With one day remaining of this year’s BADA Fair (British Antique Dealers’ Association Antiques & Fine Art), Britain’s premier showcase of some 100 leading members of the British Antique Dealers’ Association, there’s precious little time to snap up some savvy acquisitions. As the contemporary markets continue to bounce around and dealers and buyers speculation mounts to utter inconclusiveness, those in the antiques world sit smugly in the know.
Quality antiques continue to hold their value untroubled by transient trends and green collectors’ whimsy. This realisation that fine art and works of unusual and genuine craftsmanship stretching centuries is of constant demand has attracted global audiences. BADA offers the opportunity for visitors to quiz the vendors before committing to a buy – industry experts are on hand to advise and inform whilst all the pieces on show have been vetted and authenticated by the board itself, guaranteeing purchases of quality and authenticity.
From eighteenth century gilt cabinets to art deco jewels, head to the Duke of York Square to take a peek at the trove of treasures on display this time round. Don’t forget to contact art@quintessentially.com for independent advice and personalised tours.
For more information visit www.bada-antiques-fair.co.uk
Last week saw New York invaded by gallerists, dealers, collectors and art trotters alike. With an ever growing number of Armory Show piers, the first ‘Armory Focus’ section and some six sister fairs trying to battle in on the action, smorgasbord would perhaps be the best description or an ‘orgy of art and commerce’ as the New York Times put it.
Jittery dealers and cautious collectors make a tense coupling and perhaps as a response to the surrounding chaos, the number of booths comprised of artists’ solo shows was the highest ever. Some of the strongest noted were Philip Lorca di Corcia’s Polaroid installation at David Zwirner, David Brooks at Museum 52, and the largest installation of them all was by Christine Hill whose psychic apothecary shop was managed by Ronald Feldman. Streamlined booths make for more peaceful viewing, where collectors can absorb a unified body of work as opposed to tit-bits of this and that.
With its lofty ambitions to ‘cross-pollinate art communities,’ to ‘broaden the historical span’ and ‘enrich the platform’ for primary market sellers, it seems the TAS board have gone somewhat over board with their aims and promises. Though it makes for a fun if maddening spectacle, some of the old stalwart US dealers were nowhere to be seen and heavyweight collectors amiss. Perhaps they were checking out ‘Independent’, one of the newer smaller fairs running concurrently, whose board specially invites selected gallerists to participate making for a more taut, coherent affair.
Find out more at www.thearmoryshow.com.
Picture by Carrie Vilines.
Sales of superyachts have soared in recent months as the super rich regain faith in the burgeoning economy. A good 300 million Euros’ worth of 70m long boat have been sending flutes of rainbow-coloured Riviera sparkle in its wake since 2010 began. And once those millions are spent, a few more are shelled out on swift little copters for the ride into Cannes, or, for those truly in vogue, the new retro-styled C boat – the most popular tender this side of Monaco’s autumn boat show.
Now this is the sort of motor yacht Errol Flynn would have swaggered onto, hair slicked back and a Mediterranean sparkle in his eye: high performance with silver-screen looks, it’s both way ahead and way before it’s time, evoking 60s Italian Riva boat flair whilst the mirror-black prow hides some complicated hydrodynamics and slick engineering – two 236hp diesel engines and two 230 Alamarin water jets finding 45 knots on a silky sea. Power and beauty seldom come together; the C boat insisted on the less-is-more dialectic, and found it. Yacht enthusiast and C-boat designer Jason Carrington drew inspiration from the much-loved aesthetic of a 20’s J-Class yacht (the teak deck and deeply cut bow are straight out of a Fitzgerald novella). The classic tapered lines are forged from light-weight carbon materials and there are some seriously rakish exhausts out back, shedding swirls of blue as it surges forward with just a tap on the throttle. But you want to entertain as well? The interior has enough of that considered elegance without cramping on the more important lagoon-lapping nonchalance.
Buy one and you’re instantly eligible to enter the famed Panerai Classic Yachts challenge – the C boat is afforded the status of a ‘Spirit of Tradition’ yacht. So go get your hair wet and have some fun – if you can be bothered to show off. But really, it’s all about getting to that Venetian lagoon at sunset, reciting Byron or Keats as you kill the motor, and just standing there, a martini in one hand, another appreciative aesthete in the other, and gazing at the stars like some surrealist work of art.
For more information, please see www.c-boat.co.uk or www.burgerboat.com![]()
Noel Coward’s 1930 comedy Private Lives is probably his best known and most popular play, a standby of repertory and amateur theatre. Part of this is the iconic plot, dealing with two glamorous divorcees, Amanda and Elyot, who accidentally re-encounter one another while on their honeymoons with their new partners. The precursor to so many subsequent romantic comedies that deal with a love/hate relationship, Coward’s play remains one of the very best because of the endlessly quotable dialogue (‘Very flat, Norfolk.’ ‘Some women should be struck regularly, like gongs’) and carefully constructed plotting that never allows the relationship between the protagonists to descend into farce.
