14.3.08

2. Alexander Rodchenko


“One of the greatest figures of early 20th century avant-garde art”. Or so they say.
If I were to sum him up I would say that Alex was a handy chap to have around, especially when he had a camera to hand – especially if you didn’t mind a jaunty angled composition. Some of his pieces are very impressive, some more reportage of the current situation in the Soviet Union , and some you have undoubtedly have seen countless times before, unknowingly (2nd from the left).
That said it was his layouts and collages for the the legendary Lef Magazine that stayed with me, in particular No 7 which I happen to have recreated here in-house in the hope that the idea I had at the time will stay with me until the time is right.

11.3.08

1. From Russia with Love

I am sure much has already been written by better writers than myself about the From Russia exhibition at the Royal Academy, so I am just going to highlight my favorite bits:
New to me was the work of Sergei Sudeikin, or more particularly the funkiest clouds on show his Giselle (1915). Unfortunately I can't find a thumbnail on the web, so you'll just have to cough-up the £13 yourself, or take my word for it. |•| On the subject of funky, that camel in Date Palm (Martiros Saryan, 1911) it up there. And could be a pre-Dakar Rally example of sponsored desert transport. |•| Marc Chagall's The Promenade (1917–18) was lovely, and it was fun to watch the school group, sprawled across the floor trying to capture the image, but as I recall everyone was drawing the couple, no one drew the leaves which were the best bit in my eyes. |•| The award for Most Incredible Painting I have seen in years has to go to Pavel Filonov's German War (1914–15). You can see it here, but it doesn't even look like the same thing in a digital coat.
There were more but like I said, go look for yourself. It's worth it.

10.3.08

1-A-Day

The plan for this week is to visit an exhibition every day.