[wwr]Rodchenko and America's Next Top Model, or Willy's chocolate and Wolfgang Tilmans
rudi hotmail
listadmin@worldwidereview.com
Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:10:32 -0000
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Hello,
Here are some highlights from the world's number one art review site =
www.worldwidereview.com
love Rudi
-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
-------
america's next top model season.cycle infinity
by telly savalas
25 March 2008
Another classic cycle is drawing to a close on UK's living channel. The =
girl with aspergers has made=20
the final five, and she adds a disability frisson to the gruelling =
marathon of modelling mayhem. There=20
are left two not great blondes with white skin and big teeth and two =
perky black haired coffee=20
coloured girls, and ms aspergers, she also has ADD, which I suffer from =
too. The other girls are not=20
very understanding. Bitches (wave hands in front of eyes now to avoid =
smudging mascara and=20
indicate imminent tears). The prettiest girl is the one with short hair =
and brown skin. Tyra gets extra=20
fierce and crazy every series. And the freak show of model trainers, =
sleazy photographers and the=20
like gets ever better. Our finale finds us in China, the new capital =
nation of unbridled excitement and=20
exotic capitalism gone oppressive mental hyper great. Objectification =
never had it so good. =
-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
-------
Rodchenko at the Hayward
by blp
24 March 2008
Outside I bumped into a nice guy I know vaguely from a design agency I =
work at sometimes. He was
propping himself up on a concrete wall. Something about the light and =
the trees behind him made me
feel like I was looking at a medium closeup in a Godard film, the effect =
only a little skewed by the
fact that, subtly, he seemed to be talking nonsense. He asked me how I =
was and I said something to
the effect that I was getting soul sick working in these design and =
advertising contexts that I make
my money in and couldn't relate to the people in them who sat around =
talking about the work like
they cared about it. 'Ah, well then you've got to find an angle on it.' =
'I'm not sure. I mean...how
do you mean?' 'Well, it's like when I was working as a photographer's =
assistant and one day we were
doing this fashion shoot and I realised everyone in the room genuinely =
cared about it and I had to
find an angle on it.' At this point, Polly appeared from inside - 'Ah =
there you are.' and I went off
without finding out what finding an angle on it would have meant. =
Perhaps it was something like the
things people do in repetitive factory jobs to make them interesting, =
like watch patterns and wait
for breaks in them or something. I went in and said hello to Polly's =
partner Rhys and their baby
Martha, who's just beginning to walk and talk and seems very happy.=20
Inside, we found that the way to the Rodchenko led through the Laughter =
in a Foreign Language show
and I insisted we take at least a quick look, despite everyone's =
disinclination, including my own.
It seemed very uninteresting and we beat ourselves up lightly for not =
working harder at taking an
interest. The Chapman brothers' defaced Hogarth prints were the last =
things we looked at. I said I
didn't get the point of them, I believed from what I'd heard that the =
whole thing was supposed to
have something to do with an assault on enlightenment values, but I =
didn't know how or, really, why
one would want to assault enlightenment values. In an off the cuff way, =
I said that Jake Chapman
seemed a little confused. 'I don't know', said Polly, a vague look =
passing over her face. I had to
press her a little. She said that, well, he just seemed to have a really =
good handle on what he was
talking about, very intelligent and well read and she'd always been =
rather impressed by him. I said,
yeah, it's true, he is well read and talks about it well, but the thing =
that wraps up all that
intelligence and knowledge is very simple mistake. He genuinely wants =
all this stuff he does to
shock people out of their normal ways of thinking etc. and it's taken =
him all this time to realise
it's not shocking because it's giving people just what they want or =
expect from an artist. He
basically said so in the last interview I read with him. 'Really', said =
Polly, 'he said that?'
