Margaret Sharrow

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Image: Guggenheim intervention (exterior), © Margaret Sharrow 2010

All images this site copyright Margaret Sharrow, 2008-2010, unless otherwise noted

Greenland blog 07: colonial legacies

Statue of Hans Egede, old harbour, Nuuk, Greenland. Image copyright Margaret Sharrow, 2008.

I mentioned about Greenland’s relationship with Denmark. Having lived much as they had for five thousand years (although there were several different native Arctic cultures over this period), the Greenlanders encountered various Norse and Scandinavian attempts at settlement, beginning around the tenth century, one of which failed spectacularly. However by the 1800’s the Danish had established successful trading, whaling and even farming settlements in a number of places. Denmark claimed Greenland as a part of the Kingdom of Denmark in 1814, having built up the colony under the leadership of such persons as Hans Egede, depicted here in a statue overlooking the old harbour of Nuuk, which he founded and named Godhåb. Denmark’s empire also extended to the Faroe Islands, which explains why both Greenland and the Faroes have characteristically Scandinavian architecture, Danish as an official language, and the kroner as currency. On the whole being colonised by Denmark was about as well-meaning a situation as possible under the circumstances, but Greenland has been in a process of growing independence since the 1970’s. Although it is still part of the Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland is now an autonomous country administered by a Danish home rule government - a situation roughly parallel to the process of devolution taking place in Wales and Scotland. Greenland is even the only country to have voted itself out of the European Union. And shortly after my visit, they voted for further steps towards self rule. Seeing the posture of Hans Egede thrusting his staff in gesture of progress and Protestant sobriety, I can’t help thinking there must have been reasons for the desire for home rule. Not everyone could have been so willing to accept Greenlandic culture on its own terms as the famous explorer Knud Rasmussen, known affectionately by the Greenlanders as ‘our little Knud’.

26 August 2008 14:40 recalled 11 January 2011

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Turner Prize 2010 review: Tate Britain's apples & oranges annual

Installation view of Otolith Group at the Turner Prize exhibition, 2010. Image copyright Margaret Sharrow, 2010

As always, the Turner Prize seems to offer comparisons between apples and oranges - a difficult task to compare diverse work in different media. This year the visitor sees, starting at the exhibition entrance and walking straight through, paintings by Dexter Dalwood, film and video installations by the Otolith Group, sculptural paintings and sculpture by Angela de la Cruz, and sound art by Susan Philipsz.

It helps to know that what is actually being compared is not the work on show, but the exhibitions (elsewhere) for which the artists were nominated. As I've only seen Dexter Dalwood's show at Tate St Ives, I can't offer any perspective on whose exhibition most brings out the qualities of the work of the particular artist/s, or how the exhibitions compare with other exhibitions by the same artists, all salient points for the Turner Prize committee. The public, aside from those priveleged and dedicated enough to travel round the UK and Europe seeing exhibitions with persistence and prescience, are left to compare what is actually on show, and to browse the catalogues of the artists' work displayed outside the exhibition. As the natures of the prize and the exhibition are constantly evolving, in future it might be an idea to show, either through photographs or video, the exhibitions for which the nominations were made. This would be a great contribution to the Turner Prize exhibition, and would allow the public to make a more informed comparison - as most people naturally assume that what they see in the exhibition is the basis for awarding the prize, when it is not.

In Susan Philipsz's case, the location of the sound art is particularly relevant to appreciating the full impact of the piece; the acoustics of the Clyde bridges in Glasgow are surely completely different to that offered by an exhibition room in the Tate. However I can say, without any use of the imagination, that the impression made by Dexter Dalwood's paintings in St Ives is somewhat different from that in London. It is not just the surroundings, stepping off Porthmeor Beach as opposed to a rainy day by the Thames, or even the difference in architecture, the classical square forms of Tate Britain differing from the partly rounded forms of Tate St Ives, with the main atrium fronted by a wall of curved glass overlooking the beach. The St Ives exhibition consisted of far more paintings, four rooms full, spanning work from the 1990's to pieces completed in 2009, months or possibly weeks before the exhibition was mounted, so there was a sense of continuity and development, from early pieces representing interior spaces, to the first ones that utilised overt references to other painters, to recent pieces such as The Death of David Kelly (2008) that are more simplified. In addition, Dalwood was persuaded by the St Ives curators to hang a series of small paper collages that are an intermediate preparatory stage crucial to his work. These were a striking display in the sea-facing rotunda, and provided a fascinating insight into his working process. It was possible to compare collages with their subsequent paintings, and to see which elements were altered, resized, recoloured, substituted, or, like the figure on the staircase in the Mandelay painting (2009), removed entirely. Finally, Dalwood had curated an exhibition of work from the Tate collection, with a common theme of work produced in 1971, which was shown in the lower gallery, visible from the area containing the collages. I'm uncertain as to whether this exhibition 'counts' as part of Dalwood's Turner Prize nomination, but it would certainly have been held in the minds of many visitors as they absorbed Dalwood's paintings upstairs. Dalwood's choice of the year 1971 as a common theme is a personal one, as it was a significant year in his childhood (we are not told why) when he was living in nearby Penzance. A record album design sits alongside work by Picasso (both are typical of sources he has 'collaged' into his paintings). Significantly, there is a maquette of a sculpture by his uncle, the sculptor Hubert Dalwood. The elder Dalwood's striking work, as seen in a catalogue in the public reading room, may have been both an inspiration and a burden to live up to. The 1971 exhibition was certainly very informative as to the cultural climate from which the younger Dalwood emerged (even if he didn't see these particular pieces at the time), and thus provides a different level of reading for the exhibition of his paintings.

