The Human Factor at the Hayward

Contemporary and Old Art Reviews

The Human Factor at the Hayward

Postby jasperjoffe » Wed Aug 13, 2014 1:22 pm

Figurative Sculpture http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/venues/hayward-gallery/exhibitions

1. You get waxworks (realistic) or mannequins (illustrative)
2. You don't get sculptures that do anything in space (except that they're 3D so occupy some).
3. The waxworks are sometimes curious or astonishing but little more.
4. The mannequins illustrate some simplistic ideas.
5. Oh, you get the messy sculptures too, a pile of clay (sometimes bronze masquerading) or foam or some other crap.
6. No one creates figures that make you think about what figures look like, except the uncannily realistic ones which make you do a double take. But we actually see figures in many ways (bits, movement, groups, psychologically).
7. This is a poor show, summed up by the banal art speaky press release below, where simple ideas are made to sound modern by layering them in bullshit.

"International artists confront the question of how we represent the 'human' today.

The Human Factor surveys how artists over the past 25 years have reinvented figurative sculpture, looking back to earlier movements in art history and drawing on contemporary imagery.

The artists engage in dialogues with modernist, classical and archaic models of art.

Across their work, the figure is a catalyst for exploring concerns from political violence and mortality to sexuality and voyeurism.

The exhibition will feature works by over 20 leading international artists including Pawel Althamer, Frank Benson, Huma Bhabha, Katharina Fritsch, Ryan Gander, Rachel Harrison, Georg Herold, Thomas Hirschhorn, Jeff Koons, Paul McCarthy, John Miller, Cady Noland, Ugo Rondinone, Yinka Shonibare, Thomas Schütte, Paloma Varga Weisz, Rebecca Warren, Andro Wekua and Cathy Wilkes."
jasperjoffe
Site Admin
 
Posts: 768
Joined: Mon Jun 07, 2010 2:53 pm

Re: The Human Factor at the Hayward

Postby CAP » Fri Aug 15, 2014 8:10 am

Yep, another Rugoff dud alright. :roll:

Is this a new nadir for the Hayward? :evil:

Did I say Hayward? Make that Wayward! :lol:
User avatar
CAP
 
Posts: 1081
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2011 11:38 am
Location: Off-world

Re: The Human Factor at the Hayward

Postby jasperjoffe » Fri Aug 22, 2014 11:39 am

I thought the early part of his reign was alright
jasperjoffe
Site Admin
 
Posts: 768
Joined: Mon Jun 07, 2010 2:53 pm

Re: The Human Factor at the Hayward

Postby CAP » Sun Aug 24, 2014 1:04 pm

How you could omit Stephan Balkenhol from this brief I simply do not know. The guy is easily the equal of Schütte or Fritsch. How you could ignore David Altmejd or Thomas Houseago in this context defies reason. Is it any surprise the whole thing comes off as lame and souless? Kill the curator.

How you could include K. D. Noland or Rachel bloody Harrison suggests no more than shameful chauvinism. For a curator boasting the introduction of novel and overlooked works to London audiences this show has more than its share of old predictables (Koons, McCarthy, Hirschhorn) ‘The Human Factor’ turns out to have a disturbingly heavy American bias for no good reason. Maybe it’s time for Rugoff to go home and confront a few demons, or failing that at least try studying art history a little more diligently – the French philosophy really isn’t cutting it anymore (if it ever did).

And if you’re going to have Rebecca Warren (Turner finalist zzzzzzzz), I don’t see why he couldn’t have included current Berlin hottie Stella Hamberg, whose stuff at least has some sort of expressive resonance. Jawohl Stella! :mrgreen:

Stella Hamberg.jpg
Stella Hamberg.jpg (130.83 KiB) Viewed 16367 times
User avatar
CAP
 
Posts: 1081
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2011 11:38 am
Location: Off-world


Return to Art Reviews

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests

cron