Fully established at the forefront of contemporary fashion design, the twice named “British Designer of the Year,” Hussein Chalayan, is renowned for his innovative use of materials, meticulous pattern cutting and progressive attitudes to new technology.

This exhibition, running from 21 January – 17 May 2009, will be the first comprehensive presentation of Hussein Chalayan’s work in the UK. Spanning fifteen years of experimental projects, the exhibition explores Chalayan’s creative approach, his inspirations and the many themes which influence his work such as cultural identity, displacement and migration.

Exhibits will include ‘Afterwards’ which explores the notion of ‘wearable, portable architecture’ in which furniture literally transforms itself into garments; ‘Airborne’ bringing the latest LED technology to fashion design with a spectacular dress consisting of Swarovski crystals and over 15,000 flickering LED lights, and ‘Readings’ a dress comprising of over 200 moving lasers presenting an extraordinary spectacle of light.

Presenting fashion as a site of exploration and as expressions of concepts, Hussein Chalayan challenges preconceived notions of what clothing can mean, rather than as garments with only functionality in mind. Motivated by ideas and disciplines not readily associated with fashion, Hussein Chalayan’s pioneering work crosses between architecture, design, philosophy, anthropology, science and technology.

Since 2003, Hussein Chalayan has also directed art projects, including the short films “Temporal Meditations”, “Place to Passage” and “Anaesthetics”. In 2005, he represented Turkey at the 51^st Venice Biennale with Absent Presence, featuring Tilda Swinton.

Hussein Chalayan’s presentations demonstrate his unique ability to combine beautiful and wearable clothes for today with an intriguing vision of the future.

Hussein Chalayan is the creative director of PUMA, which acquired a majority stake in Chalayan’s London-based fashion business and Hussein Chalayan brand in February 2008

Ticket costs are: Adults £8.50; Concessions £6.50; Students £5.00; Under 12s free. Advance bookings can be made by calling 020 7940 8783 or online at www.ticketweb.co.uk

Art For Urban Spaces aims to deliver cool urban pieces which encompass original artwork, funky prints and ultra cool furniture. They have just announced that Stuart Hampton is appearing as one of it’s guest artists.

Stuart was born in Bury in Greater Manchester and lived in Heywood until he moved to central Manchester where he studied for a degree in psychology at university. After university he spent some time in India. Upon returning to England, Stuart indulged his passion for the arts and became well known in many circles of artists and musicians for his surreal approach to both art and music.

During his time in Manchester he became active in the music scene and gained a lot of interest from local press for his music. Stuart always held a strong passion for the visual arts and painting and although he was painting during his time as a musician he felt that he wasn’t devoting enough time to cultivate his works so decided to leave the city and move to Cornwall.

Stuart says: “I now spend a lot of time painting and trying to create images that speak messages of peace, understanding, humility and appreciation for love and nature.”

Influenced by some of the great masters of painting such as Gauguin and more contemporary artists like Salvador Dali, Stuart tries to breakdown the borders of perception and reality and unite the imaginary with the real, creating powerful and provocative paintings.

Stuart’s paintings have created wide interest in art circles and in national and international press with exhibitions set to take place throughout 2009, Stuart is considered one of England’s most eagerly anticipated young talents.

This exhibition includes the following works: Hourglass, In A World Of My Own, Lot, Old Friends, Solace, Summer Came To Me, Time Well Spent & Transcendance. These paintings will not be available for long so take a look as soon as possible.

Gene Shapiro Auctions has announced an important auction of Russian, European, and Latin American art, to take place on November 5, 2008 in New York. The catalogue for the auction has now been posted online and the printed full colour catalogue is available for purchase.

Gene Shapiro, President of the company, is confident that this sale will attract many buyers, “Due to the success of our last several auctions, we have been very fortunate to get numerous inquiries about consigning with us, especially from private collectors. This has allowed us access to many high quality works, which are fresh to the market. It has also allowed us to be more selective in our offerings. The total estimate of the November auction is approximately $4,000,000 – 6,000,000, and the per-lot average is more than $20,000. Your serious Russian collector will not want to miss this sale.”

Shapiro has also introduced some new works into his sale as well by including a Latin American segment, and several important European works as well. With the art market more global than ever, and buyers branching out from their own national artists, this seems to be a sign of the times. As Shapiro notes, “Certainly the majority of buyers of Russian art are Russian speakers, but these same Russian buyers are sophisticated collectors who also buy Western European art, Asian art, Latin American Art, and so forth. Likewise, it is interesting to see the growing trend of non-Russian speakers buying Russian art, whether it be 19^th Century, avant-garde or contemporary, as they become more aware of the importance of these Russian artists in the greater realm of art history.”

The Dan Schlesinger exhibition, “Recent Works”, which celebrates the extraordinary achievements of the American artist, will run from October 21^st through November 2^nd at 39 Earlham Street in Seven Dials, the heart of Covent Garden.

