JAY'S JOURNEY WITH CONTEMPORARY ART

My take on contemporary art and my second attempt at making it into a blog.

[jayscontemporaryblog]

Lecture 7: Guest Lecturer Emma Donnelly

Todays lecture, 31st March, we had a Zoom lecture with Emma Donnelly, who is a graduate from History of Art and Museum Studies. It was great hearing about her experiences as soon I will be in her shoes and not knowing what to do after graduation. Emma asked a really important question: So, what now? Donnelly explained how she has just finished her MA Exhibition Studies and moved on to publishing writing, researching, art consultancy and a team leader for a Young Archaeologist Club. This completely opened my eyes as to what careers I can move on to because all that keeps going around my mind is curator, curator, curator. We were also given a list of possible careers that you can gravitate towards after graduation: - Art Critic - Art Teacher - Art Producer - Art Handler - Exhibitions Officer - Art Sales Consultant - Art Researcher - Archivist Looking at this list, art handler and archivist spoke to me the most. Art handler because you get to work behind the scenes of exhibitions and auctions rather than being face to face with everyone. You get to pack work, move it, install it and de-install it, and I would love to work that close with art. I have been interested in archiving since our first semester due to the amount of new information you get introduced to. I’m also a very organised and controlling person so believe this type of work would be perfect for me. I would to assess, collect, organise, preserve, and provide access to records Emma stated how important work experience is and I took that to heart and contacted Emily Parsons for any opportunities to work in the archives in the LJMU library. 

Hopefully, by the end of May, I will be working in the archives. It was states that self reflection is also important, from day to day life to writing essays. It is essential to constantly look at your experiences, personality traits, interests, skills and motivations as it helps you evolve as a person within the course.

From this lecture, it is clear that it is very difficult to get a job in the art world as there is so much competition however, if I work hard enough I might just get somewhere.

[jayscontemporaryblog]

Williamson Art Gallery & Museum: Pottery

I had a great opportunity to make my own pot using the coil technique. The coil technique is what potters do when they don’t want to use a wheel or don’t have the access to one; you roll out the material as if it were dough and twirl it around the base of your pot. I decided instead to make a bowl as I was getting slightly stressed with it not sticking the way I wanted it to. However, I wanted to put a contemporary twist on the piece because I have never created anything like that before. Instead of making it a circular bowl like everyone else, I made it square, also adding a house on a hill in the centre. Next week I will be able to use the sgraffito technique on my bowl and hope to incorporate some more contemporary ideas.

[jayscontemporaryblog]

Williamson Art Gallery & Museum

On 14th March, we visited the Williamson Gallery to create our own pots however, I did spot a piece by Grayson Perry called ‘A Day in The Life’.

The artist invented the character Julie Cope to model as an ordinary British woman.

Perry produced six prints, one symbolising a decade of Julie’s life. The first image depicts her as a child on Canvey Island with bungalows, smoke in the distance and telegraph poles. The second frame shows her in a council estate dressed in boots, hot pants and leaning against a motorbike, which would later be the cause of her death, and the third she has taken her children on a picnic. The fourth print is Julie on a night out with a friend, similar to a photo-booth picture. The fifth thumbnail picture Julie at her second wedding and the sixth and final portrait is her in front of the Taj Mahal on a trip.

The artist used wooden blocks cut from a computer-controlled laser cutter to create the prints.

This piece is so emotional due to it being a time-lapse of Julie’s life in only six slides. It shows her as a child, to a rebellious teenager, a mother, a friend, a wife and a traveller. The prints are polaroid- like moments of sadness, boredom, depression and happiness.

The colours exploding from these pieces are incredible, they make the viewer emote and feel something different with each print. For example, the fourth image, to me, is terrifying- the couple look demon-like and seem to be standing in a graveyard. In my opinion, the colours are most bold in her visit to the Taj Mahal, specifically the ground in the front and towards the building. This may be because this is where she felt the most emotion but I’m not sure whether it is good or bad.

This was an amazing thing to see in person and the pictures do not do it justice. It is available to see up until March 26th, 2022.

