Sunday, 16 May 2010
Galvanizing opinions
This week's Saturday Perspectives and Thinking Aloud sessions were facinating, with intense discussion, generated by the exhibition, as to who determines what the 'value' of art works is, and where we as viewers think that value lies. At one stage within the gallery there was quite a fierce discussion that attracted input from others who had not started off with the session, but were drawn in by the strength of feeling being voiced. The oft-repeated exclamations of "I could do that" are easily applied to some of the pieces, particularly in reference to those pieces where there is an element of supposed 'randomness' in the execution, the 'gestural' work (as described by Lutz Becker) taken to its furthest expression. The strength of feeling, both in challenging and in defending the work, was a timely reminder of how important getting to grips with the nature of "art" feels to many people. Context was identified as being terribly important when attempting to assess the impact of individual pieces; many people in the gallery yesterday expressed their delight at the opportunity the exhibition gives for a wide range of pieces to "speak to" each other. One man said it was like viewing a private collection and that for him that felt like an unusual experience in a public gallery. It was generally felt that the strength of Modern Times lies in the juxtaposition of the different works, and if one had quibbles with individual pieces the collection as a whole is surprising and challenging, offering a pluralism of voices (and responses) that is apposite as a reflection of Modern Times (both 20th Century and into the 21st.)
Friday, 14 May 2010
Beautiful Gormley slideshow from the Guardian
Check this out - it is absolutely gorgeous footage of the installation of the Gormley sculptures and the challenges our curatorial team faced to get it right...
http://tiny.cc/GormleyGuardian
http://tiny.cc/GormleyGuardian
Thursday, 6 May 2010
Antony Gormley exciting installation period
Have a look at these amazing installation pics from the last couple of exciting days. The exhibition opens this Saturday (8th May) and carries a £3 entry fee however our other 2 exhibitions are still free of charge - enjoy!
Images by: Nigel Green
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
Modern Times is an exciting and moving exhibition which reminds me most forcefully that that anything is possible. It is hugely liberating to see such a vast array of marks, gestures, smudges, measured lines and calligraphic mark hung together in a stimulating and thought provoking way. The Saturday walk and talk was well attended and those who took part were excited to see some of the key artists of the 20th and 21st centuries all hung together in Bexhill on Sea.
Our tour looked at the way artists, in the search for something fresh, reject the past and rejoice, like the Futurists in speed and technology or like the Abstract Expressionists make grand and expansive gestures in non-representational ways. Some artists like to play with ideas and hide their drawn line in a tin like Piero Manzoni, which someone suggested was like Schrödinger’s cat theory, which all got a bit confusing !
100 years ago our lives would have been very different and we talked about the things we have now and take for granted such as flying, telephones, electricity, cinema etc and how some of these artists were responding to, what must have seemed, very exciting new technologies through their art. They were also responding to changing political systems and keen to adapt to or reflect their sympathies, or otherwise, with communism, socialism, fascism and capitalism.
Over a cup of tea we talked about the pleasure derived from seeing a modest Mondrian which clearly expressed both his past and future and then turning around to see the intensity and drama of Auerbach’s tree. We finished off by throwing around ideas about the changing scale of artists work by comparing Tony Bevan’s vast heads with the more portable drawings found in Gallery 1.
Our tour looked at the way artists, in the search for something fresh, reject the past and rejoice, like the Futurists in speed and technology or like the Abstract Expressionists make grand and expansive gestures in non-representational ways. Some artists like to play with ideas and hide their drawn line in a tin like Piero Manzoni, which someone suggested was like Schrödinger’s cat theory, which all got a bit confusing !
100 years ago our lives would have been very different and we talked about the things we have now and take for granted such as flying, telephones, electricity, cinema etc and how some of these artists were responding to, what must have seemed, very exciting new technologies through their art. They were also responding to changing political systems and keen to adapt to or reflect their sympathies, or otherwise, with communism, socialism, fascism and capitalism.
Over a cup of tea we talked about the pleasure derived from seeing a modest Mondrian which clearly expressed both his past and future and then turning around to see the intensity and drama of Auerbach’s tree. We finished off by throwing around ideas about the changing scale of artists work by comparing Tony Bevan’s vast heads with the more portable drawings found in Gallery 1.
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Gormley arrives today
A massive yellow crane lifted almost 40 Antony Gormley sculptures on to the roof today. The car park was swarming with people watching and taking pictures. We had lunch in the restaurant and you could see them swinging outside, passing the windows - you could also hear them thudding on the roof! Looking spectacular so far - and another 20 arriving tomorrow.
