Tuesday 8 July 2014

Serpentine Pavilion 2014 designed by Smiljan Radić






I am delighted to share some of my recent photographs from a shoot at the Serpentine Pavilion. The text below gives lots of information about this years Summer Pavilion including information on the architect – Text taken from The Serpentine Gallery website – enjoy!

(The full edit of images are available for usage through www.viewpictures.co.uk)

Chilean architect Smiljan Radić has designed the fourteenth
Serpentine Pavilion which opened 26 June until 19th October 2014

Radić is the fourteenth architect to accept the invitation to design a temporary Pavilion outside the entrance to the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens. His design follows Sou Fujimoto’s cloud-like structure which was visited by almost 200,000 people in 2013 and was one of the most visited Pavilions to-date.
Occupying a footprint of some 514 square metres on the lawn of the Serpentine Gallery, plans depict a semi-translucent, cylindrical structure, designed to resemble a shell, which rests on large quarry stones. This work has its roots in the architect’s earlier work, particularly The Castle of the Selfish Giant, inspired by the Oscar Wilde story and the Restaurant Mestizo - part of which is supported by large boulders.
The 2014 Pavilion is designed as a flexible, multi-purpose social space with a café sited inside. Visitors will be encouraged to enter and interact with the Pavilion in different ways throughout its four month tenure in the Park. On selected Friday nights, between July and September, the Pavilion will become the stage for the Galleries’ Park Nights series, sponsored by COS: eight site-specific events bringing together art, poetry, music, film, literature and theory and including three new commissions by emerging artists Lina Lapelyte, Hannah Perry and Heather Phillipson.

Smiljan Radić has completed the majority of his structures in Chile. His commissions range from public buildings, such as the Civic Neighbourhoods, Concepción, Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, Santiago, Restaurant Mestizo, Santiago, and the Vik Winery, Millahue, and domestic buildings, such as Copper House 2, Talca, Pite House, Papudo, and the House for the Poem of the Right Angle, Vilches, to small and seemingly fragile buildings, such as the Extension to Charcoal Burner's House,Santa Rosa, The Wardrobe and the Mattress, Tokyo, Japan, and The Bus Stop Commission, Kumbranch, Austria.
Considerate of social conditions, environments and materials, Smiljan Radić moves freely across boundaries, avoiding any specific categorisation within one field of architecture. This versatility enables him to respond to the demands of each setting, whether spatial constraints of an urban site or extreme challenges presented by a remote rural setting, mountainous terrain or the rocky coastline of his native Chile.
AECOM will again provide engineering and technical design services as it did for the first time in 2013. In addition, AECOM will be acting as cost and project manager for the 2014 Pavilion. While this is the second Serpentine Galleries Pavilion for AECOM, its global chief executive for building engineering, David Glover, has worked on the designs for a majority of the pavilions to date. The Serpentine Galleries are delighted that J.P. Morgan Private Bank are the co-headline sponsor of this year’s Pavilion.
Architect's statement:
"The Serpentine Pavilion 2014 continues a history of small romantic constructions seen in parks or large gardens, the so-called follies that were popular from the late sixteenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth century. 

In general, follies appear as ruins or have been worn away by time, displaying an extravagant, surprising and often archaic form. These characteristics artificially dissolve the temporal and physical limits of the constructions into their natural surroundings. The 2014 Pavilion takes these principles and applies them using a contemporary architectural language.
The unusual shape and sensual qualities of the Pavilion have a strong physical impact on the visitor, especially juxtaposed with the classical architecture of the Serpentine Gallery. From the outside, visitors see a fragile shell in the shape of a hoop suspended on large quarry stones. Appearing as if they had always been part of the landscape, these stones are used as supports, giving the pavilion both a physical weight and an outer structure characterised by lightness and fragility. The shell, which is white, translucent and made of fibreglass, contains an interior that is organised around an empty patio at ground level, creating the sensation that the entire volume is floating. The simultaneously enclosed and open volumes of the structure explore the relationship between the surrounding Kensington Gardens and the interior of the Pavilion. The floor is grey wooden decking, as if the interior were a terrace rather than a protected interior space.

At night, the semi-transparency of the shell, together with a soft amber-tinted light, draws the attention of passers-by like lamps attracting moths.

