Sunday, January 16, 2011
Last Day: High Tea
On Sunday, January 16th, we went to High Tea at the National Gallery Cafe in Trafalgar Square. I loved how we all got our own teapots and a three-tiered stack of different finger sandwiches and desserts, which were delicious. It was a nice, relaxing way to end our two weeks in London together as a group. This whole trip was sometimes tiring, and we definitely got a lot of exercise, but I really learned a lot about some things I knew and some things I did not know. I was sometimes surprised by what I liked or what I did not like, and I really want to incorporate what I have seen into my own work in the future and figure out what it is that I want to do through all of my new ideas. This was overall a truly great experience and one that I am so glad I took.
Trafalgar Square: Fourth Plinth
The Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square is available for commissioned public artwork. Currently, it is inhabited by Nelson's Ship in a Bottle by Yinka Shonibare which has been there since May of 2010. The ship is constructed inside of a huge glass bottle. The sails are crafted from African textiles to represent different cultures. This is the first historical piece placed in the square, relating to Admiral Nelson and the battle of Trafalgar, which is what the rest of the statues represent as well. The artist was quoted as saying the ship will reflect "the relationship between the birth of the British Empire and Britain's present day multi-cultural context." I like how the historical context of the piece is being related back to present-day British culture. I also really enjoy the fact that the piece looks differently depending on the weather. I saw it while it was sunny out and the glass was shinning brilliantly, but then I saw it later on when it was cloudy and it reminded me of a storm or being lost at sea. While I like that the piece is raised above the viewer, I do wish that I could see more of the ship's detail because from what I can see it looks ornate and nicely made.
The Fourth Plinth itself is used as a space where public art work can be displayed and invites debate about the space and the people. I like works that vary depending on their surroundings and especially the weather, just like the piece Sky Mirror by Anish Kapoor. I therefore want my design for the Fourth Plinth to incorporate the idea of the people and their surroundings. I thought I could take this idea more literally and create a huge ball constructed out of a reflective material such polished stainless steel. I want it to be a sphere since circles are said to symbolize eternity and when I looked up the definition of sphere expecting to find something about a three-dimensional object, the first thing that I found was "a particular environment or walk of life, 'his social sphere is limited' or 'he's out of my orbit.'" I thought it strange for that to be the first definition listed and so I want to use the Fourth Plinth to make a comment about different social spheres and their surroundings. I therefore want my piece to be reflective of the sky, the buildings, the fountains and the people all together in one environment, in a single sphere, instead of being separated into different categories. This idea is quite literal because one will be able to see his own reflection alongside everything else reflected back at him in one sphere. Everything and everyone will be seen as equal. Another definition of a sphere is every point along the surface is the same distance from the center. I think this is an important comment on the awareness of equality in a community and incorporating everything together in order to have a healthy balance in life.
The Fourth Plinth itself is used as a space where public art work can be displayed and invites debate about the space and the people. I like works that vary depending on their surroundings and especially the weather, just like the piece Sky Mirror by Anish Kapoor. I therefore want my design for the Fourth Plinth to incorporate the idea of the people and their surroundings. I thought I could take this idea more literally and create a huge ball constructed out of a reflective material such polished stainless steel. I want it to be a sphere since circles are said to symbolize eternity and when I looked up the definition of sphere expecting to find something about a three-dimensional object, the first thing that I found was "a particular environment or walk of life, 'his social sphere is limited' or 'he's out of my orbit.'" I thought it strange for that to be the first definition listed and so I want to use the Fourth Plinth to make a comment about different social spheres and their surroundings. I therefore want my piece to be reflective of the sky, the buildings, the fountains and the people all together in one environment, in a single sphere, instead of being separated into different categories. This idea is quite literal because one will be able to see his own reflection alongside everything else reflected back at him in one sphere. Everything and everyone will be seen as equal. Another definition of a sphere is every point along the surface is the same distance from the center. I think this is an important comment on the awareness of equality in a community and incorporating everything together in order to have a healthy balance in life.
Question for Glenn Adamson
My question for Glenn Adamson was about a quote from the reading "When Craft Gets Sloppy." The line "this permissiveness has deeply penetrated art-school culture, blurring the line between hobbyism and professional endeavor" interested me. I wanted to question Glenn Adamson what defines this line in the first place and therefore how are people "blurring" it. Does being a professional just mean having a corporate sponsor, selling your work for a lot of money or being in a museum? And what if someone sculpts for a hobby and then sells his or her work is that considered a professional transaction? I just wanted to question him to see if his definition was targeting the craftsmanship of the piece or the money aspect of it.
Question for Ai Weiwei
I looked on the website for my video where i posted a question for Ai Weiwei and I could not find it. I know I saved it at 16:37 but for some reason it is not there so here is what I asked:
I was wondering of there was any significance to the two specific walls the seeds were touching and why it only touched those two walls. Why the audience could not walk around the entire piece once the decision was made that no one was allowed to walk into the seeds?
I was wondering of there was any significance to the two specific walls the seeds were touching and why it only touched those two walls. Why the audience could not walk around the entire piece once the decision was made that no one was allowed to walk into the seeds?
National Portrait Gallery
On Friday, January 14th we went to the National Portrait Gallery. For some reason I did not think I was going to enjoy this gallery and I assumed it was just going to have old portraits of all the monarchs of Britain, but I was very wrong. There was a lot of contemporary work displayed as well, and I actually really liked the gallery, especially a lot of the photography. I liked Jason Bell's exhibit, An Englishman in New York, which included photos of famous British people who live in New York. I felt a lot of the statements were somehow related to me and my current experience between New York and London and the which I found really interesting. My favorite was the one of Kate Winslet. I felt his black and white photos really captured the aura of each person and how it related to their statements.
I keep noticing that I am drawn to small pencil sketches. I really liked John Partridge's drawings that were located in the British Artisan Room in his exhibit British Artists in Rome. They were made of pencil, watercolors and engravings and appeared really simple until I noticed the fine detail. I think it is hard to get such great definition with a pencil and I was amazed at how small his drawings were. His exhibit was just composed of a bunch of his sketches of his British artist friends who went to Rome, which is actually a similar concept to Jason Bell's work. My favorite sketch by Partridge was one of Richard James Wyatt (1825) because of the detail in the face and hair that were so tiny and well rendered.
I also enjoyed the Taylor Wessing exhibit from the Photographic Portrait Prize. I thought that a few of the pieces captured a strong emotion that I could feel sometimes without reading the wall statement. I was struck by one of the first few I saw by Hadas Mualem called Yasna from a series called In Between. It was a photo of a young woman sitting at a table in a simple kitchen, and I immediately felt a sadness and hopelessness aura about it by simply looking into her direct stare. I was surprised by the two photos that won first and second prize. The first place winner was called Huntress with Buck by David Chancellor. It was a beautiful picture and the colors in the landscape were stunning, however I just liked it for the aesthetic reasons, no deeper meaning. I don't always feel that art has to have a deeper meaning, but I felt a stronger photo should have been picked for first place. I just liked this show because I have seen a lot of photography on this trip and it has been inspiring me and making me think I should take more photography classes in order to follow up on a lot of things that seem interesting to me.
I keep noticing that I am drawn to small pencil sketches. I really liked John Partridge's drawings that were located in the British Artisan Room in his exhibit British Artists in Rome. They were made of pencil, watercolors and engravings and appeared really simple until I noticed the fine detail. I think it is hard to get such great definition with a pencil and I was amazed at how small his drawings were. His exhibit was just composed of a bunch of his sketches of his British artist friends who went to Rome, which is actually a similar concept to Jason Bell's work. My favorite sketch by Partridge was one of Richard James Wyatt (1825) because of the detail in the face and hair that were so tiny and well rendered.
I also enjoyed the Taylor Wessing exhibit from the Photographic Portrait Prize. I thought that a few of the pieces captured a strong emotion that I could feel sometimes without reading the wall statement. I was struck by one of the first few I saw by Hadas Mualem called Yasna from a series called In Between. It was a photo of a young woman sitting at a table in a simple kitchen, and I immediately felt a sadness and hopelessness aura about it by simply looking into her direct stare. I was surprised by the two photos that won first and second prize. The first place winner was called Huntress with Buck by David Chancellor. It was a beautiful picture and the colors in the landscape were stunning, however I just liked it for the aesthetic reasons, no deeper meaning. I don't always feel that art has to have a deeper meaning, but I felt a stronger photo should have been picked for first place. I just liked this show because I have seen a lot of photography on this trip and it has been inspiring me and making me think I should take more photography classes in order to follow up on a lot of things that seem interesting to me.