Friday, 23 April 2010
MAPS AND CODES IN MODERN TIMES
I loved the spontaneity and variety of the work in Modern Times. It made me think about all the reasons why we draw and all the ways we draw. It made me want to draw - but how?
I was particularly interested in the very abstract drawings I saw, and the processes which generated them. William Anastasi’s Subway Drawing, produced with a pencil in each hand while traveling on the subway; Cy Twombly’s familiar scrawls; Karoline Brockel's Snow – all presented me with marks and lines full of energy and magic and some sort of meaning beyond normal understanding. Barry Le Va’s Untitled map-like work comprised of apparently random, tiny, irregular rectangles and equally tiny scribbles of differing weights and densities gave me the impression of some sort of coded communication. These code-like qualities are intensified in other works which feature numbers and letters, some set into graph-like tables or randomly spattered across the page. Although the exhibition is predominantly monochrome, those pieces involving colour seem to use it as additional clues to the code, sometimes arranged in blocks or strips to form some sort of order which one feels could be understood if only one knew the language.
Perhaps this is part of the magic of these marks for me - a suggestion of a secret language which, if only one could learn the code, might lead one to a greater understanding of … something… So, as an artist, perhaps my challenge is to be less concerned about representation of the physical and brave enough to explore through drawing representations of my thoughts and ideas.
I was particularly interested in the very abstract drawings I saw, and the processes which generated them. William Anastasi’s Subway Drawing, produced with a pencil in each hand while traveling on the subway; Cy Twombly’s familiar scrawls; Karoline Brockel's Snow – all presented me with marks and lines full of energy and magic and some sort of meaning beyond normal understanding. Barry Le Va’s Untitled map-like work comprised of apparently random, tiny, irregular rectangles and equally tiny scribbles of differing weights and densities gave me the impression of some sort of coded communication. These code-like qualities are intensified in other works which feature numbers and letters, some set into graph-like tables or randomly spattered across the page. Although the exhibition is predominantly monochrome, those pieces involving colour seem to use it as additional clues to the code, sometimes arranged in blocks or strips to form some sort of order which one feels could be understood if only one knew the language.
Perhaps this is part of the magic of these marks for me - a suggestion of a secret language which, if only one could learn the code, might lead one to a greater understanding of … something… So, as an artist, perhaps my challenge is to be less concerned about representation of the physical and brave enough to explore through drawing representations of my thoughts and ideas.
Monday, 19 April 2010
Antony Gormley exhibition just announced...
Antony Gormley - Critical Mass
8 May – August 2010
Critical Mass, one of Gormley’s best known works, is an installation made up of 60 life-size cast iron body forms which will be displayed on the roof of the De La Warr Pavilion.
The artist comments: This is the return of the lost subject to the site of Modernism. It is great to have a chance to test this piece of sculpture against the clarity of Mendelsohn and Chemayeff’s English masterpiece. I am excited to see these dark forms in the elements against the sea and in direct light. It will be like a sky burial. How these masses act in space is very important. The challenge is to make the distance intimate, internal.
Critical Mass is made up of five casts from 12 discrete moulds of Gormley’s body, developing from a low crouching position to squatting, sitting, kneeling and standing - an ascent of man ranging through the complex syntax of the body.
The works will be installed during the week beginning 4th May using cranes and mechanical machinery. The result will be a unique installation – the first ever seen on the De La Warr Pavilion roof space.
Click here to read the full article
8 May – August 2010
Critical Mass, one of Gormley’s best known works, is an installation made up of 60 life-size cast iron body forms which will be displayed on the roof of the De La Warr Pavilion.
The artist comments: This is the return of the lost subject to the site of Modernism. It is great to have a chance to test this piece of sculpture against the clarity of Mendelsohn and Chemayeff’s English masterpiece. I am excited to see these dark forms in the elements against the sea and in direct light. It will be like a sky burial. How these masses act in space is very important. The challenge is to make the distance intimate, internal.
Critical Mass is made up of five casts from 12 discrete moulds of Gormley’s body, developing from a low crouching position to squatting, sitting, kneeling and standing - an ascent of man ranging through the complex syntax of the body.
The works will be installed during the week beginning 4th May using cranes and mechanical machinery. The result will be a unique installation – the first ever seen on the De La Warr Pavilion roof space.
Click here to read the full article
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
