R ecently, students of the Art Department were lucky enough to be offered a trip to the illustrious Frieze Art Fair in Regent’s Park. Ten of us spent an engaging afternoon walking through an incredible network of mini-galleries and installations, breathing in the work of a new wave of artists who are beginning to emerge on the alternative circuit. Sculpture, painting, kinetic art and photography (all art genres close to the hearts of many students here at Dulwich) were on display, and work seen here has gone on to directly inspire the projects of boys who were on the trip. Art trips are not passive events or time spent aimlessly wandering through a gallery with an exhibition guide – they are fully immersive activities that reveal to us the possibilities of what we can create
known as ‘Endless War / You Will Live Forever’. Set in the trademark red frame of a Kruger painting and displaying a photorealistic scene of two chemistry beakers, the painting shows two strips of chemical testing paper with one reacting strongly and the other remaining totally inert. Identified by a box of Kruger-esque text, the beaker with ‘Endless War’ in it becomes the main attraction of the painting, inspiring in me the sense of slight depression and emotional
‘Paintball Painting’ installation. This piece required a viewer to press a flashing button and then watch as a robotic, computer- programmed paintball gun- wielding servo arm spun around and randomly popped off a few shots against the wall. The walls were covered in canvases, and the splatters that the paintballs created on these canvases were the resulting works of ‘art’. When asked whether Miles thought it just for Okiishi to take credit – and money – for
turmoil that I have come to embrace upon viewing work by this artist. Also of interest
art created by a viewer (as they had to press the button for the paint to be dispensed), he replied with something along the lines of ‘who
“...art trips are fully immersive activities that reveal the possibilities of what we can create as we mature as artists.”
was ‘Cover to Covered’, an installation by Lili Reynaud- Dewar. The piece comprises
really cares? It all looks awful anyway’. A career with The Guardian Arts Section beckons, perhaps? As I was getting ready to leave, Benedict Cumberbatch strolled right past. I stopped him and had a brief chat about some of the pieces before he had to dash off, presumably to shoot a film or fake his own death. A fitting end to an invigorating day that provided a very different way of experiencing art.
of a bedroom that Lili built in the middle of the Frieze Projects gallery, the centrepiece being a bed with a fountain cut into the middle, perpetually spewing out a black ink that slowly seeps through the bed to turn it completely black. This was inspired by reading in bed – a harmony of printed ink literature and the place where we sleep. I could relate to the art as I hate it when I’ve been reading before bed and I leave my book open, only for it to then leach all its ink into my duvet and for me to wake up with blank pages. Our visit also included moments of fun that weren’t directly related to looking at art. One of our group, Miles, was interviewed by the Frieze documentary team and asked to give his criticism on Ken Okiishi’s
as we mature as artists. Inside the incredible marquee-on-steroids that made up the gallery space of Frieze, I spent a few hours walking around the main hall with some friends taking in all that the event had to offer. A few familiar names popped up on plaques throughout the exhibition: the most notable ‘artist that I had already heard of ’ was Barbara Kruger, whose piece here might be ‘Untitled’ but is
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