February 2011 / Geneva
The Portrait de l’artiste series which was exhibited at Galerie La Ferme in February reflects of my life in Europe whilst living in Geneva. My days at atelier GE Grave, the view of Lac Leman across from where I lived on rue de Lausanne; my red coat bought from a second hand shop in Paquis. It was the red coat I was wearing when I said goodbye to my son at Antwerp station. It was the red coat I wore in Paris when we celebrated my daughter’s 21st birthday. It was the red coat that kept me warm in Budapest when I walked along the banks of the Danube ankle deep in snow. In the pockets of my red coat I would find these memories: a Paris metro ticket, a tissue that had once been drenched in tears.
Portrait of the Artist in Paris, Exhibition in Geneva 2011, www.fermedelachapelle.ch
October 2010 / Serbia, Cyprus, Israel, Thailand and Burma
Belgrade Serbian artist Zoran Todovic, renowned for his works on paper, has made a series of imaginary flags based on former Yugoslavia before it was torn apart. The Centre for Graphic Arts and Visual Researches remains an important centre for print exhibitions. Chaos Gallery is looking very smart in its new location near the National Theatre. It is Belgrade’s most important commercial gallery. www.gallerychaos.com
Centre for Graphic Arts; Flags by Zoran Todovic; Zoran Todovic
Nicosia + Paphos Over the past two years I have visited Cyprus several times. The University of Sydney headed by Dr Craig Barker and the Department of Antiquities of the Republic of Cyprus have been excavating the Hellenistic-Roman theatre at Pathos since 1995. www.paphostheatre.com Also in Paphos are the mosaics in the Roman villa know as the House of Dionysos. Other worthwhile art foundations are the Pharos Arts Foundation www.thepharostrust.org and the beautifully converted old electricity house now the Pierides Museum of Contemporary Art, both in Nicosia. Efkides Papadopoulos is a printmaker whom I met at IMPACT 2009 in Bristol.
Nicosia Efkides Papadopoulos in his studio in Nicosia, and view of Nicosia.
Mosaics in Cyprus
Jerusalem Al-ma'mal Foundation for Contemporary Art in the old city of Jerusalem promotes Palestinian artists and offers residencies to international artists. Mona Hatoun won the 2010 Käthe Kolwitz prize in Berlin. Each year in October the Foundation presents The Jerusalem Show with art venues located around the old city. This year’s theme was Exhaustion – one of the most dynamic shows I’ve seen in years. www.almamalfoundation.org
If you can tolerate checkpoints, the apartheid wall, the world’s best outdoor gallery is worth the visit.
Al-ma'mal Foundation
Apartheid Wall
Bangkok + Rangoon I lived in Bangkok for 3 years in the 1980s setting up my printmaking studio Inky Fingers Inc. During this time a military coup killed cameraman-journalist and friend Neil Davis. With the king’s failing health political instability has increased. But it still has charm if perhaps a tad kitsch. The once familiar streets of Yangon where I lived in the late 1980s were difficult to recognise since the devastation of cyclone Nargis. One of the young artists I knew well, Win Pe Myint has become a prominent painter with exhibitions in Hong Kong. www.asia-finearts.com
Bangkok old and new
Burma (Myanmar)
August + September 2010 / Switzerland Participated in a group drawing exhibition - Dessin act-art Halle Nord, Geneva. Tirage limité 2 – limited editions and artist’s books fair, Lausanne
Participant at Gallery Artraction, and Dessin act-art Halle Nord, Geneva.
Amartistes Tirages Limités, Marguerite Ryser;Tirage limité 2 – limited editions and artists' books fair, Lausanne
List of museums in Switzerland for printmaking and artists' books:
Martin Bodmer Foundation – Library and Museum, Geneva www.fondationbodmer.org
Jenish Museum, Vevey www.museejenisch.ch
Abby Library of Saint Gallen www.stifsbibliothek.ch
Gutenberg Museum, Fribourg www.gutenbergmuseum.ch
Basel Paper Museum www.papiermuseum.ch
Centre d’editions contemporaine, Geneva www.c-e-c.ch
July 2010 / Germany, Poland and Austria
Leipzig - Spinnerei, from cotton to culture. 120 years ago this red brick complex was one of the largest cotton-spinning mills in Europe. Note Käthe Kollwitz’s lithographs of the weavers.
