Contoured Restrictions

Contoured Restrictions
Contoured Restrictions

Wednesday 22 August 2012

The ArcelorMittal Orbit - Anish Kapoor










08/08/12 - The ArcelorMittal Orbit -  Anish Kapoor


On a family visit to London for the London 2012 Olympics I thought it essential to book a visit up the 'Orbit'.
I wanted to see what had been in the resent press, described as both, "...a ridiculous roller coaster caught up in a spaghetti junction" and yet "inspiring and uplifting."

I possibly think that the best public art always annoys someone..if not most.

Thursday 26 April 2012

Amazonian Lines

In earlier crits associations to rivers have been made to my work. 

I have since looked into the passages of water in landscapes and have now begun to appreciate their appearance from above. 
I have looked in many books to see how the lines connect and weave in and out of each other. Its like a traffic light system, the rivers know where to merge and where to break off and make it's own paths. 

The Amazon River is the most impressive river channel in the world and can be seen clearly from out of space.




This is the image that I will use in my current and final work of year 1.

I will draw the main water ways, running to the smaller tributaries in pencil onto the dissolvable material and then use my sewing machine to add the lines. 


I would like to slowly dissolve the backing material by using funnels with filters, leaving only thread that once represented the biggest river in the world, destroyed by a few drips of water. 
It will be a time based piece, much like the other ephemeral work I have produced this year.


Wednesday 25 April 2012

Material Evolving








Final semester of year 1!

I have come back after Easter knowing we had not long left before our end of year assessment, but I was very stuck.

I had been sewing and really enjoying the indexical markings that I'd been producing, through using the sewing machine on different fabrics. 

Over Easter I discovered a fabric commonly used in Textiles that dissolves in water. 
In earlier work in the year I had been trying to use the material to change the property another material. The processes of the material dissolving is magical to see, and each time I am mesmerised. 
So this term I am going to use the fabric to see how it can work for me and my work at the moment.

Im realising however, that using my sewing machine is very time consuming and I am already pushed for time. 

Here are some pictures of me working with the material:






National Portrait Gallery- Lucian Freud Portraits


National Portrait Gallery- Lucian Freud Portraits
Visited: 18/04/2012

I traveled to The National Portrait Gallery on Wednesday 18th April with Eleanor Osmond. I had been to a few exhibitions here before, but on this visit the grandure of the location suited the collections of paintings that we were there to see. 

Around each painting stood at least ten people, some looking on there own and others stood discussing their take on the painting in question. I enjoyed hearing what they had to say. Upon entering we received a Exhibition guide telling us about the paintings and Freud himself, chose too look around first then go again and read the blurb with each painting. This allowed me to cast my own thoughts on what I saw before knowing the story.

As I'm not a painter, I had only ever see Lucian Freud's painting in books and online before, thinking that they were beautiful deptictions on himself, his friends and his wife. That was true, however upon seeing the painting up close I was surprised to see how textured and lumpy they are on the surface, especially knowing they are paintings in oil paint.

I enjoyed looking and learning. I hope that I will try painting again next year. The work that I saw in this exhibition will influence me. 

Monday 26 March 2012

Sparrow's nest: C8H8 Exhibition (March 2012)

sparrow's nest: C8H8 Exhibition (March 2012): Myself and two other fellow artists, Eleanor Osmond and Nicola Reeve have recently worked on a collaborative project together and produced a...

Wednesday 14 March 2012

C8 H8 exhibition 15/3/12

Exhibition this Thursday the 15th March in the Installation space near the Fine Art Studios (Todd Building)
Please come along between 6pm and 9pm and bring friends, family, flat mates. There will be wine and nibbles, and the chance to leave us your feed back!
Looking forward to seeing you there!


http://www.facebook.com/events/381451738534610/




Sewing as the process itself

My own practice of late has been some what neglected due to the collaboration project. But I've been trying to experiment with the processes of sewing using film.


The last three videos I have uploaded are the short out comes of filming the interior space of my sewing matching in action. 


I've been using iMovie for the first time, editing and playing around with the film that I've taken. 
I like how well the videos would sit next to my sewing pieces and would perhaps show them together as one work, under covering the:
MATERIALS..PROCESS..OUTCOME

Carrying the thread on No'3

Carrying the thread on No'2

Wednesday 25 January 2012

White Cube Bermondsey- Anselm Kiefer Il Mistero delle Cattedrali

White Cube Bermondsey- Anselm Kiefer Il Mistero delle Cattedrali
Visited: 22/01/2012

I visited the White Cube in Bermondsey on Sunday 22nd. I was a brilliant location and very easy to get to from London Bridge tube station. 

The gallery rooms are all located on the ground floor which makes the viewing undisputed and as if your searching out for a narrative. 

I had never looked at Kiefer's work before and found the link to Science most interesting.  Nature VS man made was a recurring topic, depicted in natural objects literally balancing on industrial metal objects.

The smell as you walked in was closely linked to the work I think, the smell as rust and chemicals. It could have been purposely linked to the work I'm not sure but it certainly added tot he experience for me. 

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Hanne Darboven- Camden Arts Centre

Hanne Darboven- Camden Arts Centre
Visited: 21/01/2012


This was the first exhibition of just Darboven's work in the UK. As I had revisited her work and concepts over the last three years I was excited to finally see her work in person. 
I wanted to see how she makes the marks that make up the core of her work, were they dominant confident lines or light feathery lines? 


The work was presented as structured and uniformed as her work is.








I came to find her work unexplainable, although I realise its about documenting data, the work displayed showed none of her real talent for the beauty of line like I had thought it would. 


I consequentially didn't enjoy this exhibition as much as I was hope too.


London Art Fair- Business Design Centre

London Art Fair- Business Design Centre
Visited: 21/01/2012


The London Art Fair was in Islington and easy to get to on the tube. Having been to the Frieze art fair before I had some idea how large it would be and how many dealers would be there. 


I saw some work that I had only viewied on the Internet but enjoyed having the opportunity to ask the dealers about the artist (Chris Kenny and Susie MacMurry). Talking to the dealer was a fabulous opportunity to understand the process and understanding what the artist goes though and what they are like as people, as well as practitioners. 


As I walked around I was lucky enough to see Charles Saatchi and Nigel Lawson, his wife. I was interested to see how he would respond or dismiss certain works, so consequentially followed him for a while. I did however decide he might start to notice so I snuck off. 




Other pieces I enjoyed:
 Susie MacMurry- Two stretched hairnets 2011

 Susie MacMurry- Animus 2011



Ruth Waller & Lee Hewett- Cadmium 2

David Hockney, A bigger Picture- Royal Academy

David Hockney, A bigger Picture- Royal Academy
Visited: 20/01/2012

Me, excited at the tube station on the way to the RA

The RA's newest exhibition was the first major exhibition of new landscape works by David Hockney. It featured vivid paintings inspired by the East Yorkshire landscape, the large scale works were created especially for the galleries at the Royal Academy of Arts and are shown alongside related drawings and film.


As a 'Friend' of the RA we were aloud to view this exhibition a day before the general public could, this did not how ever mean it was any quieter, only that there was more of the elite Hockney fans there! 
We did invest in headphones and audio explanation and this only heightened the understanding, as the work wasn't so conceptual as the art I normally view. 


His work was beautiful to view up close and you could see the understanding he had on his earlier photo montages were carried through into this large scale gridded painting and video. 
He says that in his work there is no perspective, your supposed to move through it freely.


Much of the time he spent doing his paintings he was 'waiting for nature to arrive' so thus planned to be spontaneous, adding to the calendar significant nature dates.






Hockey had made a series of video works (making of the video link below) It was the most contemporary conceptual work he'd ever made and I really enjoy viewing it. I was compelled to watch all of the 18 screens. The video was tracking across landscapes and I found it encompassing and compelling.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MXSQdMHGsE


Hockney is being a 'Zeitgeist' artist and never stuck in his ways.

The prestigious RA seemed like the most beautiful place to view new and older art works. 


GESAMTKUNSTWERK New Art From Germany- Sattchi Gallery

GESAMTKUNSTWERK New Art From Germany- Sattchi Gallery
Visited: 20/01/2012


The art of the 24 artists from or based in Germany presented here provokes a reassessment of the 19th-century ideal of the Gesamtkunstwerk, which can be translated as a total, universal art work, or a synthesis of different art forms into one all-embracing unique genre. 


I really enjoyed moving though each of the galleries within the Saatchi and taking on the challenge of understanding the pieces. I did find many of the works complex to view, but this was certainly a good thing! 


The sculpture by both Isa Genzken and Alexandra Bircken fascinated me, I took many notes and sketches directly from the work. 


Isa Genzken




Alexandra Birchen


I definitely feel that the workshop we had with David Kefford (in semester A) helped my understanding of this 'Found object art' and has fed into my practise. 






The rooms were lit accordingly to the presents in the room. Jovial subjects were bright, and serious subjects were dark and intense. Certainly worth seeing.  

Monday 23 January 2012

The Pitmen Painters- Dutchess Theatre



The Pitmen Painters- Dutchess Theater 
Visited: 19/01/2012


The question is asked, 'What is Art?' to five pitmen in the 30's. 
Their curiosity of art led them to start an Art appreciation group. The tutor being an 'educated upper class man of money' from London, which only proved their understanding of class divide, Art was for the rich and manual labour was for the poor. Their opinion of Art was only fuled from images they saw printed in newspapers and saw on billboards. In one way the opinion was organic, fresh and untempered.
Instead of just 'looking' they would 'see' and crave for an understanding and meaning. 






"Art has no meaning, the meaning is your understanding of the work." 



I found this an interesting West End show with a refreshing narrative. It got me thinking about the core structure of Art. Set at a small theatre, that felt intimate and intense. 




Here's a link to some highlights from 'The Pitmen Painters': 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpLewNODEwk

Halcyon Gallery- Perucchitti and Chihuly


Halcyon Gallery- Perucchitti and Chihuly
Visited: 19/01/2012


The 'Halcyon Gallery' is split into three buildings all located in or around New Bond Street. The beauty and grandeur of each building only adds to each exhibition. The building in the photo above was three storied and symmetrical, with small rooms coming off the main hall holding more imitate work. 







This work is by Mauro Perucchitti. The work is jovial with a sense of humour, looking at the fragility of objects, grenades, jelly babies and apples. The use of bright resin shaped into multiples and presented is  so striking. Scale and light also has a large role to play. 









This major collection of Chihuly's work was exhibited at the dealers and many art collectors were there to purchase them them for millions. 
They were one of the most beautiful glass sculptures I've ever seen, they truly had the 'WOW factor!' Walking thought the grand halls you get a sense of an underwater feeling, fluid motions and sea creatures. 
Glass sculptures were mounted on the wall, suspended from the ceiling, coming thought the floor and creeping across the floor boards motionless but craving for life, often in a partnership with a painting hung by the side of it. This was interesting to see the visual conversation and planning that went into the painting before the glass was blown. 
Was it an installation or a sculpture? 


I would certainly return to the Halcyon Gallery and found this exhibition truly amazing!