"International Trends in Art and Design: Art and Style Fair 2008"
2008-04-17 until 2008-04-20
Olma Trade Fairs St.Gallen
St. Gallen, , CH Switzerland

ART & STYLE St.Gallen Switzerland is the international fair and trade show for artworks and design-products in the region of four countries between Switzerland - Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein. The Art Event ART & STYLE is a trade and public fair and a Swiss and International Forum for galleries, artists and designers. The fair offers a forum of exchange for art dealers, artists and designers on all levels, the theoretical, the practical and the direct. Many international exhibitors will show their work personally to the public of St.Gallen, so the visitor can get the personal contact directly to many of the producers and artists. Exhibiting this year is Greg Gierlowski, who works in glass, both two and three dimensionally, as well as creates oils which are inspired by the luminescence of glass. Gierlowski has been a Premiere Portfolio Artist at absolutearts.com since 2001.

The visitor can acquire original works for its own collection or to furnish their living spaces and will discover both quality and variety in the represented styles, with exhibited works of consistently high standard in a surprising number of new artistic forms of expression. A large scale of styles, a high level of exhibited works with many new forms and a fresh spirit will attend the visitors. All products can be acquired at the fair.

The fair aims to promote communication, sales and contact between the exhibitors and the business, media, collectors and the public. Art lovers, Collectors and Gallery owners will find a new platform for trade and contacts.

Greg Gierlowski comments about his work, "Light has always played important role in my creations. Light coming through translucent artwork interests me and fascinates me the most. Therefore I turned to glass and started to experiment with translucent creations. My admiration for Art Nouveau artists who created beautiful everyday-use objects of art - resulted in the creation of applied arts' objects such as art-lamps. When one has backlight at ones disposal, there's whole new field of artistic expression - not only on one front surface of a glass panel but on two, or even four or more, when two or three layers of glass can be used as a kind of sandwich that builds deeper into artwork for 3D effects. That's what I'm currently exploring."

Lausanne, Switzerland

Controverses: Une histoire juridique et éthique de la photographie
Controversies: A Legal And Ethical History of Photography
5 April - 1 June 2008
Musée de l'Elysée
18, avenue de l'Elysée
1006 Lausanne, Suisse
(1) 41 21 316 99 11

Goya's Caprichos in Lille
Thu 24 Apr 2008 - Mon 28 Jul 2008

The collection of Goya's etchings - or Caprichos - will be displayed in its entirety at Lille's Palais des Beaux-Arts from April 24th to July 28th. The prints are often satirical in tone and explore darker themes than displayed in his previous work.

Composed of 80 etched and aquatint prints, Goya’s Caprichos explore such universal themes as romantic relationships, power and religion. These inventive, finely-crafted satirical images are open to a wide variety of interpretations. In 1799 Goya published a series of 80 prints titled Caprichos depicting what he called
“ ...the innumerable foibles and follies to be found in any civilized society, and from the common prejudices and deceitful practices which custom, ignorance, or self-interest have made usual.

Following in Goya’s footsteps, Japanese artist Yasumasa Morimura (Los Nuevos Caprichos) and British artists Jake and Dinos Chapman (Like a Dog Returns to its Vomit) make use of cross-dressing, provocation and the fantastic to bring their personal universes face-to-face with Goya’s own wild imaginings. Sculptures by Thomas Schütte, Rona Pondick and David Reekie complete the panorama.

Temple Treasures of a Sacred Mountain Daigo-ji - The Secret Buddhism in Japan
25 April - 24 August 2008

http://www.kah-bonn.de/index.htm?ausstel...ndex_e.htm

BONN.-For the first time in Germany, this forthcoming exhibition presents the magnificent treasures of the fabled Daigo-ji temple, one of Japan's most ancient monasteries. The exhibition comprises some 240 outstanding works, among them monumental sculptures, important paintings and scrolls, exquisite lacquer objects, superb calligraphy as well as priceless sutras, the sacred scriptures of Buddhism. Looking at these remarkable objects in a museum context, it is easy to forget that they also play a vital role in the day-to-day practice and ritual of a living religion.