Of course, if done badly, the play ends up as knockabout, silly buffoonery, and so it needs a really strong production to keep it compelling. Thankfully, Richard Eyre’s new staging is as clever and restrained as it needs to be. He’s helped immensely by strong lead performances by Matthew MacFadyen, unusually stern and forthright as Elyot, and Kim Cattrall, leaving Sex And The City’s Samantha behind to adopt a near-flawless upper-crust 30s accent and mannerisms as the charming, sexy but no less headstrong Amanda. There’s also excellent support from Simon Paisley Day as the very model of a repressed prig in Amanda’s new husband, Victor, a man so formal that he uses grand pianos to press his trousers, and Lisa Dillon as the twittery (in the proper sense of the word) new bride for Elyot, Sybil.
If this doesn’t quite rise to the heights of delirious hilarity that some Coward productions manage, there’s no doubt that this is a literate, consistently inventive and amusing revival of a great play that manages to say some compelling and relevant things about the perennial battle between the sexes in a timely and witty way. And it boasts the best on-stage use of brioche you’re likely to see this year.
Until 1st May. Vaudeville Theatre, The Strand, WC2. www.nimaxtheatres.com
La Fille Mal Gardée opened at the Royal Opera House to joyous acclaim from the first night audience. The ballet is a comic tour-de-force in which acclaimed dancer Carlos Acosta as ‘Colas’ and Marianela Nuñez as ‘Lise’, perform several superbly harmonized par de deux with such energy and chemistry that the audience are utterly transfixed by the pair. William Tucket as Widow Simone and Jonathan Howells as Alain are both marvellous in their comic timing and Howells’ portrayal of the affected and whimpering dandy is spot on.
Frederick Ashton’s conception of the ballet was inspired by his love of the pastoral British countryside. As he himself wrote, “There exists in my imagination a life in the country of eternally late spring, a leafy pastorale of perpetual sunshine and the humming of bees-the suspended stillness of a Constable landscape of my beloved Suffolk, luminous and calm”. The set is certainly a homage to all that is wonderful about pastoral England and the whole performance offers a wonderfully uplifting experience to its audience, with the immaculate choreography and stirring music synonymous with the ROH.
If it weren’t for Nunez’s charm and Tucket’s fantastic stage presence, Acosta would undoubtedly have stolen the show. The Cuban is utterly at home on the stage and appears to be driven by the adoring and enthusiastic applause which his extraordinary charisma draws from a rapt and grateful audience. Without wishing to descend into hyperbole, this presents a plausible case for Acosta as one of the finest performers of his generation, and a true master of his art.
Until 28th April, Royal Opera House, Floral St, WC2 www.royaloperahouse.org
‘A Positive View,’ a hugely ambitious photographic exhibition opens this Wednesday at Somerset House, raising money for the homelessness charity Crisis.
Bringing together the most iconic photographers of our time, from Henri Cartier Bresson to Helmut Newton, the show’s list of participants reads like a roll call of the most famed hotshots ever. From rare vintage to digital prints, one can almost trace the medium’s development through the diversity of works on show. A rich collection of works have for the first time been bought together, of international origin and varied approaches, the prints jar and jostle against one another. It is set to be a visually spectacular celebration of the past and present. Featuring some of the most recognised faces of our time including Vivienne Westwood, David Hockney, Kate Moss et al. the show is simply an extraordinary array of beautiful images bound to be vied for by celebrity do-gooders at the Christie’s auction next month.
Aplomb, style and glamour, it’s all at Somerset House.
The exhibition, ‘A Positive View,’ will be at Somerset House from March 10th – April 5th in aid of the charity Crisis and will be followed by an auction at Christie’s on April 15th. Further information at www.somersethouse.org.uk
Image copyright of Corinne Day, courtesy Corinne Day
Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson are probably best known for their award-winning collaborations with Derren Brown and membership of the League of Gentlemen, respectively. They’re also both avowed aficionados of the classic English ghost story, which depends as much on atmosphere and pacing for its impact as it does for the inevitable reveals and shocks, and Ghost Stories, their first play together, seeks to capture the delicious power of being properly scared.
This Lyric Hammersmith production of their collaboration has been recommended for ages sixteen and over ‘due to extreme shock and tension’, and those of a nervous disposition are invited to stay away. If you’re brave enough to overcome your fears, then the first indication that things are going awry comes when you enter the theatre, which has mysterious numbers chalked on the walls and eerily flickering house lights. The play begins with a staid-seeming professor, Philip Goodman (as played by Nyman), who is delivering a lecture on the supernatural, which he illustrates with three stories of the paranormal that he has encountered in his career. Gradually, the connection between all three becomes chillingly clear.