Smiljan Radić Clarke was born in Santiago de Chile in 1965. He studied at the Catholic University of Chile's School of Architecture, where he graduated in 1989. Later, he studied at the Institutto di Architettura di Vezia, Italy. After travelling for three years, he opened his own practice in Santiago in 1995. In 2001 he was named ‘Best under 35 year old architect’ by the Chile College of Architects, and in 2009 he was appointed as an honourary member of the American Institute of Architects, USA. Smiljan Radić has lectured extensively and has mounted several architecture exhibitions on his work, including in 2013 - The Wardrobe and the Mattress, Hermes Gallery, Tokyo, Japan; Bus Stop for Krumbach, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria; Ilustraciones, Galeria AFA, Santiago; in 2012 -An Orange Tree Noise at the Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan and in 2010 Global Ends, Ma Gallery in Tokyo, 2010, and People Meet in Architecture, with sculptor Marcela Correa at the 12th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice. Smiljan Radić has won numerous contests such the Regional Theatre (Concepción, 2011) and the Telecomunication Tower (Santiago, 2014). His work has been published in several architecture journals and monographs.

Tuesday 3 June 2014

Affordable Art Fair - Hampstead 12 - 15th June 2014


I will be showing some of my art work with Bicha Gallery, Stand F6 at the AAF Hampstead - affordableartfair.com/hampstead If any of you would like some complimentary entry tickets - please let me know at siobhan@siobhandoran.com or my gallery directly bichagallery.com

Enjoy!

Tuesday 6 May 2014

SOLVA STYLE: ART, ACCOMMODATION AND MORE at HAROLDSTON HOUSE





A small edit of photographs from a recent shoot at Haroldston House - Photography ©siobhandoran.com - enquiries please contact siobhan@siobhandoran.com
Nourishment for the Body, Brain and Biosphere is offered by Art & Accommodation at Haroldston House.  This stylish new B&B on Pembrokeshire’s St David’s Peninsula offers the best of local produce, artwork and a carbon-neutral footprint – with electric car-charging point and discounts for those arriving by public transport.  The owners, architects Maria Jones and Ian McDonald, hope that it is a B&B with a difference in this stunning corner of west Wales.
Ian explains: “We started from the point that we actually tend not to like B&Bs: the rigid times for a no-choice ‘full English’ breakfast, basic tea & coffee making facilities, polycotton bed linen ... so we decided to make ours the kind of B&B we’d like to stay in.”

