Galway Advertiser 2004/2004_11_11/GA_1111_E1_048.pdf 

Extracted text

48

Galway Advertiser

November 11 2004

Th W e e ek

A Bunch of Fives
BY CHARLIE MCBRIDE THE TULCA visual arts festival is now in full swing and one of its most striking exhibitions, entitled Invisible Friends, comes from Galway artist Anne Marie Fives, and is officially opened this evening by Ivana Bacik in the Galway Arts Centre at 6pm. Fives' sculptures seems sure to arouse plenty of comment, particularly her series of bronze `armoured foetuses'; strange, hybrid, creatures that seem part human and part insect and that are both beautiful and unsettling. The foetuses have already provoked some strong reactions with one gallery refusing to exhibit them for fear of offending its clients. When she meets up to talk about her exhibition, Fives declares that there was no deliberate intention to be provocative. "I was aiming just to please myself really, when I'm working I just want to make something that's personally satisfying," she says. "You don't know in advance what that's going to be; you just keep working until it feels right or looks right. Actually I've just come out of the arts centre, where there's a poster up of one of the foetuses, and a man who was looking at it came up to me saying he was pro-life and he thought it was great! Everyone has their own responses to it, I'm getting a whole range of reactions." On her website (www.annemariefives.com), Fives writes eloquently of the foetus series and the associations it carries: "I find often assume these sculptures are in some way about abortion. It's funny that in Ireland you see a foetus and you immediately think of death. But the whole idea of a sculpture being `about' some issue is a complete misunderstanding of art. "If you could sum up a sculpture in words, there wouldn't be any point in making the sculpture. The sculptures are about a lot of things, many of which I'm not even aware of myself. I'm fascinated by foetuses. This is the first time in history we can observe them, in the womb, with cameras and scanners. And they're so interesting. They get hiccups, they swim and do somersaults. "But I can understand people feeling revolted or threatened by foetuses too. On the one hand, there is the ambivalent feelings women often have about being pregnant. In America there are thousands of people, mostly women, who are convinced they have been impregnated by aliens and forced to carry their embryos. The film, Alien, gets this feeling of anxiety exactly, in the scene where the baby alien pops out through the abdomen of one of the characters. Certainly when you get pregnant first you can sometimes feel like you've been occupied by aliens. It's very strange, and different, and scary. And then you get used to it. And then the foetus begins to win you over... But imagine if you didn't want to be pregnant?" As it happens Fives is currently expecting her first child, though the artistic fascination with foetuses predates her pregnancy, first emerging in her last solo exhibition in 2002. As well as the foetus series there are other animal sculptures in the show, such as Runaway Bride depicting a woman being carried off on the back of a buffalo. "I really like that image," Fives declares. "I think I'll do more with that. Believe it or not, I only found out about the Europa myth after I'd made that piece." Fives has a somewhat unorthodox background for an artist, having started out as an electronic engineer before abandoning it to become a sculptor. Nonetheless she feels her grounding in science has a positive input on her artistic outlook. "I'm sure my engineering background influences the way I look at things. I like science and that gives me a view on the world that maybe other artists, who just went straight to art college, don't have. I think it's good to have a couple of different ways of looking at things because when you clash them together you can create something really new. "In the West there's a dualistic tradition where science and art are seen as separate, but I don't think that's good, there can be a fertile ground where the two meet. Over the centuries many great inventors had a foot in both camps. I'd love to do some art on quantum physics at some point in the future." Invisible Friends runs at the Fisheries Tower, from November 12 to December 4. Opening times are Monday to Friday from 12 noon to 6pm and Saturday from 10am to 6pm. Well worth seeing.

Remembering Fergus Bourke in the Town Hall

R

Fergus Bourke

Invisible Friends runs at the Fisheries Tower, from November 12 to December 4.

people have a very strange attitude to foetuses, especially in Ireland. They don't even like the word foetus. People

