I was actually pretty disappointed by the river cruise. Not quite sure why we didn't do this in the beginning of the trip. Perhaps the day we did the London Eye, or maybe the next morning. But instead a tour of London by the water was held on one of our last days, where we had already seen all these things. I understand we took the cruise to see the Royal Observatory, I thought the Prime Meridian was pretty cool, did not enjoy the walk up in the rain but Mary and I had quite an experience with our handy piece of crap umbrellas on the way down. It was unfortunate how rainy it was. And I was disappointed to hear that they had a beam of light that shined over the city to mark the Prime Meridian in the air. That is something I really think I would have enjoyed.
After that we headed back into London to go to the National Portrait Gallery. Another thing I didnt quite understand why we didn't go there the same day we were at the National Gallery. Felt as though this day was a little backwards. But anyways, I really enjoyed the Portrait Gallery. It was nice to see alot of space devoted to photographers. One of the things I enjoy the most is to take portraits so I appreciated the Portrait Gallery. I am a fan now of Jason Bell's photographs. He photographed people in NYC to lived in both London and NYC. I also liked the portraits by Dmitri Kasterine. The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize was a nice collection of portraits. There were many that I walked passed but there were numerous names I took note of. I like that the Wessing Show is contemporary young photographers and ameuter photographers too. It's always nice to see what people such as myself are doing and that it is possible to get in such a show. I enjoy walking around and seeing things I like and how I myself can execute a similiar feeling or walk around and see how I don't like one's printing quality.
On one of my free afternoons I stopped in at a gallery right around the corner from our flat called the October Gallery. This space was very small but held large scale works by Iranian artist, Golnaz Fathi. Her works are large scale paintings of Persian calligraphy. Though I had no idea what they said it was really interesting to look at them. They became more about the layering of textures to me. The patterns. There were two very large scroll type pieces that hung high on the ceiling and laid on the wall and folded out onto the floor. Her way of combining very traditional practices of calligraphy and the contemporary color swatches gave these pieces a very bold yet minimal feeling to them.
The East End Gallery Hunt came at the end of our trip. Was hoping these gallery were going to be in a closer proximity to each other. Don't know if by this time in the trip I was reaching my height of art information overload.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
Tower Bridge.White Chapel
The one day I decide not to bring my good camera because I feel like I've been caring around a small person in my bag - is the day we go to the Tower Bridge and I regret not lugging it around. I really liked walking around the grounds of the Tower Bridge and then walking over it. That was also the same day that we walked past city hall. The crown jewels to me must be fake. Just like I don't think thats the real Mona Lisa at the Louve. It just didnt seem like a bunch of old men could take down someone if they tried to steal the crown jewels. It didnt seem guarded enough for something so priceless. After we walked over the Tower Bridge we head to the Fashion and Textile Museum. There we saw an exhibtion by Sue Timney. Very Geometric and lots of patterns. Black and white. Clocks and calendars play in the patterns. A really interesting way to exhibit work. Walls were black and white stripped and her work was printed on the walls. Chairs were hanging from the ceiling.
We then headed over to the Whitechapel Gallery. My favorite piece at the Whitechapel Gallery was Mona Hatoum's Current Disturbance. Her installation is based on sound and the sight. The sounds reminds me of powerlines. and the visual was really interesting to me. It reminded me of a chicken coop. There were rows stacked that made a rectangular shape of lightbulbs inside caged boxes. Again, the singular that helps make up the whole. Together the sound and visual lights pulsated the dark room. As the sound became more obnoxios the lights got brighter. In each cage was one single light, the single strand of wires that were attached to each lightbulb all hung down the back and together they made a big mess in the center of the box. Each light might of not been the same brightness but they all stood alone to help make the whole.
V&A.Barbican.British Museum.
We started our day off at the V&A. We had a tour of the V&A by Glenn Adamson. I appreciated his bluntness as he led his tour through the museum. I liked how the museum was arranged by medium rather then a period in history. I felt it was a really nice way in concentrating on the medium and showing different styles within that medium. I really enjoyed the cameraless photography show. These images were created directly by explosing the shadows and light to the paper. Most the images in the show felt like moments, quick glimpse, dreams. There was a very painterly feeling to these photographs. I felt more of the artist hand in the making of these prints even though all photography (more dark room) involves the artist hand. I like how the show called them shadow catchers. And I really liked the quote "Photography has to do with death. Absent moments that are no longer there."
