Joke

Advent Calender, comical...


                 

National Portrait Gallery and White Cube

Last week I'd been shown a piece of sculpture by Noble and Webster - 'Dirty White Trash' which relied greatly on the use of shadow to turn a mound of everyday trash into a portrait of two people sitting back to back. The idea was really thought provoking and got me thinking about how I could potentially use this in my current project, typography. I initially thought of how I could use a collection of small words to create a subsequently larger word using the same technique, or possibly use shapes which at first glace look totally irrelevant but when placed in the correct light would create a word. As I jotted down a few ideas a friend highlighted that one of Noble and Webster's sculptures was, and currently still is showing at the National Portrait gallery.

                        


Come Saturday afternoon we arrived at the gallery and soon stumbled across Noble and Webster, ('Isabella Blow' pictured above). Tucked away in a small room the piece is quite something to behold, its just fascinating how something so sculptural can produce a silhouette so perfectly. Its power to be both a sculpture and a portrait was really impressive, overall a good, inspirational piece.


                                              THE WHITE CUBE 

                             

Seen as we were already in the vicinity we decided to visit the White Cube gallery in the West End. I'd wanted to visit the gallery for quite a while, not only for the quality of artist they attract but the gallery building itself with its sleek lines and minimal facades. After admiring the external features we were introduced to Gregory Crewdson, an American photographer whose work 'captured the alienation and anxiety of small town America' in his exhibition 'Sanctuary' . Many of the pictures got me thinking of my up and coming decision for application to university in the sense photography is something that interests me more and more, especially since the recent purchase of my Nikon. I'm hoping that this may one day influence my decision in terms of choice of media in which to take on a project.

The work itself was executed with intense detail, the scaffolding in many of the old WESTERN movie sets in Cincettà, was fantastic. All the buildings and props on the sets where badly weathered and in disrepair, this is what Crewdson wished to capture, as a result they aim to be the soul narrative as opposed to requiring actual characters (common in his other work). In this way they illustrate the symbolic appearance of how exteriors can be deceptive and as Crewdson comments, 'I looked at the blurred lines between reality and fiction, nature an artifice, and beauty and decay'. This is something I really enjoy identifying with.. symbolism. That's why I try to employ this in my work when its possible, I find that this gives the work a greater meaning and more entertainment.

Richard Hambleton @ The Old Dairy

                 

This gallery was recommended in Shortlist, didn't even realise they had an 'Arts' section (also this magazine is free at college!) so it was nice surprise to go somewhere that turned out to be worth while. The gallery itself was quite well set back off Wakefield Street, however as a venue it really worked as a space, one vast room with work well displayed. Having never heard of Richard Hambleton prior to the review in Shortlist I was rather surprised at his background and length of career, and slightly by his sponsor GIORGIO ARMANI. His work was far more meaning full than your standard graffiti art, in fact it incorporated quite a few aspects of last weeks lecture, the idea of relational aesthetic art (basically art which the audience feel involved in or able to relate and empathise with). Therefore Hambleton's work forces the viewer to be engaged by creating a sense of mystery as to who or what his street art represents.
The show most definately had similarities with the infamous Banksy's street art, but after reading the short introduction to the exhibtion I reaised that Hambletons work had a far more social/political message. In his earlier seies of street works, Image Mass Murder, 'the artist painted 620 'murder victims' - chalk outlines imitating thos drawn around dead bodies at a crime scene'. To ensure the greatest media attention to made sure all of his pieces were placed in areas which were 'considered to have low crime levels' i.e wealthy, upmarket neighbourhoods. In doing so he was able to 'generate a sense of distrust in ploice crime statistics' and an uneasiness amongst all social backgrounds.
Overall I enjoyed his work possibly even more so due to the fact this isn't usually my 'style' of art, 7/10

Turner Prize @ Tate Britian

Once again I used my Tate card to its full potential by visiting this years shortlisted Turner Prize artists. The four artists included, Dexter Dalwood (who ironically I saw outside college shortly after leaving Tate), Angela De La Cruz (who when I spoke to a steward was told had studied at Chelsea but on her biography made no reference), Susan Philipsz (no relation to Chelsea) and finally Otolith Group (headed by Anjalika Sagar and Kodwo Eshun). In the first gallery space several pieces of Dalwood's mixed media paintings were presented, some highlighted (similarly to his piece 'Hendrix's Last Basement' (below)) specific events, places, environments or landscapes with certain prevalent objects which related to that person or place. Then on the other hand there were paintings which merely portrayed a room or scenario which was abstracted; all of which were initially quite awkward but looking back now I really like how he shows a creative view point on a historic event. For example 'Hendrix's Last Basement' or 'Neverland' (a quirky look in to/impression of the bedroom of the late Michael Jackson) in which he symbolises Hendix's drug use by allowing the paint to run in an all most psychedelic fashion.

