Tate Britain- Turner Prize nominees unveiled

An exhibition showing the work of 2009's Turner Prize nominees opens to the public tomorrow at Tate Britain. Not being able to go and have a look, I went on the Tate website to have a look at their work, and I'm significantly more interested by the work this year than I have been in previous years. I particularly like the work by nominee Roger Hiorns, who produced an installation work in a derelict flat in South London. For this work, he filled the flat with copper sulphate, which (after time was allowed for chemical reactions to take place) covered each surface within the flat in bright blue crystals. This creates a very surreal installation, which is both aesthetically pleasing yet slightly disorientating and confusing. I also like his use of such unusual materials and the effect that it has on the audience.

Tate Liverpool

On Sunday, I had planned a day trip to Liverpool in order to do some shopping and check out the new exhibitions at Tate Liverpool, which began on 2 October and run until the middle of March next year. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen lack of funds, we were unable to get there, however we do still hope to go at some point before the exhibitions end. 

One of the new exhibitions is called Joyous Machines, by Michael Landy and Jean Tinguely, which is co-curated by Landy and investigates Tinguely's early works and how they have influenced Landy's own work. However, it was the Mark Rothko exhibition of Seagram murals which I was most looking forward to. The 9 paintings by Rothko will be shown in conditions exactly as he intended, in small spaces with background walls painted gray, and reduced lighting in order to increase dramatic effect of his works, and I think it would be really interesting to see this after having seen some of his work previously at Tate Modern on a trip to London, and always enjoying the effect they have- calm and peaceful, but yet quite overbearing. The mysterious quality to Rothko's work is something that is rarely replicated by other artists, and I think this exhibition would be fascinating to see. 

Leeds Art Gallery and The Henry Moore Institute

Never having been to the Leeds Art Gallery or the adjoining Henry Moore Institute, I was originally sceptical about how interesting it could be (that being my reason for never having been before, despite living near Leeds for the majority of my life). However, wandering round the gallery on a sunny afternoon in September exceeded all my (admittedly low) expectations immediately.

Walking into the gallery and seeing a sculpture of a human made of miniature bricks was the start of an enlightening experience for me in Leeds. As one of my previous posts, I discussed the art that is the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, by Antony Gormley. As soon as I saw the sculpture of bricks, I was instantly drawn to the notes on the wall which explained details of the artist and the date etc. I was completely surprised to find that it was none other than Antony Gormley, of previous-post and Angel of the North fame, who had created this fascinating sculpture. I found that it was made in 1986 as part of a proposal for a 180ft high sculpture to be erected on waste ground near Leeds Railway Station. Despite the fact that it was never erected due to denied planning permission, this smaller version of a possible outdoor brick giant is still really very interesting, visually and in its history.

However, this was not what I found the most exciting about my visit to Leeds Art Gallery (and HMI). Once inside the Henry Moore Institute, I was informed that the main gallery space was closed. I was however, directed to the Research Library, where I was told that there was a photographic exhibition showing the artist Peter Randall-Page at work. During May 2009, photographer Sarah Dale spent a week observing him at his studio, having access to his archive, workshop and studio. Her photographs reveal the working processes behind works such as Fructus and Corpus (see below), and are really interesting to see if you get the chance.

My Town, at The Yorkshire Sculpture Park

'My Town' is a scheme developed by the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in collaboration with Wakefield Young Offenders Team, where 4 young people (from the Y.O group) are encouraged to consider the positive and negative aspects about their town. Each participant was entrusted with a camera in order to record their findings. This is an opportunity which was developed in order for the young people to realise their potential and gain control over how they are perceived. I think this is a particularly interesting project because it opens up the realms of design and creativity to those who may not usually be involved. 

This project reminds me of the Create Not Hate brief from the 2009 D&AD awards, which had similar aims (realising the potential of young people), which I really enjoyed working on. 

The results from ‘My Town’ are currently on display at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park Centre Upper Space, and here are some examples.

A modern chair arch

A sculptural arch made entirely of Ercol chairs on display at the V&A. Upon first hearing of this, I wasn't completely blown away by it, although I was enticed by the rainbow of colours which is very aesthetically pleasing. However, after watching the video of designer Martino Gamper painstakingly spraying each individual chair with often 3 different colours to account for the overlap of each chair, I was inspired by his patience and attention to detail that he displayed. Such dedication was essential in order for the colours of the rainbow to blend, and therefore for Gamper to realise his ideas. 

Above is the original example of the chair arch (1884), which is the inspiration behind the new chair arch. His version differs from the original in that it is completely self supporting (without the need for scaffolding), and there is only one type of chair involved in the arch, which is the Ercol stacking chair (whereas the original was made up from many different types of chair). 

In my opinion, this contemporary version of the chair arch is an aesthetic and engineering masterpiece.