I can only speculate as to the layers of context and meaning provided by the unseen previous exhibitions by the other artists nominated for the 2010 Turner Prize: it is well at least to be aware that there is a great deal more to the Turner Prize than meets the eye.

The Turner Prize is awarded on the evening of 6 December 2010, live on Channel 4

Turner Prize 2010 exhibition continues at Tate Britain until 3 January 2011

Tate Britain Turner Prize link

Tate St Ives Dexter Dalwood exhibition guide link

Adrian Serle's review in the Guardian

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Rachel Whiteread Drawings: studies in negative spaces, places for play - Tate Britain 8 September 2010 - 16 January 2011

Photo: Rachel Whiteread video on display in main foyer, Tate Britain, to accompany her exhibition. Photo copyright Margaret Sharrow, 2010; video copyright Tate

It's always interesting to see artists' preparatory work (see Francis Alÿs, 'A Story of Deception'), and this selection of drawings, photographs, maquettes and items from the studio of former Turner Prize winner Rachel Whiteread makes a nice complement to the current year's contenders' exhibition. There are many drawings made on graph paper, and I began to wonder what benefits this might offer her (scaling up? guidance against a tendency to stray from the straight line?), and why I hadn't tried drawing on graph paper myself. She is also fond of using whiteout as a drawing tool, something Michael Landy has used to great effect in some of his drawings of Tinguely's Homage to New York.

As a photographer it is always interesting for me to see what use non-photographer artists make of this medium. There was one photograph of an urban landscape, a study for her water tower piece I think, that she had painted over, giving a very atmospheric result. Other photographs were daubed with whiteout to indicate the negative spaces that are the hallmark of her sculptural work. (The idea of highlighting the negative space, the invisible thing in preference to the apparently existing things, is one that appeals to me greatly.) There is the famous house, blotted out while its neighbours remain. There is another photograph of the field, after the standing guts of the house that was Whiteread's seminal work had been demolished by an anxious council. An absence of an absence. Perhaps we should be visiting this ghost of a work that was a ghost of a house.

I also liked her plans for the fourth plinth in London's Trafalgar Square - to have the mirror image of the plinth stood on top of itself, made of some translucent material. 'Do it! DO IT!!!' I shouted to her, though she wasn't there. Fortunately I did all this shouting in my head, or they would have thrown me out before I could have seen some of the most interesting work: studies on modified postcards (one filled with negative spaces through the aegis of a range of differently sized hole punches), and a vast array of handholdable (but sadly safe behind glass) treasures she keeps in her studio: glass globes and crystal balls, a mould of Peter Sellers' nose that was a sample from a sculptural materials company, single shoes, toys, stones, resin moulds of bowls, mirrors and other delightfully reflective surfaces. Such is the stuff we need to have about us, for reference, for inspiration, for play. For it is play that allows us to connect with the unfettered, uncluttered self that can create with clarity.

A bonus exhibition that can be seen on a combination ticket with Eadweard Muybridge and the Turner Prize.

Rachel Whiteread Drawings continues at Tate Britain, London, until 16 January 2011

Posted 9 November 2010

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Margaret Sharrow v. Fiona Banner: or, why it's not safe to let me into the Tate, part 2

Interactivity has become a buzzword in art these days. Walk around any art school and you are liable to be beseiged with posters and signs begging you to interact with someone's current project. And major galleries these days all seem to have 'art carts' or similar, crammed with crayons, coloured paper, and worksheets attempting to interest the young in art. Occasionally, however, the urge to play overtakes me, as it did last weekend at Tate Britain. One current exhibition, 'Rude Britannia', begs you to create your own political cartoon, and then in the Harry Hill-curated room, presents a sort of spoof on a cash machine, where you are shown a reproduction of a work from Tate, asked to write a caption, and then to post it in the slot. Suitably primed by these activities, by the time I saw Fiona Banner's Duveens Commission, Harrier and Jaguar, two decommissioned fighter planes, I wanted to do more than take photos, as everyone seemed to be doing (one woman lying nervously under the nose of the suspended plane while her man snapped away). So I attacked the nearby art cart and created my own fighter plane... leaving you with the results.

Images: My fighter jet (2 views), caricature of Labour MP in the expenses scandal.

