Organ Thing of The Day? We’re a little busy with other things in other place today, here’sa couple of pieces of cut’n paste signpost posting and somethings that have us curious at the moment, more on both soon.

This looks like it might be worth tonight or sometime in February…. NATALIE DRAY and an art show called DRAY at CELL PROJECTS

30th January–8th March 2015 (open Thursday–Sunday 12–6pm, or by appointment), Private View Thursday 29th January, 6 – 9pm

“Cell Project Space presents a new body of work by London-based artist, Natalie Dray, and her first solo commission for the gallery. Dray’s work is situated between the representational strategies of manufacturing, commerce and art, using all these fields as a common site of production. The works combine stereotypical patterns of automated engineering processes and human gesture typical of computer customisation. Choosing the arena of self-taught computer assembly, Dray undermines the power positions of the individuals dominating this activity and the markets, which orchestrate the brands themselves. By adopting strategies of reverse engineering of real mass-produced appliances the artist breaks down established relationships between modes of production and creation. The objects are remodeled to produce ‘a concept’, ‘a functional ideal’, and penultimately the resolve for artistic expression, challenging the juxtaposition between human gesture and computer superiority

Presented in a formal style reminiscent of showroom presentation the exhibition quotes from the strategies of 1960’s minimalist art, although merely a point of departure for Dray.  Factory-made to fit the logical electrical requirements for the gallery, artworks are treated as appliances. Dray resists specific aesthetic decision-making processes and relies on the functionally configured architectural standards for the building to reveal an existent template for the artist to work with. The structure and floor plan of the gallery become agency for the exhibition, with electrical functions of appliances synchronized and programmed, dictated by the capacity and availability of power in the room.  Dray’s assessment of the works and consistent refusal to bypass function is based on a stringent protocol of security and safety standards outlined by the UK’s manufacturing regulatory body. Her methods aim to challenge the conventions of uniform engineering by hacking the hidden mechanics and functions of consumer products to reveal the reductionist strategies used by manufacturers today. By revisiting the masculine tropes in contemporary art, issues around a product’s political currency and social value, as well as the potential impact of how material and colour can effect response resonates within Dray’s application of metal finishes, detail and colour. The gallery becomes showroom in a ‘pumped up’ vision of industrial innovation and the artist’s signatory laser cut branding sits immovable inside hard-edged powder coated steel as the symbols of household and corporate efficiency are replaced by consumer desire”.

Natalie Dray graduated from the Royal Academy Schools in 2014. Her first solo exhibition was ‘Make Your Own Opoly’, at Project Number, London in 2013. Selected Group exhibitions include ‘Palazzo Peckham’, 2013, 55th Venice Biennale, ‘Young London’, V22, London, UK, 2013, ‘BYOB Venice’, Accademia Di Belle Art, Venice, Italy, 2011, ‘Tetragram’ for Gathering, Detroit Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden, 2011.

In conjunction with the exhibition Cell Project Space has invited, writer and poet Keston Sutherland to provide a supporting text for the exhibition.  Sutherland will perform a reading from his selected works as part of a special event in the gallery on Saturday 21st February.

Cell Projects can be found hiding through the little door beyond the yard back off the road, through the little door with no sign, down at the end through the greenery and up the metal stairs at 258 Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 9DA (if only they’d make a sign and tell people where there, surely it should be Arts Council requirement? So many galleries hiding from the public, why? Is it an elitist thing? Are they just aloof? Surely galleries want people inside? Anyway, opens tomorrow night, We shall go have a look, maybe make them a sign and take it along?

Meanwhile, over at Cuneiform Records

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The Kandinsky Effect – ‘Somnambulist’ out now on Cuneiform Records (http://cuneiformrecords.com/)

“On Somnambulist, The Kandinsky Effect wields its musical power in a welcoming way. Their third album isn’t form-eschewing free jazz, nor are the tonalities the trio employs particularly “out”. The real revelation — and revolution — comes simply in the way saxophonist Warren Walker, bassist Gael Petrina, and drummer Caleb Dolister organize sound.

The trio is a purist’s nightmare — and not only that of a jazz purist either. Since their first, self-titled album came out in 2010, The Kandinsky Effect has been boldly blending jazz with elements of everything from hip-hop to electronic music, making for an idiosyncratic amalgam that never goes exactly where you might expect it to; nothing can completely prepare you for its marriage of groove, atmosphere, and incendiary playing.

Bandleader Walker feels the album is the most effectively conceived collection of what he wryly calls the group’s “nerd music” to date. “I feel like I had a clearer idea of what I was looking for in the sound of my compositions and how to approach writing for this group,” he says, “it’s a sort of coming-of-age piece.”

The ability to incorporate a broad range of musical, geographical, and emotional influences into their music is at the core of The Kandinsky Effect’s makeup. Formed 2007 in Paris, France, the original lineup included Petrina and Parisian drummer Gautier Garrigue. In 2010 they recorded their first album, The Kandinsky Effect. While influenced by hip-hop and electronics, the album was much more rooted in jazz and featured mostly acoustic instrumentation. Dolister joined for 2013’s Synesthesia, which began to expand the band’s sound, blending everything from Petrinas fondness for electronica to Dolister’s love of heavy rock bands like Meshuggah, and Walker’s unique approach to composition and electronic soundscapes.

Over the years, the group has traveled extensively, performing multiple trips and tours in Europe, Asia, and North America, perfecting what Dolister calls their “intellectual groove instrumental music.” And from the slip-sliding beats and slithering sax lines of opening track “Copalchi Distress Signal” to the insistent pulse and layered, lyrical melodies of closing cut “Muji,” there’s a feeling of the refinement process reaching fruition on Somnambulist”.

The Kandinsky Effect is:
Warren Walker – saxophone / effects
Gaël Petrina – bass / effects
Caleb Dolister – drums / percussion

More tomorrow, maybe….