In 1992 it started to be occupied by artists – several galleries and Boesner the IKEA of art supplies. Lubok www.lubok.de with an enormous selection of artist’s books and a Museum of Printmaking. www.spinnerei.de
Museum der bildenden Künste - Museum of Local Artists which includes Max Beckmann and Max Klinger who were born in Lipzig. www.mdbk.de
Spinnerei Art Complex Museum der Bildenden Künste
Chemnitz despites the scares of Soviet occupation has several excellent museums – Neue Sächsische Galerie, Museum für zeitgenössishe Knust dedicated to the graphic arts. www.neue-saechsische-galerie.de The major museum of art is in the town centre. A large collection of paintings by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff – an expressionist (Brücke / The Bridge) can be seen at the Gunzenhauser Museum Rudolf-Breitscheid Street is filled with art nouveau houses.
Halle is another former industrial city close to Leipzig. Halle 14 is a 5 story former cotton spinning mill which is now an independent art centre. www.halle14.org
Berlin German artist Gunter Demnig’s Stumbling Blocks can be seen in sidewalks in several European cites. The blocks are placed at the entrance of buildings from where persons were deported. On the brass plate is the name, year of birth and the fate, as well as the dates of deportation and death. In 1990, he marked in chalk the route taken by Cologne’s gypsies when they were deported in 1940. http://www.berlinischegalerie.de/index.php?id=46&L=1 Only fragments of the original Berlin wall are left but there is a remarkable amount of information documenting this bleak history which can be read in the streets close to Checkpoint Charlie. July also marked the 15th anniversary of Europe's largest massacre since World War II, the Srbrenica massacre where ethnic Serb troops attacked and killed some 8,000 Muslim men during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. The Holocaust Memorial designed by architect Peter Eisenman and engineer Buro Happold contains 2,711 concrete slabs arranged in a grid over almost 5 acre. According to Eisenman's statement, the stelae are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason. Potsdamer Platz- urban renewal by architectural giants Renzo Piano, Christoph Kohlbecker, Arata Isozaki, Steffen Lehmann, Hans Kollhoff, Lauber + Wöhr, José Rafael Moneo, Richard Rogers
16,000 shoes, each pair representing one of 8,372 victims of the Srbenica massacre; Berlin Wall
Holocaust Memorial and Stumbling Block in pavement
Lodz Almost in central Poland, Lodz was another big industrial centre that grew enormously wealthy on the production of textiles. The wealthy barons built glorious villas many of which are now museums. Book Art Museum www.book.art.pl Lodz is also an important city for cinema
Vienna Kunsthalle Street + Studio, Basquiat to Séripop with Australia video artists Shaun Gladwell. “Two extreme places within the system of art. The Street –quick, spontaneous, intuitive. The Studio-traditional domain, quiet, private.” Of note: Open Your Eyes and Repair by French Algerian artists Kader Attia
Hundertwasser House, Vienna by architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser
Hundertwasser House, Vienna by architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser
June 2010 / ArtBasel 41
The world’s most prestigious art fair and the biggest attraction was the large screen TV of the World Cup match – Switzerland against Spain.
Concentrating on Artist Books, Off Press and Limited Editions there was a notable shift back to simple technology. Many of the fanzines and risographs, quirky and fun, were available for just a couple of francs with numerous works by Raymond Pittibon.
Big Fag Press / Sydney www.bigfagpress.org
Made in Switzerland by FAG and salvaged in Sydney at a scrap metal auction for $50! The old offset proof press was rescued by a group of clever lads. This is an amazing story.
13-17 Riley Street, Woolloomooloo
Poligrafa / Barcelona www.edicionspoligrafa.com
Lightning Bolts for the Original 2010
Nathan Carter
Cut out and printed objects such as keys, coins and pieces of metal
Galerie Sabine Kunst / Munich www.sabineknust.co
Cry 2010
Jack Pierson
Archival pigment print with screenprint
Lelong Editions / Paris www.galerie-lelong.com
Sans Titre 2009
Jannis Kounellis
Newspaper and screenprint
Pace Prints / New York www.paceprints.com
Botanical Collage #1 2008
Jane Hammond
Monoprint, relief with collage and hand painting on prepared paper
Alan Cristea / London www.alancristea.com
As Time Goes By 2009
Howard Hodgkin
Sugar-lift aquatint printed using between 7 to 15 colours per panel with carborundum relief and hand painted acrylic on 5 sheets of Moulin de Gué paper
The Gallery Staff 1 2010
Julian Opie
A series of 5 screen prints on glass in frames designed by the artist
