May 23 | ‘Stable and strong my arse’

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Posters cropping up around London last week caused quite a stir. With a simple but resonate statement, British artist Jeremy Deller called PM Theresa May out on her election slogan — “strong and stable leadership” — for the upcoming elections, in light of a number of political U-turns regarding economic reforms. The affordable posters, at £30 each, have been praised widely for hitting the nail on the head.

Jeremy Deller behind ‘stable and strong my arse’ political posters in London

Turner prize-winner Jeremy Deller revealed to be behind the “stable and strong my arse” posters cropping up all over London, from Peckham to Soho to Kentish Town on Friday.

Plastered on London’s street poster sites by the Flyingleaps project, Deller’s work was displayed “to make unexpected, thought-provoking contributions to the urban spectacle.” Flyingleaps also offers limited edition signed posters for sale at affordable prices.

Deller, who won the Turner prize in 2001 and represented Britain at the 2013 Venice Biennale, told the Guardian he hoped the posters were “self-explanatory”, with the UK’s conservative party candidate Theresa May having coined the term “strong and stable” in her electoral campaign for Prime Minister.

 

Jeremy Deller ©

 

 

Donald Trump’s welcome to Saudi Arabia included two contemporary art exhibitions

When President Trump and his wife Melania arrived in Saudi Arabia for their first official state visit last week, they were welcomed with two government-organised contemporary art exhibitions. The first was supported by officials at the King Abdulaziz Centre in Dhahran, an institute funded by the Aramco oil conglomerate, held in the Royal Protocol Palace and scheduled to open later this year.

On display were works by seventeen mainly male artists, including Ahmad Angawi, Abdullah Al-Othman, and Ahmed Mater. Dana Awartani and Nouf Semari were among the few female artists involved. The second show, titled “Retroactive”, curated by Aya Alireza and Raneem Farsi  takes place at the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh, presenting works by Maha Malluh Abwab and Abdulnasser Gharem. Details via The Art Newspaper.

 

President Trump on his first official visit to Saudi Arabia 

 

 

Wallach Art Gallery in New York to launch ‘Uptown’ triennale

A new triennial for contemporary art, “Uptown,” is to debut this summer, opening on June 2 and running through August 20, presenting the work of 66 artists who live or hold studios north of 99th Street in NYC. Organized by Columbia’s Wallach Art Gallery, this will represent the gallery’s first major initiative to use “a regular mechanism to [engage] with the broader community. . . . Our neighbors, the local community should be our first audience.”

The Wallach will collaborate with 13 other institutions for the event, including Arts Horizon LeRoy Neiman Art Center, Elizabeth Dee, and the Harlem School of the Arts at The Herb Alpert Center.

 

Return to the gallery world for Phillips’ deputy chairman Matt Carey-Williams

Matt Carey-Williams, after only two-and-a-half years at Phillips as deputy chairman for Europe and Asia, is moving back to the gallery world, taking up the role of gallery director at Blain Southern, starting in September. Commenting on the departure, Carey-Williams explained, “for me there is nothing that replaces the thrill of working with artists.”

Due to leave the auction house at the end of this month, Carey-Williams is currently in Hong Kong supporting Phillips’s 20th-century and contemporary art and design sale, May 28. Details via The Art Newspaper

 

To sell at Hong Kong Phillips’ 20th-century and contemporary art and design sale: Yoshitomo Nara, Last Warrior The Unknown Soldier (2000) detail. Courtesy of Phillips