The paintings in the exhibition highlight the artist’s fascination with place, exploring the idea through the particular experience of travel and through reflection on landscape as a genre. The exhibition will be comprised of four series of paintings that take as their subject matter Africa, Italy, water and forest life. All four series are notable for Schlesinger’s use of pulsing, electric colours and his signature impastoed application of paint.

Exhibition hours are Monday to Saturday from noon until 8pm and Sunday from noon until 6pm.

Alan Aldridge embodied the spirit of the 60s and 70s. His evocative, psychedelic images epitomised the feeling and art of an era. As The Beatles lead an unstoppable assault on the global charts, it was Aldridge’s designs and visual identity that defined The Beatles image and music in a changing world. Still busy creating today – he was responsible for the look of the House of Blues in Los Angeles, Aldridge is an artist, an illustrator, a graphic designer, art director and film maker. He masterminded the seminal art book The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics and designed Andy Warhol’s iconic Chelsea Girls film poster. As Art Director at Penguin, Aldridge produced ground-breaking covers. Commissions for The Rolling Stones, Elton John and illustrations for the award-winning children’s book The Butterfly Ball and The Grasshoppers Feast will be included in the exhibition, the first complete retrospective of Aldridge’s work in the UK.

Born in London’s East End in 1943, Aldridge calls himself a ‘graphic entertainer’, his pioneering approach to graphic design fuses faux-naive images, bold colours, references to Art Nouveau and Surrealism with an unerring eye for an arresting image to produce an array of posters, album sleeves and picture books that appeal direct to the masses. Aldridge’s radical talent would define an era, as drabness was cast aside, new music and a new visual culture emerged.

Deyan Sudjic, Director of the Design Museum adds “Alan Aldridge is a remarkable talent: part Aubrey Beardsley, part rock star, responsible for some of the most memorable images of his time, the Design Museum is proud to present the first retrospective of Aldridge’s work in his home country.”

This exhibition will cover Aldridge’s career to date, from the early 60s when his whirling designs refreshed the somber tone of Penguin book covers, to his collaborations with The Beatles and their Apple record company, through to serving as creative director to the original Hard Rock Café. Commissions from Andy Warhol, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Elton John and The House of Blues will also be on display alongside photographs, sketch books and illustrations from his seminal children’s books.

The Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes at London’s Design Museum runs from 10 October 2008 – 25 January 2009

An internationally renowned exhibition of contemporary photographs from the world famous Victoria and Albert Museum has opened in Coventry.

‘Something That I’ll Never Really See’ is organised by the V&A and features over 30 artists as well as new talents in a selection of 44 photographs.

Ludo Keston, chief executive of the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, introduced guests to the exhibition at the city centre venue in Jordan Well, which will run until January 11, 2009.

The photographs in ‘Something That I’ll Never Really See’ are drawn from the V&A’s permanent collections and include some of the most innovative works created during a pivotal period in photographic history.

Dominic Bubb, exhibitions officer at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, said: “Something That I’ll Never Really See offers an exciting range of material which is thought provoking and innovative.

It draws together a diverse range of contemporary photographs that the V&A has collected during the last ten years and held in its permanent collection.

Our new galleries are ideal to host exhibitions such as this and we have every faith that they will attract strong interest from our visitors.”

A mini exhibition by three local community groups will also take place alongside ‘Something That I’ll Never Really See’.

The Grapevine drop-in centre for people with learning difficulties is the first of the groups to create photographs of their own communities, and will be followed by Cardinal Wiseman School in November and the School of Art and Design at the University of Wolverhampton in December.

‘Something That I’ll Never Really See’ will be at Gallery One of The Herbert until January 11, 2009 and admission is free.

Tate Liverpool and the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, are organising a major retrospective of the work of Glenn Brown to be presented from 20 February to 10 May 2009 in Liverpool and from 28 May until the end of August in Turin.

One of the most revered painters of his generation, this exhibition will bring together the largest selection of the artist’s work to date. Brown borrows from art history and popular culture, working from the images of Dalí, Auerbach, Rembrandt, science fiction illustrators and many others to investigate the languages of painting and how images are read by the viewer. Brown is fascinated by how reproductions of paintings distort the qualities of their originals. Size, colour, surface texture and brushwork are elements by which original works are transformed from the familiar into the alien. Working from books or projecting reproductions onto a blank picture surface, Brown wildly embellishes his source material. Naturalistic colour becomes putrid or kitsch; figures are elongated or enlarged into the grotesque; and heavy impasto, although painstakingly copied, is rendered entirely flat.