After the V&A we had sometime before heading over to the Barbican. So we decided to pick up lunch and go back and see Anish Kapoor's sculptures in Kensington Gardens, not in the rain. I really liked C-Curve 2007, the rectangulared curved piece. Not sure the reason but I loved his work. May be in part that I enjoyed photographing it. It was interesting how the landscape was broken up through this piece. At times the ground is in the sky and the sky is on the ground. If you stood at a certain angle it broke it up in both ways. I enjoyed the pink circle piece, Sky Mirror, but wish the sun hadn't been behind it but behind me so it would have reflected light better, and allowed the color to be more vibrant. Like the idea how they look different at different times of the day or different seasons of the year.
After our walk through the park we made our way over to the Barbican. But before heading over there we stopped in a glass blowing shop, called London Glass Blowing. We watched as a lady was molding the hot glass. The pieces they had in their shop/gallery were amazing in color and was cool to watch. In Venice I was able to see a man blowing Venician glass so it was reminiscent of my experience there. At the Barbican we saw a show by Damien Ortega. I liked his concepts of telling about the news, a different story each day for a month but honestly wasn't sure if it was the space or not, but felt it could have been better executed. I liked how the work was his interpretation of the news. Like his way of thinking these things out and also like the way the viewer had to pick up the newspaper in the beginning. They were imitation newspapers that explained his work. It was like you walked around with a newspaper while reading them on the wall and then looking at a visual interpretation of them. And how you walked home keeping this imitation newspaper, most likely to keep, when often - more likely then not - we just recycle or through away.
After the Damien Ortega show we saw the Black Watch. It allowed me to better appreciate the first play we saw. Honestly I did not like it at all. I did however like the part where they told history through the changing of the clothes. I thought that was creative. Not sure if I was siting too close but I felt I was doing too much back and forth with my head. I get that we saw what happened between the soldiers but I felt the first play did a better job at emotionally showing that. Wish they had portrayed more of the emotions then the repetitious fighting. Felt like the viewer was building up for something that never came.
Right around the corner from our flats is the British Museum, the following day we were able to take our time and explore on our own. We were asked to check a couple things out while there - including the Rosetta Stone, Elgin Marbles, and the exhibition: Drawings from Picasso to Julie Mehretu. I enjoyed drawings from Judy Phaff, to Franz Kline, Jim Dine, William Kentridge, Francesco Clemete. I've been to the Parthenon in Greece so maybe that's why I enjoyed the Elgin Marbles more then the other old sculptures in the museum. Like most other sculptures of that time, it's amazing how stone can look like drapping cloth. It was cool seeing alot of these sculptures in person, I finally took art of the Western World 1 this past semester so a lot of the things I learned about in class were in the museum. The Rosetta Stone was cool. It wasnt until the Rosetta Stone was discovered did people even know how to decode hieroglyphics. It's an interesting history behind communication. I was excited to learn that The Great Wave by Katsushika Hokusai was at the Bristish Museum. The Great Wave was not nearly as big as I thought it was going to be. I walked right by it at first, I thought I was going to be looking for something much more large scale. Instead, it's this smaller maybe 11"x17" print with beautiful blue blacks and greys. It's about the over whelming power of nature. I also found the porcelian disk titled Dawn by Tokuda Yasokichi very beautiful. The amazing colors that seemed to go from the ocean to the sky. I enjoyed the area with the antique clocks in it. I did not realize that the Grandfather Clock was born in Britian.
After the V&A we had sometime before heading over to the Barbican. So we decided to pick up lunch and go back and see Anish Kapoor's sculptures in Kensington Gardens, not in the rain. I really liked C-Curve 2007, the rectangulared curved piece. Not sure the reason but I loved his work. May be in part that I enjoyed photographing it. It was interesting how the landscape was broken up through this piece. At times the ground is in the sky and the sky is on the ground. If you stood at a certain angle it broke it up in both ways. I enjoyed the pink circle piece, Sky Mirror, but wish the sun hadn't been behind it but behind me so it would have reflected light better, and allowed the color to be more vibrant. Like the idea how they look different at different times of the day or different seasons of the year.
