Elephant Magazine - ELEPHANT & Elephant is a quarterly magazine on contemporary art and visual culture. Issues feature fresh faces, original voices and uncover new trends and talent.
Opening this week: Chantal Joffe at Victoria Miro
The London-based artist Chantal Joffe relishes the quirks afforded by paint and brush, forgoing photo-like reality for a more intuitive depiction of her subjects—one that is at points humorous, warm and characterful. Joffe returns to Mayfair’s Victoria Miro tomorrow, for her seventh solo exhibition with the gallery.
Opening this week: Chantal Joffe at Victoria Miro
The London-based artist Chantal Joffe relishes the quirks afforded by paint and brush, forgoing photo-like reality for a more intuitive depiction of her subjects—one that is at points humorous, warm and characterful. Joffe returns to Mayfair’s Victoria Miro tomorrow, for her seventh solo exhibition with the gallery.
The exhibition will feature works of the artist’s close circle alongside distinguished writers, typically with fluid movements and a fleshy palette. The paintings have been created from the images reproduced in writers’ biographies, who are often depicted engrossed in life with lovers, partners, children and parents, and are given a new existence in Joffe’s works.
While the style is distinctly non-photographic, the subjects display the familiarity and casual stance that is reminiscent of family snapshots, at times with gentle smiles and a hazy, golden light suggestive of moments socialising outdoors. But in these images too there is a complexity of character, the relationships are intriguing and perhaps not entirely straightforward.
Here, Joffe delves into the essence of confessional poetry, and the ‘nature of the lived experience’, as explored by Sylvia Plath and Robert Lowell midway through the last century. The weighty medium of painting is given a stage here, but so too the casual element of close bonds. Her Family Pictures pastels have a similar sense of immediacy of line, created from life and depicting those closest to her. Her subjects here are familiar (even to the unknown viewer), complicated and, of course, absolutely human.
is showing at Victoria Miro from 22 January – 24 March 2016
Chantal Joffe Sheridan, Caroline, Ivana and Robert, 2015 Oil on board 27.9 x 35.5 cm 11 x 14 in
Chantal Joffe Jean and Robert, 2015 Oil on board 40.7 x 30.5 cm 16 1/8 x 12 1/8 in
Chantal Joffe Brunette in Stripes, 2015 Oil on board 28 x 21 cm 11 1/8 x 8 1/4 in
Chantal Joffe Ted and Sylvia, 2015 Oil on canvas 50.4 x 40.8 cm 19 7/8 x 16 1/8 in
Chantal Joffe Robert, Harriet and Elizabeth, 2015 Oil on board 30.5 x 40.7 cm 12 1/8 x 16 1/8 in
Chantal Joffe Brocade Dress, 2015 Oil on board 182.9 x 121.9 cm 72 x 48 in
Chantal Joffe Assia, 2015 Oil on board 40.7 x 30.5 cm 16 1/8 x 12 1/8 in
Chantal Joffe White Collar, 2015 Oil on canvas
5 Questions with Aaron Kasmin
Remember a time when smoking was seriously, no-holds-barred glamorous? Whether you lived it or not, the images form part of a collective nostalgia, of America in particular–of old-school Hollywood and F.Scott Fitzgerald, of cocktail hours and luxurious post-prohibition nightlife. London-born artist Aaron Kasmin relishes this world, exploring the miniature artworks from early- to mid- twentieth century matchbooks for his drawings. Lucky Strike opens this Friday at London’s Sims Reed Gallery.
Can you tell us a little about the work that will be shown in Lucky Strike?
The work I am showing is all inspired by my collection of American feature matchbooks which had their heyday from the 1930s to the 1950s. I have been collecting these matchbooks for a number of years and have managed to integrate them in to my work. The subject matter is incredibly diverse, ranging from advertising laundry services, bakers, kitchen outfitters, paint shops and restaurants to nightclubs. What the companies found, was that by handing out beautifully designed little matchbooks people would take them home and keep them, thereby having permanent advertising in the home. The beauty of these objects is that the designers came up with so many creative ideas, like making the matchsticks paint brushes and the striking part a blob of paint, or the match a chef with his hat as the striker.
What is it about post-prohibition and mid-twentieth century America that interests you—and was there a particular work or object that first prompted you to explore this imagery?
I love the way these small ephemeral objects portray American life and the perceived glamour of its time. Smoking and drinking were represented as cool and sophisticated–these match books remind me of the novels of Raymond Chandler and of films starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. They could easily be found in Some Like It Hot! I just wanted to celebrate these little master works and bring them to a wider, new audience. I am excited that I am able to exhibit some of my collection alongside my drawings.
Do you feel this sense of design has been somewhat lost in recent years?