The exhibition, which includes over sixty paintings, sculptures and several new works, will be arranged to reveal the artist’s diverse painterly strategies and preoccupations. Rooms will be dedicated to the artist’s obsessive and meticulous copying of brushwork with works including ‘You never touch my skin in the way you did, and you’ve even changed the way you kiss me’ (1994) and ‘Telstar’ (1995). His relentless appropriation of Auerbach, returning to the same work again and again in order to transform the head of a figure, is realised in works such as ‘Kill the Poor’ (2000) and ‘The Real Thing’ (2000). Further rooms will reflect Brown’s playful use of kitsch and the sublime, through which the artist radically displaces familiar works by Dalí, Fragonard and John Martin. Brown’s perceptive processes will also be explored. Often placing formal and aesthetic concerns over original subject matter and meaning, details from well known-works are isolated, manipulated, becoming subject matters in themselves.

Glenn Brown was born in Hexam in 1966. From 1984 to 1992 he studied at Norwich School of Art, the Bath College of Higher Education and then trained at Goldsmith’s College. He was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2000.

The Here and Now Gallery in Falmouth, UK, will present a solo exhibition of work by the Bristol based artist Ben Newman. The exhibition will run from 29^th September to 27^th October and will feature stunning graphic limited edition prints at affordable prices!

Ben Newman was born in 1982. His childhood was heavily influenced by American superheroes, the Beano and rope swings. In 2004 he graduated from the University of the West of England, Bristol, with a first degree honors in Illustration. After travelling around Asia, Ben has returned to Bristol where he currently resides and works as a freelance illustrator. He has exhibited in the UK, France and Germany and he received the “People’s Choice Award” at the Bristol Art Show 2006. Apparently Ben owns one desk, two pens, three pencils and a letter opener!

Hey, let your hair down and relax: Design Overtime is in international festival mood. London, Vienna, Dessau, Paris, LA, Milan, Tokyo – everyone is talking DESIGN OVERTIME. See Design Cities and see the world. It will be a festive combination of bunting and banter. Join the ‘This Happened’ discussion to hear stories behind interaction and multi-media design, review your favourite new product for the Design Overtime rag, or take part in the interactive fashion extravaganza, ‘The Forgotten Peacock’.

It’s also a last chance to see Industrial Facility and Tim Walker exhibitions, and a first chance to see the work of this year’s Designers in Residence and hear them talk about their work.

The Forgotten Peacock is an interactive performance installation, enabling ordinary men to try on extravagantly designed suits, to become fashion icons for the night. For one night at the Design Museum be inspired and be provoked by an installation involving extravagant men’s suits, video projection, choreography and original sound. The Forgotten Peacock is a multimedia fashion extravaganza created by designer Takis with sound by Olivier Award winner Gareth Fry. Nine unique extravagant men’s suits, each in three different sizes, will be available for men to try on and parade through the galleries of the museum. Visitors will be given the opportunity to try on the luxurious suits, playing with their image to become twenty-first century ‘peacocks’. The installation is a cultural experiment, inviting the general public to explore a new form of personal expression and challenging social taboos and cultural preconceptions of contemporary masculinity. Whether you are dressing up or looking on, this will be a flamboyant spectacle with one fitting backdrop of the Tim Walker Pictures exhibition.

The Festival is at the Design Museum, Shad Thames, London SE1 2YD on Friday 19^th September from 6-10pm.

Design Cities tells the story of contemporary design through the focus of seven key cities, in each case looking at their most creative moments. Whilst focusing on how specific periods have contributed to the evolution of design, the exhibition also investigates the ways in which design has shaped contemporary culture.

Beginning in London at the time of the Great Exhibition in 1851, and moving to the Vienna of Adolf Loos in 1908, to the Bauhaus in Dessau in 1928, to the Paris of Le Corbusier in 1936. In the post-war period, the exhibition moves to the Los Angeles of Charles and Ray Eames in 1949, then to Milan in 1957 and Tokyo’s creative flowering in 1987. Finally, returning to present day London which is once again the world’s leading centre for design, the base for Ron Arad and Ross Lovegrove, Jasper Morrison and many other leading contemporary designers.

The exhibition features a full range of objects from textiles and fashion to industrial pieces, furniture and prints and it includes design classics such as chairs by Charles and Ray Eames, as well as work by a spectrum of designers that together evoke an impacting impression of their era.
Key exhibits include work by William Morris, Christopher Dresser, Adolf Loos, Marcel Breuer, Le Corbusier, Eileen Gray, Achille Castiglioni, Issey Miyake and Ron Arad.

Design Cities investigates the tangible link between design and the city and celebrates the key achievements of this relationship.

Exhibition Curator and Design Museum Director Deyan Sudjic adds “One fruitful way to understand the development of design is to look at how certain cities, at specific moments in their histories, have moved the practice of design on. That is the thesis of this exhibition. It looks at what it was that made a sequence of cities, at various moments, shift the direction taken by design.”

Design Cities has been organised by the Design Museum, London in association with Istanbul Modern and is curated by Deyan Sudjic. The exhibition opened at Istanbul Modern, Turkey in April and is currently at the London Design Museum running until 4 January 2009.