WHAT_His solo show ‘Legend’

WHEN_Thursday September 2nd, 6.30-9.30pm

WHERE_AAA Studio, 50 Acton Mews

WHY_Adham makes great films. AAA throw great show openings. I can’t imagine why you’d need another reason to go?

WHAT_Snap by Terry Richardson

WHEN_2007

WHERE_Penthouse – Gentlemans magazine

WHY_I’m working on a brief for a solo show in 2011 called Tits ‘n’ Ass. It’s a visual conversation about where I feel that I fit into society as a woman and my views on feminism. Not just directly into society but with as much importance as my identity to myself. I read a quote at a show recently by artist Louise Bourgeois (RIP) that said ‘My feminism expresses itself as an intense interest in what women do…’. This is as close to my own definition as it could get.

My friend recently showed me a video of porn star Sasha Grey on The Tyra Banks show. Tyra gunned her, but I really respected what Sasha Grey was about. She seemed a very intelligent young woman, who was in control of her career. I recently read some extracts on the world wide web from Ariel Levy’s book ‘Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture’ (it’s on order from amazon) which argues that ‘America’s sexed-up culture not only objectifies women, it encourages women to objectify themselves…’ I’m not sure I overly agree, i mean of course to a large extent that’s true but in some cases i.e Sasha Grey, is she just not a clever business woman? Doing something she enjoys and getting paid well for it? Is she simply exploiting men’s often uncontrollable desire for sex? Aren’t all women guilty of using their sexuality to their advantage in some way or another? Is her success at the misfortune of many women being sexually exploited?

More to the point would I be considered a female chauvinist pig? I’m obsessed with listening to derogatory rap (my favourite song being Xxplosive by Dr Dre, hence the title). I admire Sasha Grey. I have most definitely used being a woman to get what I want, on more than one occasion. Does that mean I’m celebrating, partaking and practicing in sexual objectification? I guess we’ll all find out at my show.

WHAT_Art date with Gracie

WHEN_August 2010

WHERE_Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveilance and the Camera, Tate Modern

WHY_I’ve been interested in how the camera and photography has maniupulated our concept of reality for a long time. Susan Sontag’s ‘On Photography’ & ‘Regarding the pain of others’ as well as  Roland Barthes ‘Camera Lucida’ definitley educated and incuraged my curiosity for the subject.

Privacy  and Publicity / Reality and Fantasy

Being bombarded with a vast array of voyeuristic imagery turned my thoughts to just have little power we have over what we see and what information we digest. Voyeuristic sensibilities are ingrained in our society. A deterrent to actually live your live. An escape from reality with no creative gain. The ‘Celebrity & the Public Gaze’ room expresses that the “notion of celebrity as we know it today is inseparable from the invention of photography”. Feeling familiar with celebrities due to the influx of imagery in our everyday life, despite never meeting them in person. I can’t bare gossip magazines filled with such imagery but I’m most definitely partial to looking at photographs of glamorous couple Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton (featured in the show). I’m always more interested in looking at the past.

In the ‘Voyeurism & Desire’ room there are a selection of photographs with couples kissing. I can’t tell you why i like them, but i really do. It isn’t a sexual thing, and funnily enough in reality if I see people kissing too much it makes me want to scream ‘get a fucking room’ at them. Despite the invasive element, when embodied in a well composed photograph it expresses a genuine closeness that everyone desires. That just shows the power of photography. Something I genuinely dislike in reality is captured in photography and translated to be viewed as beautiful. Or maybe I like them because I don’t kiss half as much as I should…

Highlights of the show: Merry Alpern’s ‘Dirty Windows’ secretly taken photographs through an air shaft of a brothel near Wall Street, NYC. A collection of Sophie Calle’s work including a text image piece of when she hired a unknowing private investigator to follow her and take pictures of her movements. A photograph with text by an unknown photographer entitled ‘Bank Bandit Exits after Haul’ I laughed for a while, it’s worth going to the show just to see that.

Lee Friedlander ‘New York City’ 1966

The first three photographs below are from the exhibition at the Tate. The last three from one of my favourite photographers, Will Robson Scott, he captures the essense of Britsh culture and London so damn well.