After our walk through the park we made our way over to the Barbican. But before heading over there we stopped in a glass blowing shop, called London Glass Blowing. We watched as a lady was molding the hot glass. The pieces they had in their shop/gallery were amazing in color and was cool to watch. In Venice I was able to see a man blowing Venician glass so it was reminiscent of my experience there. At the Barbican we saw a show by Damien Ortega. I liked his concepts of telling about the news, a different story each day for a month but honestly wasn't sure if it was the space or not, but felt it could have been better executed. I liked how the work was his interpretation of the news. Like his way of thinking these things out and also like the way the viewer had to pick up the newspaper in the beginning. They were imitation newspapers that explained his work. It was like you walked around with a newspaper while reading them on the wall and then looking at a visual interpretation of them. And how you walked home keeping this imitation newspaper, most likely to keep, when often - more likely then not - we just recycle or through away.
After the Damien Ortega show we saw the Black Watch. It allowed me to better appreciate the first play we saw. Honestly I did not like it at all. I did however like the part where they told history through the changing of the clothes. I thought that was creative. Not sure if I was siting too close but I felt I was doing too much back and forth with my head. I get that we saw what happened between the soldiers but I felt the first play did a better job at emotionally showing that. Wish they had portrayed more of the emotions then the repetitious fighting. Felt like the viewer was building up for something that never came.
Right around the corner from our flats is the British Museum, the following day we were able to take our time and explore on our own. We were asked to check a couple things out while there - including the Rosetta Stone, Elgin Marbles, and the exhibition: Drawings from Picasso to Julie Mehretu. I enjoyed drawings from Judy Phaff, to Franz Kline, Jim Dine, William Kentridge, Francesco Clemete. I've been to the Parthenon in Greece so maybe that's why I enjoyed the Elgin Marbles more then the other old sculptures in the museum. Like most other sculptures of that time, it's amazing how stone can look like drapping cloth. It was cool seeing alot of these sculptures in person, I finally took art of the Western World 1 this past semester so a lot of the things I learned about in class were in the museum. The Rosetta Stone was cool. It wasnt until the Rosetta Stone was discovered did people even know how to decode hieroglyphics. It's an interesting history behind communication. I was excited to learn that The Great Wave by Katsushika Hokusai was at the Bristish Museum. The Great Wave was not nearly as big as I thought it was going to be. I walked right by it at first, I thought I was going to be looking for something much more large scale. Instead, it's this smaller maybe 11"x17" print with beautiful blue blacks and greys. It's about the over whelming power of nature. I also found the porcelian disk titled Dawn by Tokuda Yasokichi very beautiful. The amazing colors that seemed to go from the ocean to the sky. I enjoyed the area with the antique clocks in it. I did not realize that the Grandfather Clock was born in Britian.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
National.Gallery.ICA
Starting the day with a discussion at Emily's over coffee and bisquits. Talked about the previous days and what we saw and things that related to each other. We've been asked to try and pick up on running themes and slowly I feel I'm pulling alot of these contemporary artists together. Though their mediums very different from each other, there are these underlying themes that I am seeings.
After our heavy convo we headed to the Trafalgar Square to see the Forth Plinth. Not knowing much history about the British Empire we were asked to think of an idea for the Forth Plinth... Let's just say I dont know where to start reading. We talked about trade and how many outside places make the British Empire what it is. We got onto a discussion about that based off of what is on the Forth Plinth right now. I personally, especially seeing the other ideas on the internet about what could be the Forth Plinth, I like the one done by Yinka Shonibare. Felt it was well preserved in the glass, other then the fabric later on bleaching out from the sun, but I felt it was a good contrast to what else is there. Because the Plinth is so high it's hard to see the top of the base of it, which in turn makes it hard to see the boat from all angles. I liked the idea of adding textiles from other cultures who have helped make them who they are. It deals with colonization and trade, communication too. As a US citizen trying to think what should go there is hard, I feel to niave about the subject. I do like Rachel Whitereed's proposal for her Fourth Plinth. The casting of the Plinth its self. Feel that maybe it's become more about the Plinth. That maybe nothing has to be done right away. Why are they looking to fill a space that maybe there's no rush. But Rachel Whitereed's resin cast is an interesting yet clever twist. And to me, one of the better ideas. I feel though after looking at some of the other online, there has to be more ideas out there!... but hey... considering Bloomberg is everywhere maybe a statue of Bloomberg should be on the Fourth Plinth, considering he seems to be alot of the money behind the arts here in London... perhaps holding the most amazing chocolate... (just for laughs)
We started our "art looking" at the ICA. By my surprise the ICA was not as big as I thought it was going to be. The upstairs rooms I felt were small and I was confused by the space because I kept thinking there must be more.. am I missing a room.. I did however like the photographs by Agata Madejska, i liked the use of printing on aluminum. I felt it was a good choice for steal and glass structures. The one thing I found interesting was the video by Johann Arens, Untitled 2010. There was a projected screen and in front of that a tv with a video also playing on them. I felt her videos were cubist, it was interesting the layering, textures, colors, and geometric, form, how they bounced off of each other and from one screen to another. They felt apart but at the same time they felt the same video. Her video played with your eyes. It made me think of the ideas of outside versus inside.