East End Gallery Hunt
On Saturday, January 14th we all met at the Borough Market for breakfast before the East End Gallery Hunt. We ate these amazing cheese sandwiches with onions and garlic from one of the huge number of food stands. I also bought a cup of fresh orange-pineapple juice and a chocolate croissant. Everything there looked and smelled so good! It was hard not to buy everything I saw that seemed amazing. After we ate, we went on the East End Gallery Hunt where we walked around trying to locate all the small galleries that were listed on the map. It was disappointing to find so many that were closed, and even some that I did see were not very impressive. I was not drawn to the pieces in The Approach by Gary Webb, which I honestly just found boring, or the video From Here to Eternity by Oliver Pietsch, which I thought was a little gruesome. I also thought some of the other galleries were just weird, such as White Cube. This gallery consisted of two rooms of Rachel Kneebone's porcelain sculptures of twisted and disturbing body parts, mostly human genitalia. Her work was apparently supposed to relate to grief and death in Lamentation (2010), but all I saw was unnecessary amounts of penis wars. I was actually really drawn to her pencil drawings, as I have noticed the thread of what I like throughout this trip. I liked how they were drawn, as sketches almost where the process of erasing was very obvious and that is appealing to me. But again I did not like the subject of her work at all.
I did not dislike eveything I saw that Saturday. I loved the Francesca Woodman show. Another thing I have noticed about myself on this trip is that I have been really inspired by a lot of photography. I think I should consider taking more photography courses to experiment with what I have seen and loved while here in London. I felt a lot of Woodman's pieces were engaging and I was able to pick up on her techniques from the Basic Photography course I have just taken. I loved her images of herself as a blur where she clearly used a low shutter speed to capture the movement in an almost ghostly fashion. She uses a lot of motion along with mirrors and glass in her pieces; I find the reflections are just as interesting as the subject itself and shot together in one photograph makes it great. There was this one where she was kneeling on top of a mirror and her upper body is a blur of motion but the image on the mirror is mostly still, creating a stunning disillusionment. I liked the way she used her own body as a subject in most of the pieces, and I felt that while rachel Kneebone mutilated the human forms Woodman used the human form in a beautiful way. I also liked the photo of her human form just crouching in a glass box and she appears to be a silhouette because of the lighting. Her photos were she seemed to be just a black silhouette in motion reminded me of Floris Neususs's photograms in the V&A. She also uses all natural lighting in her work which I think is amazing and hard to always work with. I definitely want to find a way to incorporate some of these forms and concepts into my own work somehow because I really have been inspired by a lot I have seen on this trip.
I did not dislike eveything I saw that Saturday. I loved the Francesca Woodman show. Another thing I have noticed about myself on this trip is that I have been really inspired by a lot of photography. I think I should consider taking more photography courses to experiment with what I have seen and loved while here in London. I felt a lot of Woodman's pieces were engaging and I was able to pick up on her techniques from the Basic Photography course I have just taken. I loved her images of herself as a blur where she clearly used a low shutter speed to capture the movement in an almost ghostly fashion. She uses a lot of motion along with mirrors and glass in her pieces; I find the reflections are just as interesting as the subject itself and shot together in one photograph makes it great. There was this one where she was kneeling on top of a mirror and her upper body is a blur of motion but the image on the mirror is mostly still, creating a stunning disillusionment. I liked the way she used her own body as a subject in most of the pieces, and I felt that while rachel Kneebone mutilated the human forms Woodman used the human form in a beautiful way. I also liked the photo of her human form just crouching in a glass box and she appears to be a silhouette because of the lighting. Her photos were she seemed to be just a black silhouette in motion reminded me of Floris Neususs's photograms in the V&A. She also uses all natural lighting in her work which I think is amazing and hard to always work with. I definitely want to find a way to incorporate some of these forms and concepts into my own work somehow because I really have been inspired by a lot I have seen on this trip.
Greenwich: Thames River Cruise and Royal Observatory
On Friday, January 14 we took the Thames River Cruise to Greenwich which is where the Royal Observatory was located. I sat on the top deck of the boat where I took pictures of everything along the shoreline. It was interesting to see all the places we went in relation to each other and their distance from the river, however I felt this would have been a nice opening to our trip than a conclusion. My favorite part was when we passed under the Tower London Bridge; we all got some great pictures out of that. In Greenwich, we went to the Royal Observatory which is located up on a hill in a huge park near the National Maritime Museum. I liked this sculpture of two dolphins outside the Observatory that turned out to be a sundial. The line of the shadow from the sun that the tips of their tails make tell what time it is, and it is called The Dolphin Sundial. Once inside, it was interesting to see all the old instruments that were used for navigation and time keeping, and some were interactive. On a large pendulum there was a button that if you pushed it, it's steady sound changed to what it would be like on a moving ship and that is why it was inaccurate for sailing. I most excited to stride the Prime Meridian that was right outside on the terrace. I thought it was going to be more obvious because at first I walked right past it, but I couldn't believe I was standing on the line that measures all other longitudes and time zones. I was even more excited to see New York's longitude listed along side the others!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Victoria and Albert Museum
On Monday January 10th, we went to the V&A Museum where we got a tour from Glenn Adamson. This enormous museum was established in 1852 after the Great Exhibition in 1851. Adamson told our group that while competition seemed to be the museum's driving power at first, it soon valued education above everything else, including cultural wealth. I immediately loved the museum and I thought Adamson was a great tour guide, very thorough in his information and was clearly passionate about what he does. I really liked when he said that art should make the viewer question its moral decisions.
I really enjoyed the Casting Courts. This part of the museum consists of two rooms full of cast famous works; one room includes pieces from Northern Europe and Spain and the other room includes pieces from Italy. I was so impressed by the replica of Trajan's Column which was erected in 113 AD in Rome. They had to cut the cast of the column in half in order to even fit it into the space. Even though it was a cast of the sculpture and not the real thing I was so excited to see it. In the next room, there was a cast of Michelangelo's David which was carved in the very early 1500s in Florence. The sculpture was so much bigger than I had imagined it to be, I thought it was about the size of an average man, but this statue is easily almost twenty feet high. Once again, I felt I was in the presence of a great work of art even though this was only a cast of the David. There was also a copy of the School of Athens originally painted by Raphael in the early 1500s. I was blown away by this rendition and then I started to question the authenticity of all these things. I usually do not pay much attention to copies of things, but I felt differently about the casts in the V&A and I am wondering why. Perhaps because I am most likely never going to see the real ones? What is really the difference between them anyway?Glenn Adamson informed us that people some to the V&A to study Trajan's Column because it is in better shape than the real one. I think this is a very interesting debate over what makes something authentic and what makes something a fake.
My favorite exhibition in the whole building was Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography which displayed works from four artists experimenting without a camera to produce beautiful prints. I was so blown away by this entire exhibit and I want to consider using these ideas in my concentration instead of drawing and painting. I took Basic Photography last semester and learned the basics of photograms, of which I had great success making myself. I felt I had a greater appreciation for the exhibit after trying some of these techniques myself. The best part of photography is the element of chance, and while cameras aim to capture a documentary, camera-less photography "shows what has never really existed."
My favorite artist shown in the exhibit was Floris Neususs, a German photographer interested in the effects of the photogram. His work has a very high contrast to it and includes surrealist ideas about dreams and the subconscious. He started Korperfotogramms (whole-body photograms) in the 1960s and the ones shown in the show from later in the 1900s were absolutely amazing and beautiful. I thought his piece Be Right Back was original and kind of humorous, but his Untitled pieces of the models on white paper are just stunning. There is variation even within the black shadow by how close or far away the subject is from the paper. I agree that these images are dream-like and seem to be gracefully floating and there is just something about them that also seem delicate and almost secretive. I loved what Neususs said in his video about "making a picture of the window about the window," when describing photograms as merely a contact picture of the purely the paper and the subject. It is a very simple way of recording a "world of objects into a world of visions." I was so drawn to this work because I feel that it is a magical, different way of looking at things that we already see.
I really enjoyed the Casting Courts. This part of the museum consists of two rooms full of cast famous works; one room includes pieces from Northern Europe and Spain and the other room includes pieces from Italy. I was so impressed by the replica of Trajan's Column which was erected in 113 AD in Rome. They had to cut the cast of the column in half in order to even fit it into the space. Even though it was a cast of the sculpture and not the real thing I was so excited to see it. In the next room, there was a cast of Michelangelo's David which was carved in the very early 1500s in Florence. The sculpture was so much bigger than I had imagined it to be, I thought it was about the size of an average man, but this statue is easily almost twenty feet high. Once again, I felt I was in the presence of a great work of art even though this was only a cast of the David. There was also a copy of the School of Athens originally painted by Raphael in the early 1500s. I was blown away by this rendition and then I started to question the authenticity of all these things. I usually do not pay much attention to copies of things, but I felt differently about the casts in the V&A and I am wondering why. Perhaps because I am most likely never going to see the real ones? What is really the difference between them anyway?Glenn Adamson informed us that people some to the V&A to study Trajan's Column because it is in better shape than the real one. I think this is a very interesting debate over what makes something authentic and what makes something a fake.
