Urs Fischer at the New Museum (2009-2010)

Urs Fischer, Violent Cappuccino, 2007

Hello! What’s going on here then? In this composition Urs Fischer presents an absurd puzzle that is immensely believable. He has brought life back to the skeleton; mid maneuver and completely consumed by his situation we seem to get a sense of his character (he’s definitely male). We can’t work out what is going on exactly; is he stuck? How could it have happened? It’s like the boxes have suddenly entrapped him. I want to go over and give him a hand but at the same time I don’t want to interrupt him, it feels a private conundrum somehow. There is something very contemplative and thoughtful about this, I love the way in which he’s suspended, with just the boxes touching the floor. It’s really quite sublime. The title, Violent Cappuccino, is rather lovely, and is to be seen at the New Museum on until Feb 2010. I’d really like to see it in person. Another one for the fantasy collection…

Ben Quilty

Ben Quilty, Skull-Burger no.3, 2006

Oh my, Oh my, Oh my… This young Australian painter makes me want money so I can buy; he makes me want a gallery so I can show; he makes me want to know him so I can look him in the eye and understand. But this is what Real Art does, it means you can understand everything in a pure moment, the world can make sense when you rest your eyes on paint so thick you want to chew it, colours so cool and melancholy you want them close to your skin, depth so bottomless you want to free-fall into it.

The form of this painting, the shapes, it reminds me of Claes Oldenburg’s wonderfully stuffed sculptures, remember those calico burgers and cigarettes? The painting is almost 3D. That background is super sublime like a Caspar David Fredrich relentless rolling sky; it makes me want to go on forever. The skull gorging on meat, the tomato sauce soaked soggy lettuce – I can taste the salt in it; the human avaricious will to consume; a dirty skull, soiled by life and left wretched by flesh. I could live very happily with this painting; it reminds me of all that is human and all that is not. I may get into a lot of debt over this – I’m mailing him now…

THIS IS ART!

Grayson Perry: The Ten Days of Alan

I recently had the privilege of organising and producing a pilgrimage style performance for Grayson Perry around France, Antwerp and Germany. Grayson loves his motorbikes, just like he loves his dresses, and he designed this rather incredible beast, The AM 1,  which doubles up as a sort of Popemobile for Grayson’s benign dictator teddybear, His Royal Highness Alan Measles. Over ten days we visited sites of great cultural significance for Grayson and his work, from the Nurburgring to Mad King Ludwig’s Neuschwanstein Castle, made famous by Disney in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. We were accompanied by a BBC film crew and a collection of Grayson's friends and even Alan Yentobb popped by for roast Pork and Beer. Neil Crombie's Imagine will be broadcast on the 3rd November 2011, more information on that here. You can also read Alan’s experience on the blog I set up for Grayson.