'Inside the Circle of Fire' Chris Watson Millennium Gallery Sheffield

Today I visited  'Inside the Circle of Fire' by Chris Watson at Millennium Gallery Sheffield 

I had read previously about the exhibition although after being it is certainly the type of exhibition 

you need to go and physically experience.

The setup felt very open and welcoming, having a set of seats made the it feel  a little closed 

off from the outside world, which was good, as it was closed off from distractions, allowing you to focus 

purely on the sounds and imagery provided.

I found all the sound recording very interesting, although they were only everyday sounds, 

I thought it was well put together, alot of the sounds were things we hear everyday, 

but rarely would stop to listen, I found it nice that Watson highlights them, in a way 

that interests peoples, making them want to stop and listen.

Also all the recordings and imagery were source from Sheffield, which a lot of

people viewing the exhibition could probably be able to relate to, I think that connection

is nice, and although important, even with people that aren't familer with the city

alot of the scenery and sounds are things most people will have seen and heard before.

I am glad that I took the time to visit this exhibition, I feel it has inspired me with my

current project which is based on documenting, on my train ride home I begun to record

my journey and take a few pictures, I feel its a really nice way of document and has alot of 

possibilities.  

Banks Mill Studio Exhibition Derby

Whilst attending an open day at Derby University I had to chance to go and see the Banks Mill Open Studios exhibition, which was only a few minutes walk from the university.

The exhibition featured a lot of different artists, some having come from Derby University, it was really good to see a range of professional. working artists displaying and selling their work to the public, alot of them were very friendly to and it was nice to have a chance to talk about what they do, being a fairly small exhibition i think it gave artists a better chance to connect with the public.

A artist that I really liked was Mig Holder, a textile designer graduate from Derby University. Holder creates work using only recycled materials, her work could be described as being abstract, figurative and oftan wearable. Holder's way of working with recycled and found materials interests me, as it is a similar to what I like to do, therefore found her work quite inspiring and influential.

Lindsay Seers 'Monocular' The Quad, Derby

Whilst visiting Derby University on a open day I took the chance to check out what was on at the Quad in the city centre and got to view Lindsey Seers piece 'Monocular' which was being shown for the first time.

Seer's piece features a documentary style film set in an intimate space enclose in a tin hut structure, walking in to the gallery room gave a very isolated eerie sense and the hut felt disconnected from the world in a way.

Narrated by an Norwegian/English man with a rare condition called genetic mosaicism, caused by two fertilized eggs at an early stage of gestation in the womb.

Seer's explores genetic mosaicism in this piece, looking at people it has affected all over the world,
but mainly focusing on the story the narrator has to tell.

As a viewer we were given the chance to develop an emotional connection with the man and hearing about his background and how he feels about his condition and how it has affected his life, we are give an insight into what it was like for him.

Growing up the man did not have a great childhood, he had a hard time at school, his parents divorced and his mother remarried to an English and relocated them from Norway to England, away from his father.

All his life the man felt consumed by his condition, he could feel another side to his personality,  feeling his left eye did not belong to him and was apart of his 'absorbed twin' brother, he would go on long walks just to try escape alittle and feel freer.  he began to experience dark patches distorting his vision in his left eye and was diagnosed with cancer and had his eye removed, removing his twin brother along with it.

Oliver Kugar (2D Design)

Oliver Kugar is a documentary illustrator that works from life or reference from photographs he’s taken of things that scenes and objects that interest him but the majority of his work is landscapes.

He disaplines himself to 2D design as his preferred style and uses a thin pen and light colours to capture his surroundings and interests.

The main things I like about Kugar’s work is the beautiful spontaneity, impulsiveness and freedom that he possessives when it comes to producing art. This provides his art work with a great realism, really bringing the pieces to life, allowing us to feel a little more involved and give an insight into his life through his work. I love the fresh, subtle tones of the colour he uses and the fine lining of pen gives the piece a sense of delicacy.