My favorite exhibition in the whole building was Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography which displayed works from four artists experimenting without a camera to produce beautiful prints. I was so blown away by this entire exhibit and I want to consider using these ideas in my concentration instead of drawing and painting. I took Basic Photography last semester and learned the basics of photograms, of which I had great success making myself. I felt I had a greater appreciation for the exhibit after trying some of these techniques myself. The best part of photography is the element of chance, and while cameras aim to capture a documentary, camera-less photography "shows what has never really existed."
My favorite artist shown in the exhibit was Floris Neususs, a German photographer interested in the effects of the photogram. His work has a very high contrast to it and includes surrealist ideas about dreams and the subconscious. He started Korperfotogramms (whole-body photograms) in the 1960s and the ones shown in the show from later in the 1900s were absolutely amazing and beautiful. I thought his piece Be Right Back was original and kind of humorous, but his Untitled pieces of the models on white paper are just stunning. There is variation even within the black shadow by how close or far away the subject is from the paper. I agree that these images are dream-like and seem to be gracefully floating and there is just something about them that also seem delicate and almost secretive. I loved what Neususs said in his video about "making a picture of the window about the window," when describing photograms as merely a contact picture of the purely the paper and the subject. It is a very simple way of recording a "world of objects into a world of visions." I was so drawn to this work because I feel that it is a magical, different way of looking at things that we already see.
Tower of London
On Wednesday, January 12th we went to the Tower of London. This eighteen acre fortress was founded by William the Conqueror about 1,000 years ago. I enjoyed walking up and down the fortress' walls and into the various towers that lined The White Tower in the center. The Bloody Tower is a main attraction and is said to be haunted because this was where the prisoners were tortured for valuable information. Various torture devices can be viewed in it today, however I was informed that most of the prisoners were held in The White Tower, which I was disappointed we could not go into because it was undergoing renovations. We were however able to see the Crown Jewels in the jewel house constructed in 1868. I was blown away by the grandeur of the jewels, I have never seen such gems that sparkle so much in the light. My favorite item of the treasures was the Star of Africa, or the Cullinan I, the largest diamond in the world, cut from the Cullinan diamond which is over 3,000 carats! This beautiful jewel is embedded in the top of the Royal Scepter. The jewel house was my favorite part of the Tower of London, apart from the great view of the London Bridge from the fortress walls.
Gallery #2: Whitechapel Gallery
As one of our three additional galleries, we visited Whitechapel Gallery on Wednesday, January 12th. I have to admit that I did not like the gallery space as soon as I walked in and saw there were only about nine rooms, half of which were closed due to renovations. I did however enjoy two of the pieces. The first was by Claire Barclay and was called Shadow Spans (2010) in one of the rooms on the first floor. Her installation took up the entire space and consisted of black door frames, spilled dirt and pottery on the floor and large fabrics draped over the structure. Barclay's work incorporates the relationship between the materials and making, and this piece dealt with the environment of urban life and ideas of exposure and observation. I really liked this piece because I felt the whole room has a certain mood as soon as you stepped into it and I immediately walked right through and around the piece to get a sense of what that mood might be. The black frames reminded me of a foundation in a construction cite or the very basic structure of something not yet filled in. Therefore for me the piece was exploring themes of abandonment and emptiness, because while a foundation is usually the start of something, the feel of the piece made me feel as if it would never be finished. I also got a sense of mystery as the drapery seemed to be hiding part of the structure and appeared to be covering something up. I liked Barclay's work because I was able to draw my own interpretation from her sculpture.
The other piece I really liked was in the upper galleries, and it was titled Current Disturbance (1996) by Mona Hatoum. I could hear the piece through the doors before I could see it, and once inside the noise intensified, proving to be a buzzing sort of electrical sound. The huge square structure was made of wood and wire cages that each contained one light bulb. The bulbs were all synced to light up or get brighter or switch on and off while the electrical buzz that you could not ignore reflected what was happening with the light bulbs. Hatoum's piece dealt with themes of "surveillance and control," and I definitely felt this way because each light bulb appeared to be trapped in its individual wire cage. I also loved this piece because it had high contrast between light and dark (as sometimes the bulbs would go completely out) and between noise and silence (when the bulbs went out the buzz completely ceased as well). In the dark and silence, the viewer was left with their ears ringing until the bulbs flared up again. This was my favorite moment of the lighting circuit and the whole piece because that one short moment of dark held such great potential.
The other piece I really liked was in the upper galleries, and it was titled Current Disturbance (1996) by Mona Hatoum. I could hear the piece through the doors before I could see it, and once inside the noise intensified, proving to be a buzzing sort of electrical sound. The huge square structure was made of wood and wire cages that each contained one light bulb. The bulbs were all synced to light up or get brighter or switch on and off while the electrical buzz that you could not ignore reflected what was happening with the light bulbs. Hatoum's piece dealt with themes of "surveillance and control," and I definitely felt this way because each light bulb appeared to be trapped in its individual wire cage. I also loved this piece because it had high contrast between light and dark (as sometimes the bulbs would go completely out) and between noise and silence (when the bulbs went out the buzz completely ceased as well). In the dark and silence, the viewer was left with their ears ringing until the bulbs flared up again. This was my favorite moment of the lighting circuit and the whole piece because that one short moment of dark held such great potential.
Free Day: Evan Evans Tours (Gallery #3)
We had a free day on Thursday, January 13th so booked a trip with Evan Evans Tours to take a coach bus to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath. The bus picked us up in Bloomsbury and we drove for over an hour to reach Windsor Castle, which is currently the royal residence of The Queen. I was surprised that the castle grounds were set right in the middle of a cute, bustling town. We had to pass through security before we entered but I had thought there would be a lot more precautions taken. We were lucky enough to see the changing of the guards which was accompanied by music. That was so exciting! St. George's Chapel was included in the tour and was beautiful, however I personally thought Westminster Abbey was much grander. We also got to see The Drawing Gallery, which had drawings and sketches from the 1700s by Leonardo da Vinci and Hans Holbein the Younger! I was very interested in da Vinci's medical sketches from when he performed autopsies and sketched the body alongside his "mirror notes." There was also an exhibition of the work of the royal photographer, Marcus Adams. The exhibit displayed photos of Queen Elizabeth as a young child which captured her youth, yet one caption said that she appeared to be mature beyond her years already at eight years old. Some of the pictures taken by Adams of the Royal Family were the only thing available to the public before television, and I thought it was interesting how this made them closer to their subjects. The whole castle was beautiful and it actually felt like being in a fairy tale.
The next stop was Stonehenge, which was the destination I was the most excited for and was my favorite part of the day. When we got there, I could not believe that there roads so close to the ruins. Other than that, the structure was completely in the middle of nowhere. All that was along the countryside were some sheep and the tourists who had come to marvel at Stonehenge. I had imagined the stones to be a bit larger up close, but from far away they were exactly as I had pictured them and I took so many pictures of them from every angle. There was a pathway that circled Stonehenge and in some areas you were right next to the stones and others farther away. It was really breathtaking, especially after learning all about the impressive architectural feat from Art History and the fact that it has been there since about 3,000 BC. I thought it was absolutely stunning and I loved that we were able to fit this into our trip.
The last stop on our tour was Bath, located in the country of Somerset. This was such a change in scenery from Stonehenge; within an hour we were out of the country and into a huge city that had a beautiful skyline set in the hills of the landscape. We stopped outside Bath Abbey, however our main focus was The Roman Bath Museum. This is a major tourist attraction and it houses The Roman Bath house that is no located underground. The steamy water seemed very hot but we were warned not to touch it as it is untreated. The amount of steam rising up from the baths was incredible and it was considerably hotter just standing in the same room. These were the public bathhouses used early in the first century AD along with shrines built to honor the sacred hot springs. It is so interesting to see where people bathed that long ago, however the idea of a huge public bath seems quite gross to me and all I could think was how far technology and architecture has come. Overall the tour was great, my only regret was that we did not have more time at each event since they were such amazing attractions.
The next stop was Stonehenge, which was the destination I was the most excited for and was my favorite part of the day. When we got there, I could not believe that there roads so close to the ruins. Other than that, the structure was completely in the middle of nowhere. All that was along the countryside were some sheep and the tourists who had come to marvel at Stonehenge. I had imagined the stones to be a bit larger up close, but from far away they were exactly as I had pictured them and I took so many pictures of them from every angle. There was a pathway that circled Stonehenge and in some areas you were right next to the stones and others farther away. It was really breathtaking, especially after learning all about the impressive architectural feat from Art History and the fact that it has been there since about 3,000 BC. I thought it was absolutely stunning and I loved that we were able to fit this into our trip.
