Showing - Raymond Pettibon @ Sadie Coles HQ- London

Raymond Pettibon lives somewhere around Venice Beach in California. That’s probably why he has a sense of humour – humour from the ironic, caustic, anti-authoritarian school of thought. In sunny LA, he’s a long way from Arizona, the place of his birth, but hey, who wants to live in the desert when you can be by the beach? He’s always maintained his edge – his brother Greg Ginn played guitar for Black Flag and, apparently, Pettibon was the one who came up with the group's name and four bar logo. Later, he was involved with Sonic Youth’s 'Goo' (above), the Foo Fighter’s 'One by One' cover, as well as producing his own music and a couple of books, besides bagging the Bucksbaum Award at the Whitney Biennial. No small feat, I’d imagine…

On to his current work, and Pettibon is a bit of a cultish cartoon master. In that, he’s exhibited at a whole bunch of places including the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Haags Gemeentemuseum in the Netherlands, and the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery. So much for anti-authoritarian; these place are pretty highbrow. Whatever, and who cares, 'cos that’s a whole other debate. Now he’s showing at Sadie Coles HQ in London. This is his third exhibition at the gallery and, while the release didn’t say a much about what would be showing, it’s pretty safe to say, this is an exhibition worth checking out.

Raymond Pettibon is showing at Sadie Coles HQ, 35 Heddon Street, London W1, from 12th January – 17th February.

Mark Ronson - Just Cover - London (genius!)

From - Graffiti Instincts (Jay and Nilko)

Graff - Dans La Bronx Avec La French Connection

Escape - Graff on Graff - USA

Opening – Sam Dargan’s ‘A Bad Year for People’ @ Rokeby – London

London's Rokeby has a knack of picking up young, up and coming, almost established talent, so it’s unsurprising they’ve roped Sam Dargen into their stable, with an exhibition entitled ‘A Bad Year for People’ opening in January 2007. Dargen graduated from the Royal College in 2002, and has since exhibited across Europe at galleries including Copenhagen’s Mogadhni. His works are a little disturbing – which isn’t altogether a bad thing – after all ‘alienation’ is his favoured subject. Almost all his characters are suit and tie boys, caught up in nasty situations, like say, the rear end of a tornado. So it’s safe to say, Dargen isn’t exactly after a warm fuzzy vibe.

Showing – Philip-Lorca diCorcia’s Family and Friends @ Galerie Sprüth Magers – Munich

Philip-Lorca diCorcia is one damn fine photographer. I’m a big fan. A big old mad fan. What can I say? His work just does it for me. These photos, they’re static but stirring; stirring in so many different ways. They leave you with an afterthought; a notion that something’s about to happen, has happened, will happen. They’re almost menacing, but because the subject matter is so average, they’re also warm and fuzzy and, kind of welcoming. Bottom line, they’re an oxymoron and that, to me, is perfect.

Back in the ‘70s, when diCorcia established himself as a name to be reckoned with, he got working on a collection of photographs called ‘Family and Friends’, which are currently showing at Galerie Sprüth Magers in Munich. Now, unsurprisingly, this set of images does pretty much what you’d expect – well, what you’d expect up unto a point. Set around incredibly banal situations, they’re heavily staged – a boy in the kitchen (above; 'Brian', 1988), a moustached man cycling down a tunnel, a bloke talking on the telephone – fixed and frozen. But, like a freeze frame of an old Technicolor movie, you feel that if you were to hit some secret button, they would kick back into action again. Course, that’s sounds mad and probably is. However, this madness, or rather, magic, is precisely what makes diCorcia’s work brilliant.

Philip-Lorca diCorcia’s Family and Friends is showing at Galerie Sprüth Magers, Schellingstrasse 48, D-80799 München, until 27th January 2007.

