My Favorites My Home Page
 
Home Music Live Lifestyle My Planet
 
Change Background
You are here -> Lifestyle / Think Tank Saturday, 13 March, 2010
RSS FEEDS
Subscribe Feeds
What is RSS?
PLANETNOTION TELEVISION!
INFO
Do you have more than two brain cells? So do these people.
Theatre Review: Money, Shunt Lounge

Was it me? A review of the Chuckle Club's 24th Birthday
Our deliciously sardonic new scribe, Olivia Laven-Morris, considers the leftfield comedic talents on display at the legendary Chuckle Club’s 24 th birthday bash in London this month. A little bit musical comedy always does it for me. It is still a fresh new format, and when you throw poetic comedy into the mix is creates a delightful platform on which to puncture the inflated ego of popular culture. So I was excited to see comedians who excel at these mediums at the chuckle club. A venue which presents a great mix of complete unknowns, better known alternative comedians, and even the downright famous ones, often all in the same night. Simon Munnery, Danny Hurt, Kevin Eldon and Stewart Lee were a wonderful cross section of exactly this sort of variety. My optimism was crushed however, when i had one of those unfortunate nights when, despite downing a glass of wine that tasted worryingly like peanut flavoured toilet cleaner, I appeared to be the only one not laughing along. Was I missing something? I leave it to you to judge..... Simon Munnery got the show off to a start with a brief musical musing on his conversion to Catholicism entitled; 'I'm much better at copin' since I let the Pope in', but his subjects were un-engaging and lacked the credibility necessary to make the audience laugh along knowingly. It was only once he started to talk about his family that his routine began to pick up, (his inefficacy and bemusement at the casual violence of his toddler was one of the highlights). Comedians often find a raft of new and improved material suddenly becomes available to them with the advent of a family, injecting new life into their stand up. Munnery appeared to go through this process of enlightenment within this routine alone. Unfortunately for Danny Hurt, such comedic opportunities appear to have passed him by, and having left the audience with the rather disturbing and implausible statement that he used to be a rent boy, (thankfully he did not elaborate), he then went on to explain that although he has a family, he didn't have anything to say about them. A wasted opportunity perhaps, although he had lost the audience long before then. The third act, Big Train, Jam, Black Books, etc, alumni Kevin Eldon assumed a 'be-jumpered poet' alter ego named Paul Hamilton. Beginning with a joke on 'face-tube' and 'my-book', (have we had enough of these yet?), he quickly picked up the audience and built his material with a consistent and unfaltering delivery. I was unimpressed with his his laboured jokes, ('I have a frog in my throat, but that doesn't mean I'm fellating a Frenchman' springs to mind)....but I appear to have been the only one. The audience loved it. The outré leftfield Stewart Lee concluded the evening, whose best gag by far was a brutal but amusing character assassination of Richard Hammond, with whom he claims to have been at school. He covered the age-old townie dilemma of moving to the country with aplomb, with a blunt assessment of the usual entertainment at the local corn exchange, (an unconsummated incestuous frisson between that brother and sister who came second on X factor, Paddy McGuiness and his joke...) although it is a subject that has been covered with greater scorn and insight by comedians such as Dylan Moran. His section on the smugness of British émigrés (he observes that there appears to be a strong link between 'the quality of life' enjoyed abroad and the massiveness of the prawns) made the audience laugh long and loud. Lee's caustic wit and deadpan delivery serve him well, although his lack of emotion make his tirades against his bugbears less believable, and his comedy suffers for it. Believing the comedian means what he says is the key to all good comedy, and a little animation might lend some credibility to Lee's performance. Without more enthusiasm or even more anger for his subjects, Lee risks becoming a poor man's Jack Dee. He is just as dead-pan, but not as wonderfully full of hate. -- Olivia Laven-Morris [Image via ]
tags: | comedy | more...
