Light from the Middle East New Photography

Another exhibition that I had a pleasure of visiting yesterday. A very strong and interesting body of work - truly inspiring!
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/exhibition-light-from-the-middle-east-new-photography/about-the-exhibition/

Breaking the Ice: Moscow Art 1960-80s

There are some interesting reviews of this exhibition available online.

I am including some links below.

http://www.theupcoming.co.uk/2012/11/21/exhibition-review-gaiety-is-the-most-outstanding-feature-of-the-soviet-union-art-from-russia-breaking-the-ice-moscow-art-1960-80s-at-saatchi-gallery/

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/hammer-and-tickle-the-dark-humour-of-soviet-art-8348784.html

http://www.standard.co.uk/arts/visual-arts/breaking-the-ice-moscow-art-196080s-saatchi-gallery-sw3--review-8339553.html

Wondering what people think about these...

Breaking the ice: Moscow Art 1960-80s

I enjoyed my recent visit to see some new exhibitions in Saatchi Gallery.

Breaking the ice: Moscow Art 1960-80s was the highlight of the day. The variety and the richness of the work was astonishing! I loved Pivovarov's work and will try and find out more about the artist and his work online. Overall, a very inspiring selection of work. Thanks to Saatchi and everyone behind this exhibition for bringing it to London. http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/current/breaking-the-ice.php

Another exhibition downstairs:  GAIETY IS THE MOST OUTSTANDING FEATURE OF THE SOVIET UNION
The work of Valery Koshlyakov, Sergei Valiliev and Vikenti Nilin deserves a special mention. I would recommend anyone to have a look; some of the work is also available for viewing online although you would not get the full 'gallery experience'.
Valery Koshlyakov's work is amazing and needs to be viewed in the gallery - you will not be able to get the scale and the depth of his art online.
I am including some links below to the aforementioned authors:   

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/russian_tattoo.htm?section_name=new_art_from_russia
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/vikenti_nilin.htm?section_name=new_art_from_russia
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/valery_koshlyakov.htm?section_name=new_art_from_russia

Plans for a new exhibition at the Photographers' Gallery

I look forward to the Photographers' Gallery opening their doors in May. The Deuche Borse prize's exhibition is on and I am planning a visit.
I've just had a look at the shortlisted artists: Pieter Hugo, Rinko Kawauchi, John Stezaker and Christopher Williams. Very interesting!
More info is on the photonet website: http://www.photonet.org.uk/index.php?pid=594

I am keen to find out more about Rinko Kawauchi, the Japanese artist nominated for the prize.
Rinko Kawauchi (b.1972, Japan) is nominated for her publication Illuminance, published by Editions Xavier Barral (France, 2011). In her work, Kawauchi creates an imaginary space where the fantastical is possible— evoking moments of dreams, memory and temporality. The images in her book Illuminance, the results of both commissions and personal projects, span fifteen years of her practice and have the ability to turn the mundane into the extraordinary and poetic.

Website: Jason Bell

I really like Jason Bell's website - clear, light and clean, plenty of space for the images, easy and simple to use, at the same time - very efficient and effective.

http://jasonbellphoto.com/#/photographer/Jason Bell/

I am more and more tempted to choose light / white background myself. I think that Jason's choice of individual elements to include on the page is excellent, and the proportion is just about right.