After the ICA we headed back to the National Gallery. I enjoyed the 2 shows on exhibition and in an odd way tied both of them back to some of the similar themes i spoke about earlier. Though their work is completely different I was able to make a connection to works. I think the theme that stood out the most for me was false versus real and illusion. Ben Johnson and Bridgette Riley work in 2 dimensional mediums, while some of the other connecting artists, work with installation based work.
Ben Johnson's extremely large scale paintings at first looked like digital renderings of a place. Not until I read the blurb about him did I realize they were actually paintings. I think his paintings play on the eye, or better yet play on the idea of something we already know. I couldn't believe when I got up close that these finely detailed images were paintings. I was honestly taken back. This paintings were like a modern version of the paintings of Venice. But then he can even be compared to Muybridge with the manipulating of the place/space to get a better view.
Bridgette Riley's work was also on exhibit at the National Gallery. Her geometric color paintings so deal with the illusion. I felt that the circle wall played with your eye. All of her works played on the eyes based on either color or shape or both. In Sarabend the colors start to merge them move away. Bouncing off one another but pulling them together again.
Distruction. Community, Individual. Identity. Loss. Absense. Traces of Life. Real. False. Desolate. Humanity.
After our heavy convo we headed to the Trafalgar Square to see the Forth Plinth. Not knowing much history about the British Empire we were asked to think of an idea for the Forth Plinth... Let's just say I dont know where to start reading. We talked about trade and how many outside places make the British Empire what it is. We got onto a discussion about that based off of what is on the Forth Plinth right now. I personally, especially seeing the other ideas on the internet about what could be the Forth Plinth, I like the one done by Yinka Shonibare. Felt it was well preserved in the glass, other then the fabric later on bleaching out from the sun, but I felt it was a good contrast to what else is there. Because the Plinth is so high it's hard to see the top of the base of it, which in turn makes it hard to see the boat from all angles. I liked the idea of adding textiles from other cultures who have helped make them who they are. It deals with colonization and trade, communication too. As a US citizen trying to think what should go there is hard, I feel to niave about the subject. I do like Rachel Whitereed's proposal for her Fourth Plinth. The casting of the Plinth its self. Feel that maybe it's become more about the Plinth. That maybe nothing has to be done right away. Why are they looking to fill a space that maybe there's no rush. But Rachel Whitereed's resin cast is an interesting yet clever twist. And to me, one of the better ideas. I feel though after looking at some of the other online, there has to be more ideas out there!... but hey... considering Bloomberg is everywhere maybe a statue of Bloomberg should be on the Fourth Plinth, considering he seems to be alot of the money behind the arts here in London... perhaps holding the most amazing chocolate... (just for laughs)
We started our "art looking" at the ICA. By my surprise the ICA was not as big as I thought it was going to be. The upstairs rooms I felt were small and I was confused by the space because I kept thinking there must be more.. am I missing a room.. I did however like the photographs by Agata Madejska, i liked the use of printing on aluminum. I felt it was a good choice for steal and glass structures. The one thing I found interesting was the video by Johann Arens, Untitled 2010. There was a projected screen and in front of that a tv with a video also playing on them. I felt her videos were cubist, it was interesting the layering, textures, colors, and geometric, form, how they bounced off of each other and from one screen to another. They felt apart but at the same time they felt the same video. Her video played with your eyes. It made me think of the ideas of outside versus inside.
