Strange Messenger

Butoh

Butoh (舞踏 Butoh) is the collective name for a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, or movement inspired by the Ankoku-Butoh (暗黒舞踏 ankoku butoh) movement.

It typically involves playful and grotesque imagery, taboo topics, extreme or absurd environments, and is traditionally "performed" in white-body makeup with slow hyper-controlled motion, with or without an audience. But there is no set style, and it may be purely conceptual with no movement at all.

Butoh Dance Performance in Japan.

Butoh, installation, video art and live music -pt 1.

Butoh, video art, installation and live music -pt 2.

Butoh, video art, installation and live music -pt 3.

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butoh

http://www.butoh.net/butoh/Home.html

Mike Nelson

His installations exist only for the time period of the exhibition which they were made for. They are generally extended labyrinths, which the viewer is free to find their own way through, and in which the locations of the exit and entrance are often difficult to determine.

Mike Nelson The Coral Reef, 2000 (detail)

Artist talk you can find here:

http://creativetime.org/programs/archive/2007/nelson/ http://creativetime.org/programs/archive/2007/nelson/nelson_artist_talk.mp3

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mike_Nelson_(artist)&oldid=309750671

http://www.mattsgallery.org/artists/nelson/home.php

http://creativetime.org/programs/archive/2007/nelson/

Exhibition: Generation Y-2

Exhibition: Generation Y-2 curated by Sander Reijgers

23 November until 20 December 2009

Location: De refter (part of town hall), Grote Markt 2, Haarlem. (De Vishal on location)

Participating artists:

Kevin de Winter

David Elshout | http://www.davidelshout.nl/

Adrian Brun | http://www.adrianbrun.com/

Ashkan Honarvar | http://www.ashkanhonarvar.com/

Vera Korman | http://verakorman.com/

Sander Reijgers | http://www.sanderreijgers.nl/

Searchin Evil by Ashkan Honarvar.

Links:

http://www.devishal.nl/oude_site/pages/op_locatie.html

'THE IMPORTANCY OF THE UNIMPORTANT' at the Hudson Museum

'THE IMPORTANCY OF THE UNIMPORTANT' until 10 December 2009, Hudsonstraat 6, Rotterdam.

For the Hudson Museum in Rotterdam, Simon Schrikker curated a show called ‘the importancy of the unimportant’, presenting works of the following artists:

Emo Verkerk / Carel van Hees / Olphaert den Otter / Erwin Thomasse a.k.a Crackrock / Allard Zoetman / Daan Botlek / Oase / Niels Post / Olivier Kosta-Théfaine / Egs / Machine / Henny Overbeek / Aquil Copier / Eric Jan van de Geer / Harmen de Hoop / Nug / Boris Tellegen aka Delta / Crook / Bert Frings / Set / Michiel van der Zanden / David KC Moir / Simon Schrikker / Heizema / Poch / Honet

Book release party @ the Singer Sweat Shop, Friday 20-11-09 from 17.00 till 23.00 SingerSweatShop Hoogstraat 170, Rotterdam and 21 november (11.00 till 18.00)

Links:

http://www.simonschrikker.com/importancy.html

http://www.art-rock.nl/

Pascal Bastiaenen

Check out the work of Pascal Bastiaenen.

America's last topmodel a painting by Pascal Bastiaenen, 2008 oil 25x35 cm

Links:

http://www.pascalbastiaenen.nl/

http://www.myspace.com/228305622

Angela Grossmann

Grossmann has devoted much of her career to examining themes of displacement and social margins through the use of collaged and transferred discarded materials.

Girl with Ribbon in her Hair, painting by Angela Grossmann

Links:

http://www.angelagrossmann.com/

http://art-history.concordia.ca/eea/artists/grossmann.html

http://www.hobomagazine.com/?q=node/20

Dr. Lakra

Dr. Lakra (Jerónimo López Ramírez). Apart from tattooing, his art involves embellishing images and other found objects - for instance, dolls, old medical illustrations, and pictures in 1950s Mexican magazines - with macabre or tattoo-style designs.

Dr Lakra, Untitled (Simon), 2006

Links:

http://www.katemacgarry.com/drlakra.php

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/blogon/art_news/dr_lakra_at_kate_mcgarry/182

Maurice Blok

His actions and performances remind Roman Signers "action sculptures" involving setting up and carrying out "experiments" that bear aesthetic results. Often brief but intense actions create an emotionally and visually compelling event.

Link:

http://www.mauriceblok.net/

Goshka Macuga

She makes installations which incorporate other artists’ work alongside a variety of disparate objects. She uses techniques and styles common in archiving and museum display.

Goshka Macuga, Plus Ultra 2009.

Video interview:

http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/artnow/goshkamacuga/video.shtm

Links:

http://www.katemacgarry.com/goshkamacuga.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goshka_Macuga

Qiu Anxiong

Qiu and others of his generation are also concerned about the prevailing situation, and well aware of the many issues facing China. But their attitude to the system, while both critical and cynical, led them to concentrate more on their own immediate realities.

His work Staring into Amnesia (2008), an enormous original Chinese train carriage from the 1960s, documentary video clips and poetic silhouettes have been added to the carriage taking us on a journey into China’s past, present and future.

In recent years Qiu Anxiong has received great international attention with his poetic and moving video works which span from big and complex installations to hand painted animated films.

Links:

http://www.qiuanxiong.com/en/index.html

http://www.qiuanxiong.com/en/works.html

http://new.artzinechina.com/display_vol_aid198_en.html

Till Gerhard

Gerhard paints large-scale canvases of rural communities, but with an unsettling atmosphere. Images include a cabin in the woods or a skyline dotted with refineries. He uses delicate spills of colour and heavy brushwork, as well as drips, splashes and smears.