The last stop on our tour was Bath, located in the country of Somerset. This was such a change in scenery from Stonehenge; within an hour we were out of the country and into a huge city that had a beautiful skyline set in the hills of the landscape. We stopped outside Bath Abbey, however our main focus was The Roman Bath Museum. This is a major tourist attraction and it houses The Roman Bath house that is no located underground. The steamy water seemed very hot but we were warned not to touch it as it is untreated. The amount of steam rising up from the baths was incredible and it was considerably hotter just standing in the same room. These were the public bathhouses used early in the first century AD along with shrines built to honor the sacred hot springs. It is so interesting to see where people bathed that long ago, however the idea of a huge public bath seems quite gross to me and all I could think was how far technology and architecture has come. Overall the tour was great, my only regret was that we did not have more time at each event since they were such amazing attractions.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Damian Ortega
When we saw Black Watch at the Barbican Theatre, we also went to see Damian Ortega's exhibit The Independent. Ortega is a Mexican artist who creates sculptures out of found objects, and his exhibit in the Barbican focused on turning the events of each day in the September 2010 newspaper into individual sculptures making a time period of that month. The one sculpture I really liked was Waves IN and Waves OUT. There were tires and drums arranged in increasing and decreasing circumference sizes that created a tunnel when you looked down the piece. This was in response to an article about gravitational waves from September 20, 2010. I liked this piece because of how its appearance changes when viewed at different angles and how you could walk through the separate tires and drums. This piece had a lot of space to itself, however I did not think the space in The Curve worked well with the body of work as a whole. I thought it was very scattered and the titles were hard to connect to the individual pieces since they were so far away on the wall and most pieces were installed in the center of the room. I think a newspaper is generally very organized and his exhibit was not; I do not know if he wanted this aspect to relate to the layout of the newspaper or if he only desired the objects to relate to the content. I did like that Ortega said in the newspaper handout this piece was about him becoming aware about what he was seeing and what it meant for contemporary culture. I guess my response to the work is that different people respond quite differently to the exact same events, and this exhibition was about Ortega's "own subjective viewpoint" during the month of September of 2010.
Barbican Theatre: Black Watch
On Monday January 10th we saw the play Black Watch at the Barbican Theatre. During dinner in the cafe we were all discussing the aesthetics of the building itself, and I personally felt it was too dark. Tine made a comment that the walls looked like rock and the whole place felt like a cave, and I agreed but I felt that that gave the Barbican a negative atmosphere. The place needed more color, everything appeared to be black or grey tones. The theatre itself was very interesting, the stage split the audience straight down the middle into two raised seating sections. As soon as I walked in I thought it might be an interactive play because sometimes when the audience is so close to the stage they call on volunteers, but it was not like that at all. The play was about a group of young Scottish males who joined the Afghanistan War to help the Americans. It takes the perspective of the soldiers which is very personal to their own experiences within the army and with each other. Overall, I thought the play was very powerful. However, I still can not decide if I really liked it or not. I thought the actors were all great but there was a lot of strong language used throughout and it was very hard to understand their strong Scottish accents at times. There was minimal scenery and costumes used yet I was impressed with the use of sound and lighting to produce an atmosphere, much like how I liked the special effects in War Horse. It was a very different experience to hear about the war not from the American perspective, and at times the Scottish boys referenced the American soldiers in both good and bad ways that sometimes put me on edge. And even though I do not personally know anyone in the war, I was still greatly effected by the play and felt a strong emotional pull towards the characters portraying these soldiers, some of whom did not make it out alive. I thought it was very powerful when the one boy was crying while sitting on the floor until he jumped up when the general came over to hand him a letter. This shows that while the boys all acted tough and said they were there because they were excited to see some action and fight, the reality of war and death clearly upset them deeply in those vulnerable moments. Plays or stories like this just make me appreciate so much that I have in my life and the people who are close to me. I think this play was a huge success in the fact that the audience was engaged and emotionally willing to believe in the reality of the play, especially me personally.
ICA
On Sunday January 9th, we went to the Institute of Contemporary Arts to see the Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2010. The exhibit included a wide range of contemporary work including sculpture, installations, video and paintings. I was confused about the layout of the gallery and I do not think I was a fan of the space in which the pieces were displayed; I felt the rooms were very crowded and it was easy to get distracted. The first room was so jam-packed but all everyone seemed to be focusing on was a disturbing animation projected high up on the wall of self mutilation and destruction called Cut by Kristian de la Riva. I feel this type of art is unnecessary and simply a way to make everyone feel uncomfortable. Instead of people trying to figure out the meaning behind it, they were just turning away disgustedly. I felt a lot of the art in the ICA was difficult to relate to and I could not see any substance in more than half of the pieces there. I found this surprising because I usually enjoy contemporary art but I had a very hard time finding anything in the ICA that was even interesting to me.
I did really like one sculpture on the upper level called Narcissus (2010) by Guy Haddon-Grant. This was one of the only pieces I enjoyed because of the aesthetic and conceptual meaning. I liked the rough way in which the half or a man's body was constructed and how it was reflected back at him because of the mirror on which he was placed. I found it also satirical after reading the blurb about the piece on the ICA's website; it is making a humorous poke at narcism saying that is is boring and people are more self-loathing in today's society anyway and there is a lack of "moral guidance."
The other piece I was drawn to was a huge photo called In the Air (2010) by Raphael Hefti. I liked the yellow-green tinge to the paper and I was curious as to what the white powder being emptied from the cup was. It reminded me of milk spilling even though it was clearly not a liquid and I enjoy photographs that capture moments that happen to fast for the eye to see. What Hefti was really spilling out of the glass was a material called witchpowder and was a study of its burning effects on the photographic paper. I am drawn to pieces that are a mixture of art and scientific studies because the results are something I might want to consider as an artist myself. I created a DNA animation last year that I thoroughly enjoyed researching and then drawing, so I try to keep works like this in mind whenever I need to come up with a new idea of my own.
The British Museum
On Tuesday January 11th we went to The British Museum which happens to be right around the corner from our flats and we pass it almost everyday. The grand pillars on the outside of the staircase lead you inside to the huge lobby that is bright due to the natural light shining in from the sky-lights. I personally felt that this space was somewhat wasted space, there were a few sculptural pieces along the edge but otherwise it was just an open area with a souvenir shop in the middle and another large staircase leading up the center. There were a lot of adjacent rooms and galleries but I just felt the entrance hall was completely empty.
We immediately found the Rosetta Stone on the ground level that was blocked by a large crowd of people. The stone includes the language and symbols of hieroglyphics, Demotic and Greek, and was the key to unlocking the language codes of these ancient civilizations in the late 1700s by two different men named Thomas Young and Jean-Francois Champollion. It was acquired by Britain through the Treaty of Alexandria in 1801 under King George III. The heiroglyphic text at the top of the stone is large and each text underneath become smaller. It was incredible to stand in front of such a great piece of history and to imagine having to decipher the symbols. I wished I knew Greek so I could at least read some of the Stone, but I could not so it really gave me a sense of what the mystery must have felt like until they were able to unlock it.
Another important piece of ancient history that was equally intriguing were the Parthenon Sculptures and Elgin Marbles. These friezes were acquired by Britain in the very early 1800s by Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, and they sparked a new interest of ancient Greek culture throughout Europe. The debate tahat arises out of this issue is the feeling of the Greek government that the marbles belong in Greece as they were part of the Parthenon and Greece has recently been trying to gather the original pieces to display in the New Acropolis Museum, however the Trustees of the British Museum feel the marbles belong to everyone. It does not bother me if the sculptures are not reunited with Greece, however I thought it very odd that many pieces of the South Merope high relief sculptures and the West Pediment pieces were split in half between London and Athens. For example, the head of one of the soldiers resides in Athens but the British Museum has his body on display. I think that if the collection was split up at least the individual pieces should have been kept together. I did enjoy viewing the pieces because I have studied the great history they represent and I have always loved relief sculptures and just Greek marble statues in general. The ancient statues that idealized their gods and men have such a strong insight to their culture and are really beautiful.
The upper level of the museum included the Picasso to Julie Mehretu exhibition. This was easily my favorite part of the whole museum, because while I appreciate the ancient Greek statues I enjoy looking at more modern art as well. I was so excited when I found a piece by William Anastai, a minimalist artist whose works include Blind and Pocket. On display in The British Museum I found his "Subway Drawings" from 1967 hung in a corner. I had first heard about Anastai my first semester at SUNY New Paltz when I had a fantastic professor for Drawing and Thinking I who tried to teach us the essentials of process and drawing itself instead of focusing solely on the finished product. I have tried to include what I learned in that class in all of my own work, but I had never seen or heard about Anastai outside of this class and I was excited and surprised that I should run into his pieces all the way in London. Anastai was a forerunner of the conceptual movement of art in the 1960s, and his "Subway Drawings" are different because they focus on mark making through the tracking of his own movements while physically riding the subway. It is a different kind of drawing, not of an object but of a movement, something my professor taught us in that class that was so hard to understand at first. I have always appreciated this lesson but never as much as I had today standing in front of one of the pieces that ultimately changed the entire way that I now attempt to draw. It was quite amazing.