Showing - Wood for the Trees and Falling Leaves - Gimpel Fils - London

Public Address - LA

Turner Prize 2006 - Tate Britain - London

For the first time since 1998, a woman has managed to bag the Turner Prize. A painter no less – something practically unheard with the Turner. Still, you got to hand it to Tomma Abts, her paintings are something else. They’re a bit like Marmite; you either love ‘em or hate ‘em. Me, I’m not so keen. However, hands up, I know they’re special. I know this because they mess with my head. They’re so small, so modest, so quietly clever. They are, like nothing you ever saw before. From the off, Abts was tipped as the favourite to win the £40,000 (sponsors Gordon's Gin helped up the £25,000 on offer) prize. She was the out and out winner, surpassing those other shortlisted talents of Phil Collins, Mark Titchner and Rebecca Warren. So, really, it was no big surprise when Yoko Ono opened the envelope and called out her name.

Towering like a giant beside the diminutive Ono, Abts was calm as can be, thanking her galleries and the likes. She was serene and composed and unassuming. Kind of impressive, I think. I imagine she’s a bit like her paintings, quiet on the outside with a whole lot going on underneath. Because, these works, they look simple but are quite the opposite. They're created over months, with layers and layers of paint, applicated with precision and grace. Now, that's not to say that I like them. I don't. Hell, I don't even get them (and yes, maybe that's the point... I don't know). But, like I said before, I know they're good. I know they're something serious.

Turner Prize 2006 is showing at Tate Britain, Millbank, London, SW1, from 3rd October to 14th January 2007.

Museum 52 - Nada Art Fair - Miami

Deith Projects - Art Basel - Miami

Alien Nation @ The ICA - London

Featuring the likes of Laylah Ali, Hamad Butt, Yinka Shonibare, Eric Wesley and Mario Ybarra Jr, Alien Nation is a funky little mash up currently on show at the ICA. Curated by John Gil, Jens Hoffmann and Gilane Tawadros, and co-produced by the ICA and the Institute of International Visual Arts, the exhibition ties together sci-fi, race and art. Swinging back in time in a kitsch but cultured manner, it includes a collection of original old school film posters from the ‘50s, archive films, and works by twelve contemporary artists (including those mentioned above), presenting interpretations of ‘otherness’ by way of sculpture, film, photography and multi-media.

Alien Nation is showing at the ICA, The Mall, SW1, from 17 Nov 2006 - 14 Jan 2007. Telephone: +44 (0)20 7930 0493

Blek Le Rat in Action

Showing - Nick Waplington 'Wax and Wane' @ Museum 52 - London

The Hackney Artists Birthday Exhibition - London

Private View - Hans Holbein ‘Holbein in England’ @ Tate Britain – London

Those old masters – the Dutch ones – I was never that much of a fan. They were always too fussy, too precise, too, too much of everything that’s over the top and outrageous. Nope. The Dutch masters never really did it for me – until last night, that is. Holbein, a name that generally sends me straight to sleep, turned out something of a stunner at Tate Britain’s 'Holbein in England'. Hands down, I was sucked in with the rest of them, pulled around roundabout style, surrounded by all those sketches, prints and oils hanging on the walls of Tate Britain.

Now, the gallery, admittedly, isn’t quite a saucy as its fellow Tates. However, it plays a cool host to the exhibition with a smooth run through Holbein’s various guises. As an artist, his catalogue is astounding. It’s like a waltz through history – the kind of lesson that makes you feel small and antlike, and all too aware that there world has spun round for years before your arrival. Indeed, back in the 1500s, it was all happening in the UK. It was a bit of a gory scene, extra opulent with a lot of nastiness going on underneath that gold-gilt surface. Course, Holbein caught the extravagant, elegant side of things. As the court painter, he covered the main players; Anne Boylen, Jane Seymour, Erasmus, and the big man himself, Henry VIII.

There’s no doubt that Holbein was a prolific artist. His woodcuts are ridiculously intricate, while his designs for fireplaces and clock-salts (whatever they are…), broaches and seals, are something else – so over the top and ornate – they’re outrageous – a touch Liberace, with lot more style. They are, like the show, full of elaborate detail and coveted information. Bottom line, and big surprise, this is the kind of stuff that exhausts and excites me. It’s quietly extreme, seemingly sophisticated, leaving you feeling like you’ve been hit by some sort of culture truck. And that’s great – because that’s exactly the way it should be with art.

