Tag Archives: Artists

Winnebago, Carpets, Onsen, Potter by Peter McDonald

Monday to Friday, 9:30am- 5:00pm

Daiwa Foundation Japan House, 13/14 Cornwall Terrace, Outer Circle, London, NW1 4PQ 

Peter McDonald depicts colourful scenes inhabited by people engaged in everyday activities. Images of teachers, artists, hairdressers or carpet sellers are constructed with an elementary graphic language. By making use of archetypes, symbolism and our incorrigible tendency to make the strange seem more familiar, McDonald’s alternative world reads like a parallel universe.

The artist describes the exhibition as a view of his painted universe, showcasing his paintings and works on paper, revealing the influence of everyday experiences upon his practice. For example the diptych, Looking for a Carpet(2009) was based on an experience during a trip to Morocco. Some of the works on paper reflect his stay in Japan during and after his year-long project Visitor, in Kanazawa, whilst the Noh drama series of works were based on his memories of traditional theatre performances and collaborations with the Kanazawa Noh Museum duringVisitor.

Peter McDonald was born in Tokyo in 1973, studying sculpture at Central St. Martins School of Art and painting at the Royal Academy Schools. He has had solo exhibitions at Kate MacGarry, Londonand also at Gallery Side 2, Tokyo, amongst others. He was awarded the John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize (2008). Art on the Underground commissioned McDonald to produce Art for Everybody a large scale billboard installation at Southwark station (2009). As artist-in-residence at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan (2011–12), he worked on a year-long project called Visitor, which included workshops and work-in-progress shows.

Extreme Rituals: A Schimpfluch Carnival

30 November 2012 – 2 December 2012

Arnolfini, Bristol

Extreme Rituals: A Schimpfluch Carnival is a retrospective and a celebration of Schimpfluch, a platform created by Rudolf Eb.er in 1987 for extreme and outsider artists and the generation of highly disturbing and irritating audio/visual works. As part of the programme over the weekend, there will be a rare appearance by Japanese artist Junko Hiroshige from the seminal band Hijokaidan, who will perform alongside Rudolf Eb.er and also participate in an accompanying discussion. The weekend will include an extensive programme highlighting the influence Schimpfluch has had since the late 80s, and audiences will be treated to performances from a range of artists, sound-installations, films, photographs and contextualising panel discussions. 

For more information, please click here.

 

 

Call for Artists for ‘2011-2012 UK based Korean Artists’ Exhibition

Deadline for Submissions: 5pm, October 31st 2011

Each year the Korean Cultural Centre UK promotes UK Based Korean Artists with an Exhibition at the KCCUK, now in its fourth Year, the 2011-12 Exhibition will focus upon video art that is inspired by London.

 In collaboration with the British Council Korea, the KCCUK is seeking submissions of 3 minute video clips under the theme of ‘My Muse, My London’ from artists of Korean origin based in the UK.  Selected works from this open call will be exhibited here at KCCUK from December 2011 to January 2012; further additional events for the exhibition are being planned in both Korea as well as the UK in the build up to and during the 2012 London Olympic Games. (For more details, please see attachment)

Application guidelines:

This scheme is open to all UK based Korean artists/designers/architects etc.  or collectives working in the field of visual arts as well as art students of undergraduate level or above.

You must have demonstrable experience of having studied or practised in the UK in order to be eligible, please include your CV (2 Pages max) and Artistic Statement of your work with your application.

Please submit your 3 minute Video clip inspired by working and/or living in London in one of the following formats: CD or DVD (video clip shall be no more than 3 minutes) in avi or mov file format.

Video Files must be received by the KCCUK no later than 5pm 31st October 2011

Submissions may be delivered by hand or posted to the following Address, (submissions can only be returned if a Self Addressed Envelope including postage is included)

 

2011-12 UK Based Korean Art Exhibition

The Korean Cultural Centre UK

 

Grand Buildings

 

1-3 Strand

 

London

 

WC2N 5BW


The submitted works will be reviewed carefully by an advisory panel, the selected artists be announced in November 2011 along with the exhibition schedules.

Application forms and guidelines are available from the Korean Cultural Centre UK or at: http://www.kccuk.org.uk

 

Atsuko Tanaka and Japanese Women Artists in the Context of Conceptualism 1950 – 2010

Atsuko Tanaka was one of the foremost members of Gutai, a group which focussed on experimental art forms, their manifesto proclaiming a new relationship between the materials and the human spirit. Within this primarily male-orientated group, Tanaka was particularly unconventional and stood out from the other Gutai members, as indeed she did from other international avant-garde artists of her time. This was due not only to her radical and metaphorical expression, but also the relationship between the body of work created especially between 1953 and 1957, and her way of thinking.

In celebration of the exhibition, Atsuko Tanaka: The Art of Connecting, the Japan Foundation has invited Chief Curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (MOT) and exhibition curatorial team member Yuko Hasegawa, to discuss Japanese female artists and creatives from the 1950s to the present day, in the context of conceptualism. Going beyond Atsuko Tanaka, artists featured in her talk will also include Hideko Fukushima, a member of Jikken Kobo (Experimental Workshop) in the 1950s, Yoko Ono and Yayoi Kusama, both of whom are internationally recognised artists. Hasegawa will examine how the psychological deconstruction of images of women, both within social convention and common roles, function in the work of Tabaimo and Miwa Yanagi.  She will also explore the achievements ofKazuyo Sejima and Rei Kawakubo, some of Japan’s most influential creative minds.

By tracing conceptualism in Japan, and the significance of these various artists within a post-war framework, Hasegawa will explore the unique politics of Japanese female artists who were, and indeed are, conscious about the relationship between their work and body.

9 September 2011 from 6.30pm

The Japan Foundation, London
Russell Square House, 10-12 Russell Square
London WC1B 5EH

This event is free to attend but booking is essential. To reserve a place, please email your name and the title of the event you would like to attend to event@jpf.org.uk.

 

Nihon Kizuna

Worldwide artists contribute to Nihon Kizuna music compilation in aid of Japan disaster relief effort

Over 40 international artists have donated music for the Nihon Kizuna compilation in aid of the Japan disaster relief effort. Nihon Kizuna, or 日本絆 in Japanese roughly translates as ‘bond of friendship with Japan’.

Following the earthquake and tsunami which devastated the northern coast and prefectures of Japan on Friday March 11th 2011, a small group of Tokyo-based artists (from Japan, Ukraine and France) and one visiting London-based journalist (from Italy) decided to pull their efforts and contacts together to do the only thing they could to help the country and its people – sell music to raise awareness of the devastation that hit the area and raise money for its people and the relief effort.

www.nihonkizuna.com