[jayscontemporaryblog]

The Bluecoat

I went and visited Bruce Asbestos’s ‘Ok! Cherub!’, exhibited in their courtyard. It was a commissioned piece, consisting of three inflatable sculptures: a giant art, a yellow worm and frogspawn. Each inflatable symbolises a different form of positive mental health. The frogspawn represents community, the giant yellow worm rest, and the giant arm connection. The sculptures were created in relation to the Bluecoat’s famous historic courtyard and building. I didn’t get to see the worm as it isn’t available at the minute, however I did get to see the frogspawn and arm.

Influences for the frogspawn piece came from Asbestos’s walks to the local pond during lockdown and finding inspiration in the togetherness ergo Community. The giant arm is about reaching out and symbolises the Connection in a community. He mixed his work with his knowledge of fashion, pop culture and high art.

Asbestos said, "I like to think that this work is essentially about different forms of Love; and that there is this sculptural conversation between my pop works and the history of Renaissance art, and the Baroque. I was also interested in making big fun sculptures that will wobble in the wind; I like that people will enjoy having selfies with a giant relaxing yellow worm."

This is the view upon entering the gates at The Bluecoat, and the arm is directly behind the gate. I really like this installation as it is a fun take on what we went through as a community during lockdown. It reminded me that even though we’re going through hell; COVID and the current situation in Ukraine, we are still one as a community and we still have each other. I also love the cartoon take on the subject as it injects some fun in an otherwise serious situation.

[jayscontemporaryblog]

Gerhard Richter

‘’What’ is the hardest thing because it is the essence’- Gerhard Richter.

Richter has been working with paint for around 40 years, exploring the importance of it alongside it’s relevance. The artist was born in Dresden, East Germany 1932, and after working as a commercial artist, a rolled in the art academy. During 1961, Richter escaped to West Germany to avoid the Easts ideologies of art and started at the art academy in Dusseldorf.

Painted Photography

In the 1960s, the artist began using photographs as initial sources. ‘I had had enough of bloody painting’ Richter stated. He used personal and mass media images for his work, and deliberately blurred the pictures whilst painting. Rather than playing the materials off one another, he prefers them to clash so he can create something anarchic.

This piece is oil paint on top of a coloured image of what I believe to be a countryside. I really like the addition of paint as it adds texture to the piece and almost looks like leaves. It introduces an autumnal feel to an otherwise dull photograph. I also enjoy the different directions the paint was applied in because it presents new and interesting details to examine.

Experiment

After his work with images, Richter began a series Color Charts based on paint samples, in which he experimented with multiple ways of applying paint to avoid representation. He soon moved to a series of landscape pieces: Mountains and Townscapes, which he used transparent washes for. Visible in all series is the absence of people. In 1976, the artist leant towards abstract work and painted without the incorporation of photographs. The shape and colour played an important part in his creative process. Richter applied many layers of paint to canvases with ‘planned spontaneity’: using brushes, squeegees (window cleaners) and spatulas; he removed the paint and reapplied it until the work was finished, in his opinion.

Through this experimentation, Richter was able to explore the historic use of paint, underlining the artists ability to change.

This is one of the artists paintings in his Color Chart series and, it is quite literally, a colour chart. However, the left column has shading on the right side while the left column has shading on the left side. This offers a three-dimensional aspect and makes the piece overall, more appealing. The colours are so perfectly solid but, the colours are out of order and kind of takes away from the piece.

[jayscontemporaryblog]

ArtReview Article 2

Our Silver City, 2094

Nottingham Contemporary, 20th November-18th April.

[jayscontemporaryblog]

ArtReview Article

Nairy Baghramian

Art is about more that itself, says the sculptor; you can just about see her sculptures agreeing.

By Evan Moffitt

[jayscontemporaryblog]

Convenience Gallery

After visiting Existential House, we went to Convenience Gallery; a contemporary organisation focused on working with the community. The proprietors are advocates for artists having fair pay, inclusion and mental health. They aim to help artists, the arts and art programming through their company.

They achieve these goals by:

1.       Supporting people from any background.

2.       Allowing access for the community.

3.       Having their programmes in community spaces.

4.       Having high quality art programmes.

5.       Having partnerships and networks.

4000 people have attended the galleries programming since 2019, producing about 60 paid opportunities. They have also worked with over 20 artists, who led workshops and themselves have led 4 creative and wellbeing courses for youths.

We were able to start the visit with a workshop, making a patch to attach to a jumpsuit. After seeing an ugly broach, I was immediately attracted to it and though of Pat Butcher from Eastenders; she was my inspiration. I found as many mis-matching items as I could and started to sew them together.

