Biennial week - The Tate and The Walker gallery

At the Tate Liverpool they had on the ‘Claude Parent’ exhibition as part of the biennial. I found this exhibition extremely interesting as it was very unusual and like nothing that I had ever seen before, I particularly liked the way that you had to actually stand on the art work to view the other art on display.  I found that I viewed the art differently as I was very aware of the surroundings and what was happening around me and you just automatically viewed the work in a different way without really noticing. I have been to the Tate quite a few times and always enjoy the more permanent exhibitions.

 

 

 

At the Walker gallery there was the John Moore’s painting prize exhibition, I really enjoyed this exhibition and think that it is one of my favorite exhibitions that I have seen during this week. What I found particularly interesting was the way that the exhibition had been put together and the fact that it was right next to one of the galleries with the much older paintings in, and the way that that gallery had an older, darker more historical feel to it and then you walked though some doors and you ended up it a very bright, white more boxy room that seemed much more clean and the paintings were considerably brighter and more colourful. I feel that this was a really interesting contrast and worked really well and you could easily see that you were going to view much more modern paintings, I think that if the older paintings were in a white wall gallery, with very bright lights they would look very out of place and strange and the same with the modern paintings been in a darker gallery with more decorative walls, they just wouldn’t look right.

In the John Moore’s painting prize exhibition I thought some of the paintings were really impressive and captivating/thought provoking, such as:

·         Jo Berry’s – untitled 2013,(this is a painting of a woman lying in a field of on some grass), I found this intriguing as the whole painting is completely out of focus, I feel this makes the piece a lot more interesting and engaging than if it was all in focus and perfectly clear, however when you first look at the painting or look at it from a distance of just glimpse at it, your brain sort of makes it more clear and you just think that your eyes haven’t focused properly yet, but when you actually look more closely at the piece you can see that it meant to look that way, and then the more that you look at it the more you can make out the shapes anymore and it becomes an indescribable blur.

 

 

·         Nicholas Kulkarni’s – Tracer,( this is an abstract painting with a blue background), I was interested in this piece as it was quite different to the painting around it and it is just a very pretty, clean painting, it also reminds me of something (maybe another piece) that I liked but I can’t think what it is.

 

 

·         Frank Pudney – people69104, (another abstract painting made up of tiny marks), I think that this was one of, if not my favorite piece of the whole exhibition, as I find it extremely eye catching yet subtle and I think that it is one of the most beautiful painting I think I have ever seen.

 

 

 

 

·         Hynek Martinec – every minute you are closer to death,(large black and white painting), I was struck by this painting not only because of its vast scale in comparison with the work around it but because of its intriguing subject matter, this painting is of a deer lying on a table, surrounded by fruit and bottles and there is a skull painting/reflection in the background of the image. The deer’s head is the only part of the painting that is a hundred percent clear and in focus. I can’t really tell if the deer is alive or dead or just about to die and I think that is part of what makes this piece interesting, along with the title. I also think the fact that it is in black and white makes the image more captivating and I think that if it was in colour it wouldn’t have as much of an impact.

 

 

There was also a small exhibition about the dazzle ships, as they had four dazzle ship prints that show the work of Edward Wadsworth, the concept of the dazzle camouflage was developed by Norman Wilkinson in 1917. These prints were wood cut prints and they were just black and white and about A3-A4 in size. I really like these prints and they were even more interesting as I had already seen the Carlos Cruz-Diez dazzle ship at the waterfront.

 

 

In the walker they also had a gallery that was full of mainly marble sculptures and busts, I like a lot of them but the main one I found interest in was a sculpture entitled ‘Tinted Venus’ by John Gibson (made of marble and wax).  The sculpture is of Venus (nude) holding an apple with fabric (made out of marble) covering the lower left side of her body. Her lips are tinted red and her head is slightly tilted and there is a tortoise by her foot. I don’t truly know what it is about this sculpture that I like so much, it just really caught my eye and genuinely made me stop and look properly.