Pedro Reyes – Disarm: Make Music, Not War

If John Lennon's song Imagine can be transformed into a visual language, it would be something like this Disarm exhibition at the Lisson gallery. I think Pedro Reyes' weapons-cum-musical instruments really tune into what is probably the closest thing I've ever seen visual arts do to call for peace. In Disarm, Pedro fashions destroyed weapons into mechanical musical instruments and transforms them into objects with a positive message. And it's not bad too that these instruments are also functional and can be played live or automated by a computer. 

There's probably too much to take in here - in fact, I had to deal with a spectrum of emotions when I saw Disarm - as if I was listening to some affecting music. First, as sculptural pieces, they all look beautiful - they are a re-imagining of how musical instruments (more...)

Design Museum: Seven Category winners – Design of the Year 2013 Awards

The 'Designs of the Year' winners have just been announced - covering seven categories in the field of architecture, product, fashion, digital, fashion, transport and graphics. Some of my favourite designs did not win - like Heatherwick's Olympic cauldron or Olafur Eliasson's Little Sun - but this does not diminish the fact that these are great designs that have made a powerful impact in society and our consciousness. Who can get the cauldron out of his mind after seeing that monumental candelabra which opened the London 2012 Games?

But this year's winners all deserve to win. I've added the pics of the winners below but it's better to book yourself a ticket to the Design Museum to see them for yourself. You might have your own favourites (like I do!)  that might not have made the cut. (Read my next article on who are my favourites). (more...)

Spinning Yarn: Pae White: Too Much Night, Again at the South London Gallery

Whether it be smoke image tapestry or works that defy the lines between applied and fine art  multi-media artist Pae White never fails to craft temporal artworks into monumental pieces.

In her new exhibition 'Too Much Night, Again' at the South London Gallery, the American artist has transformed the main exhibition space into large-scale site-specific installation with massive amounts of colourful yarn criss-crossing all over the room while spelling words 'Tiger Time' and 'Unmattering' on two opposite walls. With more than 48000 yarn to play with, Pae White has spun the South London gallery space into a live string sculpture.

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27 of my Favourite Artworks from the @Art13 London Fair

Art 13 - the new contemporary art fair that graced London this week was a success: Artinfo reports the positive sales incurred during the show and it signals a bright future for this art newcomer. For me, despite not seeing the presence of major London galleries here, what I really enjoyed most was discovering foreign galleries and seeing Oriental artists take centre stage (if they haven't been basking in the Art limelight already).

The great thing about these (South east) Asian artists is their new found confidence and their boldness in merging both tradition and Western ideals in their artwork. It's not anything new of course - a lot of artists explore their history to create a new language in their work. (more...)

(My Top Ten Picks) Kinetica Art Fair: The Future of Art and Technology

The more our lives become intertwined with technology, the more the Kinetica Art Fair becomes a relevant platform for ambitious tech-related type of art. Now on its fifth year, Kinetica Art Fair is bustling with energy and possibilities. The great thing about the Kinetic Art Fair is that it looks to the future and yes, it's future is oh so bright.  I predict that in a few years to come, it will become a much more important exhibition and would garner more funding from not just new media outfits but also by top art ponchos.

A convergence of kinetic, electronic, robotic, sound, light, time-based and multi-disciplinary new media art, Kinetica Art Fair brings artworks from more than 35 galleries and some of the artists featured are with international pedigree. It's not surprising that this is not a curated art fair.  Art is for all (more...)

Top Five Art Sites for the Armchair Art Aficionado

I think we can all agree that this cold weather is just hanging about too long and we all really need to do some flash mob sun salutation to lure back the sun god Ra. If someone please ask Olafur Eliasson to bring back The Weather Project this week at the Tate, then I'd be more than pleased to go out and see a good art exhibition - artificial sunlight and all. But laziness plagues a dampened spirit and my best friend these days is none other than my armchair.

Manet, Lichtenstein and Man Ray can all wait (great exhibitions around the city)- but here are some sites that you need to see when it's just too cold to go out. At least, you don't need to shell £15 to see some great masterpieces (and in your pyjamas!) (more...)

Five Crowdfunding Sites for Artists and Art Organisations

I just read that 90 percent of current art funding in the UK will be slashed by year 2020. This would be a disaster and most art organisations - big and small - would find themselves in a really tight spot, if not already happening at this moment.  In these days of austerity, art organisations should be more aggressive in their digital marketing efforts and if they don't have enough funds to hire people for their digital team, they should transform their PR and Comms people to real digital gurus. 

How should these small art organisations survive in these trying times? Rather than just waiting for the manna from private corporate sponsorship deals, I think it's about time to take a look at the potential of crowdfunding to pool more resources for creative projects. (more...)