Derren Brown: Svengali – Shaftsbury Theatre, 13th July 2011
How do you review a show you have been told not to tell anyone about? It is a difficult starting point I must admit, and a tricky one to get your head around. Pretty much like the entire set I witnessed on a warm breezy night in London’s West End.
Derren Brown’s ‘Svengali’ is an exuberant mix of playful tomfoolery and dark, sinister twists and turns. From the opening sequence explaining the supposed history that the show is based on and the subsequent first segment, you know that your emotions are going to be tugged in all sorts of directions throughout the performance. After the playfulness - involving shoes, paint and embarrassing moments - of the first half we are left at the interval feeling relaxed, yet with the same question you ask yourself at all of these shows, ‘How did he do that?’
The second half begins and almost takes you by surprise. You know that something darker is afoot but it just comes out and grabs you – and thus begins the highlight of the show. We are reminded of the story we were told at the start of the show, and the figure that accompanies Brown on stage at this moment is just completely creepy. An automaton – a mechanical doll capable of apparently reading our minds – is revealed and looks like he could be Chucky from Play School’s commander at base. What follows is some of the most spine tingling spectacles I have seen on stage. Maybe this is because I have not been to a show like this before, maybe it is because my biggest phobia was dealt with, and it may have even been the circulation to my back decreasing in the cramped balcony seating. It had one of those moments where you want to look away, but you really cannot. It was a truly clever mix of the supernatural, suggestion and illusion that Brown is so renowned for. It is just a shame that this part of the show did not go on for longer.
Out of the darkness came the light once more as the show picked up a bit of pace with the more relaxing tone that had begun to emerge. There was yet more memory work as well as fitting ending with numerous balloons, play bricks, paper throwing and a healthy dose of mathematics. That last one may not seem like much fun but the result leaves you gasping and wanting more. Once Brown has shown off his more physical side, the end is nigh and the applause is taken with his final shock reveal.
Svengali may not be Derren Brown’s best ever show, but for a newcomer such as me, it was certainly an enjoyable experience. When the show leaves London and continues into 2012, I certainly recommend seeing it.
By then I will still be trying to figure out how it was all done.
****/*****
William Evans
Derren Brown’s ‘Svengali’ runs at the Shaftesbury Theatre until 16th July. The next available dates so far begin in February 2012
Trenton Doyle Hancock
Growing up in a Christian household in Texas, Trenton Doyle Hancock was immersed in myths and narratives that he found while reading The Bible. Couple these narratives with his love of comic books, toys and the Masters of the Universe series and one is able to see the pool of imagery and ideologies that helped shape Hancock's world.
"If you look at the grouping of the stories and belief systems that I learned from growing up, I wanted to take them, breakaway from them and apply them to my own art project based around a series of myths and symbols."
Through his prints, drawings, painting, collages and even ballet, Hancock has created an ongoing narrative involving a group of mythical creatures that live and die in a Tolkienesque underworld. There are Vegans - small ant-like creatures that live in his underworld and militantly hate meat. There's Mounds - hairy mountainous creatures that are rooted in Earth and a handful of supporting character's like Torpedo Boy, Painter and
TRENTON
DOYLE
HANCOCK
Lloyd. There are good guys, bad guys, murders, plots, subplots, ideologies, and just about everything that goes with a continuing series of fantastical sagas.
"I feel it's important to have this narrative coupled with paintings because it's something I haven't really seen before in fine art world. I mean painters throughout history used narratives, even the abstract expressionists did, but I wanted to take it to a different place. I want to tell explicit stories and have them be major components of the work to create a new hybrid conversation."
Trenton was recently commissioned to be one of the artists to do mural work at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium. His work is part of the collection at many museums, including The Brooklyn Museum, MoMA, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and The Whitney. He was part of the PBS Series Art 21 and is represented by James Cohan Gallery here in New York.
Meddler, 2008. Mixed media on paper. 23 X 19 1/2 inches
Vegan Arm, 2006. Urethane, steel, string
84 X 108 X 9 inches. Edition of 3
Via: James Cohen Gallery
Myth + Symbols
Peace Vincent Gallo
Funny Kenny Powers quote
"I've been blessed with many things in this life. an arm like a damn rocket, a cock like a burmese python, and the mind of a fucking scientist."
Kenny Powers
Pacman Swimsuit
Pacman
When you go to the beach or out to the pool, bring it back to the 80's with this vintage Pacman Swimsuit. Just make sure no Ghosts are following you. You can find this and many other cool clothing at Black Milk.
Swimsuit
Only $90
For Mothers Only
LOL.
Alysha Nett on being Friendly
Alysha Nett
"I try my best to do nice things on a daily basis. its so much easier to be nice than be mean. yesterday, i mailed a card to a friend so he would know i was thinking of him."
Deck Chair by Bernhard-Burkard
This deck chair is attractive in its simplicity. In combination with the environment it serve its purpose as a deck chair. To achive best stability, it needs to be leaned against walls or rails in a flat angle. The anti-slip coated stand provides safe grip on every surface. Even though it looks dangerous it provides comfort seating and relaxing in every occasion.
curt | deck chair
About the Studio:
The Swiss design studio BERNHARD | BURKARD was established in 2010 by Fabian Bernhard and Thomas Burkard.
