Monthly Archives: May 2011

Blood, guts and champion once again, introducing Mexican boxer Jorge ‘Travieso’ Arce

Jorge 'Travieso' Arce

Jorge 'Travieso' Arce

What exemplifies a Mexican ring warrior? Fighting heart, grit, determination, the will to win, a come forward and not a backwards step taken aggressive fighter. Blood and guts you might say.

In 65 fights Jorge ‘Travieso’ Arce [won 57 (KO 44) + lost 6 (KO 3) + drawn 2] has won the hearts and minds of many a boxing aficionado bringing the Mexican fighter spirit to the ring each time he fights. A star in his native Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico – where he has made appearances on several Mexican reality TV shoes, extending his appeal outside of the ropes. The pint-sized fighter (5′ 4½″ / 164cm) has an effervescent personality – Arce’s trademark ring entrance features him wearing a black cowboy hat (thus earning him the nickname “The Mexican Cowboy”) and sucking a cherry lollipop.

His professional achievements include WBO World Light Flyweight, WBC World Light Flyweight, Interim WBC World Flyweight, Interim WBA World Super Flyweight, WBO World Super Flyweight, and just added to the list is the WBO World Super Bantamweight Champion. Arce can fight. His style isnt from the Floyd Mayweather Jnr school though, he toughs it out, comes straight at you, gloves pressed together under his chin and unloads. This is pressure fighting at its Mexican best. Not always pretty, not always defensive minded, but very effective and very fan friendly. This is what has made Arce so popular, you don’t watch his fights expecting to see a flashy showman, what you know you will get everytime is a bloody, vicious war in the ring. Win or lose.

Take his most recent fight – facing Wilfredo Vazquez, Jr (son of the Puerto Rican legend of the same name) at the MGM Grand Las Vegas. Lets be clear, Arce was not expected to win this one. He was brought in as a seasoned but probably past his best pro, and to provide the young, slick Vazquez a stiff test. Youth and flash skills would prevail all agreed in the run up. Arce thought different. He took the war to Vasquez, pulled himself off the canvas after a knockdown early on and did whats he’s done time and time – toughed it out and brutalised the younger, fresher and faster man to take the WBO World Super Bantamweight Champion – making Arce a world champion in 3 weight classes. A feat that puts him up there with the Mexican ring royalty of Barrera, Morales and Chavez. It was a great fight and what boxing is all about.

Jorge 'Travieso' Arce

A blood and guts fighter - Jorge 'Travieso' Arce

As the new world champion Arce has reopened doors to fights in a red hot division. Old rivalries with fellow veterans Vic Darchinyan can now be ignited once again. Exciting times beckon. My advice is enjoy Jorge Arce while he’s still fighting as they don’t make them like him often!

Enfleshings 1 by Helen Chadwick

Lunchtime trips to any gallery are a great idea, and a couple of days ago I took my own advice and popped along to the Tate Britain. After digesting the Watercolour exhibition (not really my bag) I had a wander and came across Enfleshings 1 (1989) by Helen Chadwich (1953 – 1996). The photo below doesn’t do it justice – its spectacular – with a vibrant back light shining through it.

enfleshings helen chadwick

Can of Camden

Saw this yesterday on Arlington Road in Camden Town – a new addition to the neighbourhood!

Can of Camden

and as a bonus here is another piece nearby:

graffiti

Faile Puzzle Boxes

faile puzzle box

Hot off the Faile presses is this new release – but what exactly is a Faile Puzzle Box I hear you cry, here Faile explain it all:

Faile Puzzle Boxes are original works of art created to be viewed, touched, abstracted and played with. Each puzzle is made up of 88 six-sided wooden blocks that can be flipped and moved to create new images and compositions.

faile puzzle box

As you would expect from any Faile release these boxes are items of wonder, beauty and lust.  With a single box going for approximately $16,000 their  iphone App – available here - may be the best bet.

For those wanting more and a chance to play (digitally) with a Puzzle Box themselves, check out the official website here

Ruth walking in jeans by Julian Opie

If you have to work in an office, then working in an office with a massive animated Julian Opie walking woman on the side has to be the best place to be. The lucky habitants of  Triton Street NW1 in London should glance up at this great work at least once a day…

'Ruth walking in jeans' by Julian Opie

here is the full animated version:

Hatstand, table and chair by Allen Jones

allen jones chair 1969

I can’t remember the first time I saw these sculptures by Allen Jones, somehow they seem to have formed a blur in my mind with the The Korova Milk Bar scenery in the film A Clockwork Orange. They hail from the same era certainly. They have stuck in my mind ever since, overshadowing the rest of Jones’ career and work as an artist. Their influence can be seen right through to the shock tactic sculptures made by the Chapman Brothers in recent years.

Here however is a brief history of how these sculptures were made and some of the themes behind them (courtesy of the Tate gallery):

In 1969 three female figures by Allen Jones each slightly larger than life size,
‘Hatstand’, ‘Table’ and ‘Chair’, were cast in fibreglass in editions of 6 by
Gems Wax Models Ltd of Notting Hill, London, a firm of commercial sculptors who made (and make) shop window mannequins and sculptures for waxworks. Stylistically the figures are similar to those in Jones’s paintings of c.1967–8. For the figures Jones made working drawings from memory, not in front of a model.

allen jones table

From these drawings a professional sculptor, Dick Beech of Gems Wax Models, produced clay figures under Jones’s direction; these clay figures were modified in accordance with his intentions. He wanted to make sculpture ‘without fine art marks, devoid of fine art clothing’. When the first, ‘Hatstand’, a standing figure, was finished he realized that it might be construed as a bizarre window mannequin and so he decided to process the figure so that it would not appear to be just a decorative object. This he did by giving the other two sculptures a more obvious function, that of being a table and a chair, so that the viewer’s expectation of what could be fine art would be questioned and allow the viewer to perceive the figure anew as a subject in art.

Hatstand, table and chair by Allen Jones, 1969

In Jones’s view ‘because these 3 sculptures of women are recognisably representational it is less obvious that the sculpture is not about being naturalistic. They are not so much about representing woman but the experience of woman, not an illusion’.

With reference to his work in general Jones considers that:

‘ The erotic impulse transcends cerebral barriers and demands a
direct emotional response. Confronted with an abstract statement
people readily defer to an expert; but confronted with an erotic statement
everyone is an expert. It seems to me a democratic idea that art should be
accessible to everyone on some level, and eroticism in one such level’.

Jones considers that the three sculptures ‘Hatstand’, ‘Table’
and ‘Chair’ are the most radical statements that he has made.

Porcelain to blow your mind – Lladró’s Fantasy Collection by Jamie Hayon

OK let’s get this out the way early – I hate porcelain. I have no interest in it whatsoever and have for many years regarded 99% of it to be nothing other than kitsch trash. That all changed on a walk through Selfridges lower ground floor a few months back. There on a plinth sat something that blew my mind.

The Family Portrait, designed by Jamie Hayon for LLADRO

The piece in question was ‘The Family Portrait’. This is about as far removed from the porcelain vase your grandmother kept some flowers in as you can get. It’s strikingly modern and beautifully executed. These pieces are reminiscent of Jeff Koons’ sculptures, Picasso harlequin paintings and a cannon of other references.

The Fantasy Collection is full of oddly dramatic pieces – see the full collection here

One of the other highlights is Lover’s Garden:

loversgarden

Am I a porcelain convert…not quite yet but these pieces are definitely on the wish list..

Coloring Book by Jeff Koons

Coloring Book by Jeff Koons

Saw this yesterday in the courtyard of the Royal Academy, its well worth a visit – specially created for the Summer Exhibition, Coloring Book by Jeff Koons Hon RA consists of highly reflective stainless steel with a surface decoration of brightly coloured swirls.

jeff koons royal academy

Bonze xo

bonze xo

Bonze is in the tradition of Starck’s playful and artistic products, with a reference to the 1930′s surrealist period. After having explored the stool under different technologies, moulded in polypropylene, moulded in lacquered ABS, rotation moulded, today XO explores ceramic materials but not any ceramic, a luxury ceramic, a ceramic in gold.

The face of a Buddha, a portrait of Lorenzo de’ Medici, a watcher in the night, awoken double of the Sleeping Muse by Brancusi, a stool, a coffee table. Bonze is everything of the above at the same time.

Retailing at approximately 500-600 euros it may be a little out of most people’s price range. For the savvy design fan though it is in situ in numerous bars and clubs across the globe – if you have spotted one do let me know!

bonze xo

Rope lights by Christian Hass

christianhaas_ropes

These lights by the by the German born, Paris based Christian Haas are sensational!

ROPES, EDITION OF LAMPS, by CHRISTIAN HAAS 2011
 
Concept A soft look and textile touch, energy-efficient technology, are combined to create an innovative light source and distinctive design object. Unlit, the lamps provide a graphic statement to their environment. Lit, they diffuse a gentle ambient light. Each unique and numbered piece varies in size and technique.

Ropes are handmade in France and Germany. The lights should be handled with care.

Materials The textile cord outside is robust and dirt repellent. The light source inside the textile cord consists of warm-light, long life LEDs.

christianhaas_ropes