As well as putting guests up for the night, it also puts art on the walls: the best of local work – in a county that prides itself on having more artists than any other in Wales – and pieces collected from the owners’ work-related sojourns in India and central Europe.  The result is an eclectic mix of the local and the international: from Brangwyn to Banksy; from Pembrokeshire photographer Chris Neale, to conceptual artist Christo, whose wrapped Reichstag print is a memento of Ian and Maria’s time working in newly reunified Berlin, where they met.
Haroldston House, in the picturesque harbour village of Solva, also showcases Ian’s own artwork: architecture-influenced black-and-white images, and brightly coloured Indian influenced hand-printed screenprints of the Pembrokeshire coast.  Both proprietors were instrumental in setting up the website ARTists Pembrokeshire (www.artpembrokeshire.co.uk), which shows the work of almost 100 local artists – many of whom do not have the luxury of gallery outlets in this remote part of the UK.
Using their Asian experience – as well as Maria’s background in designing luxury family hotels – they have furnished the modest but well-proportioned Georgian house in “contemporary Indo-Celtic” style, with simple, dark-wood bedroom furnishings, jalousie shutters and floors in a mixture of original timber and golden seagrass in deference to the traditional Japanese tatami mat.
To achieve all this, the house had first to be cleared of its inappropriate decor and accretions – but not everything went the way of the 1970s’ wall-to-wall carpeting and storage heaters. The Master Bedroom boasts an enormous en-suite bathroom with retained, generous cast-iron bath and its glimpse of the harbour mouth when you shower.  The bedroom itself is replete with south Indian tribal hangings and the Celtic tree-calendar prints of northern Irish artist, Gail Kelly; its indulgent latex-topped sprung mattress is adorned with a sparkling Gujarati antique-mirror throw. 
The other room – a through-suite – offers the best of both aspects of the original property: the road frontage of this former merchant’s townhouse retains its large Georgian windows (even for the “tropical” En-suite shower room), while the rear of The Suite keeps its smaller, cottage-like sashes. This is doubly appropriate to this south-facing garden elevation, which catches the strong spring-to-autumn sunshine that characterises the St Davids Peninsula, even amidst west Wales’ characteristic summer showers.
The Suite offers a dark-wood East Asian fusion aesthetic, with futon-style beds – handmade in Sheffield(!) – with memory-foam mattresses.  There’s a king size in the bedroom, with an adjoining lounge with banquettes that double as twin beds for families.  Artwork here includes contemporary Japanese prints and Vietnamese calligraphy – along with John Piper’s evocative sketches of the Pembrokeshire coast, as a foil to the large, richly coloured Graham Sutherland Firebird II print gracing the deep pink walls of the entrance hall.
So much for the Bed ... what about the Breakfast?  Here again, the proprietors hope that their past experience has produced results.  Both non-meat eaters, they unsurprisingly avoid the cooked British Breakfast – but carnivores are well catered for at Haroldston House.  Each day offers a selection of seasonal, imaginative cooked options, as well as a choice of platters ranging from meat and cheese to seafood, vegetarian and vegan.  All aim to showcase local produce – from west Wales’ coastal speciality, laverbread (seaweed to the uninitiated) baked into muffins, to Carmarthenshire ‘Parma ham’, a speciality that the natives of Pembrokeshire’s neighbouring county swear the Romans pinched from them when they retreated from this westernmost province of their Empire in the 5th century.
House specialities such as Solva Lobster Benedict, with the main ingredient most likely caught and dressed the day before, and Huevos Rancheros – ranch-style Mexican eggs and salsa – feature when available (as do many actual breakfasts and practice dishes on Twitter @HaroldstonHouse).  Maria and Ian advertise “bespoke breakfasts”, the aim being to offer any guest with special dietary requirements the same amount of choice as the most carefree eater.  Maria’s signature flourless chocolate cake often features on the welcome tea tray, whether you are vegetarian, gluten- and dairy-intolerant – or just love chocolate cake.
Although the proprietors encourage leisurely breakfasts until noon (a Berlin tradition), the time naturally comes when all this needs to be walked off.  Fortunately, Solva sits astride the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path, which lies just a few minutes’ walk from the door and leads in an easy stretch to historic St Davids in one direction and the dramatic storm-beach of Newgale via a more strenuous trek in the other.  If that isn’t challenging enough, then St Davids Head boasts rock-climbing and coasteering as well as boat trips to the nearby islands – havens for Pembrokeshire’s stunning collection of birdlife, as well as seals and dolphins.
Haroldston House doesn’t offer evening meals, but the St Davids Peninsula is well on its way to reaching a critical mass of impressive eateries.  For keeping it local, the hosts recommend Solva’s harbourside No. 35 cafe for fish & chips on a Friday (the fish caught by the same fisherman who catches HH’s lobster), and the village’s Cambrian Inn, which often keeps guests out late with its generous portions as well as local ales.  The latter is a feature offered by most local hostelries, with Lower Solva’s Ship Inn and the Royal George (conveniently positioned up the hill) both boasting summer real ale festivals.  Three miles away in St Davids, Katie at the Cafe at Oriel y Parc (the new visitor centre/world-class gallery showcasing Graham Sutherland’s renowned work) specialises in gluten-free and coeliac-friendly cuisine, alongside fresh local produce and cakes; and award-winning cwtch* on the High Street is the peninsula’s premier eatery.

To contact Ian and Maria, details are below.  For information on Pembrokeshire’s art scene, visit  ARTists Pembrokeshire’s website: www.artpembrokeshire.co.uk
Ian McDonald & Maria Jones
Haroldston House
29 High Street
Solva
Pembrokeshire SA62 6TE

01437 721404
follow us on Twitter @HaroldstonHouse
become our friends on Facebook Haroldston House
like our Facebook business page  Art and Accommodation at Haroldston House

Wednesday 2 April 2014

Affordable Art Fair New York Spring 2014 - Opens today at Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea.


