Arts and Culture
A night at the Oscars
The weather has thankfully thawed and not a minute too soon.
Predictions in and glad-rags on, the biggest names in the movie business gathered together on Sunday night to celebrate the hottest date in the awards season calendar: The 90th Academy Awards – The Oscars!
Leading on from the BAFTAs and the Golden Globes, the front runners including Three Billboards, The Shape of Water, The Darkest Hour and I, Tonya each with high hopes of bagging the most wanted...
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Andreas Gursky’s exhibition at Hayward Gallery
In fact, when I realised that after visiting Modigliani’s exhibition I’d have to wait till April to see a new exhibition at the Tate Modern, I was starting to feel a longing to return to the South Bank. But, the sky answered my prayers and so it happened: the re-birth of the gloriously brutalist Hayward Gallery tucked between The National and The Royal Festival Hall. And what better way to show-off this spectacular architecture than to hold the first major UK retrospective of the work of acclaimed German photographer Andreas Gursky. Around 60 photographs, many renowned for their scale that can often exceed three metres in height, stand beautifully in the gallery’s immense rooms. Gursky’s illusory and boundless landscapes, created by clever digital manipulation, appear like tapestries, creating abstract worlds from gigantic ‘99 Cent’ shops (my dream), to frantic Formula 1 tracks (my nightmare) and artificially abstracted landscapes such as Rhine II (which, just in case you started picturing it in your living room, fetched over £3 million at Christie’s New York in 2011, so becoming the most expensive photograph ever sold).
Featuring The best of the BAFTAs 2018
Welcoming some of the biggest names in film, the absolutely fabulous Joanna Lumley introduced this year's BAFTAs with some incredible acrobatics from the company of Cirque du Soleil. “Power to the people.” - Frances McDonagh A glamorous ceremony and a night for celebrating cinema, with Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri cleaning up five awards, including Best Film, Best British Film, Original Screenplay, Leading Actress (for Frances McDormand) and Supporting Actor (for Sam Rockwell). Meanwhile, stars showed their support for the Time's Up campaign by wearing black on the carpet, with Sam Rockwell, McDormand and Lee Unkrich using their winner's speeches to highlight issues of diversity and equality in the industry. Frances McDormand accepted her award for best leading actress in a dress, not totally in black, admitting to having a “little trouble with compliance”. Nevertheless, she said she stood in full solidarity with her sisters, “What I’m most proud of,” McDonagh told the audience, “especially in this Time’s Up year, is it is a film about a woman who refuses to take any more shit”.
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Featuring Film maker Therese Shechter: “Being child free could be...
The film, My So-Called Selfish Life, is funded via a Kickstarter campaign, (Shechter’s third crowdfunded film project), which closes next week. The film will show how choosing to be child free in today’s society is not an easy option, and something which can be met with strong reactions from the surrounding community. Film maker, writer and speaker Therese told her mother already in high school that she wasn’t going to have children, and that if her parents wanted grandchildren they would have to look at her sister. While always knowing she didn’t want children, Therese kind of assumed she would have them anyway. “That had a lot to do with my ideas of what women did. I just assumed I would have a partner who wanted kids, and my friends would have kids and I would kind of have to go along with that,” she says.
Investing in contemporary art: a gallery owner’s guide
Investing in artwork is of course not purely financially motivated, but many investors who are attracted to traditional methods of investment are diversifying due to the higher potential returns from investing in contemporary art. Normally the impetus for purchasing artwork is a combination of financial return coupled with a passion and desire for the artwork, visually as well as part of a growing status symbol. Art is increasingly becoming part of a social lifestyle membership which is exaggerated by the increasing importance of social media in people’s daily lives. Deloitte Art & Finance Report in 2016 showed that 72% of collectors were primarily motivated by emotional returns, 61% by social returns (being part of a social scene, network of like-minded people), and 64% by financial considerations (investment returns). The average return has been 10.85% per year 1965 – 2016 (Mei Moses Art Index).
Featuring The treasures worth more than their weight in gold
Watchshop has conducted a survey and discovered that 42% of the British Public 'would only consider selling their family heirlooms in times of financial crisis' but if their family heirlooms were made of solid gold, would their worth be as impressive as these? The Watchshop has also compiled a list of both historical artefacts and modern day amenities that are worth more than their weight in gold, with everything from nail polish to 19th-century stamps all making the list, as well as cocktails and locks of late musician's hair.
Featuring London Art Week: Our recommendations
This highly anticipated event will draw in thousands of art enthusiasts from all around the globe over the week. London Art Week focuses on the celebration of 'an array of exceptional art from across the past seven millennia' and will do so by allowing both novices and experts to enjoy 'world class art up close' in over 40 galleries and three leading auction houses; and with everything from impressionist paintings to cocktail master classes and from ancient sculptures to exclusive private tours and dinners - there really is something for everybody. For an exclusive morning, head to the members-only The Groucho Club on 3rd July to take a look at the unrivaled contemporary art collection with Nicky Carter, 'former art director and longtime member of the original arts & media private members club' and will go on an tour of the intimate club nestled in the centre of the bohemian heart of London and will end with an exclusive limited-edition cocktail at the SoHo bar, created by The Groucho Club to celebrate London Art Week.
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Featuring Luxurious private cinemas in hotels around the world
Why not try an evening with the stars on for size. But if watching a flick in your local multiplex holds little appeal, panic not. The Sybarite has the low-down in on the hottest hotel cinemas around the world. Popcorn at the ready…
Featuring A new way to invest in fine art
The global market was worth more than $45billion last year, a 1.7% annual increase, according to the European Fine Art Foundation Report 2017. Prices have fallen back a little from the peak of July 2015, but are around 15% higher than in the market trough of November 2012 and the market is ‘stable and robust’. The outlook is optimistic. Wealth managers are looking beyond traditional investment products and there is a strong demand from investors – 88% of private offices and 75% of High Net Worth and Ultra High Net Worth individuals want art in their portfolios, according to the 2016 Deloitte Art and Finance Report. However, the market can be daunting to newcomers. It has a reputation for being opaque and the major auction houses charge fees of up to 30%. Global auction house sales fell last year by 18.8% while sales by dealers increased by 20% to $27.9billion; looking more closely at the figures, it turns out the big auction houses conducted more of their business privately, which does nothing for transparency in the market.
Featuring Lights of Soho presents "Be Illuminated" by Papi
Roger Taylor, who goes by the name ‘Papi’, is a self-taught artist working with the medium of light. Beginning his creative career as an actor in New York at Lee Strasbourg Theatre Institute, he then became a creative director for some of New York’s hippest night clubs creating sets for their weekly shows. In recent years, Papi moved to Manchester and set up his own design studio where he uses traditional tools and methods to hand sculpt metal and form a fusion light and art. He has also worked collaboratively with some well know street artists resulting in an international exhibition from London to Tokyo. Papi has had numerous sell out shows in London over the last 2 years and the pieces that he creates are either one-offs or limited to 7 pieces only. For six weeks at Lights of Soho, Papi’s creations will depict the vibrancy and the energies of the area, from the streets of Soho to the gallery.
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