Arthaus Gallery Blog

             ARTHAUS is a group of young people aged between 15 and 19 who have a special relationship with Hauser & Wirth Somerset and meet at the gallery on the first Wednesday of every month. Our mission is to represent the younger audience who are interested in contemporary art. We want to develop our understanding of the art world and practice our communication skills in a fun and creative way. This will be done through a range of exciting and innovative projects; they will be documented here through images, film and text.    

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This week Arthaus took inspiration from the current exhibition #henrytaylor with our own creations! @hauserwirthsomerset #HWLearn #hauserwirth #youthgroups

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In our last meeting, Elly Hawley, Associate Director, spoke to us about her journey to Hauser + Wirth, including galleries such as the White Cube, Pace Gallery, Regan Projects and Roche Court. As well as working under artists like Isaac Julien and Theaster Gates. 

Loving hearing about routes into the artworld.

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‘Speaking to Fili about her job really shone a light on what it’s like to work in the arts day to day, and just how many people and different kinds of work are needed to keep a gallery running. It was really interesting to hear about how a path through education can lead to a certain job, although not always the job you might have been expecting. Fili explained how she discovered her interest in working in galleries and administrative work around visual art, even though she started off studying fine art. This showed the variety of work that is available around art, and how an interest in it can translate into a real job.’

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First meeting in months, 6 of us there and the others on Zoom! We were lucky enough to the the last viewers to the exhibitions at Hauser & Wirth Somerset before the second lockdown. We enjoyed the current shows, Lee Lozano ( born this day 1930..happy birthday Lee) and Nicole Eisenman, ‘Where I Was, It Shall Be’. We discussed how both artists one from the past and one contemporary, sue art to address gender roles, politics and the art movements that had inspired them.

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GOOD TO BE BACK! We were lucky enough to get an Arthaus meeting in just before lockdown. We enjoyed the current exhibitions #leelozano and #nicoleeisenman. We discussed how both artists use art to address gender roles, politics and the art movements that had inspired them, sharing our discussion with other members via #zoom #hwlearn #lockdown2020 (at Hauser & Wirth Somerset) https://www.instagram.com/p/CHNHjryFQTv/?igshid=1mgcpdji37xlj

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Transformation Collages - Rather than responding to Louise Bourgeois, Thea’s collages juxtapose images of Kahlo with cuttings from high fashion magazines. Both Kahlo’s work and the magazine imagery feature visions of performative femininity, but to very different effects. The fashion photographs highlight the objectification of the female figure in popular media, stripping identity in favour of aesthetic delectability. The cuttings of Kahlo, on the other hand, stand in stark contrast, acting as potent reminders of female subjectivity. Through these juxtapositions, Thea’s works highlight the difference between an artistic exploration of the female body in relation to her subjectivity and the pervasive objectification of the female figure in mass culture. @arthausgalleryblog partnered with artist @Louise_Hall_Art for our montage project on the theme of #home #LouiseBourgeois #HWLearn #HWSomerset #isolationartschool Can you do one? Please share! (at Hauser & Wirth Somerset) https://www.instagram.com/p/B-rVDCeltZR/?igshid=t7tp7f6p113f

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Today at the Arthaus meeting we toured the gallery and discussed Not Vital's exhibition SCARCH, particularly his '100 Architects' as well as his global installation projects. We also were able to tour Don McCullin's 'The stillness of life', having a group discussion on urban versus country landscapes, the idea of art and permission as a photographer, and poverty within England. Inspired by Not Vital's '100 Architects', we created our own self-portraits using our birth dates.

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This week, Mark Fearbunce came in to talk to us about a newly reformed art school in Taunton ‘University Centre Somerset’, he spoke about the course which stresses self-development and art within the community and the new resources available at the school. The first unit of work on the course is about ‘drawing’ and the different ways that we can draw experimentally, and so we made ‘drawing machines’ to create marks, using all kinds of unconventional items like an umbrella, a toy tractor, a bottle, and some gloves

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Learning about university and making #drawingmachines #HWLearn #youthgroup #youngartists #drawing (at Hauser & Wirth Somerset) https://www.instagram.com/p/B8ZOC6slOdy/?igshid=hyr6dzav2978

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STUDIO VISIT: BHARTI KHER

During Arthaus’ last meeting, we visited Bharti Kher, artist in residence at Hauser and Wirth Somerset. We were able to discuss her work with her, and view some of the pieces she has been creating whilst working there.

Bharti talked of her different experiences of making art in Delhi versus making art in Somerset. She explained that in Delhi she would work on many projects simultaneously, whereas in Somerset she could really focus on one project, working purely from her own head.

