This is the last, but definitely not the least, of the “BEST OF SUPERSWEET” installments. You know, we love art. But, what kind of art do we like? The stats reveals, at SUPERSWEET, anything goes! Be it intellectual, raunchy, quirky, thought provoking, or, purely mainstream, SUPERSWEET has done it all and is very proud to present our random mismatch of Nick Jago with Spike Jonze, or Melanie Pullen with Tim Walker. Will Damien Hirst topple SS’s exclusive power list, or will Robert Pattinson along with the wolf pack vanquish the world’s most creative elites?
10: Return to the Unreal | Take me there!
Amy Knight’s article on Tim Walker’s exhibition at Design Museum unfolds in an intensely analytical manner the artist’s state of mind, inspiration and influences behind the scene. Amy suggests walker’s photographs present a Romantic vision of a lost English countryside imbued with the extraordinary, with colours and objects that temporarily turn the real into the positively unreal. But the fantasy isn’t always perfect – things are stained, destroyed, abused and broken, but in such a subtle and beautiful way it is almost imperceptible. What’s more, the article is accompanied with the über cute illustration by Julia Pott!
09: The House of Viktor & Rolf | Take me there!
SUPERSWEET bade farewell to our baby column Art We Heart but it’s among one of our most popular pieces yet. This time Tiffany Tondut witnesses the miracle of fashion design and textile by the French fashion deities Viktor and Rolf at the Barbican. This exhibited collection of surrealistic haute couture drips with fantasy and allure, elegance, irony, humour and incredible conceptualism. However, while their conceptual performances are truly marvellous, there are moments when the clothes rely on spectacular effects to distract from plainer tailoring. What’s Tiffany’s verdict? Over-hyped.
08: Jack Duplock Of Algae and Geometry | Take me there!
Amy’s articles examines Jack Duplock’s visually arresting works. Like fluorescent obituaries of youth cults passed, Duplock’s collaged paintings evoke a 1970s nostalgia of psychedelic, heavy metal and B-movie references. His paintings are stagnated embodiments of things lost to the past, unattainable but imprinted indelibly on the memory; the stuff of fearful dreams and alluring nightmares. It’s colourful and sinister.” But, perhaps, our attention is only drawned to the gorily decapitated head of David Bowie.
06: Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are | Take me there!
Fed up with Disney’s Christmas Carol? Go see Where The Wild Things Are instead. It’s dark, endearing, and beautiful. Adapted from a children’s book of the same title, Where The Wild Things Are attracts all sorts of attention; not just from the kids and their parents who pay for it. Freudian theorists refer to the book as the anger management crash course, whilst the Post-Colonialists, likening the Wild Things to the indigenous people, say the story perpetrates the myth about the white man’s superiority and about colonialism. But, how is this ten-phrases-or-so picture book re-made into a 101-minute feature film? You’ll have to find out yourselves.
05: Nick Jago's Poetgraphy | Take me there!
It's been debated for a while in this studio, but what do you call books with photos and poems? Some might say phoems or phoetry, surely it's Poetgraphy, non? As promised, the man in black Nick Jago has come back to curate a bunch of atmospheric poems and shots taken while on the road with his band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. lllusionistic lights and electrifying poems - SUPERSWEET loves Nick Jago!
03: New Moon Overloaded - SS Rulebook for Blockbuster Gain | Take me there!
Having heard praises on Robert Pattinson and the Twilight second installment New Moon from her most trusted confidants, a couple of SUPERSWEET's media fools decided it’s time to check it out. But, after two hours of snacking, and of course, enduring Edward Cullen’s home-made CHEESE, they were left totally gobsmacked how the Hollywood entrepreneurs re-think the ways of making money. Check out the New Moon rulebook if you want to make it to Hollywood.
02: Melanie Pullen's Violent Times | Take me there!
Melanie Pullen gives SUPERSWEET the most recent, never-before-seen collection of her death-inspired photographs. The pomp and the glory of the military that spans over two centuries is captured with some modern and striking, photographic twists. There is an evident shift in tone - from the bold, lively portraits that exude naivety, cockiness and pride of the young combatants to the truthful serenity of their death. There is, of course, a strong sense of disillusion in Pullen’s work; the meaninglessness of warfare that is distilled by inevitability of death. It’s so surreal and beautiful, whilst the hunky soldiers are real eye candies.
01: Street Art Stroll | Take me there!
We hear all about street art, from the twelve-year-old kids with a Sharpie to hip celebrities spending dollars on original Banksy prints. But is this as far as our mileage stretches? Since the 80s, the art form’s exploded into various sub-genres from stencils, stickers and even ceramic tiles to help push the movement forward. So, SUPERSWEET let Jonathan Baker run loose on the streets of London fighting with chav’s dogs and snatching the best photographs of London’s unofficial art scenes.
Words: Poonperm Paitayawat
Photography: Choltida Pekanan, Nick Jago, Nick Zinner, Melanie Pullen
Illustrations: Julia Pott