New York City - April 3-6, 2014 with Private View on April 2

A fun four-day event hosting 78 galleries and a huge array of contemporary art, the spring edition of the Affordable Art Fair New York City will take place from April 2-6 at The Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea. if you haven't yet download your PV invite, please do so int he link below: https://www.microspec.com/tix123/etic.cfm?code=AAFNYS14&promo=PPBIC#.UzsBN8f_3bs

My work is represented by Bicha Gallery on stand number is 1.23 - I am showing work from two series - Savoy | The Restoration and One Year in Ashridge. You can read my biography at  www.bicha.co.uk/artists/index.html

The AAAF concept is simple, yet unique: an inspiring and friendly atmosphere in which you can find thousands of original paintings, prints, sculptures and photographs all under one roof, ranging from $100-$10,000, with more than half priced under $5,000. The work of young, emerging artists hangs alongside some of the biggest household names, while our Recent Graduates Exhibition provides a chance to snap up work by a future art world star.

Wednesday 26 March 2014

Apollo Theatre London Re-Opens Tonight 26th March 2014





Just sharing some photographs and some London History from my weekend shoot at The Apollo Theatre London - its also featured in todays Evening Standard - Enjoy!

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/apollo-theatre-gets-a-striking-new-false-ceiling-as-it-prepares-to-reopen-after-it-collapsed-9216013.html

Nimax Theatres commissioned me to photograph the newly refurbished Apollo Theatre London. It was a great privilege to spend time exploring this fabulous theatre - probably one of the most authentic interiors I have photographed recently. Nimax Theatres have successfully completed a magnificent and sensitive refurbishment. After the collapse of the ceiling in December, it is especially great to see the theatre re-opening tonight 26th March 2014 with the show Let the Right One In

For Photography usage please contact me at siobhan@siobhandoran.com

The Apollo Theatre: History and Information (text taken from the Apollo Website)

The West End's Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, London. Designed by architect Lewin Sharp for owner Henry Lowenfield, it was the fourth legitimate theatre to be constructed on the street. The Apollo's doors opened on 21 February 1901 with the American musical comedy The Belle of Bohemia. The production was followed by John Martin-Harvey's season, including A Cigarette Maker's Romance and The Only Way, an adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities.
The Apollo Theatre was the first in London to be built in the Edwardian period, it was renovated by Schaufelberg in 1932, and a private foyer and ante room were installed to the Royal Box. The sculpted work on the stone fascia is by T. Simpson, the building is of plain brick to the neighbouring streets. The Apollo Theater has a first floor central loggia, inside there is a three galleried auditorium with elaborate plasterwork.The theatre seats 796, and the balcony on the 3rd tier is considered the steepest in London.
The Stoll Moss Group purchased the Apollo Theatre in 1975 and sold it to Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Really Useful Group and Bridgepoint Capital in 2000. Nica Burns and Max Weitzenhoffer purchased the theatre and several others in 2005, creating Nimax Theatres, which still owns the venue.

Past Shows

The Apollo Theatre has played host to a number of different types of theatre and a range of world-famous acting talent throughout its history, stretching back to its origins in the early 20th century when it opened with a selection of Edwardian musical comedies and light operas such as Kitty Grey (1901) and Véronique(1904). After these early beginnings a parade of plays and novel adaptations from the best of British and international writers graced the stage of the Apollo, with productions of Ivor Novello’s A Symphony in Two Flats (1929), Robert Sherwood’s Pulitzer Prize-winningIdiot’s Delight (1938), Terrence Rattigan’s Flare Path(1942) and Noël Coward’s Private Lives (1944) all winning popular and critical acclaim.
From the 1970s through to the 1990s the theatre continued to be a showcase for fantastic writing and acting talent, seeing performances from names like John Mills, Vanessa Redgrave, Zoe Wanamaker, Peter O’Toole and Penelope Keith over the decades. Since 2005 the theatre has been owned by the Nimax Theatres chain, and in more recent years there have been successful productions of both new and classic plays with star actors in the leading roles, such as Rosamund Pike in Summer and Smoke (2006), Jessica Lange in The Glass Menagerie (2007), Josh Hartnett in Rain Man (2008) and James McAvoy in Three Days of Rain (2009). The Apollo Theatre recently hosted David Suchet in Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night and productions of Twelfth Night and Richard the III starring Mark Rylance. The National Theatre’s highly acclaimed production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time ran at the theatre from March 2013 – December 2013. 

Let the Right One In, an onstage adaption of John Ajvide Lindqvist’s Swedish Horror Novel, opens at the Apollo Theatre on 26th March 2014.