Even when we’re laughing, we’re being serious – new works by London artist Misha Milovanovich are by turn romantic and anti-romantic. Psychedelia! Multiple media! Contemporary artist and designer Misha Milovanovich makes bold statements in her painting, prints, photography, sculptures, apparel and furniture. Two of her works are on striking show for her new London exhibition, entitled Even when we’re laughing, we’re being serious. The two works offer different responses to what she calls “our visually overloaded consumer environment.” Serbian-born Misha, who has been in the UK for 26 years and graduated from Central Saint Martins School of Art, says that she “takes the energy of our superfi
Misha Milovanovich’s life and career thus far reads a little like a Pedro Almodóvar movie treatment. The multi-discipline artist – brought up in Belgrade in the former Yugoslavia – left her communist upbringing to study at National Film School in London during the late eighties. Misha went on to study painting, graduating from Central Saint Martins in 1995. However since graduating Misha’s career has taken a few twists and turns, including becoming a model and muse, to working for the likes of Moschino, John Galliano and Yves Saint Laurent. Misha then went from being the ‘image’ to becoming the image creator, working as a successful photographer. Her latest creative incarnation comes under t
Discarded curios are finding a new narrative context in fashionable interiors. The artist and designer Misha Milovanovich has oversized ice-cream displays and a giant fibreglass teddy bear on show in her home in London’s Ladbroke Grove, next to original artwork by the likes of Julian Opie and Charles Avery. She recently bought a toy shop prop from Circus Antiques – a scaled-up, life-size, Playmobil Indiana Jones – which stands next to her desk. “When I moved in here, it was an empty shell with concrete floors,” she says. “I wanted to create my own little playhouse.” Milovanovich’s aesthetic will seem too extreme for many, but these items from the recent past serve as a great alternative to c
Meet Hugh Allan, Damien Hirst’s partner in the Other Criteria art business. When tickets for Damien Hirst’s retrospective at Tate Modern went on sale, the first three days sold out in minutes. On the opening weekend crowds packed into the gallery in record numbers to view the show, while hundreds of others queued in wild weather outside. The exhibition has offered a not-to-be-missed occasion to see the work of Britain’s most famous – and richest – living artist (The Sunday Times Rich List estimates his worth at £215 million), but Hirst fans in the know will tell you it’s not the only way to get your fix, and it’s certainly not the most relaxing. I’m in the Welbeck Street offices of Hirst’s