Brassai ‘Lovers in a Small Cafe, Near the Place d’italie’ 1928

Weegee ‘Lovers at the movies’ 1950’s

Gary Winogrand ‘New York’ 1969

Will Robson Scott

All photographs taken 2010

WHAT_Seeking inspiration in all the right places

WHEN_August 2010

WHERE_The Surreal House at the Barbican

WHY_I’m currently working on three briefs. They focus on different aspects of my thinking, all of which explore the seductive and ephemeral nature of modern existence through the themes of love, loss, death and desire. I needed inspiration, so I found some.

‘Art imagines the house, film ‘performs the house and architecture builds the house.’

The Surreal house was full of film, art, sculpture and architectural references. The more I learn about Surrealism and it’s influence/influences it becomes more relevant to my artistic interests. It highlights the importance of the house to surrealism and explores the relevance of surrealism to architecture. A piece of writing in the show about Surrealist Godfather Andre Brenton’s home in France describes it as the ‘..archetypal surrealist home and the embodiment of surrealism’s longing for marvellous encounters between people, things, images and environments…’. Marvellous encounters are what I live for.

Highlights of the exhibition – Avant-garde film entitled ‘Steamboat Bill JR’ (1928) directed, starred and produced by Buster Keaton. A WHOLE section dedicated to Joseph Cornell including a couple of his magnificent box constructions and a collection of his ephemera. A equally disturbing and beautiful film ‘Jabberwocky’ (1971) which was written and directed by Jan Švankmajer, the film is loosely based on the poem ‘Jabberwocky’ by Lewis Carroll.

Claude Cahun ’self portrait (in wardrobe)’ c.1928

‘Steamboat Bill Jr’

‘Jabbawocky’

WHAT_The canvas is from Millie’s performance ‘Nexus Vomitus’, the original piece also carries the same title

WHEN_July 2010

WHERE_Go HERE to pur-chase

WHY_ This one-off canvas will be an investment. You’ll thank me in 10years time when the value has atleast tripled. Plus when do you get to have a piece of the artist within the art work?

WHAT_A live online performance at showstudio produced by Nick Knight and Ruth Hogben

WHEN_Friday 30th July, 11.30am BST

WHERE_http://showstudio.com/project/livestudio/session/millie_brown

WHY_Millie’s piece will be exploring the powerful relationship between music and performance art. Her rainbow vomit accompanied by live opera will no doubt create an obscure piece of work.

WHAT_The Red Bull Canvas Cooler

WHEN_July 2010

WHERE_Red Bull HQ

WHY_Red Bull asked us to give some artists and we gave them Jennifer Crouch and Mister Batlow. They were asked to customise a canvas covered Red Bull fridge for their Canvas Cooler project. Other artists that took part included our lovely studio buddy Alfa, Discotek, Insa, Inkie, Dave White and Eine, to name a few. To see the full story with more images go HERE. They also kindly threw a lovely shindig afterwards. Big thanks to Gabriella.

Images taken from the Red Bull Website.

WHAT_A print retrospective at Christie’s

WHEN_23rd July – 12th august 2010

WHERE_Christie’s, 85 Old Brompton Road, London

WHY_Peter Blake is a legend. He was a pioneer in early British pop art. He has created some historic album covers for the Beatles, Paul Weller and Oasis. As well as making some of the most interesting contemporary art I’ve had the pleasure to see. I went to the private view with my friend Jamal and enjoyed it throughly. Christie’s is worth visiting anyway but this show is really not one to sleep on.

WHAT_A wonderful art collective that reside in Brooklyn, New York

WHEN_July, 2010

WHERE_Portugal Arte 10, Lisbon, Portugal

WHY_Faile have created a beautiful church ruin with their imagery and style consistant throughout. They created a bloody church ruin! Being able to create work using the same images but applying them to so many ways of working from screenprinted paste ups to large scale painting to amazingly carved prayer wheels to a neon arcade now this just shows the extent of their artistic skill and innovation. A true inspiration.

Images taken from here

WHAT_A solo exhibition showcasing a selection of her reportage photography

WHEN_August 2nd – 30th

WHERE_Exposure Gallery, 22-23 Little Portland Street, London

WHY_Photography has a big place in my heart. Especially documentary photography. Nina ‘explores contemporary British youth culture and the notion of engaging with it as opposed to taking from it’, a way of working that I admire. The show is produced by THE FIRM so expect only great things.