Flying Eyeball pop-up shop and exhibition
INKIE, the King Pin of the UK Graffiti scene for the past 25 years returns this Christmas to bring us a whole sack-full of original art works, canvases, prints, toys, sculptures, T-shirts and books from some of Europe’s finest artists. This urban pop up shop is one of its kind, and will be found popping-up in delightful Cork Street, Mayfair, the hub of London’s Art finery. From the 8th-12th December the pop up shop will open its doors to the public just in time to snap up some one-of-a kind, quirky Christmas gifts, perfect for the man or woman who has everything. 24 carat gold leaf prints from INKIE and 28 colour screen prints from Drum and Bass legend Goldie, will be on offer to tickle your festive fancy. Other stocking filler goodies including unique sculptures and toys will be on offer from Shoe, Inkie, Eine, Mysterious Al, Sickboy, Insa, Zeus, Hush, Mau Mau, Kid Acne, Steff Plaetz, Chu, Shok 1, RYCA, David Walker, China Mike, Part2ism, Ben Allen, Andy Council, Pure Evil, Shazer, George Morton Clark, Milk, Dora and Don. 27 CORK STREET, MAYFAIR, LONDON DECEMBER 8TH -12TH 10 AM- 8PM
tags: | inkie | more...
Sickboy's Sick Secret Show
Banksy’s not the only big graffiti star to burst out of Bristol. Sickboy’s domed temple logo first started popping up around the city since the start of 2000, and now, ten years on, he’s doing a special exhibition that will run for a total of three hours. L ogopop will showcase new super limited editions and originals that will also be available to buy, as well as installations designed specifically for the event. Also available will be Logopops, artworks sold in a variety of sizes that can be connected together. Of course, there is a catch; in order to attend, you must complete the RSVP subscriber form at www.thesickboy.com If you can’t make it, don’t panic. His second solo show is scheduled for spring 2010. Wednesday 16th December, 6pm-9pm Logopop, The Rag Factory: 16-18 Heneage St, London, E1 5LJ Kara Simsek
tags: | sickboy | more...
ARTFACE: Damien Hirst - The Dead @ Other Criteria
Whether or not Hurry Syndrome actually exists in London is debatable, but the last three exhibition openings I that have reviewed I’ve turned up positively clammy. Maybe it’s because the air is denser on the other side of Piccadilly Circus. Then again it’s more likely because I weave there briskly in order to squeeze in a few drinks within the time limit I allocate to these viewings. As was to be expected the narrow Other Criteria gallery was packed. It was hot too, so my already heavily beaded brow went unnoticed in the loud, sardine atmosphere. There were 15 of Damien Hirsts’ foilblock skulls lining two walls, each one slightly different and signed by the artist who was probably using this to stir interest for his new batch of work that will be hanging at No Love Lost at the Wallace Collection in Manchester Square from October 14 th . Death has been central to his work for his entire career and the blue paintings being shown there will reinforce the possibility that in his midcareer days he is becoming perhaps more toned down, more reflective. That he is now middle aged makes the fact he has reverted to painting alone seem somewhat more apt. Here, on this busy, noisy Thursday night the people present in the gallery are saying more than the works themselves. There was one of his spin paintings at the far end of the room but the make shift bar in front of it meant you couldn’t get up close to get a decent look. The dripping, disorganised bar tender was ferrying champagne out to the young crowd, some of which looked like Hirst himself – tinted lenses in over-sized frames and short cropped hair. I liked the skulls - their reproductive nature gave them a Warhol-like feel that was rightly pointed out by my friend. The foilblock technique on white background made them serene and really quite subtle, much more so than the sculptures on show in the cabinet near the entrance. We tried our best to see what was in there but a buggy and it’s owners with a look of “wish-we-left-Hugo-at-home-so-we-could-mingle” obscured us so all we got was a glimpse of a some medicinal vials and the odd sketch. Go during the day before it gets busy if you really want to see the few items of any interest there. However, my recommendation would be to go to the Wallace Collection instead as you’ll see a lot more on a grander scale, without the stress of finding a space to stand. --Alex Gibson Other Criteria 36 New Bond Street, W1S 2RP 8 th -24 th October The Wallace Collection, 14 th Oct 2009 – 24 th Jan 2010 Hertford House Manchester Square London W1U 3BN http://www.wallacecollection.org/entertain/damienhirst
GAME PREVIEW: GTA IV: Ballad of Gay Tony
GAME PREVIEW: GTA IV: Ballad of Gay Tony
01/10/2009
