Arty Girls

Arty 14 is here, available from all good London art gallery bookshops (see Transition gallery web site). It is all about Girls and goes with the Girl on Girl show that I am part of which is currently on at Transition. We think (me and my collaborator Alex Michon) that it is the best yet. It has a good attitude, lots of art (not enough art in the last issue I thought for an Art fanzine) and the lo-fi looks that we love.

To give you a little taster I am going to reproduce part of an article called The New Girly:

"In the catalogue to the groundbreaking show the americans: new art the curator Mark Sladen says that some of the work on show was “playful and downright girly” adding that “the derogatory overtones of the word (girly) have been undermined sufficiently for it to be reclaimed” this comment was very liberating and opened up a whole new aesthetic.

In the girls issue we have asked all the artists about their thoughts on girly and we have thought long and hard about it ourselves, this is what we have come up with.

Girly is an adjective describing all things associated with femininity i.e frills, pretty colours, decoration, dolls, romance, flowers etc. The new girly is not however gender specific, its about an open mindedness, a mix of high and low, a gathering and reclamation of things that have traditionally been thought of as inferior, frivolous and weak. It is about a shift in power and a change in the world order, with the shy equal partners to the brash. Above all it is totally subversive."

Fell in Love with a girl (and a boy)

Went to see the White Stripes on Tuesday at Ally pally along with 7,000 other people. I must admit that this is the first gig I have been to for a while, and I’d forgotten that whole thing about not being able to see because someone really tall stands in front of you! Anyway despite this small quibble it was great. I was reading in the paper today a kind of exit vox pop of the gig and the general opinion seemed to be that he (Jack) was a fantastic guitarist but that she (Meg) was rubbish and only had a very limited repertoire of drum beats. Someone even suggested that a few more people in the band would improve things. STOP. How can people be so stupid? If Meg were drum soloing all over the place the whole thing would tumble over into the wrong side of ‘70s prog rock. The simplicity of her beat is essential. Also the whole fantastic duo, sister / brother incest thing is a vital component (as is Meg’s rather bizarre one arm drumming, one arm on hips stance). Some people are appalling, it really is like punk never happened, can people really just be concentrating on musicianship and ignoring the romance of the myth and the power of conviction. Anyway, it was a good gig, minimal, powerful, charged atmosphere, a little Led Zeppelin (who I have always hated but now have to admit that Robert Plant’s voice was interesting) a little bit Cramps and they even eventually played all their hits.



Meg - Cathy Lomax - Oil on Canvas and Metal - 2003

Of course I also meant to say that I went to this gig with my friend Paul who writes about it on his blog (I've been told that I have to do links like this as it is blogger etiquette)