Wildlife

BY  SUSIE WILD   ⋅  FEBRUARY 26, 2010  ⋅   POST A COMMENT FILED UNDER    ART NEWS ,  ELYSIUM GALLERY ,  EXHIBITION SHOUT OUT ,  FILM ,  SWANSEA ,  SWANSEA LOVE STORY ROLL UP ROLL UP. I have some exciting news. Elysium Gallery ,  the fantastic artist-led space at 41 High Street, Swansea is moving to bigger and better things. From this weekend the artspace as you know it will be closing down and hopping over to set up a top new creative space in a former brothel on Mansel Street, Swansea. The two floor space which has entertained high street drinkers and arty thinkers alike with its mix of site-specific installation and out-there performance art alongside more traditional forms is expanding. The new Elysium Gallery will live at 96 – 97 Mansel Street, Swansea, SA1 5UE, and will host 20+ artist studios in the “strange smaller upstairs rooms” as well as exhibitions and an artist hub space with internet access and library reso...

BY  SUSIE WILD   ⋅  FEBRUARY 22, 2010  ⋅   POST A COMMENT FILED UNDER    GLYNN VIVIAN ,  PHOTOGRAPHY ,  SWANSEA ,  TOM POPE Tom Pope, The Escapades of the Higher Man, 2009 © The Artist The Escapades of the Higher Man: Tom Pope Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea Until 18 April 2010 **** Playful, absurd images combine performance and photography to break the shackles of  gravity  and  social convention . Following on from previous work in which  Pope  is seen  jumping tree-high as country strollers go about their usual business .  In this new exhibition Pope takes to the narrow French streets, the work created as part of a photography residency at the  Atelier de Visu, Marseilles . The Escapades of the Higher Man  seeks to address  Nietzsche’s thoughts about ‘God’s successor’ being a higher man  learning to live by a new set of rules. Combining this with the influence of Yves Klein’s ...

Another pretty dress, another glorious party. On Wednesday it was the turn of the Welsh Women’s Press (Honno)  to delight me with a bit of a do, launching their new anthology of short stories  Cut on the Bias  in  Cardiff’s Oxfam Boutique . It was Ladies’ Night alright: A gaggle of the glamorous and their proud others gather in the fashion store together. Glasses clink. Spirits are high. Mannequin heads with marvellous millinery gaze down at us from high pedestals. A party of designer frocks demands trying on at a later date. The star of the show,  lady in red , is spread out in paperback glory near the scarlet clothes and vin rouge. In the  Oxfam boutique  the clothes are arranged according to colour, and the audience seems to gravitate like-to-like. The anthology editor,  Stephanie Tillotson , wearing a long, tailored, mint jacket lingers near the green. Yasmin Ali, a contributor, her dark hair skimming the shoulders of a black dress with sla...

BY  SUSIE WILD   ⋅  FEBRUARY 10, 2010  ⋅   POST A COMMENT FILED UNDER    DAN ANTOPOLSKI ,  GARAGE COMEDY CLUB Dan Antopolski Garage Comedy Club, Swansea. Tue 9 Feb **** The comedy night at the Garage, curated by young stand up comic Ben Jenkins (a star opener on the night), has garnered quite a following in the Uplands of Swansea, with students and locals alike. This week’s instalment was no exception. Hosted by Jongleurs Semi Finalist and Garage Comedy’s Fringe Stand Up Comp winner Simon Jones, it saw support acts from  So You Think You’re Funny Edinburgh Performer and  Laughing Horse  Performer Philip Cooper, Garage Comedy Competition Semi Finalist Ian Jenkins and Garage Comedy Night New Boy Dan Thomas. Of these three, it was the last to appear who shone brightest. Dan Thomas who I had recently seen at  Manic Monday in Cardiff  entertained again, with jokes hinged on nostalgia for childhood – George and Zippy from...