We immediately found the Rosetta Stone on the ground level that was blocked by a large crowd of people. The stone includes the language and symbols of hieroglyphics, Demotic and Greek, and was the key to unlocking the language codes of these ancient civilizations in the late 1700s by two different men named Thomas Young and Jean-Francois Champollion. It was acquired by Britain through the Treaty of Alexandria in 1801 under King George III. The heiroglyphic text at the top of the stone is large and each text underneath become smaller. It was incredible to stand in front of such a great piece of history and to imagine having to decipher the symbols. I wished I knew Greek so I could at least read some of the Stone, but I could not so it really gave me a sense of what the mystery must have felt like until they were able to unlock it.
Another important piece of ancient history that was equally intriguing were the Parthenon Sculptures and Elgin Marbles. These friezes were acquired by Britain in the very early 1800s by Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, and they sparked a new interest of ancient Greek culture throughout Europe. The debate tahat arises out of this issue is the feeling of the Greek government that the marbles belong in Greece as they were part of the Parthenon and Greece has recently been trying to gather the original pieces to display in the New Acropolis Museum, however the Trustees of the British Museum feel the marbles belong to everyone. It does not bother me if the sculptures are not reunited with Greece, however I thought it very odd that many pieces of the South Merope high relief sculptures and the West Pediment pieces were split in half between London and Athens. For example, the head of one of the soldiers resides in Athens but the British Museum has his body on display. I think that if the collection was split up at least the individual pieces should have been kept together. I did enjoy viewing the pieces because I have studied the great history they represent and I have always loved relief sculptures and just Greek marble statues in general. The ancient statues that idealized their gods and men have such a strong insight to their culture and are really beautiful.
The upper level of the museum included the Picasso to Julie Mehretu exhibition. This was easily my favorite part of the whole museum, because while I appreciate the ancient Greek statues I enjoy looking at more modern art as well. I was so excited when I found a piece by William Anastai, a minimalist artist whose works include Blind and Pocket. On display in The British Museum I found his "Subway Drawings" from 1967 hung in a corner. I had first heard about Anastai my first semester at SUNY New Paltz when I had a fantastic professor for Drawing and Thinking I who tried to teach us the essentials of process and drawing itself instead of focusing solely on the finished product. I have tried to include what I learned in that class in all of my own work, but I had never seen or heard about Anastai outside of this class and I was excited and surprised that I should run into his pieces all the way in London. Anastai was a forerunner of the conceptual movement of art in the 1960s, and his "Subway Drawings" are different because they focus on mark making through the tracking of his own movements while physically riding the subway. It is a different kind of drawing, not of an object but of a movement, something my professor taught us in that class that was so hard to understand at first. I have always appreciated this lesson but never as much as I had today standing in front of one of the pieces that ultimately changed the entire way that I now attempt to draw. It was quite amazing.
Monday, January 10, 2011
The National Gallery
On Sunday January 9th we went to The National Gallery located in Trafalgar Square. The area itself was filled with people and street performers outside the Gallery. Trafalgar Sqaure was decorated with the four plinths and statue Nelson's Column and two beautiful fountains. The Gallery has a large staircase leading up to the huge pillars outside the main entrance. The insides houses a huge collection of European paintings from the thirteenth to the nineteenth centuries. The place is literally overwhelming due to the large number of connecting rooms, and we tried to see as much as possible while keeping on a straight course down the center of the museum in order to not get lost.
There were a large number of Italian Renaissance paintings including the work of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, dating back to the late 1500s. I am drawn to Caravaggio's due largely to his use of chiaroscuro, or the contrast of light and dark where the figures appear to be emerging out of the blackness. I was excited to see in person his Supper at Emmaus (1601), which also deals with some of the earliest studies of foreshortening as the hand of the figure on the right extends out towards the viewer. His oil paintings are visually appealing because of the clear emotion in the piece. It is also interesting to consider his exploration of painting techniques such as light and dark and foreshortening.
An English Romantic painter whom I really enjoyed was John Constable. His large-scale landscape paintings explore the idea of illumination and natural lighting which relate to the weather of the outdoors. I really enjoyed the painterly quality to his work and the clear visual brushstrokes created a textural surface that was very appealing. I always love painters who can successfully do this because I struggle to accomplish this in my own paintings; I tend to paint very thinly and always envy those who achieve a textural quality to the surface of the canvas. I also love the sense of light in Constable's work, specifically portrayed in Stratford Mill (The Youngwaltonians) and The Hay Wain, both from the 1820s. The colors and calming composition made me think of a dream-like state where I wanted to step into the painting and let that feeling engulf me. I was immediately drawn to his work from across the whole room because of this realistic yet dreamily perfect setting that his paintings depict.
Postimpressionism was headed by Georges Seurat, a French painter who works largely with pointillism. I had never seen a Seurat painting in person and was very excited to do so at the National Gallery. His piece Bathing at Asnieres (1883) among others were stunning, specifically in their color palette. Like Constable's work, I loved how the colors were instantly calming, however the style of Seurat's work is obviously completely different. Postimpressionism includes a lot of the vivid colors and apparent brush strokes where each little patch of color in Seurat's pointillism pieces make up an important part of the whole. The colors he uses are just so successful at captivating the viewer and depicting objects from nature or observation in a less realistic way that has an appealing effect.
Another piece that amazed me was The Ambassadors (1533) by Hans Holbein the Younger. I have studied this piece in Art History and the debatable meaning between the different array of objects on the table, however this piece held a special effect that could only be seen in person. The stretched out skull on the foreground of the piece can only be correctly viewed from the far right side; one has to be standing almost completely next to the painting to see the true proportion. This is the first example of an anamorphosis painting I have seen in person and I thought it was awesome. I enjoy viewing pieces like this one that serve to "mystify" or "amuse" the audience.
There were a large number of Italian Renaissance paintings including the work of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, dating back to the late 1500s. I am drawn to Caravaggio's due largely to his use of chiaroscuro, or the contrast of light and dark where the figures appear to be emerging out of the blackness. I was excited to see in person his Supper at Emmaus (1601), which also deals with some of the earliest studies of foreshortening as the hand of the figure on the right extends out towards the viewer. His oil paintings are visually appealing because of the clear emotion in the piece. It is also interesting to consider his exploration of painting techniques such as light and dark and foreshortening.
An English Romantic painter whom I really enjoyed was John Constable. His large-scale landscape paintings explore the idea of illumination and natural lighting which relate to the weather of the outdoors. I really enjoyed the painterly quality to his work and the clear visual brushstrokes created a textural surface that was very appealing. I always love painters who can successfully do this because I struggle to accomplish this in my own paintings; I tend to paint very thinly and always envy those who achieve a textural quality to the surface of the canvas. I also love the sense of light in Constable's work, specifically portrayed in Stratford Mill (The Youngwaltonians) and The Hay Wain, both from the 1820s. The colors and calming composition made me think of a dream-like state where I wanted to step into the painting and let that feeling engulf me. I was immediately drawn to his work from across the whole room because of this realistic yet dreamily perfect setting that his paintings depict.
Postimpressionism was headed by Georges Seurat, a French painter who works largely with pointillism. I had never seen a Seurat painting in person and was very excited to do so at the National Gallery. His piece Bathing at Asnieres (1883) among others were stunning, specifically in their color palette. Like Constable's work, I loved how the colors were instantly calming, however the style of Seurat's work is obviously completely different. Postimpressionism includes a lot of the vivid colors and apparent brush strokes where each little patch of color in Seurat's pointillism pieces make up an important part of the whole. The colors he uses are just so successful at captivating the viewer and depicting objects from nature or observation in a less realistic way that has an appealing effect.
Another piece that amazed me was The Ambassadors (1533) by Hans Holbein the Younger. I have studied this piece in Art History and the debatable meaning between the different array of objects on the table, however this piece held a special effect that could only be seen in person. The stretched out skull on the foreground of the piece can only be correctly viewed from the far right side; one has to be standing almost completely next to the painting to see the true proportion. This is the first example of an anamorphosis painting I have seen in person and I thought it was awesome. I enjoy viewing pieces like this one that serve to "mystify" or "amuse" the audience.
