8th December- London Gallery Visits (reflections and documentation)
8th December- Reflections and documentation
Tate Modern Barthélemy Toguo
Beyond craft ( specific interest regarding my current clay and textile work) (figured fabric collaboration )
Olga de Amaral (Featured within Beyond Craft)
The Tate modern has held many of the same exhibitions for a number of years now. This often leads to frustration within me as I go to the paid works and do not get to engage with any new unpaid exhibitions. Public funding is tight I am aware however this can reduce the value for money offered from the institution as a whole. I know the Tate functions as a business and this is why I do not feel I am devaluing it by analysing it regarding value for money. Something prominent within the Tate this time however was the engaging turbine hall display/installation. A metal structure boasting public swings. This initially struck me as cold and thoughtless however, after engaging with the work and seeing others do the same my opinion changes greatly. Everyone around me was laughing and enjoying the experience. People were starting conversations and sharing became highly likely as each swing contained three spaces. This reminded me of the text 'I think it would be best if we worked in groups of tree'. The uneven number offers a new dynamic. Power in the swing is increased if the number moves from 2 to three. This offers a type of social narrative about those around you.
Another aspect that came to my attention that I haven't considered before was the documentary nature of much work. A lot of the work in the Tate modern has past groundings. Social injustices of the past are hung for all to engage with visually. There is then a shareable disconnection created with the viewer as you are lead to believe we are being shown the horrors of the past. This does not encourage current horrors of society and government to be addressed. In this sense the work is not modern and progressive but archival and refectory.
Tate Britain
Mainly sculptural exhibitions viewed. This isn't something I would usually engage with yet my clay work has been moving me into differing fields. The interface between sculpture and 'object' is interesting as new fields emerge regarding what in an aesthetic society can be deemed visual sculpture and what is commercially planned manufacturing to be attractive. The work by Rachel Whiteread defines this well, as the work wouldn't be useful as an object necessarily. Her work investigates the relationship between the everyday, the uncanny and the object. I say it deals with the uncanny as there is a discomfort in something being a solid negative space. Further to this, casting familiar objects such as mattresses in a hard, discoloured resin displays our preconceived expectations for materially. I feel the exhibition was well suited to the architecture of the Tate Britain. The surrounding ceiling also seemed to have been casted into the historic building.
I should try to underpin the current progressions and concepts within my physical practice with those current sculptural fields (as recognised by our institutions). Although I may not agree with that being held at such height by our arts institutions it deserves analysis as to why it is in that position.
Saatchi
Art Riot: Post-Soviet Actionism is dedicated to Russian protest art over the past 25 years. It will take place in the year of the 100th anniversary of Russia's October Revolution and although the exhibition will not have any direct links to this historical event, many of the issues that artists face in post-communist Russia are comparable to those in 1917. These include, but are by no means limited to, problems of individual freedom in the face of both political ideology and also religion. The exhibition will feature such performance artists as Oleg Kulik, Pussy Riot, Pyotr Pavlensky, Blue Noses and some others and display various genres and types of protest art from posters and slogans to video art, staged photography and performances.
Pussy Riot Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist protest punk rock group founded in 2011. The group staged unauthorised performances in unusual public places, such as the Red Square or the Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior which were made into music videos distributed via social media networks. The collective's lyrical themes include feminism, LGBT rights, and opposition to the oppressive policy of the Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2012 two of the group members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, were arrested and sentenced to two years' imprisonment.
Oleg KulikOleg Kulik ranks among the most interesting and controversial Russian artists. He has managed to attract the attention of art critics and exhibition curators by his performance shows, characterised by "strong expression" where he himself assumes a role of "artist-animal". He would be a dog, a bird, a fish, a bull. The artist thus simplifies his performance language to the basic emotional vocabulary of an animal.
