Tate Liverpool

Liverpool Tate Gallery:

When arriving at the Tate I wasn’t sure what to expect I had been there before, however it was a long time ago. Upon arrival we were informed about a sculpture exhibition which was taking place. When visiting this exhibition I found several pieces of interesting and unique pieces of art. Some really questioned my thinking on art and what art can be. Throughout the exhibition I started thinking about spaces and objects, how objects fill spaces and how some of the works questioned what spaces really are? and how can space be interpreted? I also came across some really interesting sculptures which I found challenging to decide what point they had. 

 This was a piece I found very interesting. It to me looks like a variety of everyday objects used in a household over a period of time displayed in a controversial way. 

Francis Bacon 1909-92

Study for portrait on folding bed 1963

Oil on canvas

The body looks distorted and mangled in this piece, texture and colour have been used to represent the flesh, bone and blood of the body. To me this piece is slightly frightening and violent. 

 

Richard Patterson

Painted Minotaur 1996-7

Oil on canvas

I like this piece as it is very colourful and textural, it really caught my eye in the gallery and was very interested in the image that was being portrayed. To me this piece is alive and exciting. The blur in the image makes the main focus stand out and the colours in the piece are full of energy.

 

Cornelia Parker

Measuring Niagara with a Teaspoon 1997

Silver

I like the way she has used an everyday object (spoon) and transformed it into something different to create a new meaning and purpose. 

 

Arman 1928-2005

Condition of a woman 1960

Mixed media, metal, wood and glass

This piece is a collection of a woman’s bathroom contents who was Arman’s first wife. In this piece Arman raises questions about value, bringing private life into public and how a woman’s image is constructed by society. I love the use of the everyday objects and how it brings up questions about a woman’s image. 

 

Jeff Koons

Three Ball Total Equilibrium Tank 1985

Mixed Media

I like this piece as the basketballs have been removed from any practical purpose, put in a tank they create another meaning. Koons says they become fetish objects to be gazed and admired at. Basketball was created as a means of achieving fame and fortune. He also suggests the suspended basketballs represent death. This challenges my thinking as I don’t understand how they can possibly represent death. I like how they are suspended in a tank and how you can’t be certain how they are suspended. 

 

 

Michelangelo Pistoletto

Door 1976-1997

Porta

Plywood, plastic and metal

I like this piece as it can mean so many different things to different people. To me this door is an opening to whatever you want it to be. Pistoletto encouraged greater expression of individual personality “Everyone having a sign of their own has the key to the door of art, a door that leads to a reserved intimate, personal space, as well as to the space of social meaning.” I feel this brings up the questions of space and what is space, a door being put in this gallery creates space through it and around it.  

 

Rachael Whiteread

Untitled (Twenty four switches)

Aluminium

I love her work and find it very inspirational. I love the way she uses positive and negative spaces surrounding everyday domestic objects.  She transforms the original object into something new and different. She commented “My works are very much connected with the body and with the human touch. Whether it’s my touch, or someone else’s, or a whole family’s touch, they’re about [an object] that has been used.”

 

Naum Gabo

Torsion 1928-36

Perspex

Gabo sought to create a sense of defined space without enclosing or delimiting it. He used transparent materials to achieve this. I like this piece as it got me thinking about spaces and an object, creating this object has created space around and within the object, the sculpture is transparent so you can see the space within the object.

 

 

Terence Koh

Unititled (A New World Order Lies in this Golden Age) 2006

Glass, wood, bronze, gold leaf and resin

This piece caught my eye as it follows on from the previous thinking about space and objects.  Terence Koh is best known for his installations which contain found objects and handmade sculptures. To me the glass cases create a sense of space within the objects, almost like trapped space. There are objects within objects in some of the glass cases. 

 

Lucio Fontana

Spatial Concept

Canvas

A third dimension is created within this piece by puncturing the prepared fabric with holes. I find this one slightly pointless as to me I don’t find it a piece of art, anyone could do this and there is no real concept behind it.  

 

Jackson Pollock

Number 14

Enamel on canvas

This really caught my eye, the use of expressive mark makings and the energy in this painting really got me interested. I love how abstract and creative it is. I like to work with mark makings in my own work so this piece was inspirational.  

 

Joan Mitchell

Chord 11 1986

Oil on canvas

Mitchell has said her paintings, “they’re very human.” She uses expressive manipulation of materials to communicate to the viewer. Each mark of her work is deliberate and contributes to a natural rhythm of brushstrokes. I think this is an amazing use of colour; this piece is energetic and expressive. I enjoy painting in a similar way to this. 

