerings.
Marja-Leena, I’m going to the Kiefer show as soon as possible and will blog about it. Also will go to a marvellous new show at the Natl. Gallery of Rembrandt self-portraits. Have so much work to do at the moment but it’s good to get out and change ambiance now and then.
Natalie! I look forward to your thoughts on both shows. I only wish I could attend them with you.
Thanks for stopping by in your very busy work day – hope your project is continuing well!
Marja-Leena: I would go nuts over the Kiefer exhibit. Natalie: I can hardly wait to learn about your reaction to it. Lucky you, to be able to see it.
Hattie, I think everyone has a strong reaction to Kiefer’s work, and maybe not always positive. I know how you love heavy textures from your clay work, and Kiefer’s work is VERY textural. My very first exposure to his work was from a book an artist friend showed me long ago, with images of his lead books.
Marja-Leena, today’s Helsingin Sanomat (Sunday section), prints a review on Anselm Kiefer-exhibition. It seems like a major exhibition indeed. And I could tell you: if you want to know more of Finland, Helsingin Sanomat (hs.fi), is available in net-paper, so you could subscribe to it! Of course, if you have time to read it. I find it quite useful at times. But then there is yet more news maybe in yle.fi which is Yleisradio, public broadcasting system.
Some movies and documentaries are shown also outside of Finland. But then, right: I haven’t read what for instance New York Times thinks of Kiefer. I’ve seen him years ago in Finnish Ars-exhibition, maybe in the 80’s.
Ripsa, I will go look for that article in HS. I do read it occasionally but find the Finnish in that paper very challenging. For news, I read YLE in English regularly but I know that has less coverage of the arts. Once in a while I go to some of the other newspapers such as from my hometown of Varkaus, where I was once very lucky to come across an article about my architect cousin!
How fantastic that you saw Kiefer’s work in Finland. I wonder if his work will ever come to Vancouver.