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John M Armleder @ Dairy Art Center

Born 1948, Swiss artist John Armleder has been an important figure on the contemporary art scene since the early 1970s'. I took a visit to the Dairy Art Centre, near Russell Square to visit the exhibition featuring a vast display of different media such as neon lights, installations and paintings. The Centre itself is founded by collectors Frank Cohen and Nicolai Frahm and opened for the first time to public on April 25th to share their passion for art and is therefore fairly new and has even been dubbed as 'the Saatchi of North London'.

Upon entering the building an area which looks much like a bar is put before you. At certain times it does indeed serve as a bar and when this is not happening it is merely a piece of art work. The 'Pour Paintings' such as Tactylsis Glomerata and Papatua Honu are mixed media on canvas. Their appearance is the result of a chemical reaction between different materials including varnish and paint. The catalogue describes these paintings as a 'question not only the tradition of geometric tradition but, above all, the convergence of the applied arts, decoration and the avant-garde culture promoted by movements such as Arts and Crafts and the Bauhaus'. Materials used echo Marcel DuChamp's ready mades in portraying everyday nature as seen in The Fridge featuring artificial flowers and stuffed animals. I particularly enjoyed The Fridge as it had a similar appearance to that of a warehouse, yet with a twist of Armleder to it. I would highly recommended this show for those interested in Pop and the boundaries between this culture and avant-garde and I look forward to seeing future exhibitions at this great venue.

I Stand By My Mistakes

We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)

Not many films of 2011 have appealed to me, however, We Need to Talk About Kevin (dir. Lynne Ramsay) affected me the most encouraging a vast contrast of emotions from confusion to pain and joy and including themes of the nature-nurture debate. The film takes a stance on aspects of American culture and its society. This includes consumerism, corporal punishment for youths and the media. It is full of such clever, teasing juxtapositions as thematic links are made between past and present

An underlying theme of this film, though hidden well, I believe is love. The reoccurring theme of red as shown in the screen caps above underline a colour usually associated in filmography with romance. We Need to Talk About Kevin plays on this idea until the end of the massacre where we learn Kevin (Ezra Miller) has used a 'crossbow' and 'arrow', objects typically considered as symbols of childhood play and love. Many critics believe that this hidden theme is perhaps a statement relating to the relationship between Kevin and his Mother and what it was lacking.

It is worth considering literary tradition and the presence of such classics as Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin and JD Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. In both cases the authors used the mask of childish innocence to expose hypocrisy within American culture and society.

Sergei Parajanov

The Color of Pomegranates (1968)





Sergei Parajanov is known for being a Soviet Armenian film director and artist. Within his work he creates visual fantasy worlds with colourful backdrops and vivid outfits. Parajanov preferred to work in a short format style, achieving thematic cohesion through the aggregate of vignettes and/or nocturnes rather than a traditional narrative.

Porcile (1969)

Trailer for Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Porcile"/"Pigpen"/"Pigsty" (1969)

Two dramatic stories. In an undeterminated past, a young cannibal (who killed his own father) is condemned to be torn to pieces by some wild beasts. In the second story, Julius, the young son of a post-war German industrialist, is on the way to lie down with his farm's pigs, because he doesn't like human relationships.

Starring Pierre Clémenti, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Alberto Lionello and Ugo Tognazzi.