'Pretty much', I said, feeling only a little unsure.=20
We walked around the first room, which was constructivist graphics for =
magazine covers more than
straight photography. Almost all of it seemed good to us. Rhys wanted to =
know why all this Russian
stuff was on right now. It is just coincidence? Polly said it wasn't, =
that there was coordination
between different institutions. Why Russia now? We didn't come up with =
the obvious answer, that one
big blockbuster show sets the tone, but we talked about how =
constructivism has been kind of cool in
the art world in the past few years and how that's sort of part of =
eighties revivalism, since the
eighties was the first time constructivism was revived, though more in =
graphics than in fine art.
Then we remembered the Franz Ferdinand cover and I told the others, who =
didn't know, that I thought
that cover was by Lucy Mckenzie, 'an au courant artist who's interested =
in constructivism', again,
feeling just a little unsure.=20
We got around to the last of the graphics and Polly said something about =
the lost hope of this
preStalinist moment and how amazing it was and yet sad. I said, 'Can you =
explain to me what the word
"ideology" means?' She looked at me as if I was being deliberately =
stupid. 'No, I said,
because...are you looking at me because you think it's obvious what it =
means and it's just "dogma"?'
'Basically, yeah.' 'Well, that's what I thought too, but lately I've =
begun to get the idea that it's
something else. Apparently, there's this phrase in Marx "they're doing =
it but they don't know
they're doing it." and that's what dogma is, a sort of unconscious =
participation in and perpetuation
of dogma. A kind of trick. A way of saying something's normality, when =
it's actually not. Anyway,
I've begun to find it quite a useful way of looking at things, I think. =
Like, you go to some
hipstery place full of people in trainers and it's sort of normal, these =
are normal people, yet
actually it's not natural, you have to think about it to be it or not be =
it and there are all these
messages in it about what it means to be a young, sort of artistic =
person here and now, about
freedom etc. and what you can allegedly expect from this if you commit =
to it.' 'Oh yeah', said
Polly. Then Rhys came around from the other side of the screen and said, =
'Hey did you know this
exhibition is sponsored by Roman Abramovich?' and I laughed and said, =
'There you go.' 'But,
alright', said Polly, actually on the verge of getting quite annoyed, =
'What if someone just thought,
we're having a Russian show, who's a Russian guy with a lot of money?' =
'Well they probably did', I
said, 'but this ideology idea is to do with the unconscious. You have to =
approach it like a
psychoanalyst.' I walked off, but we picked it up again in the larger =
room of photos because Rhys
wanted to know what we were talking about.=20
'I just don't want to get into conspiracy theories', said Polly. I =
said, 'But it's not the same
thing because it isn't conscious. Look, well, Rhys, I was saying that =
ideology, rather than just
being dogma, seems to be this process of being political without knowing =
you're doing it. We'd been
talking about the hope that's in these Rodchenko photos and then we =
talked about this idea of
ideology and then you came around and told us that this show was =
sponsored by Roman Abramovich,
who's like the symbol of the final nail in the coffin of this hope.' =
'Alright, when you put it like
that', said Polly.=20
After that we talked about a lot of the obvious stuff about how =
Rodchenko's work had had to change
under Stalin because you suddenly needed a permit to take photographs in =
the street, how just taking
portraits from funny angles suddenly wasn't allowed, whether the later =
photos of athletes were like
Leni Riefenstahl (another argument. Polly thought I was peddling the old =
'Stalinism, Nazism, all the
same' line). Rhys wanted to know what formalism was.=20
I don't want to get into conspiracy theories either and I I'm not sure I =
like the way, once you
accept this ideology idea even a little, it starts to hang on like =
tinnitus, but I will say this: I
love the photographs from before Stalin. I love their designed, =
formalist, overtly *constructed*
quality, which is almost completely unique and startling. What does =
Stalin do in banning all that?
