Images collected from the gallery
Before walking around the gallery I stopped to have a look in the foyer. A short film on a loop was playing surrounded by a number of books. This revealed a little of what was going on in the gallery that day. This is a useful tool which enables an audience or visitor to understand what they are being led toward in the major exhibition spaces.
These are some images taken from the books. The images build up an anticipation for what is coming.
The image shown below is of the first piece of work that you see as you walk up the stairs into the main gallery space, a pencil drawn image of what appears to be a fabric drape covering some sort of cargo. The horizontal lines of what I believe to be wood depicted in the image stands out against the vertical repetitive backdrop of the gallery wall and breaks up the space, directing the eye to the piece. The landscape orientation of the image also plays a similar role along with the solid white-ness that makes up the background. There is no white cube to be seen or entered just yet which creates a warmer and more inviting environment.
Architecturally this part of the building interested me also, and plays a part in the way the first image is seen when I look around the space in more depth. The ceiling effectively mirrors the staircase below both in colour and scale or depth of space between columns/steps. Spotlights are positioned in such a way as to highlight the work and also the stairway.
Below; once in the first hallway of gallery space these images appear in a long row on the left hand side. The way in which they have been placed seems carefully thought out as they seem to lead to the next space in a "pointing" manner. Having the largest piece at the far end closest to the double doors of the first major room in the gallery. The images placement appears like a symmetrical wave that you read as you walk along in that space. All images have been framed in a similar manner, dark slim frames with a thick edge to border each piece. Some how the work remains clear despite the glass frontages of the frames, this is probably due to strategic lighting but I am interested to know if there is a speciality glass that can be used for this purpose and to stop reflections from distracting from the work (anti-glare?)
The image above is of the space i took to be the first of real significance within the gallery, most likely due to its "art on all walls" approach or the fullness of the floor. The room has a walkway sort of laid out for visitors, by the positioning of six plinths running parallel along the left and right of the entrance. The head sculptures that are on show on these plinths are just below what i would say is average eye height which creates a sense of fullness in the room and almost a feeling of company as the faces are obviously human and create a feeling that you are not alone within the space. All these heads face the same direction, toward the entrance, as though intending to create eye contact with visitors as soon as they enter. At the rear of these plinths and to either side slightly is a glass case with various items within. These glass cases are placed in a perfect diagonal position between the centre rear pillar and the wall on either side which creates balance and harmony in the space.
This plinth is the only one of its kind in the gallery, the first thing you notice about the plinth itself is the fact that it is white, where the others are all a polished wood. The other obvious thing is the plinth is off centre and parallel to nothing else in the room. The birds that are positioned on top, are done so in a way that make the spas feel invaded almost, as though this is a real event and not a piece of art, carefully laid for us to view. The combination of these "too real" birds and the out of whack plinth compliment each other in a way that makes the piece stand out immensely in a very intense way that makes the surreal devouring of the heart quite tangible and believable. I noticed that these birds are in fact love birds which explains the use of the literal heart. There is blood dripping down the side of the plinth, which again creates a deeper sense that this is real and not a piece of work, as it involved the objects around it unlike the other art featured.
The image above shows a piece that stood out to me for its gentle and peaceful nature. The idea of a lamb being held conjures up thoughts of vulnerability and spring, new life and a sense of peace. However, my thoughts then went to the concept of slaughter and the "harvest" of such young animals for human consumption. The piece is framed in a neutral manner which does not highlight any particular way of viewing the piece. But the low down positioning of the image over all indicates that the artist intended us to see the animal as vulnerable.
The room itself seemed to have a running theme relating to animals.
With the image above I struggled to see the piece first of all because of the way light was hitting the glass. I can see more of my own reflection essentially that I can see the content of the picture. Framed in a thick black frame around a wide white border though it is presented in a way that compliments the image.
The images both above and below show the placement of work on the walls. There seems to be a continuity throughout the whole gallery where work is based around a central eye level line. The pieces do not sit on this line necessarily but balance out around it. Larger pieces sitting singularly and central with numerous smaller scale works arranged in groups clustering about the same height etc.
I believe the piece shown above has been well thought out in terms of its placement in the gallery. It is positioned immediately next to a window which extends the sense of landscape. The image was manipulated to appear more "significant" and more interesting. If you look round the room the other images are in the landscape position so there is a subtle sense of content versus presentation occurring that adds to the depth and continuity of the space.
This small and un-intrusive piece is shown on a contrasting black cube. The cube is positioned diagonally and held within a glass box which "floats" against the supporting wooden wall. I notice that the horizontal lines of the backing wall run parallel with the angle of the cube which projects forward toward us.
This large glass case was mounted on a dark wood plinth and I found its positioning within the overall space really interesting. It sat at an exact diagonal from the basic architecture of the rest of the room and also in relation to the glass cubes on other walls. This created a good sense of organisation and adds a sense of balance and calm to the space.
The vibrant red rear wall creates a sense of warmth within the gallery and also compliments the wooden surrounds. The red used creates a more contemporary space and is far from the stereotypical burgundy hues of more traditional museums and galleries.
I found the presentation of this piece was very different to any others in the gallery, it was not in a frame and somehow seemed more contemporary for that reason. The piece sits next to a window that reflects its portrait orientation. The smokey subject appears to take on an almost human form and I think this is contributed to by the positioning in terms of height. The black of the piece and the stark white of the wall behind compliment each other well, drawing the eye into the white and grey areas of the image. If this piece was on display in the rooms full of horizontal wooden lines or the red walled space, it would not stand out as much or have the same impact.