Till Gerhard, Totale Erleuchtung, 2008, Oil on Canvas, 60 x 70 cm, Image © Till Gerhard, Courtesy Low Contemporary, Gstaad, Switzerland.

Links:

http://www.tillgerhard.de/

http://www.re-title.com/artists/Till-Gerhard.asp

http://www.galleriloyal.com/gl024_till_gerhard.html

Kevin Earl Taylor

“My work attempts to resurvey the role in which humans play within our vanishing landscape, and examine the relationships we destroy and at the same time create.”

Artwork by Kevin Earl Taylor/ copyrights by the artist.

Video from studio visit you can find here:

http://www.vimeo.com/7343077

Links:

http://www.kevinearltaylor.com/

http://kevinearltaylor.blogspot.com/

Marilyn Minter

Her photographs and works often include sexuality and erotic imagery.

Video below: MARILYN MINTER official trailer for "Green Pink Caviar"

The trailer for Marilyn Minter's video Green Pink Caviar.

On show at:

http://www.regenprojects.com/current/

Links:

http://www.greenpinkcaviar.com/

http://www.creativetime.org/programs/archive/2006/minter/project.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Minter

http://www.artnet.com/artist/11881/marilyn-minter.html

Léopold Rabus at GEM

Léopold Rabus at GEM, the Hague.

14/11/2009 t/m 07/02/2010

The human figures depicted by the Swiss artist Léopold Rabus (1977) are ill-fated, gruesome, awkward or crazy, but always humorous.

La bergère et le bucheron (De herderin en de houthakker) Léopold Rabus (1977) 2006 200 x 240 cm.

Links:

http://www.gem-online.nl/

http://www.gem-online.com/index2.phtml

http://www.galerieadler.com/kuenstler/rabus/

http://leopoldrabus.aeroplastics.net/

Thomas Hirschhorn at DCA

Thomas Hirschhorn at DCA Internationally acclaimed artist Thomas Hirschhorn will present his first ever solo exhibition in a UK public art gallery at Dundee Contemporary Arts this autumn. It’s Burning Everywhere will be open to the public from Saturday until Sunday 29 November at DCA, as part of our tenth anniversary programme.

previous posts on Thomas Hirschhorn:

http://strangemessenger.web-log.nl/strangemessenger/2009/05/opensource-amst.html

http://strangemessenger.web-log.nl/strangemessenger/2008/08/thomas-hirschho.html

Links:

http://www.dca.org.uk/

Exhibition: The last real painters

THE LAST REAL PAINTERS at Resy Muijsers

Nieuwlandstraat 22 , 5038 SN Tilburg (NL) 14.11 through 19.12.2009 'The last real painters' curated by Koen Delaere & David Ostrowski. Opening: SATURDAY, November 14 th , 2009 at 4 pm

Participating artists: Andreas Breunig, Koen Delaere, Simon Hemmer, Mark Kent, David Ostrowski, Jan van der Ploeg.

Painting by David Ostrowski

Links:

http://www.resymuijsers.com/

Mike Cockrill

Mike Cockrill's paintings closely detail the rich transition from the world of childhood fantasy to adult awareness in a manner that is both playfully innocent and sexually charged.

Mike Cockrill, Trophies, Oil on canvas, 1999.

Video from studio visit you can find here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPL5P4U-UbY

Links:

http://www.mikecockrill.com/

http://www.kentgallery.com/artists/cockrill_available_01.html

Stefan Nikolaev

“There is no didactic statement but thinking out, elaboration and exploration, mapping out possibilities of interpretation, and setting up fields of association, hinting at actions that can go whatsoever way.”

I Hate America and America Hates Me, 2009, bronze, 65 x 40 x 45 cm, by Stefan Nikolaev.

Links:

http://www.michelrein.com/Artist.php?Artist=Stefan%20Nikolaev

http://www.arcprojects.org/main/artists/nikolaev/index.html

http://www.artnet.com/artist/425362794/stefan-nikolaev.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/arcprojects/sets/72157601739223484/

Gregor Hildebrandt

In his work, German artist Gregor Hildebrandt investigates the passage of time. The basic material of the works of Gregor Hildebrandt is recorded tape of audio and video cassettes that he glues on canvas, painstakingly, strip by strip. On occasion he installs the tape as a widespread black fluttering membrane. Thus, the music on the tapes takes the form of a score whose rhythm results from the arrangement of the material. The temporal dimension of music is transformed into a spatial one, namely, into the perception of a picture.

© Gregor Hildebrandt, Art Basel Statement, 2008, mixed media, 350 x 644 x 472 cm, Courtesy Wentrup, Berlin.

Links:

http://www.wentrupgallery.com/artists/gregor_hildebrandt/

http://www.grieder-contemporary.com/index.php?id=93

http://www.grimmfineart.com/artist_details.php?artist_id=33

Christian Jankowski

Christian Jankowski works multimedial in the very sense of the word: he works with installation, video, photography, performance and literature. By combining different mediums or putting them in relation, the borders between fiction and reality are nearly abolished. At the same time also the border between private and public are often merged.

Christian Jankowski: Die Jagd

Video by Christian Jankowski: Rooftop Routine [HQ] :

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=32246520673

Links:

http://www.klosterfelde.de/sites/artists/jankow/ar_f.html

http://www.lissongallery.com/#/artists/christian-jankowski/

http://listart.mit.edu/node/212

http://www.regenprojects.com/artists/christian-jankowski/

http://www.helgamariaklosterfelde.de/picExhibDetail.php?aid=9&isEdition=1