!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Breaking News!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A significant grant has just been awarded to Thomas Ostenberg to promote a solo exhibition of his sculpture in The City of London in mid 2008 to be presented by A Gallery.
Thomas Ostenberg makes bronze sculpture that deals with balance in a constantly changing world; the pursuit of positive risk taking, confident in the belief of identifying one's place in the universe. For him, the work "touches on the moment of stepping into the unknown and doing so willingly."
Mr Ostenberg was an executive in the international financial arena for the first part of his professional career; Vice President of Citibank in Brazil and Spain, before realising that the accumulation of money and material status was not satisfying to him. He traded his financial portfolio for an artist's portfolio and began on a journey down a radically different path at the age of 40, when most bankers were starting to reap substantial rewards for their hard work. It was a decision that Mr Ostenberg says was not rationally a smart move, but it has proven to be exactly the right thing to have done in that situation.
It is this spirit of exhilarating defiance of materialistic constraints that defines Thomas Ostenberg’s works.
Recently a former Assistant Director of New York’s Guggenheim Museum has written a glowing essay on Mr Ostenberg, a Trustee of The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has commissioned three monumental works, and many other directors and trustees of major US museums have collected his work. Thomas Ostenberg is rapidly becoming a world famous artist, and recently this has begun to be reflected by the increase in the price of his sculpture.
The grant just received is allowing a large selection of the best of his existing works as well as new work created specifically for this exhibition to be cast and displayed in central London. This exhibition will be on display for a month, inaugurated with an exclusive opening night Private View.
To go on the mailing list for this show email: info@agallery.co.uk
For a full colour 60 page catalogue of Mr Ostenberg's works send a cheque for £10 made out to 'Lynda Kee Scott' to A Gallery, 154 Merton Hall road, Wimbledon, SW193PZ, UK. Please include the address we should mail to.
Image: Thomas Ostenberg with Fraser Kee Scott just before signing the contract for the show.
i-D magazine, the 26 year old 'bible of style', printed a huge colourful feature on the Italian art stars DORMICE in their April issue where they covered subjects ranging from Da Vinci to pornography; from the difference between a model and a super model to why fashion needs art more than ever and why flag ship high end fashion stores are more important in today's culture than art galleries.... Hey! What???
Did we give copy approval for that??? haha! ;)
It's a super hot issue as always and the article is fascinating, so buy it here:
HOW THE TATE SPENT A MILLION POUNDS
One tin of excrement £22,300
A filing cabinet £15,163
An idea to have a queue £20,000
Two ceiling fans made from skateboards £5000
A suit crumpled up on the floor, shoes, briefcase, and passport £8985
Ham radio, coat hangers, aerial £10,000
Clothes hanger and pole £400, 857.
Potato and voltmeter, 7 tables and 6 light bulbs £84,709
39 metronomes £34,000
Tea Urn and teapot £8,000
63 min video of 4 people being tattooed with 160 cm line £7,572
A round bar of wood £34,907
A Fiat 126 (less than £500 on Ebay) £12,617
Pieces of red slate in a circle £88,815
Bubble Machines £30,000
Record player £21,762
Flea Circus £86,682
2 hours, 34 min video of a man in a bear costume) £85,000
5 Sliding Doors, £106,174
Photograph of Tracey Emin £20,833
TOTAL COST: £1,103, 306
DETAILS OF ARTWORKS ABOVE
Piero Manzoni. Tin of Shit.£22,300
Stanley Brouwn. 1000 mm.(a filing cabinet) £15,163
David Lamelas. Time.(An idea to have a queue) £20,000
Alexandre da Cunha. Skateboarderistismatronics.(a ceiling fan made from skateboards) £5000 (for 2 fans)
Pawel Althamer. Self-Portrait as a Businessman.(Suit crumpled up on the floor, shoes, briefcase, passport) £8985
Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla, Ten minute transmission.(Ham radio, coat hangers, aerial) £10,000 ($20,000)
Luciano Fabro, Clotheshanger of the North + Foot. (Clothes hanger + pole) £400,857.