While there are numerous exhibitions dealing with cultural history, shows on large Japanese collections are exceedingly rare, for the simple reason that Japanese works of art tend to be extremely fragile creations made of paper or wood that are too fragile to withstand long-distance transport. The sheer size of the monumental wooden sculptures will therefore come as a surprise to many visitors, as will the delicate decorations on paper. For the first time outside Japan, the exhibition presents one of the most extensive Buddhist art collections spanning more than a thousand years. Because of the fragility of the exhibits the duration of the exhibition is strictly limited, and it will be shown in Bonn only.

The history of the Daigo-ji temple on Mount Kasatori south of the ancient imperial city of Kyoto reaches back more than 1100 years. Founded in 874 AD, it remains one of the most important religious centres and is a key pilgrimage site. The monastery has always been a centre for Buddhist studies, but also for philosophy and medicine. The monks' religious charisma finds expression in numerous myths and legends. The monastery's political significance - maintained throughout its long history - is evident in its architecture and in the extraordinary wealth of its collection. In 1994 Daigo-ji was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Shingon Buddhism
The exhibition is an introduction to Shingon Buddhism and presents the Daigo-ji temple as a key cultural heritage site. It demonstrates the way in which religion reverberates through art and history. The unfamiliar pictorial language that characterises much of Esoteric or Secret Buddhism is examined in the context of its religious teachings in order to elucidate the roots of its symbolism and its ritual significance. The art of Shingon Buddhism often seems confusing because of the large number of Buddhas and the unusual forms they take. By focusing on those figures of the pantheon that are relevant in the context of the Daigo-ji temple, the exhibition provides an insight into the basic structure of Shingon imagery.

National Treasures
The Art and Exhibition Hall is proud to be able to presents an unprecedented number of objects that under Japan's strict laws for the protection of cultural properties are hardly ever allowed to leave the country. This uniquely rich exhibition is the result of a close cooperation both with the lender and the National Museum of Japan, and was further facilitated by the high technical standard of the Art and Exhibition Hall. Never before has such a large number of protected objects of the Japanese cultural heritage been shown outside Japan.

The Cultural Properties Protection Division within the Agency of Cultural Affair subdivides the Japanese cultural heritage into three categories: 'national treasure', 'important cultural property' and 'important object of art'. The Art and Exhibition Hall has been able to secure the loan of an astonishing thirteen national treasures, among them illuminated 8th-century sutras, rare paintings from the 11th to the 13th century - some of them measuring three metres - and ancient imperial manuscripts. Also on show are ninety-three important cultural properties, among them outstanding sculptures, paintings of up to six metres height, large mandalas, Esoteric Buddhist scriptures written in gold ink, as well as lavishly ornamented 17th-century screens and works by artists such as the sculptor Kaikei (12th/13th century) and the 17th-century painter Tawaraya Sōtatsu.

The hidden techniques of the Impressionists

FLORENCE, ITALY.- An exhibition of major works by Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masters reveals the secrets behind some of the world’s best-loved paintings. Painting Light: The hidden techniques of the Impressionists will be staged at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence from 11 July to 28 September 2008. The exhibition comprises over sixty works including masterpieces by Manet, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Caillebotte and Signac which will be shown alongside such evocative objects as one of Monet’s palettes as well as technological images of the pictures themselves. This juxtaposition of art and extensive research produces a fascinating insight that will take visitors by surprise. The majority of paintings come from the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud which has the most comprehensive collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings in Germany . Other major works have been loaned by German, French and Swiss museums as well as the Tate in London and private collectors.

How did the Impressionist artists create their works which at first shocked the art world and later became some of the most popular paintings ever created? What techniques and materials did they use to give life to their hugely influential contribution to the evolution of modern art? Much information hidden beneath the visible surfaces of paintings has been revealed through extensive technological study undertaken by a team of expert restorers, scientists and art historians. This important project called ‘Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Painting Technique’ began in 2002 under the direction of the restoration department of the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud in Cologne where this innovative and informative exhibition was shown earlier this year.