Dyson and Nyman are fully aware of the potential for hokiness and camp in the material, and so the mixture of ‘boo!’ scares and, later on, genuinely disturbing revelations are balanced by a good number of laughs. Extremely well acted by a capable cast that also includes Nicholas ‘Nathan Barley’ Burns, this is a highly entertaining night out at the theatre that shows that it’s not just the cinema that has a monopoly on successfully creepy horror stories.
Until 3rd April. www.lyric.co.uk
Asset diversification strategy, put artistically, is called ‘Art Tactic.’ The man behind it all is Anders Petterson, a former JP Morgan investment banker. Anders regularly contributes to Bloomberg news, the Art Newspaper and Reuters and will be hosting a talk on art as an investment next Wednesday 10th March at Quintessentially Soho.
For nearly 10 years now Art Tactic has been honing its methodologies and analytical frameworks with which to accurately and confidently anticipate the art market’s direction. Combining qualitative and quantitative research tools Anders and his team are able to pinpoint strong areas of growth as well as waning trends.
With Art Dubai kicking off later this month, the talk will have a focus on the Middle Eastern market, so now’s the time to take heed and listen up. For more information on the talk please contact art@quintessentially.com
Look out for my news and reviews from the Armory Show, New York next week.
Gavin Bond, the maverick photographer of the fashion scene, will be giving us an insight into the minds of the biggest names in rock next month. His new exhibition of music photography at the Idea Generation gallery in London will give music fans an unprecedented backstage pass into the psyche of their idols, with Bond’s unique style getting under the skin of the rock star persona and exposing the individual underneath.
Images range from stunning personal portraits of Grace Jones and Ozzy Osbourne to innovative sequences of legendary bands such as The Killers and U2. Shooting backstage in private dressing rooms and through to the melodrama of onstage action, Bond’s camera lets no image go unnoticed and consequently his lens shows us moments and emotions we would never normally be allowed to see.
Bond’s inimitable ‘shoot from the hip’ style has led to him becoming the photographer de jour for leading music magazine Q and fashion magazine GQ, as well as Sony, Universal Pictures and PETA, who rely on Bond’s photographic energy to create their high profile campaigns. In the art world, Bond’s 2007 collaboration with Guy Hepner sold out within four days and went on to be auctioned at both Christies and Phillips de Pury in New York.
So what next for the man capable of getting Bono to go ape with a fire extinguisher? Well in true rock ‘n’ roll fashion he is currently on the road with US band Green Day, documenting their world tour. All this will be relived in his first book of photography, due for release at the end of this year. It isn’t hard to tell that Gavin Bond’s star is firmly in the ascendant, and with a surefire sell-out book in the pipeline, picking up a piece of Bond might just be the perfect investment…provided you like U2 of course.
For more information about the Gavin Bond: MUSIC exhibition visit www.gavinbondphotography.com.
Image by Gavin Bond.
Philip Glass has attained popular acclaim for scoring many successful films, including The Hours, The Truman Show and Notes From A Scandal. More recently, his music was used to striking effect within 2009′s film of Watchmen. Yet he has been a true Renaissance man throughout his career, writing symphonies (including two adapted from the ‘Berlin’ albums of David Bowie and Brian Eno), concertos and operas. Satyagraha was first performed in 1980, but was staged for the first time by the ENO in 2007, to enormous acclaim. With this, its first revival, it isn’t at all hard to see why it is regarded as one of the greatest modern operas.
Over the course of three acts, Glass explores the early life of Gandhi (powerfully sung by Alan Oke) in South Africa where he formed ‘satyagraha’, which literally means the use of resistance by non-violent means. This would of course become crucial to his later philosophy, but is here presented as the powerful awakening of a spiritual conscience, something that Glass and his co-librettist Constance de Jong present via an adaptation of the Bhagavad-Gita.
If it sounds somewhat obscure, this ignores the two key strengths of this production. The first is the spectacular staging by director Phelim McDermott and the Improbable group. The vastness of the Colisseum stage is complemented by audacious effects such as gigantic puppets with misshapen heads towering over city skyscrapes and Gandhi, or apparently endless newspapers appearing across the stage to suggest international opinion of Gandhi’s actions. And the second, unsurprisingly, is Glass’ music. With steady, constant rhythms of string arpeggios punctuated by blasts of woodwind, organ and full choral explosions, it clearly foreshadows his famous work over the next three decades. For anyone seriously interested in modern classical or opera music, or for admirers of Glass, this is an unmissable experience.
Until 26 March. www.eno.org
Image by Alistair Muir/ENO.
