Get Arty In May

Artistic Environment

The annual festival from the Climarte organisation, ‘ART+CLIMATE=CHANGE’, celebrates its third instalment in Melbourne with a rich and provocative programme of arts events, exhibitions and talks related to the ideas around climate change. Taking place between 19 April and 14 May, the main hub of the event will be at Melbourne’s Prestigious Ian Potter Museum where the 360-degree video installation EXIT by Diller Scofidio + Renfro will be situated. Says CLIMARTE CEO and co-founder, Guy Abrahams, ‘ART+CLIMATE=CHANGE 2017’ will help us to feel the problems we are facing and to embrace the solutions that are already here.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

The British Museum in London hosts the U.K.’s first major exhibition of contemporary American printmaking this month. ‘The American Dream: Pop to the Present’ charts the creativity of this medium through some of the most turbulent times in American history right up until present day. Works from over 70 artists, including some of America’s most acclaimed printmakers are set to feature, such as Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns and Ed Ruscha. The exhibition shows how the medium became hugely popular during the ‘60s with a new generation of artists producing printworks that challenged the notion of what art comprises and putting their prints on equal footing with traditional mediums of art, like painting and sculpture.

Lost In Time

Over 80 years ago, the painting Turm der blauen Pferde by German painter Franz Marc, which was famed for its alarming foreboding of World War One, went missing. It was considered one of the defining works of German expressionism, praised for its remarkable artistic quality and was hugely popular among the liberal society of Berlin. The masterpiece is still lost and only a postcard study of it is all that remains. In tribute to this missing piece, the Haus am Waldsee in Berlin and the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung in Munich have invited 20 contemporary artists to explore the fate of the painting. The exhibition ‘Missing Turm der blauen Pferde by Franz Marc’ will run until 5 June at both locations.

Water Works

Italian photographer Massimo Vitali presents ‘Disturbed Coastal Systems’ at the Benrubi Gallery in New York. His series of photographs explores humankind’s relationship with the coast, rivers and other natural water systems. His work often depicts large scenes where the grandness of the natural landscape is clearly portrayed as is the presence of many people. In this way, Vitali shows humans as tribes rather than individuals and this colourful series presents the habits of the human tribe in the natural world.

Making An Entrance

Mexican artist Daniel Ruanova has now become the artist in residence at the Piet Hein Eek furniture store-cum-gallery-cum-restaurant in Eindhoven, the Netherlands and has created a large installation for the entrance of the Piet Hein Eek building. The installation entitled Where Protection Is needed is inspired by his home country where for many people, violence, fear and the need for defence are daily concerns. The large sculpture was made onsite in April with visitors watching as Ruanova constructed his masterpiece. Now completed, the piece adds a touch of drama to the entrance of the Piet Hein Eek gallery and store.

Surface Concerns

This month is your last chance to catch Mat Collishaw’s exhibition ‘The Centrifugal Soul’ at the BlainSouthern gallery in London. The exhibition is inspired by the psychological concept ‘The Centrifugal Soul’ conceived by Geoffrey Miller, which is the theory that contemporary individuals put too much thought and energy into superficial materials that on the surface might make us popular and lovable, but leave our centres empty with little left for friends and partners to discover beneath the surface.  With this in mind, Collishaw’s show focuses on illusion, superficial truth and our constant battle for visual supremacy.