Guest Speaker: Brigitte Jurack
On Friday January 9th we had a guest artist speaker, Brigitte Jurack, come talk to our class. This German artist teaches at Manchester University and was explaining her work in the Foreign Investment Group, of which she is a founding member. This group strives to bring people and communities together to "question the value of things in unexpected ways." Moonshine Walk (2008) is an example of a community piece that Jurack stated was a successful event but in the long run it did not get a lot of publicity. This is one of the struggles she along with her group have to face. I liked how passionate she seemed to be about her work and about her pieces interacting with the public, especially For Elise, which was constructed of two large cone-shaped sculptures placed in the garden of the IMMA grounds. These "prototypes," as she referred to them, were put there specifically for the purpose of playful interaction with the people in the park. She told out class a story of how the security told her some kids had snuck into the garden at night to play with the piece and moved it to a different location and she was thrilled. I also thought she was very animate about the student riots and the shift in educational value currently occurring in London, and I appreciated her strong support for the arts and just the students in general. Even though I am an American not taking part in the protests I can relate to the fact that rising prices for college tuitions are infuriating and may seem unfair. It is always refreshing to hear an artist and professor such as Jurack speak so passionately about the students' rights and the educational values in general.
Free Day: Camden Market
Saturday January 8th was a free day so we went to the Camden Market for a shopping day. None of us had any idea how big of an even this was actually going to be, and we ended up spending the entire day walking around the hundreds of stands and down many little streets and mazes. The whole street was filled with people wandering in and out of the stores and kiosks buying everything from shoes to memorabilia to food. Most of the stand owners were willing to bargain on price, and I ended up buying a cute dress for 12 pounds as opposed to 15 pounds, which I considered to be a success. It was interesting that most of the little venues had the same clothing styles at the same price, I was surprised there was not more variety among the stands. There was great variety among the jewelry; whether it be sterling silver rings or fabric bracelets, everything seemed to be on sale. We were all shopping for small souvenirs to take to loved ones back home, but we were also shopping happily for ourselves spending the money we tried not to think about handing over again and again. The atmosphere of the market was fun and lively, and it was clearly an event that has been very popular over the years and appears to keep growing. The markets are more fun to explore than the name-brand stores because they usually have more original things for a lesser cost. On our next free day we will definitely be visiting another market including the Borough Market which should be filled with delicious foods.
Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
Sam Wanamaker was the founder of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London constructed as a replica of the original globe built in the late 1500s. The theatre is not too detailed on the outside, the walls consist of white and brown wood with large wooden doors. However, when you walk into the theatre the focus is clearly on the ornate stage in a proscenium style theatre with three tiers of seating for the audience. The original stage was decorated with wooden columns which were painted to look like expensive red marble and I thought it was fitting that the London Globe did the same. There was also faux gold detail included in the paintings around the stage and on the ceiling, which covers the actors heads in case of precipitation as the theatre is outdoors using natural lighting for the show. The tiers of seats for the audience are also covered, however the pit at the foot of the stage used to house the "stinkards" or people of lower class is completely open. The theatre was built in the same fashion as the original, making it feel as if we were sitting in a theatre from back in the 1500s. There was a small gallery of objects and props used from the 1990s version of Shakespeare's plays which had a lot of fine detail in the customs as well. I enjoyed seeing the sketches for the designs accompanied by photographs of the finished products that were worn during the performance. My only regret was that we did not have enough time in our schedule to see an actual performance while we were there; I have never loved reading Shakespeare but I know I would much more enjoy seeing one of his plays, especially in the Globe Theatre.
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, also known as The Collegiate Church of St. Peter, has been an operating church for over 1,000 years. The two western towers were constructed in a Gothic architectural style and have recently been cleaned to reveal the true color of the stone they had been originally built with. New statues adorn the archway with modern day heroes and martyrs of the twentieth century. I have noticed that a lot of historical and old buildings of London architecture from many different time periods built up to create a time-line of history in the building itself. The inside of Westminster Abbey was even more ornate than the beautiful architecture on the outside. I was literally breathless when I first entered the church and I was amazed at the height and detail of the ceiling from which crystal chandeliers hung. It was easily the most beautiful building I have ever seen and I could not remember the last time I was in such awe. The Abbey was built in the eleventh century by Edward the Confessor. Years later more architecture was added by Henry III and then Henry IV extended it, this part being called the Lady Chamber. It is incredible how much history is included in this building, and it also houses a number of famous graves of English monarchs and even scientists and poets, which I was not aware of until we were standing on them in the floor tiles. Among these include Queen Elizabeth I, Mary I, Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton and Charles Dickens. It was really a great experience to walk over the graves of these famous British people while appreciating their place in history and their accomplishments. There was also a huge number of smaller rooms of burials and memorials that were just as carefully and beautifully built. The sheer size of the church was overwhelming yet amazing. I was disappointed me were not allowed to take pictures once inside, however Westminster Abbey was my favorite historical landmark that I have seen so far seen in London.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Rachel Whiteread/Eadweard Muybridge
On Friday January 7th we went back to the Tate Britain to see the Rachel Whiteread and Eadweard Muybridge shows. The Rachel Whiteread exhibition of her drawings was the first time her "retrospective" works had been on display. The show included many drawings that were Whiteread's studies and ideas worked out on paper and revealing her "creative process." I really enjoyed this exhibition because of the simplicity of it. Her sketches and drawings were not accompanied by the finished pieces or sculptures, in this show they were essentially finished pieces of their own. The basic contour line drawings and watercolor on graph paper created their own style of architectural plans that I found appealing. I always enjoy when artists have their sketches and unfinished pieces displayed alongside their work however I liked how these sketches were the only focus of an exhibition for a change. I also thought the pieces were all cohesive as a show, and I liked how some were even shown in duplicates as different angles of the same work as in Six Stairs (1995) or the collection of white-out on photos in House Study (1992). Her successful use of mixed media to produce such visually simplistic objects was my favorite aspect of her work.
Eadweard Muybridge's exhibit displayed his photography of the natural scenery of Yosemite and his ground-breaking studies of stop motion pictures. Muybridge's photography of the Yosemite area were a technical success due to his use of double negatives and overlapping different photos to produce a new image. I can also appreciate this aspect of his work since I just took Basic Photography and I understand how difficult it is to develop double negatives. His lighthouse photos display his use of this technique and it explained how he used clouds in the background of the landscape from different images, sometimes using the same set of clouds more than once which I found very interesting. The effect was really beautiful, as portrayed in Lighthouse at Punta de los Reyes, Coast of California (1871), and his landscape shots are very serene and calming.
Most of the exhibition was composed of Muybridge's studies of moements. This technology provided a whole new insight on the motions of moving animals and people that could not be seen with just the human eye. The use of a trip wire that was triggered by the horse to get the shot was considered a technical break-through in Stopping Time: Horse in Motion (1878). He proved that a horse lifted all four legs off the ground at once while running, something that was thought as inconceivable. Muybridge also invented the zoopraxiscope which was used as the earliest form of animation and "short moving sequences." I have always been interested in animation since I created a stop motion hand-drawn animation for my drawing class. I therefore have a high appreciation for Muybridge's work and can imagine how amazing it would have been to experience it being discovered in the 1800s for the first time. While the photos and negatives were used as studies, displayed in frames in a gallery they also have a strong visual appeal as their own individual pieces that also create a whole body of art. This seems to be a common theme both Muybridge and Whiteread have throughout their exhibitions which is a reason why I really like both of them.
Eadweard Muybridge's exhibit displayed his photography of the natural scenery of Yosemite and his ground-breaking studies of stop motion pictures. Muybridge's photography of the Yosemite area were a technical success due to his use of double negatives and overlapping different photos to produce a new image. I can also appreciate this aspect of his work since I just took Basic Photography and I understand how difficult it is to develop double negatives. His lighthouse photos display his use of this technique and it explained how he used clouds in the background of the landscape from different images, sometimes using the same set of clouds more than once which I found very interesting. The effect was really beautiful, as portrayed in Lighthouse at Punta de los Reyes, Coast of California (1871), and his landscape shots are very serene and calming.
Most of the exhibition was composed of Muybridge's studies of moements. This technology provided a whole new insight on the motions of moving animals and people that could not be seen with just the human eye. The use of a trip wire that was triggered by the horse to get the shot was considered a technical break-through in Stopping Time: Horse in Motion (1878). He proved that a horse lifted all four legs off the ground at once while running, something that was thought as inconceivable. Muybridge also invented the zoopraxiscope which was used as the earliest form of animation and "short moving sequences." I have always been interested in animation since I created a stop motion hand-drawn animation for my drawing class. I therefore have a high appreciation for Muybridge's work and can imagine how amazing it would have been to experience it being discovered in the 1800s for the first time. While the photos and negatives were used as studies, displayed in frames in a gallery they also have a strong visual appeal as their own individual pieces that also create a whole body of art. This seems to be a common theme both Muybridge and Whiteread have throughout their exhibitions which is a reason why I really like both of them.
