Phillipe Parreno

Phillipe Parreno is an Algerian artist and filmmaker, currently living in Paris.

Parreno’s most famous work was his ‘Zidane, A 21^st Centaury Portrait’, which, to be honest I wasn’t all that impressed with. The idea of ‘modernising’ the traditional painted portrait is a good one.

But if you sit down to watch it like a film you’ll be disappointed. I think it would have worked much better if I’d seen it in a gallery setting. Not on DVD on a Saturday night.

(Indecently, this idea was originally produced by an artist in 1971, using George Best at Coventry.)

However, his installations that are now on show soon look interesting. Below are a few examples.

If you want to see more, get yourself down to the Serpentine, London W2, from 25^th November to 13th February.

A DOG'S HEART

Complicite. Can they do no wrong?
Mikhail Bulgakov's A Dog's Heart is a satirical fantasy written in 1925 and censored by the Soviet Union until 1987.
A clear swipe at communism, the authorities never wanted it to see the light of day.
A stray dog, close to starvation, is rescued and taken into the home of a famous surgeon. Once the dog is brought back to health the surgeon implants human testicles into the dog and waits to see the outcome…
The crude, idiotic man/dog fits easily into the communist regime that Bulgakov despises. He tows the party line and conforms to their extreme socialist views. And thus the writer's point is made.
We think Bulgakov would be proud of Complicite’s take on his work.
An incredible performance, fusing puppetry and more traditional styles of operatic delivery.
It’s insane, funny, sad, gross and endearing. And it demands your attention from beginning to end.

You’d have to have a cold heart not to love it.

David Lynch - Artist

When it comes to directors there aren’t many who match David Lynch for originality.

Some think of him as a god-like genius. Others think he’s completely mental.

Some of his work is deeply disturbing (Eraserhead and Blue Velvet) while others are gentle, touching portraits of human relationships (The Straight Story and The Elephant Man).

It is this constant reinvention and mass of contradictions that have made him famous.

However, what he’s less famous for is his art. Which doesn’t so much lean towards the darkside as run head long into it through barbed wire, over rusty nails taking you into hell.

His exhibitions are made even more disturbing by the constant industrial grinding sound that accompanies you on the dark journey through Lynch’s consciousness.

I won’t even begin to try and work out what’s going on in his head in these pieces. And looking at them, I’m not sure I want to know…