The valuable works have been studied using the most up-to-date techniques such as stereomicroscopy, scientific materials analysis and X-ray, ultra violet and infra-red imaging as well as a detective’s nose for clues. The research team analysed the various processes involved in creating the paintings, checked for natural signs of aging or searched for particular signs of manipulation, all of which threw new light on the history of each picture. The research even provided proof that an artist had actually painted outdoors.

The exhibition explores many aspects of Impressionism and poses a series of questions beginning with ‘What is an impression?’ The physical elements of light, colour and sensory perception are highlighted while projections of changing light imitating different times of day demonstrate the influence of light on paintings. The materials and implements the Impressionists used are explored through a re-creation of a 19th century art supplies shop displaying brushes, canvases, palettes and paints, several loaned by the Winsor & Newton collection from Harrow in Middlesex, as well as a wooden paintbox from the Museum of London. This shows the immense influence of such technical progress as recently discovered colour tones or the invention of oil paint in tubes that made it so much easier for the Impressionists to create their legendary plein air or open air paintings.

The technological detective work has in many cases been able to pinpoint where a painting was originally created. For example the question ‘Inside or out?’ has been answered by the discovery of countless grains of sand in The Sea at Saint-Palais by Armand Guillaumin and by the bud of a poplar tree embedded in a landscape entitled Laundry Drying on the Bank of the Seine by Gustave Caillebotte. In addition, this section includes a re-creation of both a studio and an open air situation with original props.

The goal of many Impressionists was to spontaneously capture a moment on canvas but how quick were they really? The section ‘Spontaneous or strategic?’ presents research that answers this question. Invisible underdrawings, first drafts and other meticulous preparations show how, behind the façade of spontaneity, artists such as Gauguin, Van Gogh or Caillebotte frequently worked very methodically. An infra-red reflectogram of Van Gogh’s Bridge at Clichy, 1887, reveals a detailed pencil underdrawing and the guidelines of the perspective frame.

‘When was a painting finished?’ Among the initial criticisms aimed at Impressionist pictures was their apparent lack of finish. The sketchy style, frequent lack of signature or varnish went against the usual rules and presented a problem for critics, collectors, dealers and even the artists themselves. The frame became a new sign of the completion of a painting for many artists who believed that its form and colouring should harmonise and enhance the work. Camille Pissarro, for example, was a great proponent of the stark white frame which has been reconstructed for Orchard at Pontoise at Sunset. Sadly Impressionist paintings still in their original frames are extremely rare.

The final question addressed is ‘How do we see the pictures today?’ All pictures change over time both through natural aging and later interventions such as overpainting or restoration. The technological studies undertaken demonstrate how changes of canvas, ground or colour layer influence the whole appearance of a painting. Farm at Bazincourt by Pissarro shows how pictures were added to and supposedly ‘improved’ by brushstrokes by others – additions that were not unusual in Impressionist works. Similarly forgeries created during the lifetime of the artists, a clear sign of their growing public recognition, can be unmasked by technological study. It can also give evidence for the attribution of a hitherto unacknowledged painting to a prominent artist, for example the exhibition presents for discussion the possible attribution of a portrait of a young woman to Edouard Manet.

Painting Light: The hidden techniques of the Impressionists comes to Florence at an exceptional time as the city is celebrating the centenary of Giovanni Fattori (1825-1908). Loved by Italians, Fattori was one of the leading members of the Macchiaioli, or Tuscan Impressionists, and the Impressionist masterpieces of Van Gogh, Monet and Renoir at the Palazzo Strozzi complement the city’s extensive programme of Fattori-related events and exhibitions. The exhibition not only offers a visual feast of wonderful paintings seldom seen outside Germany but also offers visitors the chance to be an ‘art detective’ – looking in detail at the clues the Impressionists left about how their paintings were made. There is even a special family programme that turns the exhibition into the setting for a ‘whodunit’.