                      

                          

                                       'Hendrix's Last Basement'

The Otolith Group rather perplexed me, even though I watched a short documentary at the end of the exhibition by the Sagar and Eshun the level that their ideas were working on was a touch to intellectual for me. Angela De La Cruz's sculptors/ paintings didn't really appeal to me, it felt as though they had no real emotion or skill or je ne sais quoi, the only piece in her exhibition that I remotely liked was 'Three Legged Stool' yet even that I found to be slightly cliched. Finally Susan Philipsz' audio installation based around a age old Scottish lament or folk song, unfortunately I'd remembered that her actual piece was first installed under and around a bridge which of course couldn't be recreated in the gallery space. This in my opinion altered the effect of the piece in the sense I think the environment and the echoed and resonating sound of her singing would of been more engaging. Despite this I still felt really relaxed and at ease listening to her work and I suppose this interaction and emotional response is what her works all about.

Overall I think Philipsz certainly has the unique factor in her favour whereas Dalwood being the 'biggest' name on the list is possibly overdue the recognition... so for me its a two horse race.

The Museum of Everything #3 & Clay Sinclair

After being given our first brief in Vis Com I decided whilst I had some free time I'd venture to The Museum of Everything near Primrose Hill. It took me quite a while to find it, Wendy was definately right about checking on Google maps before hand. Nevertheless the exhibition run merely by volunteers and established by Sir Peter Blake was certainly intreaging. Initially I didn't quite know what to make of it, especially after examining several times the size of Tom Thumbs shoes! (literally no bigger than the length of  pen) but as I moved round the space, which in its self is rather quirky I felt quite amazed at the amount of original pieces of work that were present. In particular images of David Hockney and a lrg self portait print/painting, pieces by Van Gogh, Cheetah the chimpanzee (the first and only chimp to of had work hung in the National Gallery) but most pertanent to me was the original targets used for the album cover of Oasis' Stop The Clocks.


                   

It looked just like this except not quite as

vibrant and there's two of them side

by side.

....I jumped on the tube and took a couple of stops to get to Goodge St. Seen as I had never been there before it was quite an experience being in an area which is a commercial hub for many Ad' and Media agencies. I noticed that there were several small, private galleries each boasting their own artists, however I soon reached the Woolff Gallery where Clay Sinclair is exhibiting his work. Immediately I was hit by the vibrancy of colour used in his paintings/prints, on closure inspection his pieces have a rather graphic and typographic element which express his opinions on many aspects of society, the ego and environment. My particular favourite has to be 'Happiness is...' (which had been sold) in which Sinclair ends this sentence with some rathr witty comments,

...'dancing with naked women at the top of a hill'

                                                                                     ...'yours for the price of theis painting'

                                                       ..'found at a high street near you'

             ...'constant stimulation'

                    

                  

SAATCHI GALLERY

I have to say I was pretty shocked at how 'high-end' and upmarket Sloane Square and the area surrounding the gallery was, a whole world away from Manchester. The building itself had undergone the usual restoration works which was mirrored on the interior this, it has to be said would of made a pretty amazing house to live in and the minimalist approach really works well with the contrasting Victorian features.

The gallery spaces where dominated mainly by paintings with a few sculptures/installations, yet there was plenty on show over the thirteen rooms. In particular the artists present who had previously studied at Chelsea, like Marcus Foster (pic below) and Graham Hudson. The piece pictured 'Untitled 2010' was a favourite of mine unfortunately the image pictured doesn't portray it in it's best light; however, its high gloss finish can still be appreciated, the questioning whether or not its a balloon or a vase upside down or maybe even something more abstract - pollen seed? Its top heavy manner and unstable aspect all most created an uneasiness around the piece heightened by its glossy reflective exterior. The artists p.o.v is along side.

                 

Tate Modern

Visited Tate Modern today, found the new installation The Unilever Series aka 'Sunflower Seeds' fascinating - the sheer scale of the operation that was put into place to achieve such a reflective piece of art was definitely inspiring. Initially the piece reminded me of the Japanese Banzai gardens in which the gravel is intricately raked to obtain the smoothest finish possible, but I soon realised that the work was far more symbolic. In this sense Ai Weiwei (artist/sculptor) employees the use of traditional Chinese porcelain crafting methods to create each individual 'seed'; with the help of no less than 1600 workers over 100 million seeds have been handmade and painted. To accompany the piece itself there was a short documentary illustrating the project from start to finish (i.e from the mining of the clay/porcelain, through painting and eventually the installation in the Turbine Hall, above). This was really insightful as it highlighted the social impact the piece had, quite literally upon everyone involved. One woman commented that she had earned £1000 (2000/3000 RMB) and that had it not been for the work she would of been bankrupt.
I felt this was an extremely ingenious way of using art to tackle a social issue which would have otherwise been left unheard of and in doing so confirmed that art is very much influenced context!


GARY HUME - Private talk 18.30 @ The Prince's Drawing Foundation

Thinking I was merely keeping a friend company I visited The Prince's Foundation where Gary Hume was giving a talk about some of his work. Despite turning up a touch late the talk was rather interesting, Hume discussed his techniques some of which were really rigorous and others the complete opposite. It was slightly surreal listening to a famous artist talk so informally and bluntly about his work often commenting 'if its **** then I start again'. His speech highlighted that self reflection can be as important as peer and staff assessment and not to take 'life too seriously'.