Liverpool Biennial 'Touched' private view

I attended Liverpool Biennial, 'Touched', private view on Friday, were i visited the Open eye gallery, Bluecoat, and Tate. To me Bluecoat's  exhibition stood out as the strongest, it was full of diversity and the layout was curated effectively. The piece in the largest gallery space created its own atmosphere, the locker room gym. Within it was teddy Pandas with dentures holding bamboo, i didn't understand the artist reasoning for this but i found it really amusing! 

Also within the same space there was a video of a sneezing baby Panda, this again i found amusing but didn't really understand the concept of the locker room setting for this work.

Within the smaller gallery room space there was a ink painting by 'Bricolage'.

When working with my textile pieces i want to work on top of screen printed images, and ink drawings. i find the use of the simple ink colours of this piece effective, which has made me consider the use of the colours to impact my pieces. I have started to create a flower out of paper which i will later make in material, i was going to use bright ink colours and stitches  on top with white. But after see how strong the base colours make this piece i am considering using a very light red base with strong stitching colours on top. 

Within the same space as 'Bricolage' work there was a piece by Abito da Sposa 1983 titled 'Wedding dresses'. 

I love the use of black material for a piece titled 'Wedding dresses' because i associate the colour black with funerals not weddings. I am basing my work on the ideals of love, and i am looking at the symbols of love. Weddings are the ultimate connection of love, it is two peoples together for the rest of their lives, this is what i think of weddings. Which is why i heavily question the colour of these dresses and the damages heart organs created on the front of them.

This destruction of love got me thinking about divorce and the percentage of couples that do separate. This death of love is something that truly is black!! 

The artist Nicholas Hlobo truly involves the Biennial's theme 'Touched' in the work, the piece 'Ndize' 2010 entered into the biennial was my favourite piece of the evening!! I truly did feel touched by the work. 

Within Fine art galleries the viewers are not normally encouraged to touch or physically interact with the work, but this piece was the epiphany of interaction! Within the maze there were two manikins with ribbon coming out from the back of their heads, the characters looked like they were from a doctor who episode. 

Caren Garfen: Animation of line drawings

Within my own practise i am creating the majority of my work using material and textiles, which is why i have found the artist Caren Garfen (i have discussed in a past blog) very influential. i have been conducting research about her practise from her website;

http://www.carengarfen.com/ 

There is a section on the website titled animation, were Garfen has created a moving illustration of her line drawings. She states;

'I was interested in the way that the images moved and appeared to clean up the jobs we hate without human intervention:  in a similar way that the role of the housewife is performed - housework appears to be done 'as if by magic'.'

http://www.carengarfen.com/caren_animation.html

Tim Noble and Sue Webster

Within my first group assessment of the semester i was told to research the artist Tim Noble and Sue Webster, who work together, their work is a little clique but affect. 

As my project is based on the connective love i see this is being a relevant source of research. Their work is very in your face because of the use of lights, it almost becomes a comical symbol of love. 

I like the use of these obvious symbols of love and it is something that i want to use within my project. I love the use of text, text is something that i have always worked with and see as an important part of my work. 

I love the way the artists have used the text to create the image in this piece, illustrating text is something that i have already started working with within my project.

Quilts 1700-2010

The exhibition 'Quilts 1700-2010' at the V&A was amazing! My project is heavily influenced by textiles and i am using the free hand embroidery machine to create the majority of my work. In the gallery itself the walls were painted PINK!!! i found this choice of colour to be really fitting as the majority of textiles work is create by female artist. Textiles has always been a female associated practise which gives the subject matter of artist such as Tracey Emin and Caren Garfen gives added layers of feminine meaning to their practise.

For the majority of my essays and projects i research work by Tracey Emin, which is why when visiting 'Quilts' i was so existed to see 'To meet my past'.

The way the gallery had displayed the piece gave the viewer no room to move about the piece, as you could only view it from one side. This was disappointing as i couldn't see all of the imagery or read the majority of the text. This layout gave my something to consider when creating my work.

