1. EXHIBITION REVIEW

'The Magnum Mark' Magnum Print Room, London


The Magnum Mark sets out to celebrate the legacy of Magnum's print archive, uncovering the processes behind traditional, manual image dissemination. Included in the exhibition are previously unseen “press” prints featuring the work of Magnum’s founding member, George Rodger, recreating one of Magnum’s original distribution sets and including some of the magazines in which the work was first shown.
A graphic panel translates the meaning of the mysterious marks and stamps on the back of Magnum’s vintage press distribution prints and a selection of print maps, produced by Magnum’s in-house printer, illustrate the craft involved in printing Magnum’s famous photographs.
The darkroom print maps feature popular photographs of James Dean by Dennis Stock, Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller by Inge Morath, Sofia Loren by David ‘Chim’ Seymour and Sammy Davis Jr. by Burt Glinn.  The process of printing a photograph as a final ‘object’ is a labour of love for most photographers and to see their handwritten notes is incredible. It felt like I had an insight into a photographers work at first hand.
In addition to examining the processes behind Magnum’s traditional image distribution, the exhibition includes a small selection of some of agency’s greatest known images; the controversial ‘Falling Soldier’ by Robert Capa, Marilyn Monroe on the set of the Misfits by Eve Arnold, a student defying tanks in Tiananmen Square by Stuart Franklin, and Thomas Hoepker’s image of September 11th.

One thing to mention, although this is an 'exhibition', on entrance I was handed a price list; many prints were over £2000 and the books on the shelves were 'not to be touched'!

2. EXHIBITION REVIEW

'Small Acts of Resistance' - The Black Rat Press, London

In ‘Small Acts of Resistance’ Black Rat Projects brings together six international contemporary artists whose work bears the stamp of both the artist’s aesthetic vision and the activist’s world changing ambition.
Works by Peter Kennard, .Masters, Matt Small, Know Hope and Armsrock are on display from 4th Nov - 30th November 2010.
Occupying public space - whether it is within the realms of media and advertising or the architectural surface of the cities in which they work and live - has become a core characteristic of the way these five artists work. They have had their work published in books and magazines, shown in galleries, pasted in the streets and have performed in front of audiences. Between them they disrupt the smooth image that corporate capitalism seeks to spread at once highlighting its repressive character. An interventionist spirit informs their artistic practices and they are constantly engaged in a process of understanding how their work might function in the world, in a way that supports, and not conflicts with their ideals. It was apparent this project brings a group of likeminded artists together under one roof to explore common threads in their work and world views.
In relation to creative histories and industries, I felt this exhibition brought into perspective how work as personal as it may be connects and is viewed by the wider world.
The installations were inventive, stencils and sketches on rotten pieces of wood, and ceiling to floor floating sheets.
Probably not the place for a 'quick look' but an underground art world offering contemporary artists the chance to work along side eachother to create their vision.

3. EXHIBITION REVIEW

Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize - National Portrait Gallery

The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize presents the very best in contemporary portrait photography, showcasing the work of talented young photographers and gifted amateurs alongside that of established professionals and photography students.
Through editorial, advertising and fine art images, the entrants have explored a range of themes, styles and approaches to the contemporary photographic portrait, from formal commissioned portraits to more spontaneous and intimate moments capturing friends and family.
This year the competition attracted nearly 6,000 submissions from over 2,400 photographers from around the world. The selected sixty works for the exhibition include the four prize-winners and the winner of the ELLE magazine commission.

Exhibiting many photographs for the first time, the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, I felt, was a unique opportunity to see images by some of the most exciting contemporary portrait photographers working today.
With exhibitions like this I think it's important to take a preliminary glance before reading any of the explanations provided; to try and take the images at face value, as far as possible, for their aesthetic and immediate emotional effect. That's not to say that the information provided on various subjects doesn't hugely enrich and inform the work, but when you've read about Tic Tac and Tootsie the Philadelphia prostitutes or some poor orphan of genocide you can find yourself being swept into the work for the wrong reasons, or even distracted from the image itself. Which, for a photographic prize, should be of equal importance, at the very least.
Every picture there had its own engaging narrative or direction of investigation, even if they involved death. Overall the exhibition is a celebration of beauty and of simplicity.