AES+F
Socially engaged work in free exhibitions-
The interface between artistic acts and activism. The level of engagement that governments either don't understand or choose not to engage with. This therefore leaves them half as prisoner, half as misunderstood activist/thinker. Then from the view of an alternate society they are seen as a type of genius, a warrior within their society. Yet the government that makes that reckoning still has no control to free them or those around them from the oppressive grasps of many governments. This international divide is ironic as so many social issues within England/UK are not recognised and don't gain publicity within the artist world, yet we publicise that of others. We reckon those as heroes of the time and look to those actions as inspiration. I understand the oppression is on differing levels and the social injustices warrant differing approaches however it is still an interesting aspect of public gallery spaces.
I have noticed recently that there has been an increase in Russian revolution art and an increased gallery presence of work inspired by such. This could possible be due to the anniversary of the revolution in October. However, I also think that there is some undertones of negative showmanship of the galleries. They are willingly presenting these events and the discourse of history as rightful negative. However, this also discredits any form of alternative government that society may wish to peruse or investigate. Without discrediting artists such as Oleg Kulik and The pussy riots, there work could possibly be being shown as a example for the position we may be in if we do not support our current structure.
London Gallery Visits
'Purification' 2012
Watercolour and graphite on paper
This vast, banner-like watercolour painting is covered with a sequence of human figures interwoven with handwritten sentences taken from the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 'Purification was born from my response to sufferings endured by various groups of people around the world (genocides, slaughters, deportations, discriminations) during the 20th century'.
Toguo has said 'I have unrolled my vision in a nightmare frieze; humans being abused, tortured, amputated, beaten to death... man must regenerate his own culture... he must operate a purge over himself and purify himself from crimes and horrors'.
Beyond craft ( specific interest regarding my current clay and textile work) (figured fabric collaboration )
Many artists in the 1960s were creating weaving and knotting to create innovative hangings and sculptures, integrating traditional craft techniques into fine art practice.
The artists within this room experimented with traditional weaving techniques often inspired by indigenous work and weaves made before European colonial oppression.
The 1960's saw several high-profile exhibitions for 'fibre art'; textile techniques used to create unique art objects without practical function. Works such as these attempt to collapse the hierarchy that sets fine art above craft.
Olga de Amaral (Featured within Beyond Craft)
'Alchemy' 1987
Here Amarel combines textiles and painting. She stuck small segments of cut canvas onto a backing of grouped threads then applied gesso (a glue and chalk paste), gold-leaf and paint. The title refers to an ancient scientific process that attempted to turn ordinary objects into precious ones-gold. Amarel has described her interest in 'how surfaces, textures and details transform the space they inhabit'. Alchemy also pays homage to the Latin American gold and textiles traditions from before European colonisation, as well as colonial-era religious painting which often included gold leaf.
The Tate modern has held many of the same exhibitions for a number of years now. This often leads to frustration within me as I go to the paid works and do not get to engage with any new unpaid exhibitions. Public funding is tight I am aware however this can reduce the value for money offered from the institution as a whole. I know the Tate functions as a business and this is why I do not feel I am devaluing it by analysing it regarding value for money. Something prominent within the Tate this time however was the engaging turbine hall display/installation. A metal structure boasting public swings. This initially struck me as cold and thoughtless however, after engaging with the work and seeing others do the same my opinion changes greatly. Everyone around me was laughing and enjoying the experience. People were starting conversations and sharing became highly likely as each swing contained three spaces. This reminded me of the text 'I think it would be best if we worked in groups of tree'. The uneven number offers a new dynamic. Power in the swing is increased if the number moves from 2 to three. This offers a type of social narrative about those around you.
Another aspect that came to my attention that I haven't considered before was the documentary nature of much work. A lot of the work in the Tate modern has past groundings. Social injustices of the past are hung for all to engage with visually. There is then a shareable disconnection created with the viewer as you are lead to believe we are being shown the horrors of the past. This does not encourage current horrors of society and government to be addressed. In this sense the work is not modern and progressive but archival and refectory.
Tate Britain
This exhibition not only showed how the work was made but also showcased her work on paper. This is not something that is often associated with it yet it was good to see the collage like process that progresses the thinking of the artist.
The below work are casts from the underside of many found chairs. This was not within the paid exhibition space but on the outside in the main gallery. This differing context was interesting as the work suddenly seemed to fit more with the floor and walls around it than the large white structures within the chosen gallery room itself.