I really enjoy the fluidity of Kugar’s pencil drawings, their simplistic nature and lack of colour allows you to focus on the piece as an over all form.

Stefan Sagmeister (2D Design)

Stefan Sagmeister, Austrian graphic designer based in New York City working in his own design firm Sagmeister & Walsh Inc.

Studied at the University of Applied Arts Vienna

Sagmeister has collaborated with David Byrne and Lou Reed, produced work for David Byrne’s Afropea compilation album and the Rolling Stones Bridges to Babylon. Producing album covers for many musicians including the OK GO, Aerosmith and Pat Metheny, Sagmeister has become an iconic graphic designer of his time.

   

Although a lot of Sagmiester’s work is digitized, he tries to break away and use a wide varitety of media, making his work very experimental and diverse.  I like the organic aspect to his work, from using himself for portraits and figuritive art applying various markings to his skin to using nature such as trees, wildlife to create unique designs.  His typeograhpy designs are also interesting and I particularly like the sketchy rough style he creates on his body, it seems very realistic and give the effect that  someones has actually cut into his skin, although a little unsettling and graphic, the overall appearance makes for a really nice interesting piece.

Sagmiester’s work combines a lot of elements such as humor, wit, embracing sexuality. I think what strengthens his work most is the concepts behind his work and the great passion that he puts into each piece.  He really makes you think about his work because of the initiative style he uses.

The Guardian Collection: photography - video

Came across this looking on the Guardian website.
a collection of some really nice images and great photographers.
http://www.theguardian.com/guardian-collection/video/photography

Banksy sells work for $60 in Central Park, New York – The Guardian

Britsh grafifi street artist Banksy sets up a stall in New York City with an elderly man selling signed, original artworks done by Basksy himself, however overall the takings for the day are only $420 (£263) after selling several paintings.

I found this story really interesting, the well known graffiti artist who loves to poke fun at the art world seems to have played a practical joke on the public.

I think by the overall set up, generally we would never assume that the paintings were originals, as there are many knock offs and stalls selling cheap versions of this artists work, I don't think people would instinctively think that these are worth thousands of pounds.

 Whats interesting about the video is watching the elderly man sit there in almost boredom, not really engaging with the public, or seeming too fussed about making a sale, which sets him aside from most market sellers who tend to be more encouraging.

Although what is interesting is when he makes a sell, he very friendly hugs, and kisses each person suggesting that they've got a real bargain.

The set up and video itself is a piece of art I think, to show that we shouldn't attached ourselves to an artists name, just because they may be famous, we shouldn't let they be why we like a piece of art.

Gavin Worth (3D Design)

Gavin Worth is a sculptural artist, creating realistic yet abstract forms from wire.
mainly figurative, he creates simple outlines to describe the basic form.

'And light fell on her face through the heavy darkness' this piece interested me most,
I was drawn to it by the sheer looseness of it, combined with waves of the wire, create a sense of freedom.

The piece is about hope, and finding it through a mass of darkness that looms over the face in the piece.
What I really like about this is the different angles to it, from the side it just looks like a wire just put together, but as you walk around you see the piece slowly form into a face, with changing shapes of lighting falling over the face. overall i think this is a very clever piece, I like that although its a still piece, Worth manages to create fluidity and motion by people walking around it.

Wire structure (3D Design)

Given the word 'Press' to work from, I looked at wire and the many ways it can be pressed and shaped into different forms.

I liked the looseness of the piece, and how it flows and connects, I added tissue paper to add depth to the piece, I think it works nicely with the creases and folds in the paper, also the bold contrast between the wire and paper works well.

I could take this piece further by adding colour but i think it's nice with just the black and grey as it as nice tonal qualities and has a minimal and simplistic aspect to it

Richard Sweeney and Rowan Mersh

Richard Sweeney

born in Huddersfield, England in 1984.
studied at Batley School of Art and Design in 2002 and went on to study Three Dimensional Design at the Manchester Metropolitan University.