Gerhard Richter. Paintings 1963-2007 at The National Art Museum of China

BEIJING.- Gerhard Richter is one of the most important, influential and successful contemporary artists in the world. Even in China's young art scene, the works of Gerhard Richter are discussed more than any others. It is therefore extremely fortunate that the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and the Frieder Burda Museum, Baden-Baden, now have the opportunity of presenting the first major retrospective of paintings by this Dresden-born artist at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing. This is being made possible not least through collaboration with the Bayerische Staatsgemaldesammlungen, Munich, and the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.

From 15th May until 2nd July 2008 no fewer than 56 paintings produced between 1963 and 2007 will be on show in Beijing, providing a representative overview of the comprehensive and multifaceted oeuvre of this great artist. Gerhard Richter himself determined the selection of works and the style of presentation for the exhibition at the National Art Museum of China.

Over the past 45 years, Richter's painting has been a constant dialogue between figurative and abstract pictorial concepts. Despite his stylistic diversity, his paintings always revolve around the central theme of the artistic representation of contradictory reality.

Gerhard Richter was born in Dresden in 1932. He studied at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste there before leaving the GDR in 1961. He then began studying art again in Düsseldorf. Since 1964 his paintings have been shown in numerous exhibitions and are held in all the major modern art museums around the world. Most recently, important retrospectives of his works were shown at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2002) and at the K 20 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf (2005). Gerhard Richter has won many awards for his art, including the Praemium Imperiale (1997) in Tokyo and the State Prize of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (2000). Since 2007 he has been an honorary citizen of Cologne, where his design for the window in the south transept of the city's famous Cathedral was consecrated in the same year.

Fashion in the Palm of Your Hand To Open at The Fan Museum



LONDON.- The Fan Museum presents Fashion in the Palm of your Hand, on view Friday 6th June 2008 – Sunday 26th October 2008. The exhibition Fashion in the Palm of your Hand is the culmination of the innovative creativity of Central Saint Martins combined with the solid tradition of The Fan Museum, the first museum in the world exclusively dedicated to fans.

Just like today’s ‘It’ bag, the fan was once considered a must-have accessory for the fashion conscious woman. As the ultimate feminine status symbol, Elizabeth I popularised their use in England, and women ever since have used fans as both an implement of flirtation and a display of wealth and power. Indeed, early examples encrusted with jewels and hewn from precious materials show how the fan was an extension of the opulence of court life. However, the fan is now a less exclusive object used in many different contexts ranging from pop videos, to fashion shows, photo shoots, and even advertising campaigns. In fact it seems that the fan is very often used more for what it may represent, than for the practical purpose of cooling its owner.

Fashion in the Palm of your Hand is a unique exhibition that explores fans as a filter for understanding fashion as a social and historical indicator. Throughout history, the fan has been adapted to fit its context. From the austere aesthetics of Oliver Cromwell, to John Galliano, whose Spring Summer 2007 Haute Couture show for Dior sought inspiration in the fan; and even the Burlesque artiste, Dita Von Teese who has reignited its erotic associations through her strip revue, where the fan both reveals and conceals.

There are still fan makers practising this art at a couture level, while high-street stores including Accessorize continue to sell them commercially. This exhibition will showcase a select number of fans dating from the seventeenth century through to contemporary examples, including two fans from Dior’s Haute Couture Spring Summer 2007 collection. Many are handpicked from the personal collection of Hélène Alexander MBE, alumnus of the Central School and Director of The Fan Museum.

Prestigious companies including Waitrose and Liberty, whose values reflect the re-interpreted tradition of this exhibition, are the in kind sponsors of Fashion in the Palm of your Hand.

Photo Espana 2008
4 June — 27 July

MADRID.- The Regional Government of Madrid presents at PHotoEspaña the latest work by the winner of the 6th Photography Award. The exhibition shows over 100 photographs, the majority unpublished, based on the cult of the mythical Venezuelan character.

Cristina García Rodero is a major exponent of the documentary trend that began in Spain during the nineteen seventies. For three decades, she has studied and
photographed popular traditions, mainly in Spain but also in Mediterranean Europe and Latin America. Her images are characterised by an extraordinary strength, the result of her passion for life and her photographic oeuvre stands out both for its meticulous technique and for the curiosity and sensitivity it shows for the territories explored.

