Frames of Reference

In The Now

David Hockney IN THE NOW (in 6 minutes)

A film by Lucy Walker for Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

The story of David Hockney, an artist who is adamant about living life in the now.

Juliette Losq & David Wiseman

This interview originally appeared in the London Group Newsletter.

JL – We share in common a childhood in Essex (with parents moving out from London). Do you think that growing up in this semi-rural / suburban environment has influenced your work, or experiences as an artist in general?

DW – I was brought up on one of the first sprawling council estates to be built in Essex, in the also newly built Basildon New Town. But we were surrounded by countryside and spent all our free time as kids outside, summer and winter. I remember there were special mysterious woodland places, special trees and streams that you grew up with so I suppose this may have had an influence. Continue reading “Juliette Losq & David Wiseman”

16 Newtons

This little oil painting, titled Passing By and roughly the size of a small paperback, is one of sixteen that Robert Newton was commissioned to paint at the end of last year. We’ve just finished framing them. They’re set in simple white trays to protect and contain their overflowing edges and, so that they don’t disappear without trace, they’re saved here in Frames Of Reference. Continue reading “16 Newtons”

4 x 4: Ephemeral Architectures

A short trailer for a new piece by Gandini Juggling, to be premiered in the Linbury Studio Theatre at the Royal Opera House on 13th, 14th, 15th January – 4 x 4: Ephemeral Architectures features jugglers and dancers performing together with live musicians in a work constructed from grids and patterns and mathematics. See more here – Gandini Juggling, and for an earlier piece see – Smashed.

To Monastero

Villa Monastero was on the furthest shore of Lake Como, a long circuitous drive by car from Argegno where we were staying, but just ten minutes by ferry if we drove up to Menaggio. We left the car there and crossed the lake as foot passengers on the autotraghetto to Varenna. Continue reading “To Monastero”

Providence

Providence: Michael Moore, alto saxophone; Ernst Reijseger, cello; Han Bennink, drums

If we’d had a bit more time I would’ve liked to visit Clusone (the città dipinta – the painted town), just 35 km northeast of Bergamo, to see its medieval frescoes and its backwards clock. It’s also home to an annual international jazz festival, where the Clusone Trio got their name. They first performed a one-off concert here in the 1980s, which worked so well they became a regular group, famous for their quirky, often humorous improvisations – with spiritual leader Han Bennink percussively playing the god Dionysus to Moore’s Pan and Reijseger’s Abelard – Thom Jurek.

Bergamo Alta

Piazza Vecchia, the Venetian styled centrepiece of Bergamo’s upper town, the medieval Città Alta, high on the hill overlooking the modern city of Bergamo on the plain below. Judging by the cars I’d guess this postcard dates from the 1960s, but there were no cars parked here when we visited last summer. The square was pedestrianised for the flocks of summer tourists. Continue reading “Bergamo Alta”