From its rainbow-hued, disco-dancing premise to a host of new features, stories, cars, guns, mini-games and characters, Rockstar have outdone themselves in this the newest, and final addition to the Grand Theft Auto IV series. It is very much its own story, with its own style, but just like previous add-on The Lost and the Damned, there are subtle elements of narrative crossover with the main game. You feel like you’re in the same Liberty City – you’re just hanging out with a different crowd. Algonquin nightclub tycoon Tony Prince, after making some suspect transactions, has landed himself in a serious amount of debt, and as one of his right hand men – Luis Lopez - you’re in deep too. But working for a tycoon, the company you keep is of a different kind to that of GTA IV’s previous characters. Working for, against, and alongside the highest criminal echelons of Liberty City – you can expect very different kinds of missions, and a new collection of weapons more suited to those with access to substantial amounts of cash. Gold-plated SMG anyone? No? Heavy duty special-forces style machine guns? Explosive ammunition? It’s a compelling and highly playable shift in setting. In keeping with this atmosphere of this glitterballs, mass-destruction and criminally-super-rich-laissez-fare-abandon, the missions you’ll find yourself carrying out are more spectacular, more cinematic and more downright insane than anything you’ll have seen in previous games. Closer in some ways to the crazier exploits you’ll have undergone in GTA San Andreas – in TBOGT you’ll find yourself parachuting out of skyscrapers into moving vehicles; running along the tops of subway trains shooting down helicopters before being airlifted clean off the tracks; and robbing experimental military aircraft from the backs of luxury yachts before chasing down speedboats. All to serve the ends of businessmen with more money and ambition than sense. How noble of you. Some features you’ll have seen and loved in previous games that were absent from GTA IV have been brought back with a vengeance in this latest installment. The base-jumping you saw in GTA San Andreas is back, meaning you can now leap from Liberty City’s array of impressive skyscrapers and live to tell the tale. Rockstar have also brought in a replay-mission function, letting you go back and redo missions you’ve completed, after you finish the game, and get them done exactly right for your 100% completion list. Beyond these, Rockstar are keeping their cards close to their chest on exactly what else we can expect to see. But having seen this much, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be spectacular. -- Martin Dean
tags: | gta iv | more...
GAME REVIEW: Halo 3: ODST
GAME REVIEW: Halo 3: ODST
01/10/2009
For the more learned here are the breaks, no dual wielding, recharging shields or battle rifle but a scoped and silenced pistol/ SMG and a low light visor, VISR. These changes dictate the change in feel in ODST from one of all out attack to one all the more strategic and stealthy. As the ODSTs you are slower, weaker, your guns recoil more severely, you can’t jump as far and getting shot hurts…a lot. The premise of ODST sets you as a new recruit to a team of hotshot Orbital Drop Shock Troopers…after the Spartans these guys are the biggest and the baddest humans. You drop into New Mombassa just as the Prophet of Truth (head honcho alien) opens up a slipspace rupture (wormhole) over the city during his flight from Earth. The rupture destroys much of New Mombasa and scatters your team. You awake in the middle of the night, having been unconscious for many hours and are tasked with exploring a massive hub world, new to Halo, finding clues to the whereabouts of your comrades. Each clue prompts a flashback of what happened to each of the other 4 ODSTs and a new level. You play out the story as they search for each other and the secret held in New Mombassa. During your night-time exploits as the rookie your new VISR comes into play, with much of the night setting too dark to negotiate at all without its features. Encounters with the covenant feel far more threatening as a run of the mill human, avoiding battles is sometimes smarter than facing packs of Brutes, hiding can be vital and melees no longer kill with one hit, the Halo dynamic has changed somewhat. The day-time flashbacks will be more like the Halo you know, linear progression with good old fashion running and shooting. But you will be fighting like Ali (moving back on the defensive) for much of it. The campaign is about 6hrs long, somewhat shorter than other Halos, but the raison d’aitre of ODST is Firefight…a new cooperative multiplayer mode for 1-4 players which pits you in a base fighting off wave after wave of Covenant forces. As you progress the introduction of skulls (difficulty modifiers) ups the ante, but herein lies the beauty of ODST. With shared ammo and lives teamwork is the key and with Firefight games lasting up to 2 hours the games become a truly epic struggle that brings the players together like never seen before in Halo…together you stand, divided you fall. My only gripe is there is no matchmaking in Firefight, so you will only ever be able to play with your friends on Xbox live, which will limit a lot of people. ODST takes the tried and tested Halo formula and gives you a different spin on it. Those expecting a wildly different beast will be disappointed but I imagine that they are in the minority. With a second disc of Halo 3’s multiplayer & extra maps, the inclusion of Firefight and a new campaign, ODST is well worth your time and will keep all fanboys happy until Halo: Reach ships next autumn, where perhaps they will be reunited with M.C.P.O John. --Leroy p’Bitek
tags: | more...