During their time together as students they soon realized the potential that derives from the synergy of their individual skills and approaches to design. Their comprehensive experience and excellent network enables BERNHARD | BURKARD to accomplish a project from conception and formal elaboration to technical realization. Their focus lies on both innovative and creative solutions that are at the same time highly esthetic and an appropriate resource management. Design starts with a call for change. Besides technical skills it needs curiosity and the will to face the world with open eyes. Beyond styling and optical dressing contemporary design, as a process for products and communication, can generate the additional benefit that leads to sustainable success for all users.
Before setting up their studio Fabian was working as creative director at capartis AG. Thomas used to work for the well known designer Michael Young in Hong Kong.
Via: bernhard-burkard
Big Damn Heads - DDB
Some Big Heads
DDB's design team made these awesome big heads that weigh pretty heavy. These guys should see me in the morning. Pretty sweet. Check out more work here.
Cookie Monster with Rebel Militia
Granada-born artist Paco Pomet bases his paintings on old archival photographs, interjecting silly, surreal, and absurd elements — skewed and stretched features, scale shifts, extra or missing limbs, or goofy pop imagery — commenting on the distorting nature of memory.
Paco Pomet - “Cookie Monster with Rebel Militia”
Via: Lost at Eminor
Claire Morgan: In her own words
My work is about our relationship with the rest of nature, explored through notions of change, the passing of time, and the transience of everything around us. For me, creating seemingly solid structures or forms from thousands of individually suspended elements has a direct relation with my experience of these forces. There is a sense of fragility and a lack of solidity that carries through all the sculptures. I feel as if they are somewhere between movement and stillness, and thus in possession of a certain energy.
Claire Morgan
Animals, birds and insects have been present in my recent sculptures, and I use suspense to create something akin to freeze frames. In some works, animals might appear to rest, fly or fall through other seemingly solid suspended forms. In other works, insects appear to fly in static formations. The evidence of gravity - or lack of it - inherent in these scenarios is what brings them to life, or death.
I feel a close connection with the natural world which I hope is evident in my work, but our clumsy, often destructive relationship with nature, and the 'artificial' world we have contrived for ourselves are of equal significance. Ultimately I find myself focussing on areas where the boundaries cannot be clearly defined.
The titles of the works are very important, and often make reference to historical or contemporary popular culture, words being appropriated from the titles of films or books, or phrases being manipulated through combination with the artwork. These connections often add a comedic element to the works, a sense of irony or bluntness that keeps them firmly rooted in my experience of the world that we humans inhabit. Though the phrases have a specific history, the jarring between the title and the form can bring a desirable ambiguity through intentionally creating confusion.
The processes involved in the work are laborious and there are thousands of individual elements involved, but clarity of form is of high importance. I do not wish the animals to provide a narrative, but rather to introduce an element of movement, or energy, or some sort of reality; animating or interacting with the larger architectural forms.
Drawing is important, and allows me to explore a different side of each idea. The processes involved in my blood drawings bring a growing degree of understanding of material and form. "
In Her Own Words
Via: Claire Morgan
Audrey Hepburn in 1961
Lady Diamond Rocks
Fanny Maurer
Word, Lady Diamond is one of my favorites. She currently lives in Linz, Austria. Join her fanpage on Facebook! - right here!
La Invasion De Los Marcianos
X-Ray Pin-Up Calender
IZO (medical imaging and radiograph service) is giving out unique x-ray pin-up calendars to their clients (many of which are doctors). The goal of the project is to break free of taboo, i.e. showing the traditional, sexy pin-up in all its glory and details.
X-Ray
Pin-Up
Via: Zero
Be All You Can Be...
Be
all
you can be
Female Marine Hollers at Justin Timberlake
By now, we know full well that Marine Sgt. Scott Moore's YouTube invitation to Mila Kunis worked in part because of a timely assist from her "Friends With Benefits" co-star Justin Timberlake.
Well, now Timberlake himself is the target of a Marine Corps Ball invitation.
Cpl. Kelsey De Santis has posted her own video proposal, requesting that the actor/musician accompany her to a Ball set to take place in Washington D.C. on Nov. 12th.
If he refuses, Cpl. De Santis advises that he "cry me a river."
We know Timberlake has slick dance floor moves, but he may want to be careful should he agree to escort De Santis - she's currently the only female enrolled in the Martial Arts Center for Excellence at Marine Corps Base Quantico.
Female Marine Targets
Justin Timberlake
Via: NBC CT
Will Justin go? Of course he will. He loves his country.
Vampire Banks
Hello, we are the banks and we have become vampires. we like to suck everything from your life, we do this Along with the government. slowly we will take all your shit! So, just go right along and keep watching your reality TV and play on your facebook.
Image: Tang Yau Hoong
Shit Could Be Worse
REAL TALK.
JFK Talking about Secret Societies
"The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in ensuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it is in my control. And no official of my Administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know."
JFK on
Secret Societies