María Lionza. La diosa de los ojos de agua contains approximately one hundred works revolving around this mythical Venezuelan character, whose cult goes back to the time before the Spaniards arrived in the fi fteenth century. Since then, there have been numerous pilgrimages to the Sorte mountain, located in the state of Yaracuy, where the devout go to make their requests. Cristina García Rodero’s photographs have never been published and they cover her work over the last ten years. They are a valuable selection of images on the rites, ceremonies and customs of María Lionza’s worshippers and offi ciants in today’s Venezuela.

Cristina García Rodero (Puertollano, Ciudad Real, 1949) has received numerous awards, including the World Press Photo Prize in the art category (1993) and Spain’s National Photography Prize (1996). She has participated in many solo exhibitions in the United States, Mexico, Portugal, United Kingdom, Germany, Venezuela and Poland, as well as in the Venice Biennale (2001).

The Grace Kelly Years Princess of Monaco Opens at The Salle Saint-Jean, Hotel de Ville

PARIS.- The Mayor of Paris is paying tribute to Princess Grace of Monaco by hosting the exhibition that the Grimaldi Forum presented in summer 2007. Curated by Frédéric Mitterrand, this exhibition looks at the various periods and facets of Grace Kelly's life.

From Hollywood star to Princess of Monaco, the story of a magnificent woman whose destiny was exceptional.

The exhibition takes visitors to the very heart of the memories of Grace Kelly's years as Princess of Monaco. A tribute exhibition, it leafs through an album of photographs by the greatest names in photography (Howell Conant, Cecil Beaton, Irving Penn and others), reveals the correspondence that Grace Kelly maintained with her Hollywood friends and the world's celebrities (Jacky Kennedy, Alfred Hitchcock, Maria Callas, Cary Grant et al) and displays personal belongings, a part of her wardrobe (including her wedding gown), some of her jewellery and many of her fashion accessories including the famous Kelly bag by Hermès.

Grace Kelly's first life, in cinema, is extensively documented through a montage of excerpts from her principal films and a big section devoted to Alfred Hitchcock's film Rear Window, but there are also sequences from home movies that Princess Grace herself filmed, movies that allow visitors to see exactly what her everyday life was like.

Through this woman who left us too soon, an entire era is sensed. An era trying to forget a devastating second world war. An era in which one woman, Grace Kelly, left her native America because love made her prefer the Old World.

Galerie Camera Work in Berlin Presents Ralph Mecke


Ralph Mecke, Lou Doillon II

BERLIN.- Galerie Camera Work presents Ralph Mecke, on view through July 26, 2008. Born in Berlin and today living in Paris and New York, Mecke is a young master of fashion photography. He achieved his breakthrough in 1998 with the publication of portraits of intellectuals and icons in French Vogue. Today the spectrum of Mecke`s portraits ranges from personalities such as Giorgio Armani or Keira Knightley to German artist Jonathan Meese. After he discovered his interest in fashion photography it became his main focus. His fashion stories can be found in magazines such as Harper's Bazaar, Vanity Fair, Vogue and GQ. Mecke interprets fashion in a way that clearly shows the underlying gloomy essence beneath the beautiful surface. The portraits, fashion photos and still lives presented at CAMERA WORK are all created between 1995 and 2008 reveal both, emotion and beauty as well as mysterious, dark realities.

While working, it is important for Mecke to give priority to his feeling of direct impression. "Real beauty," as he says, "is if something unexpected happens, giving brute emotional power to the picture." The artist is also a perfectionist when it comes to the final product. All effects for the photos are created in the studio - without any digital manipulation.

A selection of the colour photos presented in the exhibition has been produced by the use of the special dye transfer process. Because of the richness of tonal value, the colour depth and the brilliance achieved by the process, dye transfer is of paramount importance in the area of photographic printing technology. Collectors also appreciate it very much due to its light resistance and archival stability. Unfortunately, this process is regarded as almost extinct today.