I think that graphics represent the era they are a part of, especially ephemera. There are many great designers working now and I think people should celebrate ephemera through all times.
Did you begin working in pencil as a response to the source material, or has this always been a favoured medium?
I am fundamentally an abstract artist, but have had quite a few shows recently of still life drawings. I love working with chalk pencils because you can mix the colours with a high degree of sophistication. The effect of these pencils seems to evoke a beautiful vintage quality.
You’ll be showing alongside Nicholas Chandor’s furniture. What was behind the decision to display your works together?
We wanted to create an ambience in the gallery that reflects the atmosphere conjured by these matchbooks. Nicholas Chandor is designing mid-twentieth century inspired furniture to complement the style of the drawings and really transport the gallery back to America in the 50s.
runs 22 January until 5 February 2016 at Sims Reed Gallery, London
Harry Kaads Bowling and Billiards Bar, Coloured pencil, 2015. 21 × 14.7 cm
The Morgue Nightclub. Coloured pencil, 2015. 21 × 14.7 cm
Coopers Fish and Fry. Coloured pencil, 2015. 21 × 14.7 cm
Maine Lobster and Blue Paint. Coloured pencil, 2015. 21 × 14.7 cm
The Playhouse Cafe. Coloured pencil, 2015. 21 × 14.7 cm
The White Baking Company. Coloured pencil, 2015. 21 × 14.7 cm
Robel Temesgen at Tiwani Contemporary
Drawing on the ancient belief that spirits dwelled in the surroundings of his hometown of Dessie, Ethiopian-born Robel Temesgen’s latest series of works conjure the spirit of Adbar. London’s Tiwani Contemporary have just opened the first UK solo-exhibition of the young artist’s work.
In Amharic, the word adbar describes the idea of spirits living within the natural landscape. It’s believed that adbar resides in the holl branching between the earth and sky. The tree provides a bridge between life and the spirit world, becoming sacred ground for the surrounding inhabitants. Tightly woven into the social fabric of the community, the rich folklore of adbar provided fertile soil for Temesgen’s colourful paintings of imagined landscapes.
Departing from his experimentation with video and installation, Adbar marks a return to painting for the artist, something he describes as a profoundly more ‘spiritual medium’. The exhibition brings together over twenty works, each exploring the fantastical borders of adbar; paintings feature earthly elements raging against one another, or calmed and bathed in a Day-Glo light. Hung centrally, two large scrolls are set back-to-back, unfurling onto the gallery floor, their surfaces glossed over in an intensely pigmented colour. Employing an array of techniques, Temesgen veers between delicate quasi-pointillist detail and rougher patches of spray paint.
Temesgen’s examination of identity and belonging is central to Adbar, in terms of ancient cultural tr an attempt to peel back layers of time, and once again take root in the folklore and myths of our ancestors. The paintings all reveal a personal vista, visualising how the phenomenon would translate into an extra-terrestrial landscape.
is showing at Tiwani Contemporary until 6 February 2016
Robel TemesgenAdbar I (detail)2015Mixed media on paper81 x 29.5cmCourtesy of the artist and Tiwani Contemporary
Robel TemesgenAdbar II2015Mixed media on paper100x146cmCourtesy of the artist and Tiwani Contemporary
Robel TemesgenAdbar I2015Mixed media on paper81 x 29.5cmCourtesy of the artist and Tiwani Contemporary
Robel TemesgenAdbar III2015Mixed media on paper150x100cmCourtesy of the artist and Tiwani Contemporar
Robel TemesgenAdbar IV2015Mixed media on paper500x214cmCourtesy of the artist and Tiwani Contemporary
Robel TemesgenAdbar V (detail)2015Mixed media on paper500x214cmCourtesy of the artist and Tiwani Contemporary
Interview: Drawing Room’s Mary Doyle and Kate Macfarlane
London’s Drawing Room is in a unique position. While its physical location is about to change–moving from its home in East London to Bermondsey this month–its role as the only public space in Europe that is solely dedicated to drawing holds strong. Often redefining the nature of drawing itself, Drawing Room’s curators Mary Doyle and Kate Macfarlane have helped to keep this free-flowing medium in a state of motion.
Where are you right now (and is it where you want to be)?
We are at an exciting pivotal stage in our history as we re-open the gallery in a striking industrial building in Bermondsey. In the longer term we will be housed in a new, purpose-made building as part of the development of this site. Drawing Room is fifteen years old and we are excited that a permanent venue for Drawing Room is within sight. Our forthcoming programme is ambitious and will involve collaborations and working with artists from across the globe.
What was your initial drive in opening Drawing Room?
