British Art Now: Part II

The Saatchi gallery have pronounced that this showcase is a "museum-scale survey of emergent British contemporary art" which adds to the already high expectation from the gallery which introduced the world to acclaimed leading-edge artists such as Tracy Emin and Damien Hirst.

Therefore it’s initially disappointing when there is nothing shocking or controversial on display and there are many more paintings than there is; photography, sculpture and mixed media but perhaps this is reflective on changing times and styles. The curator told us, “Although some of these artists have just graduated and some are in their 40’s, they are a different generation to our previous exhibitions. They merge traditional and contemporary, east and west, celebrity and classicism.”

As you enter you’re greeted with Ansel Krut’s oil work which is direct, funny and doesn’t require reading an essay to understand. He attempts to create a weird juxtaposition within his work, with arses mooning at you through flowers and alcohol being poured directly into someone’s brain.

Jonathan Wateridge had the most exciting collection; at first I thought the gallery was filled with blown up photographs of famous scenes I’ve seen before. On closer inspection of ‘Space Program’ it’s actually an intricate painting which plays on our sense of familiar, the ship is unfinished with a milk bottle top and the astronauts costume made of plumbing gear. When you do realise, although it’s comedic it makes you consider how much you really view and consider images of symbolic status. Another artist creating fictional scenes is Anne Hardy who built theatrical and fantasy inspired rooms in her studio, of buried rooms and surveillance grottos, yet despite the intricate work to make such a scenario she chooses to present them in 2D, through flattened photography.

Following the theme of comedic commentary, James Howard used 46 photoshopped prints inspired by spam e-mails in his junk folder. He Uses text and images which pray on insecurities and needs of the common person, advertising and attempting to entice people with false hopes of money or seeing their loved ones who have passed away. The text is child-like and unbelievable, almost a replica of the trashy spam I find myself receiving. He said, “I work with urgency to get as much of this stuff processed before it’s entirely lost: soon spam filters will be so advanced that we’ll forget what spam e-mail ever was.”

Although I felt a lot of the paintings where unmemorable and these artists are still largely unknown in the wider art world, these new British artists are tipped as the successors to the famous Young British Artists of the 1990s. It’s an exhibition definitely worth checking out and will be open until April 2011 at the Saatchi Gallery, King's Road, Chelsea.

As with some other posts, this will feature on The Other Side Magazine.

Colin McDowell vs Matthew Williamson

“Matthew Williamson’s universe is a kaleidoscope of colour. He creates a world where everyone is gorgeous, glamorous, and golden. There’s a reason why ‘It’ girls love him; without Matthew they’d just be girls”. – Glenda Bailey. Editor-in-Chief, Harpers Bazaar.

A few days ago, talking at the V&A lecture theatre with legendary fashion curator Colin McDowell, Williamson recalled his grey upbringing, how his interest for fashion started at the tender age of 11 and the difficulties of studying at incomparable but cut-throat environment that is St Martins at only 17.

The hall had a pretentious and showy atmosphere where CSM students asserted their presence and professionals scanned the audience for the common people who had actually paid to attend. This climate dropped when Colin & Matthew both humble and modest took their seats and divulged into Williamson’s life, where about his childhood he said how struck he was with sombre Manchester and it provided none of the colours he craved, a contrast to the exotic colours he lives amongst within his designs today. Clearly his creativity has always shone through, his mother told that “he would sit at the kitchen table drawing, easily resisting an invitation to go out and play.”

Openly Williamson continued openly about university life at one of the UAL colleges (which are still renowned and have an increasing amount of applicants each year), "I was 17 when I started there which was so young and a lot of the people on my course were in their fifties and sixties," he explained. "I didn't have a clear idea at that stage of what sort of look I wanted to create and I spent a lot of time feeling like the black sheep. I constantly felt confused why everyone went to lunatic asylums for inspiration and I just wanted to make hot, sexy clothes. I powered through though because I knew I was meant to be there." While studying here he met his then partner and still business partner Joseph Velosa, they had a relationship resembling a silverscreen romance where they travelled around the world and trecked across India where Williamson got a long lasting inspiration for his clothes.

It was inspiration by Joseph which kickstarted his career, "I remember looking down the Vogue masthead and thinking 'Plum Sykes - I like the sound of her'. So I sent her a selection of swatches and samples and a week on I was sitting in Vogue House surrounded by Vogue editors wanting me to make them dresses." The entirety of his exciting career, his celebrity friendships and his stories about Kate Moss & McDonalds can be found in his new book, which was essentially what this lecture was to advertise. It can be purchased easily online or from specialist magazine and book stores such as R D Franks at 5 Winsley St. London.

Matthew Williamson’s may be slowly aging, at a point where he can finally release a book but his SS11 collection has sumptuous bodice style tops and dresses, animal prints and stunning electric blues and this is what will keep his clothes young forever.


As with some other posts, this will feature on The Other Side Magazine.