FOUR DAYS IN LONDON PART TWO:

CHINA POWER STATION:

The Serpentine Gallery organized an exhibition of sound and video artwork from China in the disused Battersea Power Station.

Little city space is left abandoned in London and this large modern ruin has always held a curiosity for us, looming large as it does in the south-west part of the city.

The exhibition was co-produced by the Red Mansion Foundation, a privately funded organization whose aim is to promote cultural exchange between China and Britain.

Toyo Ito’s stunning pavilion (constructed for the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in 2002) housed a dim-sum café and shop. UniversalSTUDIOS, a cultural space in Beijing developed the shop’s merchandising strategy.

Shipping crates were used to display the merchandise (mostly artist multiples), the whole look reminiscent of the ad-hoc displays of Chinese street sellers.

It reminded us of Cyril Duval’s design for Bernard Wilhelm’s shop in Tokyo.

Read more on Cyril Duval HERE

The videos, screened across the five floors of the power station, included a video of Chinese people hip-hopping by Cao Fei, a mesmerizing white warrior dance video by Wang Jian Wei, and a piece by Yang Zhenzhong featuring the artist balancing the Shanghai skyline on one finger. On the top floor, an installation of an entire wall of caged apples by Gu Dexin lent the damp air a fresh, but somehow melancholy smell.

ZOO ART FAIR:

Two things caught our eye at Zoo.

1. Centrefold is a series of hand-made books developed by artist Reza Aramesh. Each book holds, on each page, original works by a group of artists. The books are available in editions from 20 to 60 and priced on a sliding scale. There are four books so far. They remind us of something that a collector might have if they were to ask their artists doodle in a book; in fact we recently saw such a book while visiting an important post-war collection in Germany.

More info on Centrefold HERE

2. Boo Ritson’s photographs of painted bodies at David Risley Gallery stopped us in our tracks. The artist poses models and then covers them in paint, blocked out in colour so that they become live paintings caught on film. Or still performances, reminiscent of Evan Penny, Chuck Close, Duane Hanson, Kazimir Malevitch, Howard Kanovitz and Alex Katz.

More on Boo Ritson and images HERE

ANISH KAPOOR AT THE LISSON GALLERY:

The Lisson Gallery’s exhibition of new work by Anish Kapoor was extraordinarily raw – almost biblical. His collaborative work, made with Salman Rushdie was his first with a writer.

Two bronze boxes were inscribed with Rushdie’s text: “Blood Relations, or an Interrogation of the Arabian Nights.”

Inside, what appeared to be human or animal entrails made from red wax between two shapes that may or may not have been related to the slowly moving red Vaseline dome in the main gallery.

THE BEST FOR LAST - JAMES TURRELL:

The best experience we had in London was the brand new Louise T Blouin Institute. Not only is the space of an exceptional quality, the exhibition by James Turell was a thought-provoking balance to much of the over-hyped art that Frieze week brings.

Sitting on a chair facing his work Mongo, The Planet (2001), effectively staring a varying shades of black on a television screen, is absolutely fascinating. We could have stayed there for hours.

Someone should give this man a modeling contract…!

Artist James Turrell

Read more on the exhibition HERE