Bharti Kher also described how her main influences have been the ritualistic tendencies in humans, especially women, as well as Buddhism, and therefore a common theme in her work has been the body and its cycles in everyday life.

Bharti showed us the drawings she had been working on and explained how she has a strong interest in energy and space and that she saw many of the drawings as a potential for sculpture. She mentioned how she has always enjoyed experimenting with a large range of materials and isn’t too precious when making her work. She rarely plans her pieces, and doesn’t often use expensive paper preferring to use simple or found materials, and Bharti spoke about how a great amount of her work was assembled from found objects she has collected over the years.

She described the process of putting together her recent exhibition from her initial concepts to the outcomes, and the way in which she revised her ideas as her work progressed.

A big thankyou to Bharti for a fascinating evening, sharing her time and knowledge with the Arthaus group.

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STUDIO VISIT: BHARTI KHER

During Arthaus’ last meeting, we visited Bharti Kher, artist in residence at Hauser and Wirth Somerset. We were able to discuss her work with her, and view some of the pieces she has been creating whilst working there.

Bharti talked of her different experiences of making art in Delhi versus making art in Somerset. She explained that in Delhi she would work on many projects simultaneously, whereas in Somerset she could really focus on one project, working purely from her own head.

Bharti Kher also described how her main influences have been the ritualistic tendencies in humans, especially women, as well as Buddhism, and therefore a common theme in her work has been the body and its cycles in everyday life.

Bharti showed us the drawings she had been working on and explained how she has a strong interest in energy and space and that she saw many of the drawings as a potential for sculpture. She mentioned how she has always enjoyed experimenting with a large range of materials and isn’t too precious when making her work. She rarely plans her pieces, and doesn’t often use expensive paper preferring to use simple or found materials, and Bharti spoke about how a great amount of her work was assembled from found objects she has collected over the years.

She described the process of putting together her recent exhibition from her initial concepts to the outcomes, and the way in which she revised her ideas as her work progressed.

A big thankyou to Bharti for a fascinating evening, sharing her time and knowledge with the Arthaus group.

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Communication!

Today Arthaus started by discussing the amended designs for promoting the gallery that have been returned by the designers. The designers had taken on the suggestions that had been feedback. The designs were improved, more mature with a better choice of colours, and use of photography, as suggested. However we agreed that the front page still  seemed too crowded and busy on the page and suggested a more simple and modern layout.

We also discussed the current project to create a video. This is to encourage correct 'gallery etiquette'. Arthaus wants to allow gallery visitors to enjoy the artworks without having to be reminded the correct behaviour by the invigilators.  Their job  is to ensure the safety of those in the gallery and the security of the Art. It is important for the film to:

not require sound, be accessible to all age ranges,

convey the value of the pieces without displaying monetary value .

not be patronising.

The idea that was voted for was #saveitforthegallery showing people out of context behaving with correct gallery etiquette, for example silent when a goal is scored at a football match or a hurdler carefully walking around the hurdles, then cutting to inside the gallery.

Finally we spent time looking around the gallery, understanding Bharti Kher's exploration of her multi-ethnic background,  'A wonderful anarchy' and David Smith's 'Field Work' which showcased his steel sculptures and drawings.

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Arthaus met with London based artists Zac and Ben from Candour Creative and discussed collaborating on a video project about how to behave in a contemporary art space. Zac and Ben started by showing us some examples of their work to give us an idea of the type of art and content they create. We worked in groups to discuss what it is that Hauser & Wirth do, how they do it, and ultimately why. After presenting what we'd come up with, we considered what exactly we wanted the video project to include, such as format, style and undertone. After presenting our ideas we discussed them with the other groups. It was really helpful to be split into random groups as we had lots of different people with lots of different ideas coming together to create something.

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Today at the first Arthaus meeting we discussed how our image should be represented as we looked over designs for a flyer and came to the conclusion that we had suggestions for improvement due to the age inappropriate design lending its self to a younger/ childish portrayal. We also talked about the future meetings and came up with thoughts of what we each wanted to do, including performance art and film making, along with workshops and meeting professional working artists. Next week we are meeting some designers to come up with a video to display in the Hauser and Wirth gallery, of "how to act in an art gallery".

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Working on our mission statement....

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Tie-dye

Inspired by the work of Matthew Day Jackson in his current exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Somerset we made tie-dye t-shirts!

https://www.hauserwirth.com/hauser-wirth-exhibitions/22754-matthew-day-jackson-pathetic-fallacy

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Tie-dye

Inspired by the work of Matthew Day Jackson in his current exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Somerset we made tie-dye t-shirts!

https://www.hauserwirth.com/hauser-wirth-exhibitions/22754-matthew-day-jackson-pathetic-fallacy