After the ICA we headed back to the National Gallery. I enjoyed the 2 shows on exhibition and in an odd way tied both of them back to some of the similar themes i spoke about earlier. Though their work is completely different I was able to make a connection to works. I think the theme that stood out the most for me was false versus real and illusion. Ben Johnson and Bridgette Riley work in 2 dimensional mediums, while some of the other connecting artists, work with installation based work.
Ben Johnson's extremely large scale paintings at first looked like digital renderings of a place. Not until I read the blurb about him did I realize they were actually paintings. I think his paintings play on the eye, or better yet play on the idea of something we already know. I couldn't believe when I got up close that these finely detailed images were paintings. I was honestly taken back. This paintings were like a modern version of the paintings of Venice. But then he can even be compared to Muybridge with the manipulating of the place/space to get a better view.
Bridgette Riley's work was also on exhibit at the National Gallery. Her geometric color paintings so deal with the illusion. I felt that the circle wall played with your eye. All of her works played on the eyes based on either color or shape or both. In Sarabend the colors start to merge them move away. Bouncing off one another but pulling them together again.
Friday, January 7, 2011
From.Sepentine.to.Tate.Britian
So it's been a busy very rainy past 2 days.. unfortunately we had the Sepentine Gallery on our raining morning one show we went to see was inside and the other was outside.. On one of my days off I'm going to go back to take some photographs of Anish Kapoor's Turning the World Upside Down in Kensignton Gardens. We took a walk in the rain to see it but the reflection in the disk was rain clouds, so i'm looking forward to a better day and being able to see not just that one. Her large scale highly reflective disks are quite amazing and from the other side of the water.
I never experienced something like Philippe Parreno's Installation that was inside the Serpentine Gallery. There are four different rooms in which Parreno's installation takes place. A film starts and ends in one room and then the next film starts in another room. This is how you are told to move through. We were not actually told to go to the next room but the sound it what moves the viewer to the next room. In each room four different films play. In the two room on the end, when the films are over the shades move up and the exterior now becomes part of the piece, the viewer is watching snow fall as the films come to end. There was an underlying loneliness in a four films. Realistic vs. false. Repetition of movement and sound. And in every film there was a running theme with light.
We then trenched through the rain to the Saatchi Gallery. Here there is a mixture of contemporary photography, scuplture, painting, and much more. I don't normally like this style but for some reason I enjoyed the paintings by Mustafa Hulusi. I think it was the contrast that I really enjoyed about this piece. The geometic versus the organic, the natural versus unnatural, the color palette. I also enjoyed toby Ziegler's paintings and large sculpture. My favorite was in the basement of the Saatchi. Richard Wilson's 20:50 was my favorite part. At first when looking you dont realize, a little confused and wondering okay... because all it looks like is a reflection of the ceiling on a highly reflective black surface. Then looking to my left I realized that there was a steal walk way, now blocked off, but if i were to walk up within the, what I found out was motor oil, it would most likely come close to my shoulders. This illusion of space interged me, and especially with my camera. I like the fact that at first I thought it was something different. Then all of a sudden I was seeing these contrasting colors, and hard edge shapes, and a tonal range on the reflection on the motor oil.
After a long day of walking in the rain we headed to the Globe Theater. I appreciated the purpose and history of the Globe Theater, and I dont know if it was due too all the rain and what not but I wasnt highly impressed, I think my interest went down a little after I found out that it wasnt the original. I like that idea that the theater is open to the sky, and that the audience is so close that it's set up almost like a concert. One thing I found interesting that I could relate back to our second night in London was the small figures that had the wire horse structure over them. To show that people carried the horses, that they were the horses. It reminded me of the play we saw called War Horse.
The following day we headed off to the Westminster Abbey. I found it quite interesting how the outside structure is supporting the actual building. That because of it's height it needed these outside almost rib like structure to support it. I also never knew that people, let alone alot of people, were buried in the Westminster. Its amazing their attention to detail, how old the building is, how they've added on, the ceilings in some of the rooms, and how massive the building is.
After the Westminster Abbey we headed back to the Tate Britian to see Rachel Whitereed and Eadweard Muybridge, and to take a closer look at the things we missed the first time around. Wandering around I came across a installation done by Mike Nelson. The piece entitled Coral Reef.