GAME REVIEW: Guitar Hero 5
GAME REVIEW: Guitar Hero 5
01/10/2009
While Harmonix spent big to secure the appearance of most overrated band of all time in Rock Band, Neversoft have been content with a much lower profile for this latest version of Guitar Hero. That's not to say there haven't been changes and improvements; unlike the fiddly menu-centricity of previous versions, there's great emphasis placed on fast, furious, finger-deforming party play. Serious dedication is placed upon getting players of every skill level jamming together as quickly and easily as possible. After the opening splash screens, you are immediately shoved on stage to play a randomly selected song. Traditional gameplay modes lie but a menu away, but the aim of game here is to immerse players from the off. Without accessing even a single menu, players are able to jump into party play at the touch of a single button; difficulty and instruments can be switched mid-song without pausing. It's impossible to fail a song within party play mode, allowing experienced players to experiment with difficulty levels and less coordinated friends to avoid the ire of Guitar Hero pros. Unlike other versions in the series, outside of career mode all songs are available immediately. Career mode itself has undergone a slight overhaul. New venues are unlocked much faster, making it impossible to experience the common series bugbear of getting stuck on a single track. Instrument-specific challenges (whammy for 80 seconds, hit the snares 300 times and so on) add a new dimension and further encouragement for repeated play. The track list lilts from the inspired (Superstition, Lithium, One Big Holiday) to the ridiculous (Hungry Like The Wolf) and there's really no acceptable excuse that could justify the inclusion of Bush or Kaiser Chiefs in any game ever. With Metallica, Van Halen and Smash Hits following up on last year's World Tour and Aerosmith, and with DJ Hero and Band Hero still to arrive this side of Christmas, you can't help but wonder when the whole plastic toy karaoke game genre collapses under its own gargantuan weight. But that doesn't matter for now. In fact, if Guitar Hero 5 had only featured Louise Wener and Donita Sparks along with Shirley Manson, it would probably have been the greatest game ever made. --James Bassett
tags: | more...
GAME REVIEW: Shadow Complex
GAME REVIEW: Shadow Complex
01/10/2009
The ‘Metroidvania’ genre (named from standout examples Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night ) is something of a gaming curio. Coming to fruition late in the life of mainstream 2D gaming, it represented something of a pinnacle for both game design and technology for the era. To date, it is rare to find a game as elegantly designed as Super Metroid, or as representative as it was of its platform’s technological prowess. It was to be short lived, however: with Sony’s Playstation sparking a 3D revolution only a few short years later, ‘Metroidvania’ was a genre quickly abandoned while developers pursued the future promised by high tech marvels like Wipeout . Thanks then, to Chair entertainment and Epic Games for Shadow Complex. Taking Super Metroid as the blueprint, the concept remains the same: Your hero stumbles into a colossal maze (a secret badshit army HQ, this time.) and in order to escape and restore the world to rights, you must discover a series of high tech weapons and gadgets that both empower the player in the game’s explosive combat and open up new areas for exploration. It’s a great formula, and it holds up well, although Chair have, wisely, made a few changes to accommodate for more modern gaming styles and tastes. Primarily amongst these is the inclusion of an optional guide line that points you towards the next major waypoint on the map when you get lost. Diehard ‘troid junkies may balk at the offer of a helping hand but for most players, an added sense of direction will be welcome. However, features like this are symptomatic of perhaps Shadow Complex’s only serious failing as a fully fledged metroidvania game; it’s too easy. Super Metroid and Castlevania were exemplary in their day for being, amongst other things, hard as nails to the point of being Shit Scary. By comparison, Shadow Complex is so easy that you quickly become so powerful that enemies offer no resistance and huge stockpiles of ammo go unused and unneeded. Really, to complain seems churlish- one of the best genres ever is back on home consoles, it’s great fun and will only set you back about a tenner in Microsoft space groats. On top of that, the game deserves praise for really raising the bar for XBLA both in terms of technical polish and value for money. What more could you want? --Dan Phillips
tags: | more...
