Brian Eno 77 million paintings

Fabrica –
Brian Eno 77 million paintings


I went to this exhibition last week with no preconceived idea of what it was about. I entered the hall of Fabrica which contained church pews facing towards where the original altar would have been. Projected onto the wall was an image which appeared like a modern stained glass window with light coming through. On the ground were 2 cones of sand-like material which absorbed the coloured reflected light from the projection. There was very gentle ambient and mesmerising music that the images on the projection changed gradually in colours and patterns to, whilst keeping their main form.
I found it a soothing and meditative experience, similar to being in a church but without the religion and much more relaxing. It was mesmerising and touches on the spiritual and the fact that it’s installed in a former church only adds to the whole experience.

The Dark Monarch

The Dark Monarch
Towner Gallery Eastbourne 23rd of January - 21st of March

The Dark Monarch was interesting collection of work which takes its title from a 1962 book by Sven Berlin, The exhibition focuses on folklore mythology and occult and how it has influenced British art over the past hundred years. The exhibition includes work by a number of significant 20th-century British artists including work by Damien Hirst.

I visited the exhibition on last Saturday. I found the exhibition interesting even though I was apprehensive that it would be quite a dark heavy or gloomy atmosphere, I was pleasantly surprised by the lightness of it. There were many dark and eerie landscape paintings for sure but mainly the feeling was of a lightness for me. I especially liked ' the child's dream' by Damien Hirst. The unicorn which is encased in a tank of formaldehyde represents a powerful symbol of good in pagan mythology. The unicorn is created from a beautiful white fall with a gold horn and gold hoofs. The formaldehyde makes the hair on the uniform float as if it is `staticly charged, making it appear more alive. The tank is framed in gold, 24 carat plated. It stands in its own room like an object to be worshipped or alter emphasising a feeling of reverence, like a golden calf.(A false god perhaps?)

Precious Reclaiming Art and Craft

Precious Reclaiming Art and Craft Hove Museum & Art Gallery 30 January to 23 May 2010
Hove Museum & Art Gallery commissioned ten artists and makers to create new pieces, and nine to exhibit existing work. Precious is the result, produced from objects which have had a previous life. I went to the Precious exhibition at Hove Museum last week . Big mistake. Or rather the mistake was not phoning to find out if there were any school parties also going. There was one school party of 60 children and another of about 40 plus several groups of adult learners. So Hove Museum was busier than Oxford Street. Fortunately, the schools were in groups and I managed to see some of the exhibits in relative peace and quiet. The exhibition is wonderful. Many different artists have made sculptures out of everyday reclaimed objects. Some witty, clever, painstakingly made pieces, some that were breathtakingly beautiful. A plinth of 4000 pennies, computer speakers painted in a willow pattern style, dresses made out of commercial dressmaker paper patterns, fabric made out of stitched paper and made into dresses. Taxidermy cases filled with paper flowers made out of cereal boxes and moths made out of spectacles. And my favourite, thousands of paper holes treaded on invisible thread to give a dreamlike, cascading, draping cobweb effect.

Gorky

Arshile Gorky
tate modern
10 February - 3 May 2010

Gorys skill and mastery of drawing composition and use of colour is without doubt, but personally the abstract designs leave me cold even though I can appreciate their worth.I preferred his earlier figurative work, such as The Artist and His Mother. I also found his pencil work delicate and exquisite. There is a beautiful sculpture of a plough made from wood .
I wanted to connect with the work in this exhibition but just couldnt it almost put me to sleep.

Billy Childish at ICA

BILLY CHILDISH
unknowable but certain
17th febrary-18th April 2010,
ICA the Mall

The exhibition was a delight to behold for me and was better than I could have expected. The exhibitoin is in three parts the lower gallery exhibiting his paintings, the concourse features signs on board which relate to a series of manifestos written by Childish. THe Upper Gallery presents Childish's work as a musician writer, poet Filmaker and woodcut printer, and covers a period of over 30 years. also on the upper gallery is a yellow suit worn by Billy Childishas part of a seris of performance protests for the British Art Resistance.
Billy Childish's work appears to be greatlyinfluenced in style to Van Gogh( he studied his work and did a series of paintings as a homage to Van Gogh)Its interesting that they should both be having anexhibition at the same time in London.Billy Childish uses paint which is swirled thickly with texture on unprimed linen canvas with the linen showing through in places. There is a rich vein of colour running through his paint in a very subtle way in that is not immediatly obvious, but it gives it even more depth and richness.
Childish's poetry was easy to relate to and understand in its simplicity and unaffectedness much like his painting. His books of poetry are well designed even though his work and punk music gives the impression of a nihilism. he is quite obviously a perfectionist.
GO AND SEE IT!

Sophie Calle exhibition

The work of Sophie Calle is fascinating- random adventures and curiosity satisfied to the extreme- so much to read, more time needed.
Beautifully displayed in a clean orderly and sophisticated way.
It gives me more of an understanding of how important an appropriate dispaly is to the work, as without it this work coould be rendered self absorbed meaningless and difficult to understand. It is far from that and seeemed to touch deeply with a shared empathy the women viewing the work.
I also noted how interesting how the gallery and its calm interior contrasts so strongly with the chaos and noise of Whitechapel road ouside the building.

Volunteering at the Bridge

Today my first day helping in adult education class. It is run by a friend Christine. She is running it as a creative journal class with part of the class for drawing or making stuff to put in the journal. Today she used a chapter from the book Zen and the art of drawiing, which was shutting your eyes for one minute and then drawing only looking at the object not at the paper. Using first of all pencil then charcoal or pastel. After a break we had them cutting stuff from magazines and sticking them in with the drawings they'd done earlier.
I really enjoyed the class. There were a few people with special needs and also some people with mental health probs. So there was an interesting and diverse section of people of various abilities.