The Phillips gallery in Mayfair in London has been invaded by new strange alien forms, with 40 works of art by the Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos in her exhibition “Material World”. 

Using a variety of material including woollen crochet, fabric, Murano glass, ornaments, LED lights, mirrors and frames, handmade tiles and other everyday objects, Vasconcelos’ work is highly creative and colourful, involving an astonishing amount of intricate work as she explores “collective identity and consumer culture, using the banality of everyday objects to express often ironic themes and the politics of feminism.”

Vasconcelos broke into the international art scene with “The Bride” at the 51st Venice Biennale in 2005 - a 5-metre tall chandelier made of wire, cotton thread and over 14,000 tampons. In 2012, she was chosen for that year’s solo exhibition at the Palace of Versailles in France, the first female and the youngest contemporary artist to be chosen, with work that was not without controversy as is this year’s exhibition by Anish Kapoor.

A huge pink organic form with sparkling lights “Material Girl takes over the whole ground floor gallery and, although in different materials, has some synergies with the work of the Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto, reflecting hints of Latin American synergies in her work. Elsewhere on the ground floor is a chandelier and the sculpture “Gypsy” with building blocks repeating the word LOVE over and over again while a black and white relative of the Lock Ness Monster breaks out of a mirror. , Downstairs is a wide variety of work including sculptures decorated with handmade Azulejos tiles featuring motifs from Portuguese and Hispano-Moresque tile work while a series depicting animals is almost domestic in character.  A complete contrast to the soft over-decorated sculptures is the sharp precise glasshouse – or perhaps a dolls house – made of Murano glass

The works chosen for the exhibition look to challenge and transform fragments of the domestic environment into a deep hedonistic desire to express life” (Joana Vasconcelos)

While this exhibition has been running, Banksy opened his politically-charged exhibition “Dismaland” in an abandoned theme park in Weston-Super-Mare, with work by himself and other contemporary artists which are intended to appear like things you would expect to find in a theme park but with a sinister and political twist. The exhibition has put Weston-Super-Mare on the contemporary art map, with the website crashing due to the level of interest in purchasing the £3 admission tickets.  Vasconcelos’ work has more sophistication and depth and it is hoped that more of her work will be exhibited in London.