I really enjoyed making this little patch and thought it was a fun way to introduce us top the gallery and let us get involved with it. I attached my patch to the centre as I felt it should be the first thing people look at- it’s just that ugly.

Afterwards, we did another mini workshop where we talked about building our own ethos. Paired with Maddy, we talked about what community we would want, the guidelines introduced, what spaces we could work in, the people we would want to work with, our creative focus and some manifestos we would like to incorporate. 

As we have only just started our society, this was a really helpful discussion since it gave us a rough outline on what we need to get started. It also gave me hope that after university, I won’t be stuck in a retail job, but I may be able to join a community like this, or even start my own.

[jayscontemporaryblog]

Existential House

On 10th of March, I had the pleasure of visiting James Schofield’s installation ‘Terracotta Dreams’. Whilst completing EMDR therapy (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) therapy, shades of terracotta appeared. Terracotta is made up of red, yellow, orange and brown hues giving out vibes of warmth and strength. After the EMDR treatment, it became clear to the artist that terracotta represented the idea of love and happiness. The colour showed itself briefly during the therapy and Schofield would attempt to re-create the shade using watercolours.

The watercolour pages were taped onto the ceiling as a way of making the space more interactive; the viewer must walk and look around to be able to take in the artwork as a whole. Some pieces have fell however this, surprisingly, added to the installation. It was as if showing the audience that because the paint was so heavy on the paper, they were their own demise.

Being on the ceiling, it reminded me of a dream-like state, as if staring at the stars or a being kind of religious in the way of the frescos on the ceilings of chapels and cathedrals. I think that this tied in with the other references to art history the artist made, the others being the red tape (what galleries were once painted in) and the plinth and marble, much like a classical sculpture.

The thought process of taping the paintings to the ceiling was random, as the artists knew they didn’t want the work at a standard height, they wanted to incorporate something knew so it was all about experimentation. I really enjoyed the work on the ceiling as it made the whole installation more dynamic, used the entire room and made it dynamic.

One thing I didn’t like was the bare bulb since I found it quite distracting and annoying, it was all I could really focus on at first. After turning the light off, I believe it changed the whole work; sunlight was bouncing off the terracotta squares bringing out new areas I hadn’t noticed before and casting light across multiple areas of the installation. I think it added a whole new viewpoint to me and some of the other members.

I really enjoyed seeing this installation first-hand as I believe the message behind the work is very important and it could help many people. I also liked the multiple viewpoints of the exhibition- you could stand anywhere to admire the work, and, in some areas, it changed the piece completely.

As vice president of the Curative Design Society, I am always looking for new spaces to hold exhibitions and I’m happy to say that I have the contact details and will hopefully put something on soon!

As someone who has suffered with depression and anxiety most of my life, I understand how hard it is to put yourself and your work out there for the world to see and I just wanted to thank James for letting us see it.

[jayscontemporaryblog]

PDF | This essay seeks to provide an idea of the basis of the main theories of contemporary art criticism. It begins with the assumed knowledge and... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate

This article provides the reader with an overview on the different aspects of contemporary art criticism. It is a  quick read, around 15 minutes, and offers an interesting point if view. 

[jayscontemporaryblog]

The 10 Essays That Changed Art Criticism Forever

Over the last 60 years, 10 art critics altered the course of art history. Here's who they are, and what they wrote.

This article introduced a really good array of art critics and their essays without making it too preachy and full on. It gives space for you to do your own research into your favourites and I really enjoyed the read!

[jayscontemporaryblog]

How to take criticism as an artist, according to The White Pube

In their latest Dazed column, your art agony aunts Gabrielle de la Puente and Zarina Muhammad speak on how art criticism can take your work to the next level

It is hard to to take criticism on something you have worked really hard on, but this articles has some great pointers on how to take it.  

[jayscontemporaryblog]

Gilda Williams How to Write About Contemporary Art - Free Download PDF

Download Gilda Williams How to Write About Contemporary Art...

I really enjoyed reading this as it gave me a lot of pointers on how to write critically. 

[jayscontemporaryblog]

Minimalist Art

What is Minimalist Art?

To put it loosely, Minimalist art is a radical mode of abstract art that came about in late 1950s and early 1960s America. It is characterised by pieces composed with simplistic geometric shapes such as a rectangle or square. The art world saw a huge transition within younger artists who wanted to leave behind abstract expressionism and move onto new movements.

