Mark Wallinger – Ecce Homo (1999)
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Like the inexorable swings of a pendulum – or more like the mood swings of the manically depressed – the art world goes from abstraction to the figurative – the passions of one generation become the taboos of the next. The interest of the art market, much more than those of individual artists, determine what’s “in” at any given time. Since Kandinsky put point and line to plane, there have always been artists who have continued to work figuratively, and many do, even during these heady days of conceptualism-ism.
The Hayward Gallery at the Southbank Centre in London hosts “The Human Factor: The Figure in Contemporary Sculpture” a show examining the figure in … well, contemporary sculpture, and showcases the work of 25 international artists who have, sometimes controversially, wrestled with new ways of portraying the human figure.
The wonderful and informative art blog “Artdone” (they tirelessly cover the comings and goings in galleries and museums the world over) showcases a gallery of some of the sculptures on exhibit. We repost some in this blog, because we are interested in the tension between figuration and abstraction, and the quest for harmony and beauty in the age of sycophantic Auctioneering.
The show continues until the 7th of September, 2014.
We direct you to the Hayward Gallery webpage for the exhibition, linked here.
Maurizio Cattelan – Now (2004)
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Thomas Hirschhorn – Resistance Subjecter (2011)
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Pawel Althamer – Monika and Pawel (2002) Tate London
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Georg Herold – My Sweet Lord (2009)
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Katharina Fritsch Cook and 6th Photo Black Forest House (2006-08)
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We post a few more photos from the exhibition, after the jump.
You can see more on the Artdone blog, linked here.
Jeff Koons – Bear and Policeman (1988) Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg
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Martin Honert – Photo (1993)
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Yinka Shonibare – Mbe Girl Ballerina (2007)
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Pierre Huyghe Liegender Frauenakt – Untitled (2011-2012)
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Ryan Gander – I Dont Blame You (2008)
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We invite your thoughts on the relevance of the figure in contemporary art.
Write to us at info@artislimited.com.
