To see more art, that is the plan – Part I

I have been a bit rubbish at getting myself into gear to see as many exhibitions as I would have like in the last year. I pretty much always enjoy it when I do, it’s just making the time. It’s something that makes me happy, so I will do more of it. There is nothing like seeing a piece of art that you really relate to. There are obviously times where you see things that aren’t your cup of tea but I think that reminds you how great the things you like, really are. I have seen two exhibitions recently that I have thoroughly enjoyed. Here is the first:

Sarah Browne – How to Use Fool’s Gold, Ikon Gallery Birmingham

I haven’t written about art for a long time however I found the exhibition to be exciting and thought provoking. It was also extremely aesthetic and spoke a language me and my family understood. It spoke about people, industry and the obselete technology. I think my favourite piece was ‘Common Knowlege’, wild flowers pressed in different books that were written about ‘traditional feminine craft and an intellectual enquiry into amateurism, economics and mass cultural production’. For example ‘May 2010: Bluebells in Glenn Adamson’s Thinking Through Craft, 2009.’ I thought they were beautiful and I loved the relationship with what they were pressed in.

www.sarahbrowne.info

In the book ‘How to Use Fool’s Gold’ I spied the below piece of work called ‘The Gift’ which wasn’t in the exhibition but it is right up my street! The sofa’s were sourced by the artist and then re-upholstered using patterns created out of Irish potato bags and articles from the Irish constitution about the home. They were then given away, as gifts to various members of the Irish community (Including a man living in a council flat who had previously been homeless). They were asked in exchange, to document the sofa in their home. I wonder if the sofa became a talking point for their guests, and was treated as an art object and looked after with extra care. Is it now part of their furniture, a member of their family or prehaps living with a new owner? Could it be that it got tired and was discarded alongside it’s DFS equivalents?  The reappropriation of an object like the sofa is fascinating and these sofa’s have an extra couple of chapters to their story.

www.sarahbrowne.info

It runs in the family

My Brother Theo took this photo recently and I love it! As a massive fan of wear and tear, I thought the rust made it but I also think the colours are marvellous. Theo is great at composition and has a fantastic eye for straight lines.

Samples of the ground

When I was in Edinburgh we visited the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. One piece of art in the collection really stood out to me; The Boyle Family – Addison Crescent Study (London Series).

It is a three-dimensional replica of a kerb from Addison Crescent in West London. They take a mould of the floor and then using fibreglass create the support and paint it (I think!). It looks like a piece of pavement has been suspended on the wall. It’s extremely realistic and detailed. I like the fact that it is hung on the wall alongside paintings but is very much 3d and sculptural.

Here is an interesting video of The Boyle Family:

Elizabeth Blackadder

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Yesterday I went to see the exhibition of Elizabeth Blackadder, who I discovered is a great Scottish artist who has a unique style which can be seen across all her work including paintings, drawings, tapestries, print making. The way she captures objects of interest and puts them together is beautiful. There are often layers in the images, through windows or on tables and they are sometimes quite 2d looking. There is lots of Japanese influence and an underlying collectors instinct.

I intend to sit down with a cuppa this afternoon and read the exhibition catalogue. The sun is shining too, not bad for a Wednesday!

Every Chair

I have a lot of chair love and nothing makes me happier than discovering other people who love them too! I was looking at the website 20×200 where you can buy Artists prints (as you do on a Sunday evening when you’re trying to hold on tightly to the weekend) when I happened across the work of Luke Strosnider. It is called Every Chair At the Visual Studies Workshop and it’s absolutely wonderful! I was sad that it had sold out but was so pleased to have seen it at all. This is the first chair of the collection:

Chair 001

You can view all of the chairs in the project on Flickr and they are truly fascinating. There are such great contrasts between each chair and even the ones that are seemingly the same, have very subtle differences that make them unique. I have not seen a piece of art that has made me this happy for a while and as someone that helplessly personifies chairs, it was a pleasure to see portraits of so many characters!

How to wear a chair

I have recently rediscovered Erwin Wurm and his work has been making me smile all week. I particularly like his one minute sculptures where himself, models or the audience interact with everyday objects. I have never been to a show of his but would love to read the instructions that he writes or illustrates and have a go at turning myself into a sculpture. It will be no surprise to hear that I think the photograph of a person using a chair to create a sculpture is incredible. I find them amusing but also enjoy the immediacy of how they are made.

In my first year at University someone suggested I look at Erwin Wurm’s work. At the time I was making self portraits by lying down on a piece of A1 paper and asking someone to draw round me. I would then fill in with block colour the shape left behind to create an odd silhouette. The idea was to make these into 3D versions but I could never quite get to the bottom of how.

During the same year I was spending a lot of time getting into small spaces (as you do!). My most proud achievement was fitting into the top compartment of a discarded fridge (might well have been the start of my love affair with discarded objects!).

Cardboard mechanics

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I have just found a super great video of  Cardboard Mechanics which is made by 4 students of the Utrecht School of Art and Technology, Saskia Freeke, Fin Kingma, Davy Jacobs and Sonja van Vuure

Print screen from video ‘Cardboard mechanics Installation.’

I would like to create a mechanism that makes my time pieces for me for two reasons. 1. To regulate the wrapping time, because a regular rhythm from human hands can differ depending on lots of factors. 2. I have developed Carpal Tunnel Syndrome which means that repetitive actions using my wrist are currently far from ideal.

Last weekend I made my living room into a cardboard cat city as we had six cats in the house. Too much fun was had! It reminded me how much I like making things out of cardboard. I think using cardboard boxes, tubes, string and maybe some metal as a pivot could work. I am going to start with drawing such an invention right now!

My hero

I found a leaflet in the Lincolnshire Poacher after a tiny version of the picture below caught my eye. It was for an exhibition ‘Profusion’ that I have managed to miss or at least will miss as I canny drive! Today I googled the artist, Martino Gamper who had created the chairs and I was blown away!

In the last few hours he has become my hero as he not only collected ‘discarded chairs from London streets (or more frequently, friends’ homes)’ for two years but he the spent 100 days reinventing 100 chairs to transform the ‘character and/or the way it functions.’ So let’s just recap, he is a collector and is interested in discarded chairs. It has absolutely made my day!

This is just one of the blooming brilliant chairs called ‘Plastic-Fly’

Please go to the website to see more: www.gampermartino.com. You will not be disappointed!

Beautifully taped

Rebecca Ward makes beautiful tape installations. My friend K sent me the link today and I cannot get over how long this must have taken, and the patience too. As someone who has worked with tape before, I know the furstrations it brings all too well. She uses a mixture of duct, electrical & vinyl tape. I think you’ll agree these are great!

Harry Wintle – A book on Van Gogh

‘Van Gogh’ by Harry Wintle aged 6.

Van Gogh is an artist. Van Gogh paints pictures.

He cut his ears.

It is Van Gogh

It is one of Van Gogh’s paintings.

One of my work colleagues Andrea, told me about her son Harry’s new found interest in Van Gogh. It made me so happy! He had a lesson about Van at school and on the same day would not go to bed until he had made a book about him. I think you’ll agree it’s a brilliant portrayal.