GAME REVIEW: Batman: Arkham Asylum
GAME REVIEW: Batman: Arkham Asylum
01/10/2009
Lucrative licence deals are pretty common in gaming- FIFA made it’s way to the top of the charts on the strength of having all the big name clubs fully rendered and paid up on screen and numerous racing games have featured the best and most exciting models from the big names of motoring for years. Rarely, however, has a licence been used so well or with such great results as in Batman: Arkham Asylum . Rocksteady have poured so much attention and love in to re-creating the world of The Dark Knight that an already hugely capable action adventure game is transformed in to something truly spectacular and enjoyable. The game sees Batman trapped on Arkham Island by The Joker – who feigns his own capture and return to the asylum in order to springs a trap and take over the iconic institution. Rocksteady use this premise to great effect; employing the sealed Island as their game world and populating it with choice cuts from Batman’s legendary rogues gallery. When you break it down, these choices are nothing particularly new: Functionally, Arkham Island is similar to a Zelda or Metroid title and the villains in the game are dealt with in classic boss battle fashion. What raises them both above the norm is that this feels like a Batman game through and through. Every inch of the asylum is as brooding, dramatic and strikingly gothic as the licence demands, while every encounter with the villains is enriched by the history of the characters and the talent behind the production. This is true of every facet of the game. Combat with unarmed henchmen could have so easily been a dull slugfest in the hands of a lesser developer but not here; Rocksteady bring Batman’s ninja training to the fore and encounters are fast, fluid and breathtakingly violent, backed by a confident, rewarding combo system. Similarly, when the game pits you against armed opponents and switches to the hugely entertaining ‘predator mode’ stealth combat, rocksteady evoke heady inspiration from Frank Millar’s legendary Dark Knight books that transformed The Caped Crusader in to the nocturnal hunter he is today. The experience is empowering and exhilarating- doing away with traditional stealth mechanics these sequences are instead based on speed and evasion, allowing you to manipulate and exploit the mistakes of the terrified henchmen below from the safety of Gargoyles in the rafters. Such is the confidence displayed in the gameplay and design of the game that true criticisms are few and far between. The boss battles are, sadly, dull and formulaic- offering little of the character of the rest of the game. Scarecrow, for example, is introduced brilliantly by some genuinely creepy hallucinations but ends up being fought in a shit one hit kill chore-fest. And speaking of Scarecrow- he is the prime example of some poor character design choices that see a number of perfectly good classic looks replaced by over complicated, fussy and ill fitting designs. Similarly, it seems that Rocksteady were unable to break away from the ‘steroids and plasticene’ look of Unreal Engine 3. Seeing Commissioner Gordon as stacked and ripped as Batman is a truly surreal experience. Small quibbles, however, in the face of such a complete and enjoyable package. While there’s no multiplayer (Robin and his tiny shorts are conspicuous by their absence, co-op fans) the weighty singleplayer adventure, bolstered by combat and stealth challenge rooms and a series of substantial high score tables, makes this a very serious contender for Game Of The Year. --Dan Phillips
tags: | more...
