Thursday 2 June 2011

XENOXENO

we, the sisterbrother duo behind the blog, are geographically asynchronous. we have become xeno/xeno. so to keep a thread between our art and our bloodline, we vowed to communicate via mail art.

amy has been much more faithfull to that promise and has sent me her art relics which look so beautiful together, i decided to do a mini curation of the work so far.


amy. scarlet letters









my favourite piece was her latest one which was the red stained tea bag on a string. amys work speaks largely of her identity and the tea bag piece is a perfectly polysemic representation, but first and foremost, it is an homage to tea, her confidante in times of distress and her hug in a mug. seriously im hilarious i bet amy is laughing right now and nodding. but on serious terms, the tea bag is the collaboration of her heritage and her biology, and i think the aesthetic reference to a tampon creates a whole sensory dissonance of disgust and absurdity at the suggestion of menstrual blood as a drink (the very idea cites back to a Germaine Greer quote about tasting period blood if i remember correctly- feminism. IDEAL.), but also connotes the the intimacy and hidden rivers in your body in which liquids like tea and blood swim through. and i love that this suggestion of the bodily interiors and closeness is embodied in the strange objectification of commercial products (food colouring and tea bags). im sure the artist herself could do a deeper analysis and can wait to see how she develops the ideas. and i definitely enjoy getting mail. its like christmas everyday, only not really.




unfortunately, i procrastinate so hardcore and i have only sent amy one piece so far. but i took an opportunity to extend this 'mini curation' while i was in the captive mindset. the outcome was less conceptual and more visual, but it is just really a translation of how i decided to use my creative energy in those moments, and is really an epitaph to the thoughts and emotions and perception in those few hours that i will never re-experience in the same way.  


adam. circadia 














Monday 30 May 2011

EXHIBITION REVIEW: Babe vs Babe. Tracey Emin And Queen LouLou, yummy drawings.



Louise Bourgeois and Tracey Emin ‘Do Not Abandon Me’: Collaboration or Desecration? 
Amy McKee


‘The Art Newspaper’ described it as collaboration between ‘two art titans’. ‘Where Art You’ website described the project as Louise Bourgeois’ attempt at ‘tutelage’. ‘The Guardian’ gave contrasting reviews- describing Tracey Emin as both a ‘visionary’ and ‘an outmoded, overexposed hangover from the heyday of Britart’. It would seem, no one can quite make their mind up – does the Hauser and Wirth Old Bond Street gallery’s exhibition ‘Do Not Abandon Me’ demonstrate a historic collaboration between two world-class female artists, or rather a travesty against Louise Bourgeois’ memory; Tracey Emin defacing the sacred artwork of an art legend?

Friday 6 May 2011

pink friday

pink is the colour adopted by slutty bitches everywhere. here at XENO, thats the qualities we look for in colour and/or basically everything.


sarah lucas_______get hold of this

carolee schneemann (more fondly known by the phrase 'vaginal scroll')_____meatjoy

karla black (turner prize 2011 nominee)_____i dont know the title of the work so for now lets assume its the ever loved 'untitled'

 matthew barney_____video still from cremaster three

maison martin margiela

house of holland

Wednesday 4 May 2011

A Shady Promise- Wangechi Mutu

What a babe.
I am not afraid to embrace my lezzer tendencies and right now I am totally crushing on a woman... Namely Wangechi Mutu.

I LOVE HER. Saw some of her work in Tate Liverpool, and the more I see the more I totally dig. Working in multi-media (seriously, she chucks everything in there) she creates these gorge fantasy women, varying from the ornate to the grotesque. Themes of fashion, female sexuality and ethnic identity float around in there too, which of course, is always good times!

Her exotic creatures reflect the paradoxical beauty of female sexual expression. Both worshiped and degraded, the female body is an object of public ownership, used to titillate and repulse simultaneously. Wangechi attempts to force this awkward relationship into the viewers consciousness; her women exotic and grotesque in their sexual expression. Looking at these images as a woman, and as a small town gal- I DIG THIS SHIT.
Splashy colours and gorge women? I'm done.
Share the love/hate/sex about MUTU in the comments section!
READ MORE for a bigger Wangechi fix!




Tuesday 26 April 2011

XENO landing

Welcome to XENO

xeno

combining form, relating to a foreigner or foreigners: xenophobia
-other; different in origin: xenograft.

ORIGIN from Greek xenos 'stranger, foreigner,' (adjective) 'strange'


XENO art is an art community, based in Ashbourne and beyond. Contemporary art is ours and we support local artists who are creating and living it!

Get involved with XENO blog- review other artists or promote yourselves shamelessly:


xenoart@live.com