Nelson's Coral Reef brings you into a completely different world. Especially that outside of the gallery space or should i refer to it as the white cube. I didnt even feel like I was still in the Tate Britian. I felt completely out of my realm of space. Nelson gives the viewer the chance to make choices about what room to go into but he has chosen the space. Almost feeling like a bad dream his labryths make you wonder whats behind the next door. Though there is noone in the rooms you can feel as if they were, or just walked out, or are going to be sitting on the couch. Even though each room is completely different they make up a community of rooms. Nelson turns the white cube into a completely condemned space where often leaves me wondering what these people's lives are/were like and what the common thread through them all. Though each room being different there is a sense of a type of person in that each room has. I see the illusion of real versus unreal, even with in the space. It may be a far leap but I see a similarity between Nelson and Weiwei. There sense of the individual but that also of a community. Nelson wants the viewer to feel "lost in a world of lost people."
Later on that evening we had a guess artist speaker, Bridgette Jurack, come and speak to our class about her work and her work with foreign-investments. Her work spans over many mediums to work with and her work based with Foreign-Investments, is mostly performance based, and relational, and highly interactive. She says how her work with Foreign-Investments, colaborative, as influenced her work. She talks about how she feels more advanced in her drawings and putting her ideas down and comments how it can take years to finish a piece. She also talked with us about what is going on in the UK for students attending and soon to be attending college.
The two major exhibtions at the Tate Britian are Rachel Whiteread and Eadward Muybridge. I honestly wasnt sure what I was going to think of the Whitereed show but I really ended up enjoying it. I like some of her work and I think now after seeing more of her ideas behind her work. I like how she says she looks at her drawings as a diary of thoughts. The pieces that were photographs with the buildings whited out were my favorite. This once present space through whiting it out is now negative. I also like the ones where she layered to photographs, for example in the Trafalgar Square piece, its almost as you can invision that she imaging it there. Her drawings were light and soft, which made these heavy casts seem delicate in thought and on paper.
One thing I really enjoyed about the Muybridge show was the large scale photo books he had done. The large panaromics were nice in the sense that you could really look at things. It seemed like an over sized table book but when opening it up it was this fine detail of the city scape. I dont know if it has to do in part with the fact that I like maps so this "map" was intriguing to me. I really liked how in the beginning of the show they did an example of Muybridges movement studies. I didn't realize what it was until I walked on the other side and realized it was a mirror and came back around and asked some of the girls if they could see me from the other side. It was an interesting twist, or perspective, on another way to physically try to explain.
Weiwei.Question
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Tate.Modern.War.Horse
Today was started off no better then a ride on the London Eye. We were able to scope out the city on a beautiful morning. After the London Eye we walked to the Tate Modern. The Tate Modern housed in a restored industrial city is a perfect place to house art. It's a perfect place to house Ai Weiwei's The Unilever Series.
I'm going to say that Weiwei installation was my favorite for the day. Millions and millions of porcelain hand painted sunflower seeds lay on the floor like a carpet. Here the sunflower seeds a natural form inhabit the industrial very unnatural space. Though both the installation and the space they are in are man made, there is a beautiful contrast there. The grey scale that takes over the vast room is also quite amazing, from the different shades of grey that come from the seeds on the floor to the grey walls. I don't know if it was by chance, it being overcast outside, but the lighting was beautiful too. It was subtle and almost allowed for the ground to glow. As the viewer got closer to the work, the whole became individual pieces of sunflower seeds. At first glance I thought these porcelain pieces were real. It speaks to the concept of the individual being a part of the whole and that the individual is needed in order to make that whole. Though they may look the same from a distance, each piece is hand crafted and has its own uniqueness.
After spending sometime there it was off to the Gaughin Show. Not my favorite of the rooms to walk around in but appreciated it all the same. The Show being very stuffy and crowded it was hard to be able to enjoy and really stand with the work. I enjoyed his smaller more intimate drawings and paintings. I also liked how he combined image with text very relevant to many contemporary ways.
Later on that evening we joined the Theater students to a play titled War Horse. Based on WW1 this story was told through the lives of horses. The life size horses were really amazing in there design and the way they were puppets. That everything played as a puppet
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