Elizabeth Peyton – Live Forever @ the Whitechapel Gallery
Elizabeth Peyton – Live Forever @ the Whitechapel Gallery
16/09/2009
Elizabeth Peyton – Live Forever @ the Whitechapel Gallery Born in Connecticut in 1965, Elizabeth Peyton studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York where she currently lives and works. Her work portrays her apparent influences like Frida Kahlo and, strangely, Elizabeth II (a royal theme recurs throughout the exhibition) as well as artists and musicians of her own generation, so more recognizable figures such as Pete Doherty, Liam Gallagher and Jake Chapman feature. It is something I found hard to grasp. The connection between painter from small town America and some of the main figures of 90s Brit Pop. Hang on, though. Maybe we should see these skinny pictures of skinny pop stars as poignant portrayals of the princes of our times, lachrymose limnings of the Lancelots of the Lower East Side, a Manhattan mythology devoted to the nearest thing in our culture to a tragic hero? Hmmm. Then again, maybe not. The casual, wispy brushstrokes of Peyton makes these figures seem pretty and somewhat childlike, but as we know they are not I couldn’t help but feel it was all a bit tame. Maybe all she really is a 14-year-old girl who has never grown out of her fixation with the faces on her bedroom wall. To make everything worse, the show does the thinking man no favours by eradicating all traces of helpful chronology from its route and coming at you from all over the place. It actually covers Peyton’s output from 1991 to the present, but everything here has been jumbled up, so all sense of her development has been lost. I did, however, appreciate her approach to composition. The images, being as tiny as many are, give them a snapshot type feel, like an image that would be seen on the viewfinder of a digital camera. Generally, she works on painted rect­angles of hardboard, primed with polished coats of glowing white that bring an angelic inner light to her faces. The slippery, haphazard fashion in which she paints on these hard and slick surfaces reminds me of falling over on a freshly polished marble floor. The repeated images of some of the lead characters of the show create a sense of haunting after the third or fourth time you see them. There is a whimsical style in the later work which makes you realise that there may be more to Peyton than meets the eye. Her royalty themed pieces of princes and queens resonate with the tragiheroes like Cobain and Sid Vicious. Although being famous and revered you ultimately are living on a time limit. And how you are remembered is in the hands of the artist. Once you have discovered Peyton’s ambivalence to her subjects — she isn’t saying they are all lovely, hallelujah, but that they are all going to die — her work takes on some welcome depth. Peyton’s best paintings here include a self-portrait in which the elfin artist shows herself reclining in the dark, on a sofa, fixing us with a hopeless stare. With her cropped hair and skinny arms, she could easily pass for one of her own doomed slacker boys, and real portraiture — the actual pinning down of an eternal likeness — would have insisted on being far more particular about her sex. This isn’t portraiture, however. These are sad, romantic ruminations on fate and doom. The words emblazoned shakily on the artist’s T-shirt, “Live to Ride”, and the blurred outline of the eagle below them belong on the back of a biker, not across the skinny chest of a paper-thin New York romantic. But that’s the point. The bravado is here to emphasise the vulnerability. So there is more to Elizabeth Peyton than meets the eye. She’s in love with the Sids, Petes and Kurts of our shoddy, celebrity-obsessed world because their imperishable transience reminds her of her own. She’s a vanity painter, who does with Liam’s likeness what a Dutch flower painter did with a tulip: captures its beauty to emphasise its brevity. I’d go if you get the chance, to wander round the gallery itself if not to go to see this exhibition. Having spent an hour or so staring at Peyton’s ghosts I walked down to have a drink in a bar nearby. I realised I was surrounded by people who would have probably loved to be one of Peyton’s muses, and I thought this was terribly strange. -- Alex Gibson Live Forever runs until 20th September. 77-82 Whitechapel High St London, E1
tags: | review | more...
