The British Art Show is a touring art exhibition that runs for a whole year every five years. BAS describes itself as being, “widely recognized as the most ambitious and influential exhibition of contemporary British art“. The British Art Show 7 – In the days of the comet, is currently in Glasgow where it will stay until 21st August. It will then move to Plymouth, it’s final destination, until 4th December. Previous venues for BAS7 have been Nottingham and London.

NUD (3)2009 by Sarah Lucas

39 artists have been chosen by curators Lisa Le Feuvre and Tom Morton on the basis of these artists’ contribution to contemporary art over the past five years. The theme of the exhibition is the comet and the ways in which the comet has been interpreted and given meaning by human cultures.

'Our House' (The Object) by Nathaniel Mellors

Of the exhibition theme, the curators write:

“While current scientific theory posits that comets are nothing more than elliptically orbiting clumps of dust, ice and gas, utterly indifferent to our affairs, they remain powerful reminders of the way in which our species has attempted to understand experience through the measuring of time, the writing of history, the belief in cosmological influence, and the notion of a deterministic universe.”

Untitled (2005-2010) by Roger Hiorns

Here is a short video from the British Art Show website, presented by the curators, which gives a feel for the exhibition:

If you would like to find out more about the exhibition, please visit: www.britishartshow.co.uk

To see more work by the artists from the exhibition featured here, please visit:

Sarah Lucas:
www.gladstonegallery.com/lucas.asp
Sarah Lucas on www.tate.org.uk
www.sadiecoles.com/sarah_lucas/index.html

Nathaniel Mellors:
Mellors on www.ica.org.uk
www.mattsgallery.org/artists/mellors/exhibition-1.php

Roger Hiorns:
Hiorns on www.tate.org.uk – exhibitions
Hiorns on www.tate.org.uk – artists
Hiorns on www.artangel.org.uk

I discovered the artist Spike Dennis at the recent Bodies & Selves exhibition at Milgi Lounge in Cardiff. The show featured Humanimals (Bestial Drawings), described in the accompanying leaflet as follows:

“Most of the characters’ physical attributes normally associated with gender are obscured or removed and the figures are presented as monstrous hybrid humanoid creatures. The deformation of these figures in a way negates social issues that we would commonly associate with images of the body, allowing for example a pansexual representation of love or attraction, whilst reminding us of our core bestial nature”

Bestial Drawing

Spike Dennis works in a variety of mediums, including clay, fabric, pen, paint and even sequins, resulting in a range of 2D and 3D pieces that can be seen on his website, which also features a blog.

Eurwen (Grotesques)

The artist attended Wimbledon School of Fine Art, before going on to complete a Fine Art Masters degree in Wales. He says of his own work:

“My work is primitive.  It is turbulence, chaos, conflict and violent elegance whilst at once it is peace and oneness.  It is the strange, the cruel and unusual, the grotesque, the mysterious, the supernatural, moonlight, falling water, mountains and the darkness.  It is the land beyond the wall, the Theatre of Dreams, Neverland, Scarlett Thomas’ Mindspace and the space between us.  It is also the pursuit of originality, concern with the fleeting present, desire to live in the moment, the past and the future, a sense of timelessness, the thoughtful contemplation of the unknown.  It is nostalgia, it is reverie, it is intoxicating dreams, it is sweet melancholy, solitude, the sufferings of exile, the sense of alienation and normlessness, roaming in remote places, especially in the North.  It is also self torture, self annihilation and suicide.  It is the sadness of unfulfilled expectations.  It is the primeval, the unsophisticated, the bosom of nature, green fields, wind chimes, bubbling brooks, the infinite midnight blue sky.  No less, however, is it the desire to dress up, blue hair, urban outfits, throbbing sub bass, neon plastic, faery lights, a dedication to the following of fashion.   It is wild exhibitionism, eccentricity and the hedonistic pursuit of life.  It is both in the world and of the world”

(from http://www.spikeworld.co.uk/statement/) 

Blacklight Drawing

If you would like to find out more about Spike on this website, please visit: Dennis, Spike – Info

If you would like to see more of Spike’s work, please visit his website: http://spikeworld.co.uk/

“To draw is to see. Drawing encompasses time. Drawing contains the experience of looking and offers up another view of time. The opera drawings draw on a multitude of moments, they invite us to stop and enter their sense of time. Captured in a static image, the scenes are unfolded, emotions are expressed and memories extracted” (Artist)

There’s a rich history of opera influencing the work of other artists – Wagner is an obvious example.