Mainly sculptural exhibitions viewed. This isn't something I would usually engage with yet my clay work has been moving me into differing fields. The interface between sculpture and 'object' is interesting as new fields emerge regarding what in an aesthetic society can be deemed visual sculpture and what is commercially planned manufacturing to be attractive. The work by Rachel Whiteread defines this well, as the work wouldn't be useful as an object necessarily. Her work investigates the relationship between the everyday, the uncanny and the object. I say it deals with the uncanny as there is a discomfort in something being a solid negative space. Further to this, casting familiar objects such as mattresses in a hard, discoloured resin displays our preconceived expectations for materially. I feel the exhibition was well suited to the architecture of the Tate Britain. The surrounding ceiling also seemed to have been casted into the historic building.
I should try to underpin the current progressions and concepts within my physical practice with those current sculptural fields (as recognised by our institutions). Although I may not agree with that being held at such height by our arts institutions it deserves analysis as to why it is in that position.
Saatchi
Pussy Riot Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist protest punk rock group founded in 2011. The group staged unauthorised performances in unusual public places, such as the Red Square or the Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior which were made into music videos distributed via social media networks. The collective's lyrical themes include feminism, LGBT rights, and opposition to the oppressive policy of the Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2012 two of the group members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, were arrested and sentenced to two years' imprisonment.
Oleg KulikOleg Kulik ranks among the most interesting and controversial Russian artists. He has managed to attract the attention of art critics and exhibition curators by his performance shows, characterised by "strong expression" where he himself assumes a role of "artist-animal". He would be a dog, a bird, a fish, a bull. The artist thus simplifies his performance language to the basic emotional vocabulary of an animal.
'I came up with the performance series with dogs, where the artist reveals his nature in the real world, the urban environment. For five years, I ran around the entire world as a dog, some people were outraged, some sympathised, but it fit the popular tendency of a new man, a new anthropology'.
Oleg's work was by far some of the most interesting that I saw. The reimagining of the human and the disenchantment with the forced social situation willed him to think of an alternative. Also, to revert the self back to instinct. His combination of written and performed work as well as emerging sculpture offers a religion style concept that in some ways make sense. The madness of humanity; his sanity lives outside from. Some viewers laughed during the exhibitions and clearly had little time to enter into the performance, this to me is a sign of misunderstanding, conditioning and privilege. The elevated position of not having to reimage your human position and the above structures that reduce citizens to animal like.
AES+F
The collective works in photography, video, installation, and animation, as well as more traditional media such as painting, drawing, and sculpture. Deploying a sophisticated, poetic dialogue among these media, AES+F create grand visual narratives that explore contemporary global issues, vices and conflicts. The Images of Islamic Project debuted at the Guelman Gallery Moscow as AES- Witnesses of the future; Islamic Project in 1996, during the breakout of the Chechen WAr, and serves as a kind of psychoanalysis- a visualisation of western fears about islam.
Socially engaged work in free exhibitions-
The interface between artistic acts and activism. The level of engagement that governments either don't understand or choose not to engage with. This therefore leaves them half as prisoner, half as misunderstood activist/thinker. Then from the view of an alternate society they are seen as a type of genius, a warrior within their society. Yet the government that makes that reckoning still has no control to free them or those around them from the oppressive grasps of many governments. This international divide is ironic as so many social issues within England/UK are not recognised and don't gain publicity within the artist world, yet we publicise that of others. We reckon those as heroes of the time and look to those actions as inspiration. I understand the oppression is on differing levels and the social injustices warrant differing approaches however it is still an interesting aspect of public gallery spaces.
I have noticed recently that there has been an increase in Russian revolution art and an increased gallery presence of work inspired by such. This could possible be due to the anniversary of the revolution in October. However, I also think that there is some undertones of negative showmanship of the galleries. They are willingly presenting these events and the discourse of history as rightful negative. However, this also discredits any form of alternative government that society may wish to peruse or investigate. Without discrediting artists such as Oleg Kulik and The pussy riots, there work could possibly be being shown as a example for the position we may be in if we do not support our current structure.
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