Guru - keeping hip hop's Ol' Skool flame alive
BY KERNAN ANDREWS IT'S RARE a major hip-hop name comes to Galway, so when it happens it's an event to savour. Guru, the voice of legendary rap group Gangstarr, is coming to Cuba* on Tuesday November 16. He talks about his hip hop, his parents, and keeping the Ol' Skool flame alive. The year 1986 was an important one in hip-hop. Run DMC brought out the genre's first album, Eazy-E and Chuck D would soon form NWA and Public Enemy, and two men, one from Boston who went by the name Guru, the other from Brooklyn who was known as Premier, formed Gangstarr. Gangstarr have maintained a level of popularity and influence few other rap groups have managed with albums such as Step In The Arena, Daily Operation, and the more recent Moment Of Truth. One of the songs Gangstarr are most famous for is the classic 1990 single `Jazz Thing', which was featured in Spike Lee's film Mo' Better Blues. It's a celebration of African-American culture and its impact on the world. It sums them up really - social comment, Black pride, and a musical mix of innovation and a determination to keep the Ol' Skool flame alive. "Gangstarr represents an era, a feeling, a mind set, but also can evolve with the times," he tells me. "You sometimes have to look at the past in order to navigate into the future. It's important to me because it's history, it's my foundation. It's also important though to be able to re-invent and renew one's history. This is why I've got new stuff coming out. Looking forward to new album GURU version 7.0 coming March 2005 on my own label 7 Grand Records with my partner Solar. Also, Jazzmatazz vol. 4 comes out September 2005." That sense of pride, tradition, and progress may come from the fact that Guru's father was Boston's first Black judge and his mother was a director of libraries in the city about." In his book Westsiders Stories Of The Boys In The Hood (2000), William Shaw described Guru as an "aggressive, combative lyricist". What does he make of that description? "In some senses I am but also I am a spiritual metaphysical lyricist in a divine mission for my people," he says. It's an appropriate response as Guru describes hip hop as a sort of salvation. "It's creative expression and the voice of today's youth from five to 50," he says, "and it's got the power to affect the world and bring positive change." Hip hop has been proved a potent form of commentary on modern America and a way for Black America to articulate its concerns and its own sense of self. Yet, too often these days, many hip hop artists are obsessed with the `bling bling' culture and are less focused on issues the way Ice T, Public Enemey, and Ice Cube were. Guru agrees. "Yes because that's been a mind state forced on them and mass marketed," he says. "Things are changing though it has run its course." Just a quick question before I go, what does Guru make of some of his fellow giants in rap like Chuck D, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and 50 Cent? "I dig them all for different reasons!" Tickets for Guru are 17.50. For more information contact Bar 903. Win tickets to see Guru The Galway Advertiser has two pairs of tickets to Guru's show to give away. To win all you have to do is answer the following question: On what Spike Lee film was Gang Starr's 1990 single `Jazz Thing' featured? Send your answers by email to kandrews@galwayadvertiser.i e. All emails must be marked Guru Competition. You must include your name, address, and a telephone number. The closing date for entries is tomorrow at 12 noon.

HE LATE photographer Fergus Bourke will be remembered at a `month's mind' celebration of his life with a special event in the Town Hall Theatre this Saturdayat 1pm. Frankie Gavin and friends, including Fergus' brother Brian, will provide musical entertainment in honour of their late friend - an accomplished accordion player himself. A new 40-minute documentary entitled Fergus Bourke In His Own Worlds, directed by Art O'Briain, which had just completed shooting before Fergus' passing, will also receive its premiere screening. The organisers extend an open invitation to all of Fergus' friends from around the country and admission is free.

T

Kats take on Neil Simon
HE KNOCKNACARRA Amateur Theatre Society will present three one act plays taken from Neil Simon's London and Plaza Suites Trilogy in the Town Hall studio. Simon is one of America's most successful contemporary comic playwrights and this trilogy of his plays will be directed by Frank Cummins, Pat Lally, and Sylvia Nolan. The plays will run from Tuesday November 16 to Saturday 20. Kats, founded by Paddy Henry, has achieved both local and national success including All Ireland drama festival winners in virtually every category. For more information and booking contact 091 - 569777.

Gangstarr's Guru is coming to Cuba*.

T

public schools. Despite this they never moved out of the inner-city into the middle class suburbs. Why was that? Guru says they were determined to retain solidarity with their fellow African-Americans and not to lose their identity. "They are loved in the community and they stayed to give back to the community," he says. "They are strong people with a great sense of family and of purpose, hard work and determination. A great sense of what real family and love is

Th W e e ek

Arts Editor Kernan Andrews Tel: 091 530913 E-mail:theweek@galwayadvertiser.ie All news items must be in by 4pm on Monday