Since this movement saw artists fixating on illuminating the essence and use of the material and medium that created the actual art, this is considered quite ground-breaking for it’s time.

History of Minimalism

During the 1800’s, the idea of simple living was introduced to America, specifically made popular by Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo. They had the view that enlightenment and insight could be gained through simplicity and solitude and while not stated Minimalism at the time, this would evolve into it. For a lot more information on the simplistic lifestyle, you could read ‘Walden’ by Thoreau.

Minimalism is most associated with the heavily inspired Bauhaus School’s idea of balancing beauty alongside the use of product design. By combing thoughtfulness and creativity into the making of usually cheap and common objects, the Bauhaus school influenced the notion amplified design for everyday life.

The movement achieved further popularity within a group of young artists in the 1960s who protested traditional fine art. Some of the artists included: sculptor Donald Judd, painter Agnes Martin and artist Frank Stella. The term Minimalism had began being used in most art forms, from writing to architecture. Artists started to turn away from Abstract Expressionism and focused on the simplistic, sleek, white spaces and industrial materials.

In the 1970s, industrial designer Dieter Rams offered some new principles on design and has been admired ever since as a very significant figure in the minimalist design world.

Between the 1980s and 2000s, Minimalism saw an upsurge in the creation of simple art. The supporters of this aspect believed that quality was better than quantity and adapting your life to a slower pace was how to get more out of it.

Nowadays, social media has had a huge impact on the Minimalist movement, as fans of the simplistic ideas are sharing their own conceptions.

Frank Stella was most likely the start of the Minimalism movement as he had decided to leave behind Abstract Expressionism, his first minimalist piece being ‘The Marriage of Reason and Squalor, II’ in 1959. 

It belonged to his series called Black Paintings and this particular painting is composed of black inverted u-shapes, containing stripes separated by unpainted areas of the canvas. The repeated geometric pattern and lack of striking brushwork gives the viewer the knowledge that it is in fact a flat surface rather than a window to another world. This piece pushes across the idea of it being impersonal because of the treatment of the materials and the continuous geometric designs, this made it very influential on the rise of the Minimalist movement, whose artists proceeded to create art on just the idea on working with the art items. Members of the audience assumed the piece to hold meaning due to its title, however, Stella denied this stating ‘What you see is what you see’.

I really like the simplicity of this painting and love how there is not a message behind the piece (or the series), it is just about the objects. The straightness off each line is very satisfying as they are all perfect, in their length, width and solidity in pure black.

[jayscontemporaryblog]

Faye Hadfield

Hadfield creates pots that translate into creatures, their bodies being squashed and manipulated by hand and then built into a traditional vase. Her work focuses more on the fun side of art, creating expressive and playful structures. By the end of the process, her work has usually taken on a life of its own, exuding their own emotions to the viewers. Since the pots are heavily painted, colours are built up through this, as well as with underglazes and slips. Hadfield’s mark making method allows her to get carried away and incorporate her imagination fully, which reminds me of the surrealist technique called ‘automatic writing’; forcing yourself to write (or sketch) whatever comes into your head.

Hadfield’s scary pots are my favourite due to the darker side introduced in her pottery. Glaze has been used repeatedly to build up texture, with carved out eyes and spooky toothy smiles to create unsettling pieces.

From 2017 to 2021, Hadfield has put on 25 exhibitions and won 3 awards within them.

After looking through the artists emotive pots, my favourite was this smiley little guy. What first caught my attention was the contrast between the chequered background and the yellow face. With further inspection, I noticed the brown lowlights within the eyes and the smile, and I love this subtlety as it adds additional details and something else to appreciate. I am also reminded of Alice in Wonderland due to the background and that just creates another connection with the pottery as I love the book.

I was immediately drawn to this scary pot because of the use of emerald; it’s my birth colour, this created a connection between me and this piece. I also like how instead of just having the face as the single viewpoint, the vase itself includes a scale-like detail, adding texture.

Faye Hadfield has such an extensive portfolio, and it is such an interesting take on contemporary art, she has translated it to work with her art form. The potter also has work for sale so if that is something you’re interested in, you should definitely take a look!

