Michael Clark artfully treads the line between rock and roll and classical dance. Over the past 26 years the post punk choreographer has put dance at the centre of contemporary culture in his collaborations with fashion designers like Bodymap and Hussein Chalayan and artists like Leigh Bowery and Sarah Lucas. Labeled the enfant terrible of the dance world his work has been performed by Ballet Rambert and the Paris Opera and has been set to the music of Iggy Pop and David Bowie.

In a striking new book eminent figures from the world of dance and beyond pay homage to the choreographer and images of his work by photographers such as Nick Knight and David Lachapelle, do glorious justice to Clark’s modern aesthetic.

Michael Clark edited by Suzanne Cotter, Michael Bracewell and 
Stephanie Jordan is published by Violette Editions in September 2011.
michaelclarkcompany.com

Tags: Ballet Rambert, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Michael Clark, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Sarah Lucas

It’s easy to misjudge quite how fertile Britain’s current crop of women sculptors is. Rather than headlining shows, female sculptors are more often side-lined by the art establishment in favour of big name male ‘blockbusters’. In the world of sculpture, figures like the late and great Louise Bourgeois are rare.

Clearly things need to change. And so, the Pangolin gallery have stepped forward and organised an all-female show, Women Make Sculpture, that celebrates the UK’s raw and polished sculpting talent. With pieces from established names like Sarah Lucas to emerging ones like Polly Morgan, known for her fragile taxidermy. The aim of the show isn’t to lump women into one easy gender category, but to give them the room to showcase their diversity.

As the Director of Pangolin London, Polly Bielecka says, “The exhibition is not intended to tackle gender superiority; rather it hopes to question whether female artists bring something different to contemporary British sculpture.”

From Almuth Tebbenhoff’s intricate steel wall pieces to Deborah Van der Beek’s horse head – sculpted from the detritus of war – there’s a wide enough mix of ideas and materials to prove that when women make sculpture it has everything and nothing to do with their sex.

Women Make Sculpture is at Pangolin from May 19 to June 18 2011.
pangolinlondon.com

Tags: Almuth Tebbenhoff, Deborah Van der Beek, Louise Bourgeois, Pangolin, Pangolin London, Polly Bielecka, Polly Morgan, Sarah Lucas, Women Make Sculpture