It was at 'Quilts' that i first saw work by the artist Caren Garfen, 'How many times do i have to repeat myself'. This piece, like the majority of her work, is based on the subject matter 'Women and Housework'. I think her choice of medium, textiles, is well suited to her subject matter. She also chooses to work from home and not in a studio which adds to the homely feel of her domestic subject matter.

Since visiting 'Quilts' I have conducted further research into the artist Caren Garfen.

In this months Embroidery magazine there is a 6 page article dedicated just to Garfen, there is a really inspirational quote within it that says 'I'm an artist who uses textiles to convey my message.' This is key to me as i want to use textiles to portray my subject matter.

I love the use of Caren Garfen line drawn images on appropriate items; Tea towels, table clothes, tea pot (ect)

The idea of worked onto relevant objects is something that i considered in my last blog; my idea was to use the quote 'I shall want some linen from your house tomorrow' and sew this on top of bedsheets with added imagery.

The Forth Plinth

The new forth plinth in Trafalgar Square is inspiration to me because of the use of historical material and textiles. I have researched Yinka Shonibare for past project and i love the use of his native African textiles that originates from Manchester. 

I find this piece amazing because of my past love for the artist, and as I associate it with a childhood of floating paper boats on rivers. 

The piece to me is all about the historical references, the ship in the bottle is a replica of Lord Nelson flag ship from the battle of Trafalgar. 

I particularly love this photograph of mine as it captures the essence of the piece; the historical reference to Lord Nelson that meets the new contemporary art of Yinka Shonibare.   

Exposed; Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera

Over the summer I visited the the Tate exhibition 'Exposed; Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera'. The exhibition was curated effectively, i particularly loved the use of black walls as it created an automatic tense atmosphere. When walking around the exhibition i found myself watching other people as i found the relationship between the viewer and the exposing images to be truly voyeuristic. 

As i am researching the ideals of love a found this piece by Yoshiyuki  particularly revealing, not of love but of lust (which to me is a form of love connection). 

The third person in the photograph becomes the first viewer, the camera the second, the viewer the third and i almost felt like the four, watching people within the gallery react to the work. This overlapping layers of viewers to me demonstrates the essence of Voyeurism. 

Another image that i found when conducting further research was from a photograph competition for the YoungTate  

 http://www.tate.org.uk/youngtate/exposedcompetition/inspiration.htm  

This image is a beautiful representation of affectionate love. I am wanting to research the hidden touches of affection and how i could represent this within my work. I am wanting to create the majority of my work through the medium of textiles which I believe has a 'loving touch' which will create an underlining meaning to my work. 

Influential Blogs

I have set up this blog page as a way of visual communicating my ideas, thought models and research. There are many reasons why i have chosen to do it in a blog format;

- Reflecting from second years modules i obtained the highest grade in learning by context. A module were i had to evidence my ideas in a blog format. I believe i gained the highest grade in this because i enjoyed the work process.

- When conducting research for my major project i followed the blog http://littleyellowbirds.blogspot.com/  were i found many inspiration images and techniques. I have also just started to obtain research from the blog http://connectivethread.blogspot.com/ 

One image that i loved from this site was from the exhibition 'Tongue'. 

This is a collection of different artists work displayed effectively. The piece that stands out to me is the 'To do list: 1. Get new job 2. Pay bills 3. Buy milk 4. Find true love'. The reason i was so drawn to this pieces is because for my third year major project i am basing it on 'Love and Intimacey', i want to explore the different love connections between people. This piece makes love seem so disconnected as if love just another JOB!!!

Another image that i found visual inspiring was 'More', I love the use of bold text and the bed sheet look to the material. 

I particularly find this piece influential for a potential piece for my work.i found a quote from a book of love letter, 'I shall want some linen from your house tomorrow.' I believe i could illustrate this quote effectively using a similar technique to 'more' but on a smaller scale.