Victor Grippo, Energy of a Potato + Tables of Work and Reflection.(Potato and voltmeter) (approx 7 tables and 6 light bulbs) £84,709
Martin Creed, Work no. 112.(39 metronomes) £34,000
Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane. Souped-Up Tea Urn & Teapot (Dartford 2004).(Oversize kitchenware) £8,000
Santiago Sierra. 160 cm Line Tattooed on 4 People. (63 min video of 4 people being tattooed with 160 cm line).£7,572
André Cadere, Round Bar of Wood. (A round bar of wood).£34,907
Simon Starling, Flaga (1972-2000). A Fiat 126 Produced in Turin, Italy, in 1974 and Customized Using Parts Manufactured and Fitted in Poland, Following a Journey of 1290 km from Turin to Cieszyn. (Fiat car, less than £500 on Ebay).£12,617
Richard Long, Red Slate Circle.(a circle made from pieces of red slate) £88,815
David Medalla, Cloud Canyons No.3: An Ensemble of Bubble Machines (Auto Creative Sculptures) [Bubble machines] £30,000
Jim Lambie, Ska’s Not Dead.(Record player) £21,762
Maria Cardoso, Cardoso Flea Circus, £86,682
Mark Wallinger, Sleeper, £85,000 (2 hours, 34 min video of a man in a bear costume)
Carsten Höller, Sliding Doors, £106,174 (5 sliding doors)
Tracey Emin.Monument Valley (Grand Scale) (Photograph of Emin) £20,833
Sign the petition to stop Sir Nicholas Serota's re appointment to Director of the Tate, as he oversaw these purchases: petitions.pm.gov.uk/tatedirector/
Here is an article in the December edition of Independent papers ( www.londonlocals.co.uk ):
A Gallery is the number one predictor of future art stars in Britain.
A Gallery in Wimbledon opened in 1997 and immediately started selecting and helping artists who will go on to be the most important artists of the 21st century. The artwork Fraser Kee Scott, A Gallery's director, chose to open with was 'Crucifix' by Alison Jackson. Alison had just got her BA from Chelsea School of Art and the photograph was for sale at £1500. 5 years later Alison Jackson won a Bafta for her Channel 4 TV show, had a best selling book in America published by Penguin and 'Crucifix' multiplied by ten in value and is predicted to do so again in the next few years. Fraser also showed Stuart Pearson Wright from that years graduates. Stuart is now tipped as the next Lucien Freud with the British Museum buying his paintings and the National Portrait Gallery commissioning his portrait of J K Rowlings. Also from their degree shows were selected Mila Judge Furstova who is currently taking America by storm and Thomas Ostenberg who recently sold three monumental bronze sculptures to a trustee of The Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco. Fraser does more than just select the very finest artists he also has a great ability at helping them reach their full potential. Other examples of his exceptional ability of selecting and helping the future art world leaders are his selling more work between 2000 and 2003 than any other gallery for Dean Marsh who won the most prestigious portrait competition in the world, the BP award in 2005, and showing the work of Andrew Tift for a year before he won in 2006! Actually Fraser's talent at selecting and helping artists who go on to become art stars is unparalleled with other successful predictions being showing Gereon Krebber before he won the Jerwood sculpture prize, Diarmuid Byron O'Connor before Her Royal Highness, Sophie of Wessex unveiled his 'Peter Pan' at Great Ormond Street, offering Natasha Kissell's works many years before her Tatler interview or purchases by Saatchi,... the list goes on and on. You can see much of the art in A Gallery at www.agallery.co.uk and visit at 154 Merton Hall Road, Wimbledon, SW19, open Monday to Sunday 11 - 8 and call +44 (0) 2085408296. Also Fraser is keen to point out that he likes to find out exactly what a client needs and wants so if you are looking for a very special artwork by a rising star in art contact him today!
The sculptor Thomas Ostenberg has enjoyed success since graduating from the Royal College of Art in 1997. Kate Bush bought one of his early works, he had a sculpture placed in the memorial to Princess Diana in a Kensington Hospital and three over 3 meter tall bronzes commissioned by one of the trustee's of the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco.
However he has surpassed all these with the biggest indicator that he will reach my prediction and become the most important sculptor of the 21st Century. He has had a GLOWING essay written on him by Jan E Adlmann, a former assistant director of New York's Guggenheim.
Adlmann says 'As an art historian, as well as a special enthusiast for the art of Greece, Rome and Egypt, this viewer is struck by the echoes of those formgiving traditions in Ostenberg’s sculpture. Without a doubt, Ostenberg has encircled and marveled at great works of the Greeks --- and the Romans --- whose unforgettable figures pulse with life, and are often wreathed in big, broad smiles. One could say that --- Ostenberg’s works, at their best, make innocent laughter contagious.'
For the full essay please request it from fraser@agallery.co.uk . For further information just ask.