Saatchi Gallery
The Saatchi Gallery has many contemporary works of art on display. The piece that immediately drew my attention on the first floor was titled Swarm (2004), by Tessa Farmer. It consisted of a large glass showcase with a large number of suspended bugs and insects, but when viewed closely there were actually tiny hand-crafted skeletons riding the bugs. They were created with organic materials, some even consisting of the bug remains. The small delicate details were absolutely amazing, and you had to look very closely to appreciate them. The delicate way in which the sculptures were made can relate to the actual delicacy of parts of an insect such as the wings and fragile legs.
I was also drawn to the paintings of Nicholas Byrne, including Hoiser (2010) and Untitled (Boy) (2007). The artist states his work speaks to Surrealism "where bodies cross into objects." He also says there is a "feeling of tension" about his work, which I felt as I was standing on front of it because of the sharp, angular shapes and contrasting colors. Visually I thought the painterly brush strokes and color palette was appealing, and I liked the contrast between the black and white frames in Untitled (Boy). I appreciate work that has a strong sense of contrast within it, which is why I also liked Mustafa Hulusi's oil paintings. His Exstacy Almond Blossom 3 and Excstacy Almond Blossom 8 (2008) stood out to me in the gallery because of their size and optical allusion design that popped out at the viewer. I also loved how the flower blossoms were painted to look like a photograph; some blossoms were clear and in focus while the ones in the background were blurry. This type of effect used by oil paint in such a realistic way was really nice. Paired with the black and white which the artist refers to as "trippy," there is a nice contrast between the organic, natural flowers and the striking geometric lines. Hulusi also describes these paintings as being "open-ended" and open to interpretation. My interpretation is the comparison of an organic feel paired with the optical allusion which gives the piece its striking appearance.
I was also drawn to the paintings of Nicholas Byrne, including Hoiser (2010) and Untitled (Boy) (2007). The artist states his work speaks to Surrealism "where bodies cross into objects." He also says there is a "feeling of tension" about his work, which I felt as I was standing on front of it because of the sharp, angular shapes and contrasting colors. Visually I thought the painterly brush strokes and color palette was appealing, and I liked the contrast between the black and white frames in Untitled (Boy). I appreciate work that has a strong sense of contrast within it, which is why I also liked Mustafa Hulusi's oil paintings. His Exstacy Almond Blossom 3 and Excstacy Almond Blossom 8 (2008) stood out to me in the gallery because of their size and optical allusion design that popped out at the viewer. I also loved how the flower blossoms were painted to look like a photograph; some blossoms were clear and in focus while the ones in the background were blurry. This type of effect used by oil paint in such a realistic way was really nice. Paired with the black and white which the artist refers to as "trippy," there is a nice contrast between the organic, natural flowers and the striking geometric lines. Hulusi also describes these paintings as being "open-ended" and open to interpretation. My interpretation is the comparison of an organic feel paired with the optical allusion which gives the piece its striking appearance.
The Serpentine Gallery
On Thursday January 6th we went to the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens. The walk to the gallery would have been more enjoyable had it not been raining since there were sculptural pieces along the path, such as the Sky Mirror by Anish Kapoor. This piece is from an outdoor exhibit called Turning the World Upside Down consisting of large, outdoor sculptures. Even though it was raining, the mirror beautifully reflected the grey clouds in the sky, it is able to capture the atmosphere of the changing weather in the garden which create this interaction between the viewer and the environment.
The Serpentine Gallery exhibited work by Philippe Parreno in the form of video art and sculpture. There were large screens set up in each room that each played a short film in which sound and light had major roles. The sounds also lead the viewer through the gallery itself, trailing off or calling from the other room to attract the audience and to move them around. I personally felt his films were eerie, especially Invisibleboy and June 8, 1968. The latter piece seemed eerie to me because the lack of human motion, I did not realize the film was recreating the scene of a funeral until after I saw it. The film Invisibleboy was frighteningly suspenseful as the sounds become louder and spookier throughout the piece and as the little boy encounters the strange light-scratched figure. When the film was over, there was snow being created outside the window, making the viewer aware of both the inside and outside space. The piece The Boy From Mars had the snow falling at the beginning of the film but it had stopped by the end when the window curtains were pulled up. A connection between all these pieces seemed to be an absence of a subject. There was a presence of light and the sense of sound. Reality was also questioned through the ghost-like qualities of the film between the boy's imagination and the unusual stillness of the people. There was a continuity of light and sound being manipulated to effect the mood of the viewer that tied all the pieces together as well.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Gallery #1: Contemporary Ceramics Centre
For one of the three additional galleries, I went to the Contemporary Ceramics Centre. This small but crowded venue was located close by to our flat and was filled with a variety of ceramics pieces ranging in sizes and styles. The works were all on sale to purchase and many people were buying vases and bowls and other "British studio pottery'" on display. The gallery itself was composed of two rooms with the works on display in white showcases mounted along the walls. There were beautiful wood-fired cups glazed with brown and white by Akiko Hirai and Lisa Hammond. I have yet to wood-fire anything in ceramics and I thought the effect was different but pretty from what I have previously seen and done. However, I was immediately drawn to the unique pieces of Gareth Mason, which were on display in the back room of the gallery. He was the maker of the largest pot in the place, priced at 5,800 pounds! It was quite interesting to look at; it had a rugged look to it that was appealing compared to the smooth glazed pots by other artists. There was a mixture of glazes of red, white and brown earthy colors over the structure and what appeared to be a brown clay busting out of the sides and breaking the evenness of the surface. Gareth Mason also had two smaller vases on display in pale red and blue tones that were constructed in the same way. His works were my favorite in the gallery because of the size and unique style in which they were made.
War Horse
On Wednesday January 5th we went to see a show called War Horse in the New London Theatre. The theatre itself does not look that large from the street corner on which it is located, however once inside it is a large room with three tiered audience sections. The thrust stage extended somewhat into the audience and could be well viewed from everywhere. This is the most favorable type of theatre in my opinion, especially if the stage was raised because it creates more visibility for the audience and the actors are closer to the audience. During the pay some actors even ran through the bottom rows of the crowd and sat in the seats. The Wednesday night performance was sold out. The play was fantastic, despite the fact that had I read the synopsis I probably would not have chose to see it myself. It was about a boy Albert and his horse Joey, whom he raises himself. The horses and animals in the play were puppets moved by actors across the stage with great life-like movement. Joey the horse was constructed to allow two people to fit inside of him and another to control his head movements. Although the whole interior structure of the horse was visible, it was amazing how readily the audience believed that it was a living animal. The sounds and lighting were also very effective to the overall performance, as was the use of fog and smoke. The acting was very authentic and heartfelt by all the actors and actresses. Albert, the protagonist, was amazing and had great energy and spirit throughout whole play. I was very impressed with the minimal scenery that was still able to convey such strong moods for each scene through the lighting and sound effects. The war scenes with the gunfire blasts and smoke were very powerful, as was the end of play. There were even a few short songs performed by the narrator that contrasted nicely with the ominous war story. Most of the audience was moved by the performance as a whole at the conclusion. It was a very touching story and a great, captivating play.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Tate Modern
On Wednesday January fifth we visited the Tate Modern after taking a beautiful ride on the London Eye. You enter the Turbine Hall right when you walk into the museum which has a totally different atmosphere than any museum or gallery I have ever been in. The huge industrial hall echos with banging hammers as a new exhibit or renovation was taking place. At the end of the ramp, The Unilever Series featured Ai Weiwei's huge installation Sunflower Seeds stretched across the rest of the length of the floor. This exhibition was excellent on both a visual and conceptual level. Since I already viewed the video of this project before the trip, I knew when I saw the piece for the first time that it was made of millions of hand-painted porcelain sunflower seeds by thousands of workers in Jingdezhen where the project was produced. The mass of seeds is truly overwhelming to see in person, and to think that each one was hand-painting is astonishing. This was a piece that was designed to take large amounts of people to mass produce the seeds but at the same time individualize them in a way that contrasted industrialization and the very space itself in which they were displayed. I loved the idea that each piece was part of a whole just like individuals in a society where Chairman Mao controlled China. Looking at the seeds in the Tate Modern, I almost felt small, for I am just a single person among the masses like the seeds, but strong at the same time that I am unique in my own way.
We also went to the Paul Gauguin show in the Tate Modern titled the Maker of Myth. I personally did not love the show. I find that when I sometimes look at paintings they need to instantly grab my attention purely for their visual attraction for me to love the piece, and I did not feel that most of Gauguin's work was visual appealing. I really enjoyed his smaller, intricate woodcuts on paper that was in the last room of the exhibit. I found these simple black and orange prints to be much more interesting that his larger paintings because of their intimate size and framing. My favorite painting of Gauguin's was actually a tiny one named Tahitian Youth (1890/1903) consisting of watercolor, pencil and ink on paper. Its subtle color shifts and line design were very fluid and beautiful, and I loved how the piece was cut loosely into a circle and framed as such. I also thought that his unfinished paintings and sketches were more visually interesting, such as Tahitians (1891) and Tahitian Faces. The fact that the viewer can still see Gauguin's sketches underneath the painting reveals part of the process, which I have always found appealing. I enjoy seeing the sketches and studies of artists alongside their finished pieces to see something not always available to the public.
