My Brother, Theo takes incredible photographs and is just so flipping good at composition! This is his latest photograph:
Cloud City
Beautifully disorientating was the sculpture by Tomas Saraceno, located in the roof garden of the Met museum. You booked timed tickets and you could then walk up and around it. There were perspex floors that flexed under foot and mirrors and gaps everywhere. You were not allowed to take photos as people had got distracted.
The Waterfront Festival 2012 (Lots of fun was had!)
Yesterday was such a wonderful day and I cannot stop smiling! It was filled with my beautiful friends, family and huge amounts of fun, all in aid of two great causes; the Nottingham City Hospital charity Cystic Fibrosis unit and Scope. There was such a good atmosphere, the sun shined, ale shandy’s were consumed (by me) and there were more talented musicians than you could shake a stick at! Rob White drew hilariously accurate caricatures of people and there were photographers and camera men everywhere (sometimes filming each other, which I thought was very post modern). There was a real buzz in the air! We waved at the narrow boats that went by (and they waved back!) and cooed at the signets sitting on the back of the mother swan.
The raucous raffle was a success and people went home happy with their prizes in tow, anything from a photograph of the Queen, tea and cake for two to a piece of signed artwork, generously donated by Nottingham Artists, Local businesses and celebrities. I had so many great conversations and met lots of awesome people, from the friendly security, to the people lending a hand on the day and excited raffle winners. Everyone wanted the same thing, to make lots of money for the charities, with the maximum amount of fun.
There were lots of families bopping to the music, including a friend of mines little boy Noah, who looked amazingly cute in his ear defenders. We had an awesome jive to Rob Green and I heard rumours that a few of my friends went on to have a hoe down to one of the bands, which involved dosey does! I would have liked to have seen that. As my nickname Nanna Rebs would suggest, I was slightly startled by the rock and roll experience of watching Baby Godzilla, but loved every minute of the interactive and unpredictable set. Being so near to the lead singer thrashing out a beat on the drums was loads of fun!
Being involved in something so positive, for causes I really believe in has been an incredible experience. I would like to continue to get involved but for now, I am sitting down, with my feet up and having a brew.
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
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
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!