Holbein in England at Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1, 28 September 2006 – 7 January 2007

News – Munch’s Scream Found – Europe

Oh my. And you thought it was lost forever. Well it’s been found. Yes it has. ‘The Scream’, that scary Munch masterpiece, has been rediscovered. The work was retrieved alongside the more amicable ‘Madonna’, while police are staying schtum about their find. Meanwhile, the lads who scarped with the works in 2004 were jailed earlier this year. As if that wasn’t hard enough, they’ve also been hit with a bill for $122 million in damages. How they’ll pay that off working in a prison laundry room, who knows.

Showing – Axel Antas ‘Nature of Things’ @ Rokeby – London

Axel Antas is exhibiting at Rokeby Gallery in London this month. The multi-talented Finish-born artist was recently selected for the Jerwood Drawing Prize. His current collection of work builds on his interest in ‘displacement of the self as a physical entity’. Think extra-large drawings of woodland filled by average, everyday columns of cardboard boxes or photographs of great trees surrounded by strange hanging clouds. It’s all very urban meets rural life in a very static, uncertain way.

Axel Antas’ ‘Nature of Things’ takes place at Rokeby, 37 Store Street WC1, from 5th September – 3rd October.

News – Royal Academy Fire - London

Sixty fire-fighters were called out to a blaze at The Royal Academy of Arts yesterday. While no artworks were damaged, the roof caved in as did the due date for a forthcoming Saatchi show, USA Today: New American Art. The exhibition would have opened on 6th October, however given the wing is currently open air it’s likely to be sometime before the American works are exhibited.

Logan Hicks at Work - LA

Street Art - Big Little Baby - stenSOUL

Showing - Nobody Walks Artist Movement - LA

Showing - Tom Wilmott and Bob London 'The Ritual Works' @ The Fleapit - London

Hirst’s Online Battle

Multi millionaire Damien Hirst is all tied up in a legal battle with Simon Phillips, a struggling artist who owns the domain www.damien-hirst.co.uk. This spoof site couldn’t be less Hirst if it tried. The opening page reads ‘(My Arse) Straight Out of Old Compton Street’ (as opposed to ‘Straight Out of Groucho’s’) with a fabulous camp-fest image of Phillips dressed in red PVC (topped by a sailor hat, no less). Now, I’m not saying what Phillips did was right, it was unquestionably wrong; but you got to love this guy. He has the audacity to go up against a name like Hirst. He clearly knows how to grab some easy, if not expensive, publicity.

Over in superstar land, Hirst has hired city law firm Manches LLP to represent him in the ongoing battle over trademark and intellectual property rights. Trademark? Come on. Hirst may be a fantastic, prolific, got it going on artist, but a trademark? Wow. This legal jargon is something else. However, in Hirst’s defense, Phillips’ domain had included details of his nemisis’ career, which frankly, is a bit dodgy. Still, it’s all very David and Goliath and no doubt the whole thing will end in tears. Course they could surprise us. Hirst could set up his own, ‘My Shark, Your Space’ at www.simon-phillips.com and have a little fun with it all.

Showing - Robert Mapplethorpe @ Alison Jacques - London

In commemoration of Robert Mapplethorpe's 60th birthday, Alison Jacques have hooked up with the legendary Patti Smith and Tate Modern for an exhibition of the late artist's seldom seen film work. These include Still Moving (Mapplethorpe/Smith 1978) and Lady (Mapplethorpe 1984), a piece which he created with bodybuilder Lisa Lyon. Alongside Mapplethorpe’s films, the exhibition also comprises early Polaroids, his renowned gelatine pictures and American Flag, as well as works and poems by Smith.

Robert Mapplethorpe’s Still Moving and Lady takes place at Alison Jacques, 4 Clifford Street, W1 from 8th September – 7th October.

Astrid Chesney ‘World of Inferiors: A Rogue’s Gallery’ – Dazed Gallery, London

Art Prostitute Group Show, 'Most Likely to Suceed' - Dallas

Planningtorock @ UBS Openings, Tate Modern - London

Street Art - D*Face and Free Range, Shoreditch, London

Photograph © Kirsten Telfer Beith