african art

Came across this when doing geography...

Guruve specialises in stone sculpture from Zimbabwe, often known as the Shona art movement. Although the younger artists may choose modern themes, the striking simplicity of their pieces reveals they too belong to an art movement that first gained international exposure in the 1950s...
In 1957, Frank McEwen was appointed as the first curator of the new National Gallery in Harare. He had previously been curator at the Rodin Museum, Paris and had links with various artists of the time, including Picasso (who was himself heavily influenced by African art) and Matisse.
McEwen was impressed with the talent of some of the artists he met in Zimbabwe, and he encouraged them to paint and later to sculpt. Because of his contacts in the international art world, he was able to give the movement that later became known as 'Shona sculpture' (after Zimbabwe's most numerous tribe) its first international exposure. However, it is not fair to say that he created the movement.
McEwen encouraged the artists to look inward, to find their so-called tribal subconsciousness and express it through their art. Much of the early work was inspired by Shona mythology.

sensory war 1914-2014

 

Steven Kasher Gallery is proud to present an exhibition of  Timothy Greenfield-Sanders portraits of wounded  veterans of the war in Iraq.  Greenfield-Sanders was commissioned by HBO to photograph soldiers whose injuries include devastating brain damage, triple amputation and blindness.  The pictures were made to accompany the HBO documentary special Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq

There’s Dawn Halfaker, a West Point graduate, holding the prosthesis for her missing right arm like a part of herself that’s become temporarily disconnected. There’s Mike Jernigan, one eye socket empty, the other with a plastic eye studded with diamonds from the wedding ring his wife returned to him when they divorced after his return from Iraq. There’s John Jones, all business in his Marine uniform above the waist, two robotic legs naked

Greenfield-Sanders says: “I think we need to see this. We don’t see the dead coming back in coffins. We’re sheltered from the injured. We just don’t see it. It’s all been brilliantly hidden from view. So this documentary is very important in letting us see these people, let us know who they are, and make us ask if this war is worth it."

Ken Unsworth

For many years, Australian-based artist Ken Unsworth has made viewers hold their breath with his timeless work entitledSuspended Stone Circle II. The installation was first completed in 1974 and produced again in 1988, and is awe-inspiring in both its fragility and volume. Unsworth used 103 river stones each weighing about 33 pounds and bound them together by three sets of wires that were tied to rings and secured to the ceiling. They form a suspended disc, with each element resting perfectly in its place. The sculptor hung the stones so that their center of gravity falls on the central axis of the disc, and each stone is equal distance from one another. As they remain in midair, their cone-shaped stabilizing wires mimic a force field, and it’s almost as if they are held up by this energy. Unsworth’s installation is peaceful, balanced, and even a little nerve wracking – at any moment, the work could theoretically come tumbling down. Unsworth first gained popularity as a sculptor in the 1970’s when he combined performance art with minimalist forms. In addition to stones, the artist has created other monumental works, including a piece titled Rapture, where a grand piano is formed into a large set of stairs.

Work Experience

Sorry its a bit late but here are some of the things that were part of my experience with high school and college art students... a few little tie dye testers, exhibition work, exam pieces etc...

Banksy at Manchester art Gallery...

London

Anya Gallaccio at the V&A

Anya Gallaccio (born 1963) is a British artist, who often works with organic matter.
The year she graduated from Goldsmiths—she exhibited in the Damien Hirst-curated Freeze exhibition, and in 1990 the Henry Bond and Sarah Lucas organised East Country Yard shows, which brought together many of the Young British Artists. Gallaccio is a Professor in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).

When I went to London me and my friend organised to go on a little tour 'behind the scenes' of the V&A in order to see some of the work that hadn't been on show yet... so we found an Anya Gallaccio piece as well as an Antony Gormley inspired piece...