This was one of my favourite pieces in the gallery and i think that comes down to the way it was presented. The glass box and plinth almost become part of the work through the playful use of scale. This tiny little pencil was around an inch long and yet was situated in this box which is oversized. Im sure that the gallery had a smaller box this could have been shown in so i am positive the contrasting scale was intentional. Somehow this made the pencil feel even smaller. I took from this that the artist and the gallery were saying "something so small effectively, created all that surrounds it" as all art for me starts with the notion of the pencil, drawing out our ideas etc. It poses the question, what about the simple pencil? don't forget about me!
on the right of the image above you can see on the right wall that a spotlight is drawing attention to a piece. This image sits in a black frame whilst the others are framed in a light or mid brown. This pulls the eye to the image and tells us that it is in some way significant.
In this room there was a children's station with interactive elements such as colouring in books and adventure play games etc. I was not at first aware that the whole space was geared toward and around children, I just found it well thought out that the kiddies station was positioned next to this piece of work. The image depicts several children and dolls and characters in a surreal illustrative style. It references fairytales and fantasy such as red riding hood and alice in wonderland. This could potentially be linked to a child state of mind and imagination. So positioning this next to the creative children's station is very appropriate. I later found out that the entire section was based on "children" and have included some images below illustrating this.
Theodore Garman (1924-1954) The sick child c.1940
The images below show work from Mariele Neudecker. Positioned on a plinth, at above eye level and individually in this space the piece appears to be a code within a cube, or a narrative within a narrative. We are drawn instantly to the work which communicates an 'other worldliness' I is distracting however that the galleries lifts are right behind the piece. I feel as thous in actual fact, this piece may have been more striking in a 'white cube' gallery space than in here where there is more warmth than most likely desired. Looking at Neudeckers other pieces in a previous module I am aware of the cold and somewhat isolated appearance some of her work takes on, and this encourage a viewer to see the inside of her tanks and bowls as another realm.
These coiled dartboard pieces sit at mostly equal distances part and all at the same level. This allows the siring nature of the works themselves to be reflected in the room as they circle its entirety. I stood in the middle of the space and found myself turning to follow the works around the room. As the pieces are dartboard sized yet the room is quite spacious, as a viewer I felt the need to approach the work to get a closer view therefore engaging me instantly just by entering the space. I took closer notice of the pieces because of this.
Major Exhibition, Chiharu Shiota:
An interesting thing about this exhibition is that in order to reach it we descend. There is obvious connotations linked to this that imply a fall from grace, a descent into hell, a change in mood simply from getting "below ground level". Usually a space below ground level would be private or simply for staff so there is also the feeling that we are somehow out of bounds etc. this sets the mood for the space to come.
As you approach the bottom of the stairs, we see shadows cast on the opposing wall, yet we cannot yet see the major piece creating them. This was relatively creepy and conjured thoughts of dreams and nightmares.
Once entering the space an expanse of suitcase are suspended from the ceiling in a wide and impressive arch (shown below)
This arch consumes the space and removes most traces of the pre-existing white cube. Shadows and light bounce off the walls and there is a slight sense of movement to them as though they are swinging just a little on the rope.
The space feels heavy and dark as though the suitcases are full of luggage and about to fall. As I looked up through the cases the contrasting red rope reminded me of blood spatter analysis techniques where red string is used to indicate blood trails and spray. This may be a personal reflection as not every gallery visitor may have knowledge of this. However, red has its own more obvious connotations.
In these images you can see the sheer amount of suitcases that are being suspended and the red rope dominates the upper level. I had a real urge to run up the cases like a flight of stairs, which reflects again the way we descended into the space.
Tactile red hand prints and strokes created in oil pastel here continue the images conjured from using the colour. To me they reference blood, death, anger, and passion. The 'white cube' space was diml lit with spotlights directed at the framed works. This gave me the feeling that we were poking closely at something as though under the microscope and under investigation. This made me more cusrious about the work,
The next space, shown below illustrates to me the potential of work having impact on its surroundings. These woollen installations completely manipulate the spaces that surround them and blind the audience to its original state. The pieces where she used string like this appear like webs, consuming the audience as we walk around a navigated track left as empty space.
Spotlights glare through the expansive web and this to me indicates that we are under scrutiny somehow or being watched. The space and its orchestration makes me feel uncomfortable yet still safe, as though something is there to be taken note of, but it isn't necessarily going to come bite my head off. But that may have come from my own reflection and feeling as though this is like a spider web. (I am not happy about spiders in general.)
The surrounding pictures show letters written from children suspended within the mass of string. They appear weightless and as though caught in motion falling from the sky. like flies trapped in Shiota's metaphorical web. As a viewer I can not see any white walls around me, which gives the impression that the work essentially goes on forever.
Sounds can be heard from the next room whilst in the 'web' and there is a static and uncomfortable mood that comes attached to that sound. It is not a friendly upbeat sound but more a random and spontaneous twitch that has minor notes incorporated so as to sound miserable.
The images below show the space win which the sound originates. It is very different to that of the suitcases or the wool yet there is still the use of red and black in the work which adds continuity. Several screens show separate films, that when viewed in sequence show the emotional steps of a miscarriage that Shiota experienced first hand.
The films are graphic and clearly reference blood and a feeling of emptiness. The polished floor in the space and its white walls contributed to the feelings gained while viewing the work and I had to leave the space as it provoked quite an aggressive response in me.
Although I did not enjoy that section and space, It was clearly put together well or else i ould not have responded the way I did.