Images copyright Margaret Sharrow, 2010

Why it's not safe to let me into the Tate, part 1

RCA degree shows 2010

Entrance to RCA Show 2010, photo copyright Margaret Sharrow, 2010

Trying to see all of the RCA Show Two in one afternoon was certainly overambitious. In addition to being chock full of interesting work by numerous departments, Painting and Sculpture were showing in their new buildings south of the Thames at Battersea, while the rest were at Kensington. On weekends the two shows were connected by a free and wonderfully juddery Routemaster bus. There was just so much to see that I should have left a whole day, but I did manage to look carefully at Communication Art & Design, Design Products, Sculpture and Painting, with cursory glances at Animation and Architecture.

Because Sculpture did not have labels by the works, I haven't included any examples from that department, the linking up of information sheets with works being too taxing by early evening, not to say that I didn't really enjoy the upside-down street installation - it was really fantastic! A special award had been given to the person whose show included a partially knocked-down wall as one of his pieces - accompanied by a brochure of interviews with departmental staff and students, in which the buildings manager stressed the importance of students leaving the work spaces as they found them!

There seems to be a split in Painting between those working on traditional problems of surfaces and paint, and others who are broadening the definition of painting to include video, installation and mixed media. I doubt whether this necessarily equates to a social split but it is just an observation of the work. Design Products continues to produce often witty, surprising and original pieces that would often be at home in galleries as much as shops and commercial applications. Communication Art & Design was quite a revelation as the students seem to work across the broadest range of media and forms: installation, illustration, photography, painting, printmaking, book design, video, textiles, interactivity - there seemed to be no limits to the possibilities here and I wonder about the departmental philosophy that is able to foster this, in contrast to other departments at the RCA which seem more specialised.

Images that follow are just some of the things I enjoyed, often in small detail view, and in reverse alphabetical order in an attempt to have a fairer promotion of those who so often get left at the bottom of lists on the basis of their surnames - not one of life's great injustices, but a little annoying occasionally! So here's to all artists Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y and Z! (Don't worry, in subsequent posts I may put the mid-alphabeters first.)

Avis Underwood, Painting

Avis Underwood, Painting. Soft, gently colourful, almost surrealistic figures in a dreamy state.

Priya Sundram, Communication Art & Design. Video still. Mapping a journey.

Priya Sundram & Ana Viegas, Communication Art & Design. A lovely book about Aleutian Alaskan communities straddling the international date line. I am always a sucker for anything Arctic.

Ji Young Son. Design Products. These movement-sensitive leaves broadcast soothing sounds. I want some in my hallway!

Benjamin Senior, Painting. Pilates in the park becomes a surreal experience.

Benjamin Senior, Painting

Tuesday Nesbitt, Painting

Azusa Murakami, Design Products.

Azusa Murakami, Design Products. A ritualised table for the consumption of fast foods. Utensils include sesame seed picker. The plan includes leaving shoes outside and harvesting fresh herbs from the garden wall, to contribute to slow hamburger consumption.

Kynthia Livaniou, Communication Art & Design (video still). Lovely videos projected on lovely dancers, revideoed, reminiscent of Carlyle Reedy.

Hwang Kim, Design Products. Many people liked work designed to prepare North Koreans for cultural transition to the rest of the world - how to eat pizza, how to do popular music video dances, almost impossible I should think while watched over by portraits of the Dear Leader and the Great Leader, on the wall and on one's lapel.

David Hood, Design Products. Glad to see further development of this walking alternative to the buses - phalanxes of people with square umbrellas and a common destination.

James Harrison, Painting. An assemblage of works on paper.

Kate Groobey, Painting. Thoughts of Bacon and Matisse.

Simon Dara, Communication Art & Design. One of a series of small paintings detailing a private imaginary world.

Heeseon Byun, Painting. She has a lovely way of portraying people in the snowy landscape, which becomes a void emphasising the composition of the figures. This is a small detail.

Laura Bygrave, Painting. Not quite an echo of pop art. I liked it.

Majed Aslam, Painting

Majed Aslam, Painting. An erased photograph. Why didn't I think of that?

All images are installation views and remain copyright the artists.

July 2010

John O'Rourke: Chambers of the Self on display in North Tyneside's Cobalt Business Park

John O'Rourke, 'Chambers of the Self', photographs copyright John O'Rourke 2009

As of yesterday, the Newcastle public is able to view one of artist John O'Rourke's enigmatic sculptures, Chambers of the Self.

Meticulously constructed of wooden sections, this larger-than-life head features an architectural interior of doorways, stairs and hidden rooms, typical of this artist's work.

John O'Rourke runs the Foundation Degree in Fine Art at Tyne Metropolitan College, North Tyneside, and is currently completing a fine art PhD at Aberystwyth University.

Chambers of the Self is on display at North Tyneside Council's Quadrant building, Silverlink North, Cobalt Business Park, North Tyneside, until December 2009.

Directions to visit 'Chambers of the Self'