The motivation for establishing Drawing Room in 2000 was our awareness of artists’ drawing activity, witnessed through studio visits, and the fact that this activity was not publically visible. For many artists drawing was a private activity co we wanted to bring attention to a medium that plays a crucial role for so many artists. We first began as a curatorial project without a venue and toured exhibitions to museums and galleries. Drawing Room opened as a gallery in 2003, the first UK public gallery dedicated to the presentation and research of contemporary drawing.
Can you tell us a little about your new permanent space in Bermondsey, and the work of Mick Peter who you have selected for your first solo exhibition?
Our new location has enabled significant improvements: Outset Study, our unique reference library on contemporary drawing, has i
a new on-site shop offers the chance to browse our stock of books, editi and our opening hours have been extended to include Sunday’s. We reopen the gallery on Saturday 16 January with Pyramid Selling, an ambitious and immersive installation by Mick Peter. We visited Mick in his studio in Glasgow in 2011 and have watched his career ov we’re delighted that finally we are able to present his work at Drawing Room. Entering Pyramid Selling is a little like walking into a latter-day comic strip. Life size cartoon figures have been pulled from their two dimensional substrate and made into sculptural objects which are revealed as you walk around the installation.
Do you feel that the curation of drawing, in particular, requires specific processes of yourselves as curators?
Working within a medium specific agenda presents particular challenges as curators. We take the idea of drawing as a framework to investigate the multiple roles it plays in contemporary practices. All modes of drawing are presented and might take the form of animation, film, photography, sculpture, installation, and so on.
Our programme is curated in response to research and investigation of ideas that we feel will be of interest to specialist and non-specialist audiences alike.
Our group exhibitions often bring together modern and contemporary drawing, to highlight continuities and developments in drawing practice across decades and cultures. In solo exhibitions artists, from emergent to the overlooked, are invited to make a new body of work. Our artist guest-curated exhibitions reveal new perspectives of drawing from an artist’s point of view.
This approach is quite different from that employed by other independent, small-scale arts organisations in London.
What can we expect from Line at Lisson Gallery?
This exhibition is an historical look at drawing as an intellectual proposition, and it includes works made since the late 1960s, and includes two brand new works made site specifically.
To test the robustness of the medium of drawing, we began with the premise that the works would leave a permanent substrate, such as paper, and would possess a fugitive element. The exhibition explores two key characteristics that remain associated with drawing in today’s expended field of art–and these are line and movement.
How do you define drawing right now?
When we set out we deliberately chose not to impose a curator’s definition of drawing on our programming and decided to allow our research into contemporary practice find its own path. We find that drawing can be many things–that it can be an activity, a mind set, and a way of conceptualising artworks. Our research and resulting programme testifies to the fact that drawing remains a medium that offers the contemporary artist something distinctive. Through our research (led by the Study library and including commissioned essays, publications, talks and seminars) the definition of drawing is continually investigated and this will contribute to the future history of drawing.
Have you noticed a stark difference in the approach to drawing that is held by some of the older generations of artists in Line? Do you feel they have a different relationship to its form and function to some of the younger artists who are just beginning to explore the medium?
If you take the older artists in Line–Sol Lewitt, Richard Long, Tom Marioni and Fred Sandback–their visual language is they were working when the dematerialization of the art object was the most important political act for an artist. The younger artists are once again embracing the beauty of a range of materials–whether this be humble sticky tape in the case of Monika Grzymala or the delicate, jewel-like strips of bronze etched with words in the case of Athanasios Arganias. There is also more humour, for example in the case of Ceal Floyer whose work Taking a Line for a Walk evokes the ideas of Paul Klee from the 1920s and uses a utilitarian line-marking machine and an operator who in this instance takes the machine up Lisson Gallery’s staircase.
Do you feel that there is enough attention given to drawing? There are very few shows—and indeed, spaces—that dedicate themselves entirely to this art form.
Drawing has certainly enjoyed a renaissance world-wide over the past twenty years or so. Drawing Room is the first dedicated non-profit space in the UK for contemporary drawing and our Outset Study is the only specialist contemporary drawing library and study area is the first of its kind in the UK and Europe. Drawings are definitely more visible within group and solo exhibitions, within museum and private galleries. We feel that we have helped to encourage other venues to show the drawings that might normally remain hidden in museum stores or artist’s studios.
Are there any countries, or artist communities who are really exploring drawing in a fresh and exciting way at the moment?
We are just beginning to become acquainted with artists working with drawing in the Middle East–these are artists who are using drawing as a powerful t to record social and
and who exploit the democratic and collaborative potential of drawing to instigate change for the better.
Which young artists are you particularly excited about right now?