[jayscontemporaryblog]

Lecture 5: Guest Lecturer Short Supply

Short Supply is an artist-led organisation based in the North West, specifically Manchester but they are trying to stretch around the whole of the region. Their main goal has and will always be to help artists that are in the early steps of their career by giving them the opportunities to put on exhibitions, give advice, help with commissions and access to a friendly network of other artists. Instead of waiting for collectors to notice new artists, Short Supply have been giving them a platform to stand on themselves.

The leaders of the team include Rebekah Beasley, Mollie Balshaw and their newest member Grace Collins. Beasley is not only the director but also the financial leader of the company. She is also an artist that focuses on the feminine body, sexuality and gender through illustration, collage and print. Balshaw is another director of Short Supply and handles most of the business e.g., the emails, setting up meetings or talking about a project. Balshaw is also an artist and homes in on painting to challenge restrictive structures within painting. Finally, Collins is the creative consultant of the organization who makes sure that the projects are running smoothly and keep the relationships between themselves and the artists. Also being an artist, Collins centres their research about how people work together and documenting that to produce artworks.

As an aspiring curator, this lecture was a huge help towards that goal. The first thing Mollie spoke about was CONNECTING, you need other people’s help to get out there in the world and their help to achieve. Also, starting local, meaning what already exists that you can get involved in? This was great advice as I am surrounded 3 days a week with people who have same type of aspirations as me- I always have people I get along with.

I don’t draw as much as I used to, so hearing Mollie shout ‘I AM AN ARTIST’ was a real push towards creating something again and I would like to make something that could be put into this blog and coincide with the topic of contemporary. It kind of gave me a bit of confidence. As an artist, you need to be clear about wants and needs as it is your artwork. Also, labour can be exchanged if you don’t have the money to support an exhibition, a message very clear in Mollie’s ‘School of the Damned’.

Teaming up is a big part of the art world, building bridges between other artists and institutions. By doing this, you can balance work out, not everything is left to you and it’s not as much stress- it adds more fun as you have someone else to share the experience the process with.

A lot of new artists were introduced to us: Faye Hadfield, Erwin Wurm, Urs Fischer and Martin Creed. I am definitely going to look further into these artists through this blog.

My favourite thing Mollie said was don’t be put off by rejection, learn from it instead. Ask others about their rejection; how did they learn from it?

It was an amazing talk that gave me a whole new look into thew world of curating and artist-based companies and also gave me the push to start making art again.

[jayscontemporaryblog]

Victoria Gallery & Museum

Today, 22nd February, we had the pleasure of visiting Dr Emma Roberts exhibition at the Victoria Gallery and Museum: Jamaica Making: The Theresa Roberts Art Collection, and I spotted some amazing examples of Contemporary Art that I thought could be included in this blog.

The gallery is connected to the University of Liverpool and includes a collection from a 127-year history. Their exhibitions are handpicked based on the unusuality and imagination within the work. (They also do weddings!)

Jamaica Making presents the variety and boldness of Jamaican art since their Independence in 1962. It features over thirty artworks from the collection of Theresa Roberts.

The first piece was Hole in the Wall by Michael Hayden Elliott, who created this using aluminium and I think watercolour. It was to show the Jamaican world through a whole and the story behind this piece is that many people steal bricks to sell as they are unable to make money any other way. I thought this to be contemporary as he used both sides of the metal to create art and you have to walk around the whole piece to be able to appreciate it as a whole. The detail this piece contains is unbelievable, from the shadows upon the bricks to the weeds within them.

(Very sorry about the quality of these images, they were the only ones I could find.)

The next piece was by David Boxer, named Self Portrait and was a near abstract depiction of his self. A clear inspiration can be seen from Picasso after seeing his nose as that shape is in many of his paintings. Paint has been splashed around the canvas to create texture and I believe this creates a connection with the viewer as we all feel that kind of anger and aggression sometimes. I leaned towards the Contemporary side because this isn’t the usual refined self-portrait we see; it is much more expressive and connecting with the audience.

The final painting I came across was Pin Pon She 2 created by Laura Hamilton, based on the colourful downtown city of Kingston. We can see the loose imagery of a building within the squareness of the yellow and blue and even the gaps come across as windows. I hope that it translates as to why I see this as Contemporary Art because of the non-realistic view taken on by the painter.

I thoroughly enjoyed the private tour given to us by Dr Emma Roberts and is definitely worth the visit!