Sweeney explores the potential of paper, transforming this material into unique sculptures.

Sweeney's work is very clean, detailed and precise,
his work is interesting, I like all the different angles to one piece and their dynamic structures.

Rowan Mersh 

Mersh, a graduate at the Royal Collage of Art in 2005 continues to produce mult media sculptures,
creating diverse and very experimental sculptures through his intuitive response to materials and what they can do, transforming basic materials into interesting pieces of art.

3D Paper experiments

 Scored paper and experimented with folds

 Thin printing paper, folding technique.

Erwin Wurm Response (Tshirt/matierals)

I used photoshop to enahnce and vary the colours and tones within theses images to make them more exposed and stonger.
I quite liked the process of this, as I did not know the outcome, I just took the matierals and expirmented.

Erwin Wurm Photography Response (Group Chair Activity)

A group activity using chairs to respond to Erwin Wurm's work.

I like how lively and freestyle these images are, although we are responding to Wurm's work, each of us is doing it in our own way, making it original.

I like how its temporary, working with our bodies and chairs gives the opportunies to create more variations fast and easily.  

3D object representation and drawing experiments

 This series of drawings originated from a few drawings of an object, then I went on to make a 3D represention of the object and begun this series of drawings.

timed, 5 minutes
stick and ink
pastal
wash
collage
masking tape

Negative shape of object done in a wash in the background, college of object made up of scraps of a previous drawing

All this series was done timed, with eyes closed drawing with mainl stick and ink and a continuous line. Although at times I found this way of working frustrating, I quite liked it, once I got into it.

I felt having less control over what I was doing gave me a sense of freedom, not having to worry if what I was doing was okay or not, I just trusted in myself.

Overall I liked the drawings I produced, I think they show a good variation of mark making and mixed media and although the drawing may not be entirely accurate, the style and the overall looseness is nice, and reflects the task.

Graham Brock (Travel Artist)

English painter
Travels across the world gaining his inspiration,
His work tends to look at how we populate natural
environments, Brock looks at seasides, cityscapes,
painting postcard style pictures, his style similer to
impressionism combined with realism.

I like how real he makes his work, his paintings can
tell a story. I think it's a nice connection Brock makes
with natural environments and people

RIchard Long (Travel Artist)

Richard Long

English sculpture
Photographer and Painter
Contemporary land artist.

Long's work is influenced by nature and solitary walks he takes, in his piece 'A line made by walking' he simply walked back and fort down a a trail of grass till he imprinted a single straight line on it and photographed his results.

I like this way of working, its simplistic and does not require much apart from the maker and his camrea, which links in to nature being simple and basic.

The black and white toned down colour of the photography highlights the line nicely as it disappears into the dark woods, which appear dramatic with the dark tones.

Danny Gregory (Travel Artist)

Danny Gregory is an illustrator, filmmaker and author  of several books.
He creates illustrated journals documenting places he's been and things he's seen. he uses a range of media from pencils to ink to crayons to watercolours, he is always changing and likes to vary the size of his journals from quite big to small.


I like how everything's not to detailed, the looseness of his sketches adds motion and realism.
it's nice how he doesnt try make everything to perfect, as he's sketching something right before him, I think its easy to imagine and feel involved in the image.

The light, subtle use of colour adds a nice shine, combined with sketchy ink pen marks.

Sophie Calle

Photographer, installation and conceptual french artist.
Sophie Calle's work relates to traditonal concepts and focus ore on her ideas rather than a finished piece.






She portrays human vulnerability and extinguishes identity and intimacy within her work. Calle likes to allow others to furnish her work with they're opinion of it and create idea own idea of what shes trying to say.
Works such as 'Talking to stangers' were influenced after she returned to Paris and wanted to get reacquented with the city, so she follow or approached strangers and would ask for directions, request to be taken somewhere of their choice. doing this takes a certain level of trust I think, with the other person, the idea of social contact, Calle is rewarded by strangers kindness. I like how alot of her work relies on communication and help of others.