We look at artists who usually work across different media, and for whom drawing is a vital and incendiary tool. So we could cite: Viktor Timofeev, whose sci-fi drawings inform his production of video games and inte Marianna Simnett who makes surreal drawings that relate to her films such as Blood which was a joint winner of the Jerwood/FVU Awards 2015;
Marco Chiandetti, an artist working across various media and discipline, with a primary interest in performative actions and their physical manifestations who will be included in the forthcoming Biennial of S Emma Hart, a recent recipient of a Paul Hamlyn Award for Artists’ describes her practice as being in pursuit of the ‘real’ and sets out to make work that disrupts the seamlessness of o and Rhys Coren who works across animation, painting, writing and audio and is influenced by various subcultures including those in dance, music and film.
Mick Peter Pyramid Selling runs from 16 January until 13 March at Drawing Room. Line runs from 22 January until 12 March at Lisson Gallery.
Jonathan Monk Fallen 2006 White neon light sign 41cm x 31cm x 3 cm (C) Jonathan Monk. Courtesy of Lisson Gallery
K. Yoland Border Storm (Chihuahuan Desert, West Texas, USA) 2014 Archival ink jet print 24 x 36 in. (60.1 x 91.44 cm) 36 x 51 in. (91.44 x 129.54) (C) K. Yoland. Courtesy of the Artist
Monika Grzymala Raumzeichnung (Vortex) 2015 at Albertina Vienna, Austria Ephemeral site specific installation 3.6 km black and white masking tape (C) Monika Grzymala. Courtesy of the Artist
Monika Grzymala Raumzeichnung (Vortex) 2015 at Albertina Vienna, Austria Ephemeral site specific installation 3.6 km black and white masking tape (C) Monika Grzymala. Courtesy of the Artist
Julian Opie Pine forest. 4. 2014 Vinyl on wall Variable site specific OPIE-39 Unique (C) Julia Opie. Courtesy of Lisson Gallery
K. Yoland Red Line through Mountain (Point of Rocks, West Texas, USA) 2013 Archival ink jet print 24 x 36 in. (60.1 x 91.44 cm) 36 x 51 in. (91.44 x 129.54) (C) K. Yoland. Courtesy of the Artist
K. Yoland Red Line through Dump (Marfa, West Texas, USA) 2013 Archival ink jet print 24 x 36 in. (60.1 x 91.44 cm) 36 x 51 in. (91.44 x 129.54) (C) K. Yoland. Courtesy of the Artist
Elephant 25
Girl on Girl
Why and how do women make images of themselves today? Elephant’s winter issue explores the new generation of artists who are part of an exciting shift in female creativity, calling on Faith Holland, Nakeya Brown, Mayan Toledano and more to discuss their take on porn, arousal, economics and muses.
The Bechdel Test is applied to real life in ‘Research’, a startling proliferation of published work by young women suggesting that women creatives are now having many conversations on their own terms.
We also feature ‘Encounters’ with Brea Souders, Toshio Saeki, Eddie Peake and Linder and meet the ‘New Establishment’, artists from across the world who c Josh Smith, Jonas Wood, Wendy White, Marie Jacotey and Edouard Baribeaud.
‘Paper Galleries’ presents the woman as protagonist in the work of Ella Kruglyanskaya, and the desolate landscape watercolours of Hans Op De Beeck.
‘Shows of The Times’ places the work of Judith Bernstein and Betty Woodman together, discussing two major shows and the artists’ roles in first-generation feminist art.
Counting is a Feminist Weapon
Under the Influence
The Refined Art of Fine Art Dining
Deep in the Art of Texas
Now Showing
Recto Verso
Sejla Kameric
Alexandre Estrela
Luc Fuller
Christopher Roth
Susan Hiller
Suzanne Treister
Shows of the Times
Judith Bernstein, Kunsthall Stavanger
Betty Woodman, ICA London
Paper Gallery 1
Ella Kruglyanskya
New Establishment
Josh Smith
Jonas Wood
Wendy White
Marie Jacotey
Edouard Baribeaud
Girl on Girl:
Leah Schrager
Alexandra Marzella
Mayan Toledano
Faith Holland
Marianna Rothen
Nakeya Brown
Aneta Bartos
Jamie Warren
The Bechdel Gang
Paper Gallery 2
Hans Op de Beeck
Encounters
Brea Souders: In the Stream of Time
Linder: England’s Dreaming, England’s Screaming
Eddie Peake: Peake’s People
Toshio Saeki: Beauty Without Poison is Boring
Paul Soulellis: Scenes from a Designer’s Counterpractice
Destination
Iceland: Land of Ice and Fire…and Design
Kara Walker’s Norma: Avoiding Norms
From Genesis to Revelation, An Interview with Polly Staple
Do You Wanna Smell my Zine? An Interview with AA Bronson
Enditorial