Allegedly he takes a stand against their implicit ideology, the visible =
hand of the too individualist
artist. But doesn't he then miss the real point that this is an attempt =
to make ideology visible, to
say, yes, of course this is constructed *because all images are*. So =
under Stalin, the ideology
fades back into the fog, without, of course, losing its power. OK, now, =
for the sake of argument,
think about the artless, unconstructed photos that Wolfgang Tillmans =
takes, which simply capture
some little moment, some personal, cute little poetic something or =
other.-------------------------------------------------------------------=
-------------willy w*nkers wonky chocolate factoryby telly
09 March 2008
A f*ck-up of a program. Willy must be a friend of the producers or =
commissioner. He is utterly=20
charmless, a person you don't even enjoy disliking. A promotional film =
for his silly chocolate or a=20
reality show on him setting up his crappy company or a pilot for his new =
cooking show? The show has=20
little narrative flow/ a sense that it follows a real sequence of =
events. It is constantly interrupted by his=20
revolting cookery sketches. In the second show we finally get drawn out =
attempts to market his 100%=20
bar, and his equally awful wife ( though you do feel sorry for her and =
the children) pretending she is=20
using it as a dieting aid, perhaps willy dyes his overlong hair with it =
too. Willy he be successful? Is willy=20
his real name? did they come up with the show title and then make it =
solely on the basis of a bad pun?
Why I am watching this again? Because it's willy or monty don and his =
100000001 gardens, a choice=20
between one gormless posh tw*t and an unpleasant posh tw*t. =
-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
------- go to www.worldwidereview.com for more art and culture reviews
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<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Hello,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2><FONT face=3DArial>Here are some highlights from the =
world's=20
number one art review site </FONT><A =
href=3D"http://www.worldwidereview.com"><FONT=20
face=3DArial>www.worldwidereview.com</FONT></A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2><FONT face=3DArial>love Rudi</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<HR>
</DIV></FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#ff0000 =
size=3D5><STRONG>america's next=20
top model season.cycle infinity</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><!--webbot BOT=3D"FormInsertHere" --><PRE><FONT face=3DArial> by =
telly savalas
25 March 2008
</FONT><FONT face=3DArial></FONT></PRE><PRE><FONT face=3DArial>Another =
classic cycle is drawing to a close on UK's living channel. The girl =
with aspergers has made=20
the final five, and she adds a disability frisson to the gruelling =
marathon of modelling mayhem. There=20
are left two not great blondes with white skin and big teeth and two =
perky black haired coffee=20
coloured girls, and ms aspergers, she also has ADD, which I suffer from =
too. The other girls are not=20
very understanding. Bitches (wave hands in front of eyes now to avoid =
smudging mascara and=20
indicate imminent tears). The prettiest girl is the one with short hair =
and brown skin. Tyra gets extra=20
fierce and crazy every series. And the freak show of model trainers, =
sleazy photographers and the=20
like gets ever better. Our finale finds us in China, the new capital =
nation of unbridled excitement and=20
exotic capitalism gone oppressive mental hyper great. Objectification =
never had it so good. <HR>
</FONT></PRE><!--webbot BOT=3D"Include" =
U-Include=3D"../_shared_elements/comment_on_this_review.htm" startspan =
--></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>
<H2><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#ff0000>Rodchenko at the =
Hayward</FONT></H2><PRE><FONT face=3DArial>by blp
24 March 2008
Outside I bumped into a nice guy I know vaguely from a design agency I =
work at sometimes. He was
propping himself up on a concrete wall. Something about the light and =
the trees behind him made me
feel like I was looking at a medium closeup in a Godard film, the effect =
only a little skewed by the
fact that, subtly, he seemed to be talking nonsense. He asked me how I =
was and I said something to
the effect that I was getting soul sick working in these design and =
advertising contexts that I make
my money in and couldn't relate to the people in them who sat around =
talking about the work like
they cared about it. 'Ah, well then you've got to find an angle on it.' =
'I'm not sure. I mean...how
do you mean?' 'Well, it's like when I was working as a photographer's =
assistant and one day we were
doing this fashion shoot and I realised everyone in the room genuinely =
cared about it and I had to
find an angle on it.' At this point, Polly appeared from inside =96 'Ah =
there you are.' and I went off
without finding out what finding an angle on it would have meant. =
Perhaps it was something like the
things people do in repetitive factory jobs to make them interesting, =
like watch patterns and wait
for breaks in them or something. I went in and said hello to Polly's =
partner Rhys and their baby
Martha, who's just beginning to walk and talk and seems very happy.=20
Inside, we found that the way to the Rodchenko led through the Laughter =
in a Foreign Language show
and I insisted we take at least a quick look, despite everyone's =
disinclination, including my own.
