Charlotte Posenenske - Modern Art (until 16 February 2019)

Charlotte Posenenske, installation view, Modern Art

Charlotte Posenenske is at Modern Art until 16 February 2019

Edited from Modern Art press release:

I find it difficult to come to terms with the fact that art can contribute nothing to the solution of pressing social problems. – Charlotte Posenenske, ​“Statement”, 11 February 1968.

Charlotte Posenenske (b. Wiesbaden, 1930, d. Frankfurt, 1985) made pioneering contributions to Minimalist and Conceptual art during her short-lived artistic career. Rediscovered only posthumously, her predominantly sculptural output has influenced younger generations of artists since the 1990s.

Envisioning art as a social and participatory act that should be opened to wider public engagement, rather than a product defined by transactional values between individuals, Posenenske produced large-scale sculptural works that were functional and easy to install, including non-figurative panels, folded and tilted works, reliefs, and square tubes in steel and cardboard. She determined not to restrict the number of elements produced, and matched their retail prices to their manufacturing costs in order to undermine the compulsory capitalist value-added system of the art market.

Following considerable critical attention and in the wake of the political events of 1968 and the rise of the ​‘art market’, Posenenske published a manifesto stating that art did not have the sufficient impact to solve urgent social issues. The document, which in turn marked her withdrawal from artistic production, concludes with statement quoted above.

The exhibition at Modern Art comprises works from three key facets of Posenenske’s practice. Early works on paper from the 1950s, the Series B Reliefs (1967) - a group of sheet aluminium sculptures of elementary forms in primary colours, which are among her earliest sculptural works; the Series D Vierkantrohe (Square Tubes) (1967) which are made of galvanized metal sheets and recall ventilation ducting - here Posenenske turned to industrially fabricated materials in the spirit of American counterparts such as Donald Judd and Richard Serra, signalling her abandonment of the individual artistic gesture. Similarly, the Series DW Square Tubes (1967) constructed from corrugated cardboard, are mass-produced and modular elements.

Charlotte Posenenske, from Works on Paper, 1950s

Charlotte Posenenske, from Works on Paper, 1950s

Charlotte Posenenske, from Works on Paper, 1950s

Charlotte Posenenske, installation view, Modern Art

Charlotte Posenenske, installation view, Modern Art

Pierre Bonnard: The Colour of Memory - Tate Modern (23 January - 6 May 2019)

Pierre Bonnard, Nude in the Bath, 1936-8

Pierre Bonnard: The Colour of Memory is at Tate Modern (23 January - 6 May 2019)
From the Tate Modern website:

Born 1867, Bonnard was, with Henri Matisse, one of the greatest colourists of the early 20th century. He preferred to work from memory, imaginatively capturing the spirit of a moment and expressing it through his unique handling of colour and innovative sense of composition.

The exhibition concentrates on Bonnard’s work from 1912, when colour became a dominant concern, until his death in 1947. It presents landscapes and intimate domestic scenes which capture moments in time – where someone has just left the room, a meal has just finished, a moment lost in the view from the window, or a stolen look at a partner.

Reviews:
Adrian Searle (The Guardian) "Monumental, monstrous... and rubbish at dogs..."
Mark Hudson (The Telegraph) "Colour elevates the ordinary into the sublime."
Waldemar Januszczak (Sunday Times/blog) "Brightness is not the same thing as brilliance."
Hannah McGivern (The Art Newspaper) "... a 'slow' look at fleeting moments."
Laura Cumming (The Observer) "Scenes from a marriage."

Pierre Bonnard, Window Open on the Seine (Vernon), 1911-12

Pierre Bonnard, Nude Crouching in the Tub, 1918

Pierre Bonnard, Self-Portrait, c1938

Pierre Bonnard, L'atelier au mimosa, 1939-46

Pierre Bonnard, In the Bathroom, c1940

Pierre-Bonnard, Still Life with Bottle of Red Wine, 1942

Andrew Bick: Concrete-Disco-Systems - Hales Gallery (18 January - 2 March 2019)

Andrew Bick, Variant t-s [detail], STORMY, 2016-2018

Andrew Bick: Concrete-Disco-Systems is at Hales Gallery, 18 January - 2 March 2019

Text extracted from Hales Gallery website (read full text here)

Concrete-Disco-Systems is a solo exhibition of recent work by Andrew Bick. His research-led practice seeks to reconsider histories of constructivism and systems art in a contemporary context.

Bick’s paintings consist of endless permutations - at the core is a grid system, that he reproduces time and time again. In 2008, Bick copied a grid structure from one of his own artworks, digitised it, and has since used this same grid as a starting point for every painting. In Bick’s view, new versions of the abstract, concrete and constructive, necessitate the repetition of banal information, leading to an unexpected conjuncture of word and image.  His work is based on the belief that disruption within a system helps us relearn the process of paying attention.

Mediated layering of geometry and gesture act as an antidote to a world of instantaneous information. It is evident that the paintings are made laboriously, testing how far he can take the medium. An amalgamation of watercolour, oil paint, marker pen and encaustic are used to carefully block off areas, building the surface and composition, contrasting with casual-seeming brushstrokes and open areas of untouched support.

Andrew Bick, Variant t-s [flat and tilted] #2 v4, 2013-2018

Andrew Bick, wall painting for Concrete-Disco-Systems at Hales Gallery - in progress

Andrew Bick, wall painting for Concrete-Disco-Systems at Hales Gallery - detail

Andrew Bick: Concrete-Disco-Systems - Hales Gallery, installation view

Andrew Bick: Concrete-Disco-Systems - Hales Gallery, installation view

The artist at work

Fausto Melotti: Counterpoint - Estorick Collection (16 January - 7 April 2019)

Fausto Melotti, Giardino pensile, (Hanging Garden), 1970

Fausto Melotti: Counterpoint is at the Estorick Collection from 16 January - 7 April 2019
From the Estorick website:
The harmonious and delicately-poised work of Fausto Melotti (1901-1986) is revered in Italy, yet surprisingly little-known in the United Kingdom. Informed by the languages of music and mathematics, his artistic activity spanned a variety of disciplines and media, and was infused not only with a sense of precision, but also with a spirit of poetry, playfulness and exuberance. Renowned for his elegant abstract sculptures, Melotti also produced a significant amount of figurative imagery during the course of his multifaceted career. Born in Rovereto, Melotti initially studied physics and mathematics at the University of Pisa before graduating in electrical engineering from Milan Polytechnic in 1924. During these years he also studied both the piano and sculpture, and enrolled at the Accademia di Brera in 1928. There, he met Lucio Fontana who became a lifelong friend. Melotti joined the Abstraction-Création movement, and during the 1930s produce a number of solid, geometric sculptures, many of which were inspired by the mathematical principles of musical counterpoint. During the post-war period his works became more delicate, incorporating wire and cloth, with a sinuous rhythm highlighted by slim sculptural lines. The Venice Biennale awarded him with the Leone d’Oro in 1986 the day after his death on 22 June. Organized in collaboration with Milan’s Fondazione Fausto Melotti, this exhibition includes key works reflecting the various strands of the artist’s oeuvre, and is the first institutional show to be dedicated to Melotti’s work in Britain.

Fausto Melotti, Untitled, 1955

Fausto Melotti, The Seven Sages (one element), 1960 (1978)

Fausto Melotti,  Harlequin's Bride, 1979