One of my favorite exhibit throughout the rest of the Tate Modern was Materials on the second floor. This included large series pieces by artists such as Gerhard Richter and Cy Twombly that created the atmosphere for the entire room through the pieces that hung on the walls. Gerhard Ritcher's room had six huge canvases that had been scraped down and painted over again that eventually allowing the paint to gather or rub off to reveal new levels. Cy Twombly's piece included three huge pieces of paper with giant red spirals painted loosely across them, allowing the thin pigment to drip down as well. Both rooms enclosed the viewer with either a calming or energizing mood because of the size of the work involved.
I also enjoyed the exhibit Energy and Process that was on the fifth floor. There were several Earthworks artists displayed in this exhibit, such as Robert Smithson and Dennis Oppenheim. Smithson had several glass panes placed in nature so that it reflected back on itself and then he photographed this reflection in Ithaca Mirror Trail. Oppenheim directed a project where a tractor made lines in a seeded field that was photographed from the sky above. I enjoy viewing Earthworks art because I feel it is so different from a traditional style.
We also went to the Paul Gauguin show in the Tate Modern titled the Maker of Myth. I personally did not love the show. I find that when I sometimes look at paintings they need to instantly grab my attention purely for their visual attraction for me to love the piece, and I did not feel that most of Gauguin's work was visual appealing. I really enjoyed his smaller, intricate woodcuts on paper that was in the last room of the exhibit. I found these simple black and orange prints to be much more interesting that his larger paintings because of their intimate size and framing. My favorite painting of Gauguin's was actually a tiny one named Tahitian Youth (1890/1903) consisting of watercolor, pencil and ink on paper. Its subtle color shifts and line design were very fluid and beautiful, and I loved how the piece was cut loosely into a circle and framed as such. I also thought that his unfinished paintings and sketches were more visually interesting, such as Tahitians (1891) and Tahitian Faces. The fact that the viewer can still see Gauguin's sketches underneath the painting reveals part of the process, which I have always found appealing. I enjoy seeing the sketches and studies of artists alongside their finished pieces to see something not always available to the public.
One of my favorite exhibit throughout the rest of the Tate Modern was Materials on the second floor. This included large series pieces by artists such as Gerhard Richter and Cy Twombly that created the atmosphere for the entire room through the pieces that hung on the walls. Gerhard Ritcher's room had six huge canvases that had been scraped down and painted over again that eventually allowing the paint to gather or rub off to reveal new levels. Cy Twombly's piece included three huge pieces of paper with giant red spirals painted loosely across them, allowing the thin pigment to drip down as well. Both rooms enclosed the viewer with either a calming or energizing mood because of the size of the work involved.
I also enjoyed the exhibit Energy and Process that was on the fifth floor. There were several Earthworks artists displayed in this exhibit, such as Robert Smithson and Dennis Oppenheim. Smithson had several glass panes placed in nature so that it reflected back on itself and then he photographed this reflection in Ithaca Mirror Trail. Oppenheim directed a project where a tractor made lines in a seeded field that was photographed from the sky above. I enjoy viewing Earthworks art because I feel it is so different from a traditional style.
Who would I pick to win the Turner Prize?
I would agree with the judges' choice of Susan Philipz to win the Turner Prize 2010. I felt her work was the most original and different from anything that I personally have experienced before. Her audio installation consisted of three speakers playing her voice singing the "Lowlands Away" ballad at different times. The sound echos off the white walls and through the beams in the ceiling back towards the audience, activating the whole space. I realized this was the only room where I even noticed the ceiling because I felt the whole space was vibrating with the sound. This sound was calming but sorrowful, and even more so once I learned the song was about a lost lover. The white walls allow the listener to concentrate solely on the sound, which you can hear before you even enter the exhibit. I thought the room was a great space for the exhibit, and I would love to see the contrast with this sound installation being outside under the London Bridge. The way Susan Philipz's voice would refract off the water and surrounding scenery would be quite different from the interior white gallery walls. I think cite-specific art is very interesting and relevant to the viewer in order to interact with the piece and I want to experience more of Susan Philipz's work after seeing this show.
Tate Britain
On Monday, January 3rd we went to the Tate Britain to see the last day of the Turner Prize 2010 show and nominees. Before we even entered the exhibit, there were two huge fighter planes on display by Fiona Banner. Harrier and Jaguar have shiny polished surfaces where the viewer can see herself in the piece itself which allows the art and audience to interact in the space. The massive suspended fighter plane created a great amount of tension where it hung positioned about two feet above the floor. It was difficult to capture the whole piece in a single camera shot. When you are standing there in front of it it is quite breathtaking and activates the space through the tension.
The next exhibit was the Turner Prize 2010, which featured four artists/groups who competed for the prize, including Susan Philipz who was the winner. Dexter Dalwood's paintings occupied the first room. His collage pieces make a statement about individuals and events of the twentieth century regarding historical and contemporary ideas. I found one of his paintings, Burroughs in Tangiers (2005), visually compelling because of the collage element of the paint swatches and drawings along with the paint. I did not find them outstanding otherwise, though I did enjoy looking at them solely for the visual appeal. The Otolith Group had a video art piece that was very overwhelming and boring to me personally. Especially after a long day of jet-lag I did not have the patience to sit and wait for the opportunity to listen to the individual headphones attached to the room of televisions playing a loop of the same video. This was an unfortunate decision on my part. Angela de la Cruz's piece was a combination of painting and sculpture. The once originally painted canvases had been crudely ripped from their strictures and arranged in different sculptural ways that dealt with the volume, mass and weight of the piece. I believe this body of work would have been of greater value to me had I known her conceptual idea behind the work before I saw it. Work that does not grasp me visually at first must have a compelling conceptual idea behind it to interest me. The last exhibit and winner of the group was Susan Philipz with her audio installation of her own voice singing the "Lowlands Away" ballad. She engages the listener and space through the audio sounds in a unique way. I thought it was interesting to read on the gallery wall about the Turner Prize. It stated that the artists are nominated by their work created in the last year, and what they choose to be displayed in the show was not necessarily what they won or were nominated for. I would like to know or research about their previous works to see what actually got them nominated.
The next exhibit was the Turner Prize 2010, which featured four artists/groups who competed for the prize, including Susan Philipz who was the winner. Dexter Dalwood's paintings occupied the first room. His collage pieces make a statement about individuals and events of the twentieth century regarding historical and contemporary ideas. I found one of his paintings, Burroughs in Tangiers (2005), visually compelling because of the collage element of the paint swatches and drawings along with the paint. I did not find them outstanding otherwise, though I did enjoy looking at them solely for the visual appeal. The Otolith Group had a video art piece that was very overwhelming and boring to me personally. Especially after a long day of jet-lag I did not have the patience to sit and wait for the opportunity to listen to the individual headphones attached to the room of televisions playing a loop of the same video. This was an unfortunate decision on my part. Angela de la Cruz's piece was a combination of painting and sculpture. The once originally painted canvases had been crudely ripped from their strictures and arranged in different sculptural ways that dealt with the volume, mass and weight of the piece. I believe this body of work would have been of greater value to me had I known her conceptual idea behind the work before I saw it. Work that does not grasp me visually at first must have a compelling conceptual idea behind it to interest me. The last exhibit and winner of the group was Susan Philipz with her audio installation of her own voice singing the "Lowlands Away" ballad. She engages the listener and space through the audio sounds in a unique way. I thought it was interesting to read on the gallery wall about the Turner Prize. It stated that the artists are nominated by their work created in the last year, and what they choose to be displayed in the show was not necessarily what they won or were nominated for. I would like to know or research about their previous works to see what actually got them nominated.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Three Gallery Ideas
Guildhall Art Gallery
http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Leisure_and_culture/Museums_and_galleries/Guildhall_Art_Gallery/
Hayward Gallery
http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/hayward-gallery-visual-arts
Albemarle Gallery
http://www.albemarlegallery.com/
http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Leisure_and_culture/Museums_and_galleries/Guildhall_Art_Gallery/
Hayward Gallery
http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/hayward-gallery-visual-arts
Albemarle Gallery
http://www.albemarlegallery.com/
Free Time Ideas
Buckingham Palace
http://www.royal.gov.uk/TheRoyalResidences/BuckinghamPalace/BuckinghamPalace.aspx
Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew
http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/royal-botanic-gardens--kew.php
Take a day trip to Stonehenge
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/stonehenge
http://www.royal.gov.uk/TheRoyalResidences/BuckinghamPalace/BuckinghamPalace.aspx
Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew
http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/royal-botanic-gardens--kew.php
Take a day trip to Stonehenge
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/stonehenge
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