It seemed very uninteresting and we beat ourselves up lightly for not =
working harder at taking an
interest. The Chapman brothers' defaced Hogarth prints were the last =
things we looked at. I said I
didn't get the point of them, I believed from what I'd heard that the =
whole thing was supposed to
have something to do with an assault on enlightenment values, but I =
didn't know how or, really, why
one would want to assault enlightenment values. In an off the cuff way, =
I said that Jake Chapman
seemed a little confused. 'I don't know', said Polly, a vague look =
passing over her face. I had to
press her a little. She said that, well, he just seemed to have a really =
good handle on what he was
talking about, very intelligent and well read and she'd always been =
rather impressed by him. I said,
yeah, it's true, he is well read and talks about it well, but the thing =
that wraps up all that
intelligence and knowledge is very simple mistake. He genuinely wants =
all this stuff he does to
shock people out of their normal ways of thinking etc. and it's taken =
him all this time to realise
it's not shocking because it's giving people just what they want or =
expect from an artist. He
basically said so in the last interview I read with him. 'Really', said =
Polly, 'he said that?'
'Pretty much', I said, feeling only a little unsure.=20
We walked around the first room, which was constructivist graphics for =
magazine covers more than
straight photography. Almost all of it seemed good to us. Rhys wanted to =
know why all this Russian
stuff was on right now. It is just coincidence? Polly said it wasn't, =
that there was coordination
between different institutions. Why Russia now? We didn't come up with =
the obvious answer, that one
big blockbuster show sets the tone, but we talked about how =
constructivism has been kind of cool in
the art world in the past few years and how that's sort of part of =
eighties revivalism, since the
eighties was the first time constructivism was revived, though more in =
graphics than in fine art.
Then we remembered the Franz Ferdinand cover and I told the others, who =
didn't know, that I thought
that cover was by Lucy Mckenzie, 'an au courant artist who's interested =
in constructivism', again,
feeling just a little unsure.=20
We got around to the last of the graphics and Polly said something about =
the lost hope of this
preStalinist moment and how amazing it was and yet sad. I said, 'Can you =
explain to me what the word
"ideology" means?' She looked at me as if I was being deliberately =
stupid. 'No, I said,
because...are you looking at me because you think it's obvious what it =
means and it's just "dogma"?'
'Basically, yeah.' 'Well, that's what I thought too, but lately I've =
begun to get the idea that it's
something else. Apparently, there's this phrase in Marx "they're doing =
it but they don't know
they're doing it." and that's what dogma is, a sort of unconscious =
participation in and perpetuation
of dogma. A kind of trick. A way of saying something's normality, when =
it's actually not. Anyway,
I've begun to find it quite a useful way of looking at things, I think. =
Like, you go to some
hipstery place full of people in trainers and it's sort of normal, these =
are normal people, yet
actually it's not natural, you have to think about it to be it or not be =
it and there are all these
messages in it about what it means to be a young, sort of artistic =
person here and now, about
freedom etc. and what you can allegedly expect from this if you commit =
to it.' 'Oh yeah', said
Polly. Then Rhys came around from the other side of the screen and said, =
'Hey did you know this
exhibition is sponsored by Roman Abramovich?' and I laughed and said, =
'There you go.' 'But,
alright', said Polly, actually on the verge of getting quite annoyed, =
'What if someone just thought,
we're having a Russian show, who's a Russian guy with a lot of money?' =
'Well they probably did', I
said, 'but this ideology idea is to do with the unconscious. You have to =
approach it like a
psychoanalyst.' I walked off, but we picked it up again in the larger =
room of photos because Rhys
wanted to know what we were talking about.=20
'I just don't want to get into conspiracy theories', said Polly. I =
said, 'But it's not the same
thing because it isn't conscious. Look, well, Rhys, I was saying that =
ideology, rather than just
being dogma, seems to be this process of being political without knowing =
you're doing it. We'd been
talking about the hope that's in these Rodchenko photos and then we =
talked about this idea of
ideology and then you came around and told us that this show was =
sponsored by Roman Abramovich,
who's like the symbol of the final nail in the coffin of this hope.' =
'Alright, when you put it like
that', said Polly.=20
After that we talked about a lot of the obvious stuff about how =
Rodchenko's work had had to change
under Stalin because you suddenly needed a permit to take photographs in =
the street, how just taking
portraits from funny angles suddenly wasn't allowed, whether the later =
photos of athletes were like
Leni Riefenstahl (another argument. Polly thought I was peddling the old =
'Stalinism, Nazism, all the
same' line). Rhys wanted to know what formalism was.=20
I don't want to get into conspiracy theories either and I I'm not sure I =
like the way, once you
accept this ideology idea even a little, it starts to hang on like =
tinnitus, but I will say this: I
love the photographs from before Stalin. I love their designed, =
formalist, overtly *constructed*
quality, which is almost completely unique and startling. What does =
Stalin do in banning all that?
Allegedly he takes a stand against their implicit ideology, the visible =
hand of the too individualist
artist. But doesn't he then miss the real point that this is an attempt =
to make ideology visible, to
say, yes, of course this is constructed *because all images are*. So =
under Stalin, the ideology
fades back into the fog, without, of course, losing its power. OK, now, =
for the sake of argument,
think about the artless, unconstructed photos that Wolfgang Tillmans =
takes, which simply capture
some little moment, some personal, cute little poetic something or =
other.<HR></FONT></PRE><PRE></FONT><FONT size=3D2><FONT face=3DArial =
color=3D#ff0000 size=3D5>willy w*nkers wonky chocolate =
factory</FONT></PRE></DIV>
<DIV><!--webbot BOT=3D"FormInsertHere" --><PRE><FONT face=3DArial>by =
telly
09 March 2008
</FONT></PRE><PRE><FONT face=3DArial>A f*ck-up of a program. Willy must =
be a friend of the producers or commissioner. He is utterly=20
charmless, a person you don't even enjoy disliking. A promotional film =
for his silly chocolate or a=20
reality show on him setting up his crappy company or a pilot for his new =
cooking show? The show has=20
little narrative flow/ a sense that it follows a real sequence of =
events. It is constantly interrupted by his=20
revolting cookery sketches. In the second show we finally get drawn out =
attempts to market his 100%=20
bar, and his equally awful wife ( though you do feel sorry for her and =
the children) pretending she is=20
using it as a dieting aid, perhaps willy dyes his overlong hair with it =
too. Willy he be successful? Is willy=20
his real name? did they come up with the show title and then make it =
solely on the basis of a bad pun?
Why I am watching this again? Because it's willy or monty don and his =
100000001 gardens, a choice=20
between one gormless posh tw*t and an unpleasant posh tw*t. =
<HR></FONT></PRE><PRE><FONT face=3DArial></FONT> </PRE>
<DIV align=3Dcenter><PRE><FONT face=3DArial>go to <A =
href=3D"http://www.worldwidereview.com">www.worldwidereview.com</A> for =
more art and culture reviews</FONT></PRE></DIV><PRE><FONT face=3DArial>
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