Irina has an honour to mentor 2012 Biennial exhibition of Courtauld Institute of Art. 'East Wing10' opened to public in January 2012 and will run until July 2014. For more information please visit www.eastwingx.co.uk

SUPER BRAND exhibition as part of Frieze art week. 4 - 19 October Hyatt Andaz Hotel, Liverpool street

SUPER BRAND

4 – 19 October

Andaz Hyatt Hotel, London, UK

The exhibition “SuperBrand” retells the story of our relationship as individuals to a society of consumerism, through the extraordinary powers that brands have over our minds. We are surrounded now by products which demand to be bought, even though perhaps we don't understand how and why we let this message succeed.

3 artists show three pillars of a consumer society: sex, identity and religion. Their works represent tongue-in-cheek monuments to our constant desire to consume and rebrand ourselves.

Simon Monk will present a new series of 5 paintings featuring superheroes, that has been commissioned especially for the exhibition. He reflects on the myth of the superhero as a metaphor to explore the relationship between fetish and possessiveness, illusion and desire. The superhero represents an ideal man, blessed with love and attention, capable of protecting and saving all those around him. He dwells on the overtly sexualised image of the superhero, virile, strong, dressed in latex and exposing a perfectly sculpted body like a Greek god. But at the same time, the image of the superhero has become a commonplace of mainstream culture, a banal consumer product in its own right. Can the ideal human being now come pre-packaged in a clear plastic packet?

Matteo Negri's subtle works play with ideas of childhood, day-dreams and self-identity. He uses Lego bricks, the familiar, colourful construction bricks which all children grow up with, to explore ideas of ambition and self-expression. Lego was originally created by a Danish family business after the Second World War, a period optimistic about rebuilding the world, creating a new better place for everyone. A child could join into this optimism, playing with bricks to construct his own dream castles, populated by his own heroic alter-egos. Matteo Negri bends the simple rules of Lego – that all things must be constructed from standard, straight, bricks, and shows that in modern society we also can come up with our own rules, myths and identity. But loops, knots and curves could also be regarded as problems within a society, with no clear right answers. How does one know what to do in a world of many choices, many complications.

Laura Keeble shows two sculptures from the series “Down the Aisle”, a shopping trolley and a shopping basket, both made from reclaimed cathedral stained glass. This series presents an ironic comment on how consumerism has created its own rituals and shared experiences. Where once one went to church on a Sunday, the supermarket aisle might now be the best place to meet one's community. If a consumer seeks validation and a remedy from guilt, products will promise this to them: "buy this you will feel better, be better, live better". Laura Keeble turns a wire basket or a trolley into a sacred space, where carefully selected personal items are placed and claimed as ones own. The final journey up the aisle to the altar, where a donation box validates and blesses this feeling of uplift as a true exchange.