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Si masculinity. The visual answers seem to point to a latent crisis of identity. Phase one is a series of portraits of seminude males, all of whom exude an air of strange vulnerability. The artist explained that he didn’t want his subjects to pose, that they were supposed to be completely natural. The results, however, are affected: a man posing as a man standing naturally. In this vision, masculinity has become self-conscious and insecure. The second phase of the project is a close up film of a series of entertainingly awkward male subjects charged with just sitting. Their extreme discomfort, masquerading as boredom, at being asked to sit without purpose under observation is touchingly amusing. The final phase is the most compelling, comprising a series of self-portraits, the settings being areas of unadulterated urban masculinity: a barbers and a mechanic’s garage. The naked figure curled on the floor is shocking and strangely feminine surrounded by the machinations of a male world.
mass manufactured products unfashionably unaware of climate change. This coupled with a recession attitude to DIY has seen a renaissance in pottery, homemade furniture and knitting amongst others. No longer relegated to the favourite universal pastime of great aunts, the website Stitch ‘n Bitch now lists a worldwide canon of trendy knitting groups. That is not to say crafts are any longer equated with the cheap or unstylish. Next week marks the second London Design Festival’s Contemporary Craft Fair (Old Spitalfields Market, 22-28 September, londondesignfestival.com). The V & A’s current Power of Making (www.vam.ac.uk) show in partnership with the Crafts Council claims to encourage visitors to ‘consider the process of making, not just the results,’ and when amongst the results are to be found a life-size crocheted bear and a ceramic eye patch, one is perhaps reminded that the tendency towards the madcap is not entirely obsolete in the world of craft.
This beautifully executed vision of masculine identity as in crisis is taken from a heterosexual standpoint. The choice of the barber shop and the garage, both evoking cross-generational, family-run patriarchal arenas as settings for the artist to express his discomfort and insecurity about his male identity. However, the work should be seen as part of a broader artistic movement to explore the concept of gender as a construct (the group show, Transgression, at Vyner Street being an excellent example.) As a photographer who’s worked widely in the fashion industry, De Souza-Hartley is evidently extremely capable, but there is also a quiet thoughtfulness to these pieces which encourage the images to stay with you in a manner which marks him out as a strong artistic talent. www.othellodesouzahartley.com
As such, I was interested to see what the show would have to offer in this arena. Thankfully, Patel’s work clearly exemplifies the new design orientated direction craft has taken. It is a clean and visually stunning ode to traditional Indian making skills, the result of which turns out to be surprisingly modern. Patel’s work is satisfyingly neat and of an extremely high finish. He has taken Indian marriage as the inspiration for the table and chairs which constitute his piece. Craft in India is far more than an aesthetic pursuit, it can be religious and spiritual and Patel’s work is an expression of this. Intricate henna patterns adorn the table which is split at one end to create a splay of wood reminiscent of a turban. The chairs are woven with a deep vermillion, the traditional colour used to decorate a bride’s forehead, and groom’s turban. All materials used are inevitably eco friendly. It is not a functional furniture unit by any stretch. However, it is easy to see how the polished but unformulaic style could be readily translated into a Habitat (or equivalent… RIP) friendly formula. That is not to demean its artistic merit, but to place it within an ever-flourishing market which is making increasing room for ‘craft designs.’ www.arpanasti.com
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Patel describes himself as a ‘craft designer,’ and his work struck me as symptomatic of the increasing appreciation of crafts as an adjacent, rather than inferior, art form to fine art and design. From the shadows of a dodgily crocheted tea cosy, London has embraced crafts. Perhaps an inevitable by-product of the increasing distaste for
Often a pleasant but slightly uninspiring area of a graduate show, the standard of the Illustration work at Camberwell this year was unusually high. As always the prevalence of aesthetically pleasing drawings, allowed a welcome respite after the battering of the sometimes exhausting ambitions of the Fine Art students. Yet there was substance as well as style. Amongst the most promising were Simone Philippou’s fanciful woodcuts. Philippou’s woodcut and screen print illustrations relay the story of a friendship formed between a lonely schoolgirl and a flamingo, against the backdrop of a Cypriot salt lake apparently famed for its migrating birds. The little blonde heroine finds solace from the disappointments of life as an outsider through flamingo shaped escapism. The traditional printmaking technique of woodblock printing is central to the charm of the images, facilitating the distinctive pallet of muted colours and 79 the expressiveness of the simple, though incredibly labour intensive, images. Throughout, Philippou incorporates a narrative of Greek text, interwoven with the imagery so that it appears less as foreign words, and more as a magical expression of some otherworldly communication. Whilst her work would make beautiful gift cards, it also has a deeper and potentially darker edge, in which singing frogs, neverending flocks of flamingos, lonely children, and a gentleman surrounded by hoards of personified glasses in a print entitled Take a Good Look at Yourself all rub shoulders. She would make an excellent children’s illustrator. The greatest of whom, Quentin Blake and Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things are) amongst others, tap into a strange, dark area of the child psyche largely misunderstood by adults. Playing on the fantastical fears, dreams and insecurities of the young, Philippou’s images are both distinctive and poignant and deserve recognition. www.simonepea.com