A good exhibition should spark a thought which sets your
whole mind alight, a beacon of artistic ideas, illuminating a world of
experiences and memories. Today an artist set me thinking
about feminism or being a feminist. It’s not a fashionable term or label but as
an intelligent thoughtful human, I take it for granted that women can participate
fully within society. The merest suggestion I can or can’t do something because
of my sex, is for me, a ridiculous idea.
A blog to explore the interests of an original renaissance woman; arts, sciences, poetry, librarianship and everything in between.
Showing posts with label contemporary art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label contemporary art. Show all posts
Wednesday 11 July 2012
Monday 2 July 2012
Ut pictura poesis: Or, poetry in stillness
Paul Writing, c.1894 by Camille Pissarro |
My poetic weekend started Friday with Edmund de Waal, potter and author giving a lecture at the National Gallery. Ostensibly it was about how he approached the challenges of writing about art and his art collecting forebears. However given his thoughtful sensitive approach, his talk went much deeper and he shared what has happened to his art as a result of his writing and it set me thinking about poetry.
Friday 1 June 2012
Reigning on One's Parade?: Diamond Geezer at the William Wilson Gallery
I’m so underwhelmed by the whole Jubilee jamboree that I’m planning on disappearing this weekend and avoiding my beloved London for the entire flag waving four days. So anything which pokes fun and subverts this Establishment show is absolutely welcome, which is why I found myself in Hatton Garden, EC1 twice this week heading towards the Wilson Williams gallery. The irony begins before you even get to the curious little gallery, with the gorgeous windows of many jewellery shops having a queenly theme; emphasising the diamond, in diamond Jubilee.
Sunday 20 May 2012
Skin Deep at Hay Hill Gallery
Artist Jamie McCartney(left) |
As I get older and wiser experience confirms that judging by appearances is never a good idea. One of the benefits of social media is swapping ideas and inner most thoughts, getting to know people from the inside first, allowing inner beauty to shine through. Then should you meet, you already know the mind of the person, if not the superficial flesh. And their looks, really, does it matter? Why are people so judgemental regarding what is on the surface?
Skin Deep explores ‘notions of beauty and society’s obsession with the physical self’. The artist Jamie McCartney ‘depicts his models in their natural state without recourse to the scourge of image manipulation …they celebrate the human body and human condition.’ The exhibition contains over forty large photographs, bronzes, and plaster casts and is deeply intimate in subject; the human form is stripped bare leaving skin and personality exposed.
Tuesday 17 April 2012
Losing My Focus: Thomas Ruff's ma.r.s photographs
The geometric serenity of Ben Nicholson’s white 3D sculpture pictures have been haunting me since I saw them yesterday lunchtime. The clever formation of shadowed curves and lines in his pieces are subtle and ever changing depending on the direction of the light. We constantly have a need for perceptions to be challenged, viewpoints shifted and the unexpected to be just around the curve, hidden from sight.
Thursday 5 April 2012
Looking and Listening: Contemporary Rwandan Art
Sometimes I will look for art and sometimes art will find
me. Yesterday was the former (yes I know, I need to write it up) and today was
the latter. I was going to my usual lunch place and the small gallery nearby caught my eye. So I went in to investigate.
The name of the show is ‘Rwanda: A group show by 8contemporary Rwandan artists’ at the Charlie Dutton Gallery. According to the
notes, this is the first occasion that Rwandan art has been shown in the UK . They
continue, saying that 'in the context of the pressures that the country has
faced, the formal teaching of visual art has taken a back seat so it is
extraordinary that artists are working and practising to produce art that
challenges their understood conventions, represents their own expression and
that of their countrymen’.
A long winded way of saying that heartfelt, honest art
flourishes regardless of schools.
A number of works immediately grabbed me and others
made me think. The first was Innocent Nkuruinziza’s Untitled (Stripes and
Circles) which is a striking piece, with paint thickly rendered in bright exuberant
colours in a pattern. It made my eyes dance with the rhythm of the pattern and is
just the thing for warming up a cold grey day.
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