Pipilotti Rist @ Hayward Gallery

The Lobe of Lung, 200

Pipilotti Rist’s Eyeball Massage scrutinizes female physicality in a visceral, yet strikingly beautiful way throughout the video installations scattered around the ground floor of the Hayward Gallery. The viewer is also invited to engage physically with the works exhibited. As we move through the space Rist plays with our perception of size, by creating kind of Alice-in-Wonderland-mushroom-trip-like situations, where the viewer either feels as he have grown or shrunk. An extreme example of this is the miniature installation Selfless in the Bath of Lava, in which a woman surrounded by hellfire cries for help; reaching out to the viewer, she begs forgiveness. One has to get down on the knees in order to watch the tiny video played through a peephole in the floor. This situation makes us feel gigantic and powerful. Contrary, The Lobe of Lung, which is projected on three huge wall-sized screens, portrays a woman walking through a field of tulips, who is so monumental that next to her one feels like a dwarf or an infant. It is this projection, which struck me the most, with its vibrant colours and seductive sound. I found myself sunk into a bed of pillows, completely relaxed and hypnotised by the video in a dreamy state of mind. Eyeball Massage delivers exactly what it promises. The show is a magnificent visual feast.

Selfless in the Bath of Lava, 1994

Administrating Eternity, 2011

George Condo @ Hayward Gallery

Uncle Joe, 2005

Mental States is George Condo’s retrospective exhibition, which presents his artistic journey from early beginnings in 1980s until present day. The show concentrates mainly on the portraiture work of the artist, with big emphasis on his deformed depictions of Queen Elizabeth II. The style of Condo’s paintings could be best described as Picasso meets Looney Tunes.

The Stockbroker, 2002

My favourite piece has to be Uncle Joe, which portraits bottom-half naked, drunken man enjoying a bottle of wine and a smoke in the nature. There is something completely mad about this portrayal, as the ‘lightness of being’, which is communicated through the body language of the subject of this idyllic scene, is completely contradicted in his insane face expression of a pathological alcoholic.

George Condo’s paintings are moralistic, but with a twist of (dark) humour, that lots of today’s artist do not have. The art world is full of serious wannabe preachers, who in a school-like manner try to enlighten the rest of society, with their dull discoveries about the meaning of life. Who cares? I don’t think anybody likes to go to an exhibition in their spare time to be patronized by some schmuck with a fine art degree. To lecture, but entertain at the same time is a grand ability, which George Condo possesses

Lady Crimp, 1984

Dreams and Nightmares of the Queen, 2006

Chapman Bros @ Museum of Childhood

There cannot be anything more miserable in the life of a parent than rainy Sunday morning. On any other day I would take my offspring for a lovely walk in a park or have some fun on a swing in the playground, but this idyll falls apart on a rainy Sunday morning, because by definition it is Museum of Childhood day (if you live in Bethnal Green that is). All kids love a bit of socializing, either in the form of ferocious battles over a toy, punching, screaming or completely ignoring each other, while desperate parents try hopelessly to control the situation.

Imagine my surprise, when one of these Sundays I discovered that my ‘favourite bad weather hideout’ hosts Jake and Dinos Chapman show… “Chapman brothers?? In the Museum of Childhood??” – my parental-conscious half shouted, trying to prevent my son from running towards the prints (when, at the same time, my art-loving half was trying to outrun him to be the first to see) – “How on earth the notorious fanny-and-penis-drawing art deviants got to exhibit in this cozy, family-friendly museum?”

My Giant Colouring Book is a series of 21 etchings, which use the join-the-dots pages from the kid’s books to form imagery far removed from its intended guideline. This child-friendly version of Chapman brothers’ art is maybe not as porn and gore saturated, as we tend to know it from their other works, yet still it is a very dark fantasy filled with all kinds of gloomy monsters, far from Disney characters. Although this twisted imagery might be faintly disturbing for an adult, I bet it can give fair amount of nightmares to any kid with at least a bit of imagination. So if your child wets the bed at night after the Gruffalo story, maybe My Giant Colouring Book show is not the best idea for the weekend family trip.