After leaving the exhibition I felt truly inspired knowing that most of the photographers had come from a similar educational background as myself. It takes a lot to think outside of education and this exhibition made me realise that one day it could be one of my own photographs in this collection.

The winner: David Chancellor 'Huntress'

4. EXHIBITION REVIEW

'Ever Young' by James Barnor
Rivington Place, London. 17th Sept - 27th Nov 2010

Barnor's archive was produced during a career spanning more than sixty years. It covers a remarkable period in history, and bridges continents and photographic genres, as it creates a transatlantic narrative marked by his passionate interest in people and cultures.
His street and studio portraits from the late 1940s to 1970s are shown for the first time in the UK in this exhibition.
Through the medium of portraiture, Barnor's photographs represent societies in transition: Ghana moving towards its independance and London becoming a cosmopolitan multicultural metropolis.
In the early 1950s, Barnor's photographic studio Ever Young was visited by civil servants and dignitaries, performance artists and newly-weds. Introducing a newly preserved body of work from the late 1940s to the early 1970s, the exhibition showcases fashion portraits in glorious colour, social documentatary, and street and studio photographs with elaborate backdrops.
His photographs simply draw you in; with 1940s family photo albums in glass cases, the exhibition makes you feel as if you've walked into a party
of history offering both documentary and fashion photography.

McQUEEN SPRING - 2011

'CREATIVE HISTORIES & INDUSTRIES'

Do artists/creative practitioners have more responsibility than other members of society for addressing social issues?
Contemporary artists are in an interesting place because they're one of the few sets of people who are allowed to think and create without any rules or boundaries. In one respect, their job is to keep imagining the unknown and the until-then-impossible.
In relation to the responsibility they 'may' have for addressing social issues, artists seem to be the only sector who can operate freely across disciplines and across issues; they seem to have that mobility that most people in most disciplines find incredibly difficult.
I also think that artists are licensed to ask questions, and that they do. They have the choice to address social issues and the art of being an artist is to freely express yourself in any way. Does that mean they have more of a responsibilty? They may have to answer to their work more so than say a journalist who covers social issues but I don't feel they carry more responsibility.
They can move across disciplines, work along side different practioners so should have the same or less responsibility than say someone who's sole job is to adress social issues.
Whether they create art that adresses social issues or not, artists and creative practioners will always cause controversy.

exhibitions

'Small Acts Of Restistance' The Black Rat Press - Rivington Street, London

Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize - National Portrait Gallery, London

'Shaped By War' Don McCullin  - Victoria Art Gallery, Bath

'The Magnum Mark' -  Magnum Print Room, London

'Ever Young' James Barnor  - Rivington Place, London 

'CREATIVE HISTORIES & INDUSTRIES' - Photography Controversies

Legal, ethical and political controversies have accompanied the entire history of photography since its invention in 1839. The rules that apply – or do not apply – to journalistic and artistic photographs today are the consequences of these conflicts and debates. Nevertheless, they are constantly being questioned and challenged anew.
The photographic image has been at the centre of important ethical debates and legal questions throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. As a symbol of free expression and the rights of individuals, but also of power and money, it has frequently come into conflict with authority and has had to face censorship and manipulation. It has provoked impassioned debates in the worlds of art, science, politics, journalism, fashion and advertising that have often ended in court. Most major photographers have been drawn into legal proceedings or controversies that have had important repercussions on their careers.
Photography is a symbol or free expression and the rights of the individuals, but also power and money.
It's at the heart of art, science, politics, journalism, fashion and advertising and although photographers are bound by a series of laws whose limits are constantly being tested the photography image has always and will always be at the centre of important ethical debates and legal questions.

'CREATIVE HISTORIES & INDUSTRIES' - London 2012 logo

Does it say Zion?
Mixed reviews...mainly bad ones.
Although I understand that designing a logo that is representational and impact provoking is difficult, this logo doesn't initially do it for me. 
Although the 2012 logo has been presented with promising descriptive text (besides the date) I don't think the logo itself attempts to reference anything of significance.
The logo alone works well, the typo is well balanced and constructed but the colours don't seem to compliment it.
However I do think that once the logo is applied to various applications, people will grow to like it.
Maybe this was an amazing piece of brand stratedgy from Wolff Olins...?

A day in the life of a fool...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaReGWBACag