Requests and Antisongs: James Richards at the ICA

So what if Tessa Norton's crush on James Richards' artwork is just skin-deep, maybe that's part of the appeal.

Still from Radio at Night

In the 1995 TV series My So-Called Life, Angela Chase (Claire Danes) spends 19 episodes fixating on Jordan Catalano (Jared Leto). What depths could be concealed under his curtains and sheepskin coat? It soon emerges that she is projecting multitudes onto his studied blankness. He’s handsome but kind of boring. Her neighbour Brian Krakow, meanwhile, couldn’t hope to conceal his affection for Angela, and consequently could never hope to achieve Jordan’s mystery and allure.

Art In Unusual Spaces

In part two of Garageland Blog's coverage of Unlimited Festival, a disembodied voice leads Joe Turnbull to art outside the galleries and museums. (Here's part one if you missed it.)

When I first arrived at Southbank Centre for this year’s Unlimited Festival I was waiting outside the Royal Festival Hall as crowds surged past at the usual frenetic London pace. My ear was grabbed by a disembodied voice with a distinct Scottish accent. As I listened, a fascinating, if troubling, account of the daily experience of living life on the streets unfolded.

An Afternoon at Frieze

From the Masters to the Toilet Roll, Mimei Thompson spends an afternoon at Frieze.

When Frieze Art Fair and Frieze Masters roll into town, those of us who attend are inevitably swept up in a sea of art, meeting people and being overwhelmed. Frieze Masters features more than 130 international galleries showcasing art made anywhere from late 20^th century all the way back to ancient times. 

Max Ernst

A beautiful deep red Max Ernst decalcomania painting with a bark frame was mesmerising, spot lit on the tasteful grey walls, which along with grey carpets and a generally calm and reverend demeanour, set the tone of the fair. However, the museum-like atmosphere was occasionally disrupted by the realisation of the fact that we are still in a tent, after all, and the careful lighting did flicker, and a tiny, exquisite Henry Moore bronze did sway a bit on its plinth, as the tent flapped in the wind and the flooring betrayed its temporary nature.

Superbly Melancholic Clichés

Archie Franks is drawn in by the work of Ragnar Kjartansson at the Barbican, London.

After 40 minutes of watching band The National perform the same song over and over (Sorrow), I was engulfed in a strange mix of emotions. On the one hand the idea of the work is so direct as to be almost idiotic; a fashionable band perform the same song on repeat in front of an audience for six hours, but Kjartansson uncovers something else within this act, something quite strange and genuinely moving. 

A Lot of Sorrow, 2013-14

Feeling sad on my own I, along with many millions of others, have played the same song on repeat for hours on end, to wallow in sorrow as it were. So to turn this clichéd act of melancholy indulgence into an artwork is at once an obvious but also intriguing concept. I guess I was able to watch it for so long partially because I like the song, but the film of the performance and the way the band go about it are totally engrossing. One moment, in which the camera focuses on the drummer massaging his arms between his playing, brings home the difficult physical act of the performance, sorrow and melancholia enacted as a gruelling, relentless endurance test. 

Classical Television Portraits

In early September 2016 Unlimited Festival returned to London's Southbank Centre as a celebration and continuation of the artistic vision and originality of disabled artists. As part one of Garageland Blog's coverage Joe Turnbull reviews Cameron Morgan's paintings of classic television shows at Southbank Centre.

Cameron Morgan, 1930 - Laurel & Hardy

Glasgow-based artist Cameron Morgan brought his TV Classics Part 1 exhibition, commissioned by Unlimited (administered by Shape and Artsadmin) to Southbank Centre from the 6-11 September 2016.

Let’s face it, we all have our guilty TV pleasures. Is there anything more comforting than curling up on the sofa with an old favourite? Like music, our favourite TV programmes from the past are signifiers of seminal periods in our lives. But that’s rarely acknowledged in the same way. TV is somehow seen as ephemeral and ‘low art’ in terms of culture.

David’s Days in the Hills

Michael Ajerman crashes the Hockney PV at the Royal Academy.

Hollywood and Hollywood not

We are so lively on the spot

Never sold out always in stock

Are you deaf or does this rock?

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sikamikanico

Crashing the opening of David Hockney’s exhibition at the Royal Academy, what is on my mind is not paint but the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Red Hot Chilli Peppers are the premier Californian band. Hockney is still the premier Californian artist regardless of his Bradford roots. 

Pump House: Michael Beutler at Spike Island

Someone has built a pre-school, prehistoric monument inside Bristol's Spike Island, and it's great.

I’m in a small room, roughly a five-foot square, with two doors. The walls are made from paper and card, structured by a wooden frame. Two are lined with shelves made from bamboo cane and string, on which are an assortment of objects; dollops and curls of plaster, trinket-sized clay sculptures, geometric card constructions, a tray of espresso cups (Material Tests, 2006-2016).

The room is part of a warren of spaces squeezed into the gallery at Spike Island as part of Michael Beutler's exhibition Pump House. The gallery is partitioned by makeshift walls built from multitudinous materials; pastel-coloured corrugated card (Elefant und Schwein, 2010/2016) contrasts with smooth, thin shiny-silver metal sheets (Fat Potpourri, 2016) and magazine pages bundled up inside colourful netting to make rudimentary building blocks (Sausage Walls, 2014/2016).