Art For Thought

If you follow the emerging art market you’ve probably heard of Eva Dixon by now, and if you haven’t it’s very much time you do. If you’ve been following my exhibitions you’ll know she was one of the artists in the August show ‘Intuition Goes Before You,’ together with another four whose works are result of their gut instinct that leads them to create - wether through paint or construction.

After a couple of other shows since, Eva is now currently having a solo at The Fores Project - residency and exhibition program in North London that champions emerging talent and gives them a space and platform to showcase their art to galleries, curators and collectors. Her work, as the press release of ‘Intuition Goes Before You’ reads, “investigates materials and subverts their purpose to fit a need within the work. The geometric forms in her work are pulled from construction, mirroring the appropriated materials she uses. Dixon blurs the lines between painting, sculpture and craft whilst investigating how the relationship between opacity and transparency can expose the structure and surface as one. Her work offers a site to question making process and the binaries between labours.”

In the ‘Lesbian Trucker Paintings’ exhibition at The Fores Project, Eva’s construction skills are further highlighted, with herself directly involved in the hanging, truly bringing the exhibition to the next level and transforming the space with the originality that distinguished her as a person and her brilliant work.

The exhibition has been extended until the 6th of December.

A retrospective on Marina Abramović’s career opened a while back at the Royal Academy and it was one of the highlights during Frieze week in London. The majority of art lovers have most likely already seen it, but if you haven’t, it’s on until the 1st of January.

Taking up almost the entire first floor of the Royal Academy, Abramović’s exhibition is both a retrospective of her career with archival footage, mixed with newer work, and immersive experiences where the audience plays a key role to the execution of the performance.

The most talked about is probably the performance through the doorway of one of the rooms. On each side of the door there are two naked people standing, one man and one woman, closely facing each other. It sounds less intimidating than it actually is when you find yourself in front of them, in a room full of people staring at you while you’re about to inevitably and (personally) quite uncomfortably rub yourself against two strangers as you try to squish through. It was curious to see how the majority of the people chose to face the woman as they were passing by - me included. Perhaps the female body looks more familiar, less intimidating, but I am sure the reasons as to why this was the case are various.

Other scenes are performed, where the performance artists participating, trained by Marina Abramović in her method, directly engage with the audience, looking at anyone who is immersed enough to take on the staring-contest and give themselves fully into the intimate, perhaps on the verge of uncomfortable, situation. After all, Abramović’s performances do play between these concepts - with discomfort, threat, life, death, exhaustion and (most importantly) endurance, as key parts of her work. 

As the Royal Academy’s website points out, and mentioned here, the exhibition includes nudity and works relating to mortality. (More here)

A number of abandoned historical buildings side the cars as they drive entering Trieste, after the outlet on the sea as an enchanting welcome to this romantic city.

People who travel a lot, together with history and literature aficionados know this town well. Trieste has seen different cultures come and go while remaining undoubtedly and proudly Italian to its core. Once known as the main port of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Trieste still remains one of the most important ports of Europe, well-connected to what used to be the Silk Road, with Austria behind, the Balkans on the left, Venice on the right, and the Adriatic sea in front. Authors such as James Joyce, Umberto Saba and Italo Svevo have resided and written love letters to Trieste, and artists like Egon Schiele have painted its beautiful details.

The aforementioned abandoned buildings at the entrance of Trieste are warehouses built in the Old Port in the second half of the 1800s. Often times I have looked at these building and thought that there are so many things one could do, exhibitions included. 

In fact, since 2017, the Biennale Internazionale Donna has made a home out of one of these Magazzini (Italian for Warehouses). Hosting female-focused exhibitions, with local and international artists highlighting the cosmopolitan soul of the city.

The exhibition is on until the first week of January, so if you find yourself in the North of Italy, I suggest visiting this jewel of a city and hop by Magazzino 26. (More info here)

               I dreamt of Trieste, of the sea, of open space. Longing, oh longing! For comfort I painted myself a ship, colourful and big-bellied, like those that rock back and forth on the Adriatic. In it longing and fantasy can sail over the sea, far out to distant islands where jewel-like birds glide and sing among incredible trees. Oh sea? (Egon Schiele, Prison Diary, 1 May 1912)