SCREENING: Reckoning Day
SCREENING: Reckoning Day
16/09/2009
Reckoning Day, the 2002 directorial debut by Julian Gilbey (Rise of the Footsoldier and Doghouse) follows Ed, a member of the US special forces, who witnesses the massacre of his elite unit of men, and sets out on a bloody mission of revenge. In doing so he takes on an international drugs ring. To mark the film’s DVD release, they decided to accrue a selection of people to smoke some freaky salvia shit at The Movieum on London’s South Bank. We sent Nathan along… this is his story. “Salvia Divinorum is known to the Amazonian Shamans as a ‘Spirit Plant’ because when ingested it produces visions. Today, I was due to smoke some on camera as part of a PR stunt to promote the film ‘Reckoning Day’. The on-hand doctor passed me a bag filled with an unspecific, dried plant material. The bag read ‘Salvia Divinorum, 20x extract’ - 20 times stronger than that used by the Shamans. “As I exhaled a large cloud of smoke reality froze, laughed at me and fucked off. I was ripped out of my body and brutally flung into another dimension (I learnt later that this ‘new dimension’ was in fact the floor which I had hit quite hard). I did not make any memories for the next 10 minutes. How can the machine work if the controller is missing? I was experiencing oblivion. I was absolute nothingness. All around me was a big fat blank: a solid hollow mass. I hated it. I screamed into the blankness, desperately trying to get back into my body. I started pleading to whatever had pushed me out of my life to let me go back. I returned for a second, and then I was sucked into the void again. I strained with all my might to open my eyes and feel my physical. “The next thing I remember is sitting back in my chair (the guys had helped me up after I apparently started jabbering insanely and trying to crawl under things). I gradually started to return. I noted my psyche as it began to rebuild itself: childhood memories, check, personality, check, ego, check, social face, check. They all slotted back into place like so many computer disks. I was back in my terrified, sweating body. The whole thing had lasted 15 minutes.” --Nathan Thompson
REVIEW: Lisa Milroy - Life on a Line @ Alan Cristea
REVIEW: Lisa Milroy - Life on a Line @ Alan Cristea
14/09/2009
Old Bond Street on a muggy Tuesday evening. It’s hard to find the Alan Cristea at first as you realise that all the galleries look pretty much the same. It seems that there are a number of private viewings on the go tonight. Well turned out women clutching their white wine walk between the shows as men laugh and shake hands as though they’re all long lost friends. What do they talk about? Who knows. It interests me nonetheless. Being based at 31 Cork Street for 13 years Alan Cristea has established himself as a renowned figure in dealing contemporary prints. This has been illustrated by the fact the gallery space has been expanded to include a new exhibition space at number 34 as well. However, Milroy’s show is confined to one room only. It’s very small. One wall of the room is taken up by mediocre oil paintings of various objects and scenes: Shoes, a fan, a girl guide uniform, a few unidentified landscapes. Other works are hung from the ceiling as an installation, creating some sort of two-dimensional mobile. This collection of banners is positioned facing a large painting of an armchair. Ooooh. I see. As the viewer I must imagine myself sitting snugly in a comfy armchair taking in all these completely moving things and really understand the artist’s self. Instead, I stand and see irrelevant and meaningless objects that have been painted with the technique of a C class GCSE student. This may sound harsh. But unfortunately it’s true. I fully get the concept that these items and scenes must mean something to Milroy. To me they are just pointless images hung up for the sake of it. The fact they are so tamely executed just adds to the disappointment. The sheet of guff that was present as you walked in states “As the visitor walks back and forth in front of this installation, the images shift kaleidoscopically, stirring up in the visitor’s mind a sense of self”. Really? It reminded me more of a teenage girls cork notice board, made up of irreverent photos and scraps of memories that mean nothing to anyone other than herself. I don’t deny the personal importance and sentimentality in doing this. I did the same as university. The point is I wouldn’t build it up into something it isn’t, and assume everyone else would want to see into my really quite mundane life. Give this a miss unless you are desperate for a glass of warm white wine or the company of people who totally baffle you. --Alex Gibson Until 10 th October Alan Cristea Gallery 34 Cork Street London W1S 3NU
tags: | more...
Contact Us Support Us Music HQ Ltd / Notion
Site Map Advertise with Us Website designed and developed by PS Europe Ltd.