IMAGE: 'Leap of Faith', Bronze, 1.55 m high, £25,000
On Thursday the 29th of September 2005 just after 1.30pm Sophie Her Royal Highness Sophie the Countess of Wessex unveiled Diarmuid Byron O'Connor's 'Tinker Bell' at Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital ( www.gosh.org ). There are 150 of the sculptures for sale to the public.
Great Ormond Street is to benefit by 17% of gross proceeds from the sale of each sculpture. According to the Evening Standard the children's hospital has had a recent drop in funding after the copyright fell away in the USA from J M Barrie's Peter Pan story recently and this sculpture is one way of gaining some much needed extra funds.
For further information or if I can help in any way please email fraser@agallery.co.uk
IMAGE: Her Royal Highness Sophie the Countess of Wessex holding 'Tinker Bell' by Diarmuid Byron O'Connor, Bronze, Length 17 cm's, £1742.50,
17% of gross proceeds to Great Ormond Street Childrens Hospital
The BP Portrait Award is the most prestigious portrait competition in the world, promoting the very best in contemporary portrait painting. With a first prize of £25,000 the exhibition has proved the launch pad for the careers of a number of successful portrait artists.
Andrew Tift's winning portrait is a triptych of Lucian Freud's first wife, Kitty Garman, whom Freud painted many times. She used to live just outside Andrew's home town of Walsall, whose New Art Gallery houses her family's works of art, the Garman Ryan Collection. Andrew had been working on portraits of Kitty for a small show at the Gallery and this triptych is part of that series. Its style was inspired by John Freeman's 1960s Face To Face TV interviews.
You can read more about Andrew and the BP Portrait Prize here:
www.npg.org.uk/live/bp2006.asp
A Gallery offered Andrew Tift's portrait service for a year before he won the prize which follows on from our success with Dean Marsh who we sold more works for between 2000 - 2003 than any other gallery and who won the BP award in 2005.
You can find out about commissioning a portrait by Andrew Tift here:
www.agallery.co.uk/gallery.php?cat=1862& ... ab2a8cb9708e8bfb09d7733ae
Chris Parks and his three times Oscar winning father Peter Parks were commissioned by director Darren Aronofsky to produce their special brand of organic fluid effects for the movie 'The Fountain' starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. In order to make his vision of space timeless, Aronofsky steered clear of traditional computer graphics and instead shot with Chris and Peter over a period of 8 weeks to produce something that was unique and would not age.
You can see the trailer for the movie here:
www.apple.com/trailers/wb/thefountain/trailer1
and Chris's art:
www.agallery.co.uk/gallery.php?cat=5723& ... 8c95b4db6235a68d9253c81bc
www.stuckism.com/AGalleryJuly07/IndexShow.html
Stuckism is a word which comes from a time when Tracy Emin (famous for making a dirty bed and calling it art) was going out with the pop star and painter Billy Childish and invited him to an 'art show' where the 'artist' was taking cocaine live on stage. Billy told Tracy that he did not want to go and that it sounded terrible. Tracy shouted at him "You're stuck, your paintings are stuck, stuck, stuck, stuck." This gave his good friend, Charles Thomson, the idea to start and name The Stuckists, of which Billy then became a co-founder.
The Stuckists quickly became an international art movement for contemporary figurative painting with ideas. Stuckism is anti the claims of greatness of conceptual art. It is anti-anti-art. You can see The Stuckists website here: www.stuckism.com
When the press want a statement about the silliness of the latest art work (or non artwork, like The Giant Slide) in the Tate they go to Charles Thomson. Lately Charles has been changing the face of art history by, for example, intervening in Tate purchases by revealing their unethical nature, and was actually responsible for the Director of the Tate, Sir Nicholas Serota, being forced to apologise and blame a 'failing in my head', for falsely filling in an application form for funding for a £705,000 work by Chris Offilli (who was a Tate Trustee at the time [which goes against Tate guidelines of who they can buy from and the law.])
The Stuckist show at A Gallery is called:
"I Won't Have Sex with You As Long as We're Married"
which is a reference to what the famous artist Stella Vine (a former Stuckist) said to Charles Thomson on their marriage day.
Private View: July 19th 6 - 9 pm STRICTLY RSVP
Show runs 'till Sept 23rd, Open Mon to Sun 11 - 6
(Image 'I Won't Have Sex with You as Long as we are Married' by Paul Harvey, Acrylic on canvas)
ATTENTION ARTISTS!!!
We are selling a lot of art! So we are looking for the very finest artworks to show our clients. Please send your images (not too big now) to Magda at info@agallery.co.uk by April 30th and include titles, sizes, medium and artists prices for each image. We will then be in touch!
If you have any questions please ask!