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Viewing Gavin Turk: Kerze

The Wick Culture - Gavin Turk, Kerze v Kerze, 2022

Above Gavin Turk, Kerze v Kerze, 2022

The Wick Culture - Gavin Turk, Eine Kerze, 2022

Above Gavin Turk, Eine Kerze, 2022

The Wick Culture - Gavin Turk, Zwei rauchende Kerzen, 2022

Above Gavin Turk, Zwei rauchende Kerzen, 2022

Above Gavin Turk, Kerze v Kerze, 2022

Above Gavin Turk, Eine Kerze, 2022

Above Gavin Turk, Zwei rauchende Kerzen, 2022

Gavin Turk: Kerze
Ben Brown Fine Arts, London

4 November 2022 — 14 January 2023
https://www.benbrownfinearts.com/exhibitions/188-gavin-turk-kerze/

Best known for his mischievous multimedia investigations of authorship, authenticity and identity, Gavin Turk draws inspiration from diverse art historical references, ranging from Neoclassical painting to Warhol’s silkscreens. For his fourth solo exhibition at Ben Brown Fine Arts, he has looked to Gerhard Richter’s photorealist paintings of lit candles from the early 1980s.

‘I first came to notice this painting [Kerze, 1983] in 1988 when it was used on the album cover of Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth,’ he says. ‘It seemed to extend the mood of the music and got lodged in my subconscious; now more than 30 years later, this feeling of pathos has started to reappear in my work.’

There are 11 new paintings on display, each featuring extinguished candles in groupings up to three. The candles and their delicate whisps of trailing smoke are framed by the horizontal and vertical lines of tabletops, curtains or windows in the background.

For Turk, the candle is a charged motif that has been interpreted in imaginative and creative ways throughout art history. ‘It is a clock, it is a guide, the lit flame is a burning energetic sprite,’ he muses. ‘Extinguishing it creates smoke, an afterlife, a holy ghost, a veil, a messenger.’

Which leaves us wondering: why have Turk’s candles gone out?

Viewing If Only These Walls Could Talk

The Wick Culture - Maryam Eisler, Autant En Emporte Le Vent, courtesy of Maryam Eisler

Above Maryam Eisler, Autant En Emporte Le Vent, courtesy of Maryam Eisler

The Wick Culture - Maryam Esiler, A La Une, courtesy of Maryam Eisler

Above Maryam Esiler, A La Une, courtesy of Maryam Eisler

The Wick Culture - Maryam Eisler, courtesy of Maryam Eisler

Above Maryam Eisler, courtesy of Maryam Eisler

The Wick Culture - Maryam Eisler, Le Téléphone Sonne I, courtesy of Maryam Eisler

Above Maryam Eisler, Le Téléphone Sonne I, courtesy of Maryam Eisler

The Wick Culture - Maryam Eisler, La Lionne, courtesy of Maryam Eisler

Above Maryam Eisler, La Lionne, courtesy of Maryam Eisler

Above Maryam Eisler, Autant En Emporte Le Vent, courtesy of Maryam Eisler

Above Maryam Esiler, A La Une, courtesy of Maryam Eisler

Above Maryam Eisler, courtesy of Maryam Eisler

Above Maryam Eisler, Le Téléphone Sonne I, courtesy of Maryam Eisler

Above Maryam Eisler, La Lionne, courtesy of Maryam Eisler

If Only These Walls Could Talk
Alon Zakaim Fine Art, London

2 — 24 November 2022
https://alonzakaim.com/exhibitions/if-only-these-walls-could-talk/

Now’s your chance to peek inside the legendary Hotel Nord-Pinus in Arles, which has over the years welcomed such celebrated names as Picasso, Van Gogh and Helmut Newton, who shot his iconic 1973 Vogue shoot with Charlotte Rampling in Suite 10. This room was also the place where celebrated bullfighters including Luis Miguel Dominguín greeted their adoring crowds from the balcony.

Zip over to Alon Zakaim on Cork Street, where you’ll find 27 black-and-white images shot in the hotel by London-based Iranian photographer Maryam Eisler. In this new series, photographed in between lockdowns in 2021, Eiseler continues her explorations into the ‘Sublime Feminine’ and the architecture of the female form.

You’ll see works showing Eisler’s muses feasting nonchalantly on oysters and smoking cigars whilst posing in front of magasins de vin. Also included are four works showing a matador being lured away from his arena by two women in sumptuous evening gowns.

Eisler’s muses are unapologetic about their passion, sensuality and strength. And we’re here for it. Bravo.

Viewing Koestler Arts: Freedom

The Wick Culture - Koestler Arts private view of exhibition ‘Freedom’ held at Southbank Centre, London, on the 26th of October 2022 Koestler Arts fifteenth Annual UK Exhibition in partnership with the Southbank Centre.

Above Koestler Arts private view of exhibition ‘Freedom’ held at Southbank Centre, London, on the 26th of October 2022 Koestler Arts fifteenth Annual UK Exhibition in partnership with the Southbank Centre.

Koestler Arts: Freedom
Southbank Centre, London

27 October — 18 December 2022
https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/art-exhibitions/koestler-arts-freedom?eventId=907902

To mark the 60th anniversary of the Koestler Awards, Koestler Arts presents an ambitious exhibition of works by nearly 3000 artists in the UK’s criminal justice system curated by Ai Weiwei.

Installed in the Royal Festival Hall in London’s Southbank Centre, Freedom features works spanning a variety of categories and media that explore the impact of curtailed freedom, while showing the extent of human resilience when put in extreme circumstances.

‘This exhibition focuses on the role that the act of thinking and creating plays in life under constraints,’ said Ai, who visited different prisons in the UK including HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs which is situated next to the Koestler Arts Centre. ‘I hope that this exhibition can inspire people to reflect upon the loss of freedom and those that continue to create art to fight for space in life and freedom of expression despite adversity.’
The exhibition space will take the form of 15 cell-like spaces that are based on the size of a typical cell in a UK prison, with each cell containing between 78 and 131 artworks. At certain points during the day, quotes from displayed artists will be played out loud.

‘I’ve seen on countless occasions how art can be a space for personal liberation and growth,’ said Mark Ball, Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre. ‘A belief that is made manifest by the extraordinary work of Koestler Arts.’ We can’t think of a better exhibition to get behind.