Rebecca Horn

Pencil Mask 1972

Mixed Media

I feel this piece has a slightly dangerous and usual edge to it, the marks made by these pencils would be random and you couldn’t be sure of the outcome.  Strapped around the face the head has been created to be a drawing tool.  

 Horn states: “ All the pencils are about two inches long and produce the profile of my face in three dimensions...I move my body rhythmically from left to right in front of a white wall...”

 Anthony Gormley

Bed 1980-1

Bread and paraffin wax

This piece is interesting. I like the use of food in this piece. Gormley describes sculpture as “a visual means to refer to things which cannot be seen.”  He uses the space left by his consumption of his body mass in slices of bread to represent “the infinity of space within the body”

This questions the space around our body and in our bodies, space we cannot see or feel. I also think this sculpture represents the passing of time; the bread has gone mouldy in parts and could have started to disintegrate which happens to us humans when death occurs. 

 

Marc Quinn

The Etymology of Morphology 1996

Silvered glass

This piece is interesting as it stand out in the gallery; the shine of it and the shapes are eye catching. This piece is challenging as I can’t really understand what it is or the purpose of it. To me it represents puddles which are random and unusual, but at the same time I find it very exciting.

Sampling Breif- Evaluation

The second part of this brief has been exciting and interesting, writing your own brief is much more enjoyable than being forced into something you have to base your work around. Choosing what you want to do and exploring things that interest you has proved to be exhilarating. I have enjoyed looking at patterns within natural forms and explored colours and textures throughout.

I have also explored using leaves and twigs to use as drawing tools; this helped me be expressive in my drawings. After the first half of this project I felt pretty confident in writing my own brief, having an idea of how I wanted to move on with the project exploring colours and textures helped the development of my work. 

I really enjoyed the dye workshop, using the resistant techniques created some brilliant textures and patterns which relate really well to natural forms. Binding the fabrics created circular patterns which I found very interesting. The dyes almost brought out a mystery in them with the colour combinations created which most of the time was not purposeful, that’s why I enjoyed the workshop so much. With the dip dyes you could never be certain how the samples would turn out which made it exciting. 

 

 I combined some machine work into these samples to make them more interesting and to add textures to help interpret my project. I feel some of the dye samples have a real textural quality relating to the earthy and natural textures I have been exploring. 

Some samples are quiet robust which I found interesting as I feel this has a relation to the natural forms I have been looking at. I have thought a lot about colour within the samples and found it hard at times to get the correct colours. To overcome this I decided to choose a more varied colour palette so I wasn’t stuck with just a few colours. 

I haven’t really focused much on the opposing words in this half of the project however I feel chaos still relates in the mark makings and drawings done. I was more focused on the textures and patterns I could create. I feel I have shown my interpretations much better in this second half than the first half.  I think this is because I felt a bit stuck at the start of the first and couldn’t decide which way to go, however I felt more confident about the second half as I wrote it myself and had a plan of what I wanted to do before starting it, it also followed on from the previous work done so that helped develop my work.

Natural forms

Monday 13th Feb..Drawing Day

I found the drawing workshop very exciting and inspiring. We were asked to bring in a variety of materials in order to create our own drawing tools. I am an expressive drawer so decided to make tools to create a sense of looseness and make my drawings more free. Some of these drawings are done by using natural forms such as leaves and twigs relating well to my project. The marks created are random which makes them interesting. Colours used are ones used in my project too.  This workshop helped me look at drawing a different way, the marks made are random but purposeful you don’t know the outcome which is what I find exciting.

Samples

I have been developing samples by creating machine samples relating to imagery I have from the natural forms I found. I have thought about texture and experimented through colour. I feel they create a natural texture. I have also started to develop my dye samples by sewing into them creating lines and patterns reflecting the natural form patterns.

Lecture

In last week’s lecture we were asked to think about the concept of space and place. This brought up a lot of discussion about what a place is? What a space is? Can these things be defined? I thought a lot about how a place or space could be described. To me a space can be created into a place if it holds significance or has a meaning or purpose. Memories can create places. Places to people can just be spaces to others.  We also were looking at objects and spaces. I feel space is sometimes only recognised when an object is in it. We create space within objects so other objects can go into them i.e. a chest of draws.  We also create space when decorating as people say “we need to create space for...” Having something personal to you in a space may create a place.  I found this lecture really interesting and was interested to see what other people thought.

I remember looking at James Turrell’s work in last terms lectures and felt this really linked to space and place. He creates spaces which have a window within them to create a sense of time passing by. He is almost creating a place out of a space for these people to come visit, giving the space a purpose.