A Sign of the Times
With contemporary artistic practice progressing and evolving at a fever pitched rate combined with the rapidly growing art market that rewards innovation, uniqueness and experimentation, it is becoming harder and harder for artists to stand out from the crowd and get noticed. The art market boom has caused an unprecedented appetite for contemporary art that has resulted in an increase in the number of artists being marketed by galleries and dealers. To compensate for the increased competition for representation and attention, artists are now needing to really think outside the box and come up with ways of attracting as much as attention as possible without affecting their credibility.
Nicholas Forrest on 02.28.08 @ 09:03 AM EST [more..]
Imagine a film projected on a screen. An artist, a painter, toils away at his latest canvas, the camera follows the strokes of the brush in close-up and pans-out to encompass his hand, then his arm and finally his whole body dancing around as he works. It is at this point that we understand that the action proceeds in reverse: the gestures undo what was done, the paint flows back into the brush, and the artist takes a step back; his arm briskly leaving the point of what had been first contact; and ponders what was about to become the next step. We see intensity in the artist’s expression and the camera homes-in on one of his eyes and dives deep inside.
I first saw the Word into Art exhibition at the British Museum in London in 2006. Although the scope of the exhibition now transported to Dubai is smaller, it was great to see it again. The opening day was accompanied by panels, discussion forums and educational events specifically tailored to the local context so there was a lot more to it than just the exhibition. 
The age old craft of knitting has recently begun to make a come back, but not in the same form or with the same purposes that we are all familiar with. Gone are the days of tea cosies, boring scarves and hideous jumpers that just oozed functionality and practicality, a new age of knitting has dawned. What was once considered an old-fashioned way to pass the time has now become a fashionable and trendy artistic medium as well as a new form of social activity. 
