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. 

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.  

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!
  

Clare Woods 'The Unquiet Head' - Hepworth Wakefield

Clare Woods 'The Unquiet Head' - Hepworth Wakefield
Visited: 15/01/2012

The visiting artist at 'Hepworth' was Clare Woods, and her collection of beautiful paintings in oil on aluminium. They depict supernatural elements of landscapes, rock formations, natural pools and twisted vegetation.

The entrance room boasts these two huge expanses of paintings adjacent to each other, as if in conversation or conflict with each other. Due to the reflective surface of the paint when facing to look at one you can see the other in its reflection, inevitably a conscious decision made by the curator.

Not all her work was so large, some smaller pieces were packed with as much detail, captured in the brush work and the colours chosen. The abstract nature of them allowed children and adults alike to imagine what they wanted to see in each part of the painting and created a family fun atmosphere.

Hepworth and Moore- 'Hepworth Wakefield'

Hepworth and Moore- Hepworth Wakefield

Visited: 15/01/2012

Wakefield is an industrial city set in a rural location and this building is a beautiful collision between the two, a steel harsh looking exterior, with a bright spacious airy interior. Surrounded by running water, the building looks like a floating 'Whiteread' cement cast.

Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore's work was divided into 6 gallery's each presenting a different angle of their practise e.g. Hepworth at work, The plasters gallery. This division blurred as you moved from one room to another.

Thick perspects boxes encased Hepworth's smaller sculptures as the larger one stood tall from floor to ceiling. The scale and meticulous planning that went into her work was amazing to view.

Top three works:

1) Winged Figure 1961-2 - Hepworth

2) Spring 1966- Hepworth

3) Evan Uhlow - 1932

This exhibition space is as contemporary as any place I have been to in London before and would definately return, even to see the same again.

The National Centre for Craft and Design- 'Blue Garden'

The National Centre for Craft and Design- 'Blue Garden'
Visited: 13/01/2012

I was invited to the private view of 'Blue Garden' by two textile practitioners Joan Richardson and Janet Wain.They both explore similar subjects revolving around nature, emotion, and the passage of time though their work, using the poem 'Blue Garden' by Rowland Fade.

The small collection of work was presented in one room together and was ment to be seen as collaborative work.

As you can see from the photos above a real mixture of materials and processed were analysed to depict parts of this poem. Although not in depth enough to be 'Fine Art' some interesting ideas were raised around subject and material. I received a sewing machine for Christmas and would like to explore textiles within Fine Art more.

ICA Bloomberg New Contempories 2011- In the Presence

ICA Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2011- In the Presence

Visited: 12/01/2012

This exhibition claimed to 'Open a window onto the future to contemporary art' and I feel it lived up to its high promises.

It was a venue I had not been to before and I thought the space really lent its self to the mixture of art types they had to view. The different levels let you flow freely between the painting, sculpture, print and video without perhaps realising they were by different artists. However the segregation between the work down stairs and upstairs was a bit fragmented.

Its seemed to be that film was the strongest part of this exhibition, perhaps pre-empting a heightened interest in New Media within Fine Art.

Although nearly finished, this exhibition might be worth trying to see. It will be interesting to see if this art within the exhibition really is second guessing art to come in 2012 and beyond.

Top 3 works:

1) Hyun Woo Lee- 17 times of 'I hate this job' 2011 (video)

2) Samuel Williams- We are the Robots- 2010 (video)

3) David Ben White - Painting Pavilions 1-5 (painting)

Wrapped Restrictions

These are from a series of photos taken from a collaborative sculpture/film project by Eleanor Osmond and I, in place for 24 hours only.