Karla Black

 Karla Black creates sculptural installation pieces, using raw materials.

I find interesting that Black doesn't foucs on her work having any sort of meaning, she makes art purely for it to serve a funtion, she wants people to see her work as a physical object rather than over complicating it with a meaning. I think this is good as it allows her to play around with materials more and be free, rather than spending time worrying if her work has a meaning.

she creates raw, alive work made from traditional art materials, plaster, bits of makeup and bath bombs, her work has been described has being feminine, fragile and delicate, because of some of the materials she uses such as make up, and the coulour scheme of alot of her work being very pastal colored pinks and light colours which people analyse to much i think as being feminine however Black strongly disagrees with this, because who's to say what's feminine or not. Black uses materials that interests her, I don't believe
she is really trying to represent any hidden meaning.

I really like how earthly and natural her work is and the strong impact the large scale of each piece creates. I think Black transforms our perception of materials, we see basic materials in it's rawest form which allows us to understand them abit more I think.

Tony Cragg

Tony Cragg is a British sculpture artist who uses found materials and recycles them into sculpted art.
anything from household waste to construction refuse.

Cragg takes mostly broken up bits of colour plastic, creating very tactile, vibrant pieces of mosaic designs for walls and floors. His concern for our environment and wanting to restrict the amount of pollution reflects in his work, by savaging waste products and transforming them into works of art we learn to see waste in a new way, which may encourage us to recycle more.




I really like the arrangement of Cragg's work, I think it's clever, how he compiles each individual piece according to the nature of it, such as matching each piece of broken up bits of plastic to its own color, his organisation is contrasting to the idea of waste, as when we throw something away, unless we're recycling it into specific bins, we don't really tend to care if it looks neat, but this is another way Cragg reinvents waste.

Annette Messager

Annette Messager is know for her installations with either photographs  performance installations, stuff toys and other materials. Although some of her work has a childlike aspect such as her performance piece 'Motion/Emotion 2012' where she displays hanging dolls, clothes and wigs being swayed around by fans, I like the playful aspect she presents in her work, however at the same time it can be quite disturbing and eerie.  

Theatrical, sinister, bizarre, disturbing and obscene could all be used to describe Messager's work, alot of her work questions society and tries to bring light to female empowerment, being brought up in a  time where woman had very little rights, Messager took influence from this which shows in her work.

  She portrays sex, love, beauty, pain and power within alot of her pieces from a womans perspective, the way she displays her work is what I like most. Her work is mainly installation based, she’ll often have work pinned  to the wall, hanging from above, or scattered on the floor, this gives 

the work a sense of freedom, and is less restricted then most installation pieces, it also allows viewers to see her work from an interesting perspective, as with a lot of her work it’s place in an open space, hanging from the ceiling, you can walk around to fully embrace it.

Erin Wurm

In Erwin Wurm's 'One Minute Sculptures series' which started in the late 1990's he uses any materials he has at hand, set up in a studio space people are encouraged to get involved and create improvised works of art on the spot, documented by film and photography.

I find Wurm's work very interesting, although the act of making is done in a fun, playful and quite a child like way, the outcome of some pieces can be abit grim and dark and touch on subjects such as violence and warfare, but I like how the outcome of his work isn't entirely dependent on him, also in this series particularly, how each piece only lasts for one minute, and then its gone, it's like the the materials get recycled for another individual to take a different approach.


(Erwin Wurm: One Minute Sculptures (1997) © Erwin Wurm (detail))


I like the composition of Wurm's work, like the image of a woman lying flat on the floor witha suitcase on top of her, it appears shes passed out, and perhaps been injured from the way shes posed, and the perspective we see of her in this image, looking at it, this image to me suggests assault, violence, which contrasting to the act of which it was produced, which was spontaneous and playful.