An exhibition currently showing at the Wales Millennium Centre provides a 21st-century perspective on how artists may be inspired by the rich visual imagery of opera. Nichola and Sarah Hope are twin sisters who have spent the last five years creating drawings at the Welsh National Opera, with unique access to the live rehearsals of the company. The result is a set of drawings reflecting the ‘live’ nature of their composition:

Kovanschina by Sarah Hope

“Elements of theatricality link the works of Nichola Hope and Sarah Hope. In the works, theatricality comes from the subject through the use of composition, gesture, costume and props. Masquerade costume and performance all become elements of identity. On another level, the artist engages with the role of performer through the means in which the figure is represented in an imaginary space.” (from Press Release for the exhibition)

Kovanschina by Nichola Hope

“The theatrical artwork acknowledges reality, it allows the viewer to engage with the art form but on another level it involves the representation of things that could never otherwise be perceived. There is a coexistence of fact and fiction. In the works, theatricality comes from the subject through the use of composition, gesture, costume and props. Masquerade costume and performance all become elements of identity. On another level, the artist engages with the role of performer through the means in which the figure is represented in an imaginary space” (Artist)

Tosca by Nichola Hope

Carmen by Sarah Hope

The exhibition runs until the end of February and has already been featured on the BBC website and S4C’s Wedi 7.

For more information about the artists on this website, please visit:

Hope, Sarah – Info
Hope, Nichola – Info.

To see more of Sarah’s work, visit http://sarahhope.com/index.htm to see more of Nichola’s work, visit http://www.nicholahope.com/index.htm.

Shrink is an intriguing exhibition by artist Lawrence Malstaf that was on show at the Abandon Normal Devices festival in Manchester in October 2010. Abandon Normal Devices is a major regional festival of new cinema and digital culture already in its second year and driven by an exciting new partnership between three of the UK’s leading institutions dealing with art and digital culture (FACT, Cornerhouse & Folly). The inaugral Abandon Normal Devices festival is running until 2012 and possibly beyond.


Here is some video footage of Shrink at the Abandon Normal Devices exhibiton and an interview with one of the participants:

TO BE SHRUNK! from Sarah Miles on Vimeo.

Here is a description of the work:
Two large, transparent plastic sheets and a device that gradually sucks the air out from between them leave the body [...] vacuum-packed and vertically suspended. The transparent tube inserted between the two surfaces allows the person inside the installation to regulate the flow of air. As a result of the increasing pressure between the plastic sheets, the surface of the packed body gradually freezes into multiple micro-folds. For the duration of the performance the person inside moves slowly and changes positions, which vary from an almost embryonic position to one resembling a crucified body.(from www.fortlaan17.com

For further information about Lawrence Malstaf on this website, please visit Malstaf, Lawrence – Info

To see more of Lawrence Malstaf’s work, please visit www.fortlaan17.com

For further details of the Abandon Normal Devices festival, please visit www.andfestival.org.uk

On the 6th December, the Turner Prize 2010 for contemporary art will be awarded to one of four shortlisted nominees. With under a week to go before the winner is announced, The Medium of takes a look at the nominees: Dexter Dalwood, Angela de la Cruz, Susan Philipsz and The Otolith Group.

The nominations for 2010 have been met with the usual mix of condemnation and praise. There are those that direct their feelings towards contemporary arts as a whole whilst others channel it toward the nominees themselves. A quick review of some news outlets shows no clear favourite, although William Hill has Dalwood as favourite and Philipsz as the outsider! To see what others are saying, check out the following: Richard Dorment – Daily Telegraph, Stephanie West – Channel-4 News, Jonathan Jones – Guardian, Shona Black – Suite101, Details on Request Blog, BBC News.

When all is said and done, it still remains to each their own. Have a look below and choose your favourite.

Dexter Dalwood

Reason for nomination:
“Dexter Dalwood has been nominated for his solo exhibition at Tate St Ives which revealed the rich depth and range of his approach to making painting that draws upon historical tradition as well as contemporary cultural and political events.” Tate website

Burroughs in Tangiers – Dexter Dalwood (via Tate website)

Angela de la Cruz

Reason for nomination:
“Angela de la Cruz has been nominated for her solo exhibition, After at Camden Arts Centre, London. De la Cruz uses the language of painting and sculpture to create striking works that combine formal tension with a deeper emotional presence.” Tate website

Super Clutter XXL – Angela de la Cruz (via Tate website)

Susan Philipsz

Reason for nomination:
“Susan Philipsz has been nominated for the presentations of her work Lowlands at the Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art and Long Gone in the group exhibition Mirrors at the Museo de Arte Contemporanea de Vigo, Spain. Philipsz uses her own voice to create uniquely evocative sound installations that play upon and extend the poetics of specific, often out-of-the-way spaces.” Tate website

Lowlands – Susan Philipsz (via Tate website)

The Otolith Group.

Reason for nomination:
“The Otolith Group have been nominated for their project A Long Time Between Suns, which took the form of exhibitions at Gasworks and The Showroom, London with accompanying publication. The collaborative and discursive practice of The Otolith Group questions the nature of documentary history across time by using material found within a range of disciplines, in particular the moving image.” Tate Website

Excerpt from Otolith I – The Otolith Group (via Tate website)