2012 Artists Posters

The London Olympics committee have just unveiled  a series of posters created by some of the UK's top artists. These are very much in same spirit as the commissions handed out by London Underground to get people to travel on the tube. Some work really well,

Stuffed!

To Every Seed His Own Body © Polly Morgan

After the over indulgence of Christmas I'm sure this is how the majority of us are feeling! Our turkey has long shuffled off this mortal coil and has been reduced to soup and sandwiches but it could have so much more beautiful and different if it had fallen into the hands of Polly Morgan.

Polly Morgan is a British born artist who uses the medium of taxidermy to put across her interpretation of life, death and beauty. She is a fully qualified taxidermist but isn't interested in recreating animals in realistic life like poses or habitats, instead she has a more poetic approach sitting somewhere between the Victorian love of taxidermy that saw large dioramas of human events rendered with animals, (the most recognisable being 'The Kitten's Wedding') and the Romantic paintings of Joseph Wright.

Bird in an Air Pump, Joseph Wright of Derby

Kitten's Wedding 1898, Walter Potter

The first time I saw Polly Morgan's work I was struck by it's directness and strength, it immediately recalled my own growing up in the country and the everydayness of  death.

One piece entitled "Still Birth" transported me directly to an episode where my little sister accidentally killed my pet duckling. She was only about 2 or 3 years old at the time and decided to pick it up and pet it, unfortunately she held it by the neck while petting it, and didn't notice it dying then simply placed it back in the nest. It was there that I found it later that evening when I went to feed it. It lay there with it's neck limp, it's beak slightly open and it's head lying on a bump of straw.

Still Birth, 2010 © Polly Morgan

It's strange to have a piece of art talk to you that directly to the point where I can smell the warm dusty straw and feel the 'dead weight' of the duckling in my hand. If you're intrigued by Polly Morgan's work then click here to access her site. Also as a foot note all the animals used in her work died of natural causes.

© Polly Morgan

Pyric Victors, 2009 ©Polly Morgan

Black Fever and Blue Fever, 2010 © Polly Morgan

Turner time again

Yes it's time for the annual rant against modern art that has become known as the Turner prize. This little video taster from The Guardian isn't the same as popping down to Tate Britain and seeing it for your self but for us non London based art lovers it will have to do until we can experience it ourselves!

Murakami meets the Sun King

Photos : Gilles Truyens © EPV

The Chateau at Versailles has continued it's venture to make it not just touristic destination but a cultural one as well. After the exhibition by Jeff Koons last year they have invited Takashi Murakami to interact with the not so subtle surrounds of the Chateau and it seems more people object to him than to Mr Koons!

For some people it is just a step to far to turn a national monument into an exhibition space for Modern Art, the cheek of it, imagine what the king would say! It would be straight to La Bastille but now we are in the 21st century and being sent to Bastille isn't such a bad thing.

The Chateau of Versailles is by no means a subtle building, (infact as I type they are guilding the roof with real gold) and it is this factor that makes it a difficult space to exhibit art as there is so much more battling for your attention. With the Koons exhibition last year I came away with not so much a greater appreciation of his work but with a greater appreciation of the art of the curator. All the pieces sat perfectly in their environment, playfully interacting with the 'historical' artifacts that each room contained and judging from the images of the Murakami exhibition it looks like this has happened again and is a great factor for going to see the his work exhibited in Versailles. As he says himself about his exhibition;

"With a broad smile I invite you all to discover the wonderland of Versailles. I am the Cheshire cat that welcomes Alice in Wonderland with its diabolic smile, and chatters away as she wanders around the Château."

Here are a few pictures of what the exhibition looks like but I think it needs to be seen in person. 

Photos : Gilles Truyens © EPV