KISHAN THAKRAR
A LEVEL ART PHOTOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO
Year 10 Trip to London
27th June 2014
The
Summer Exhibition
@
The Royal
Academy
We visited the Royal Academy which held the Summer Exhibition. The Summer Exhibition is the world's largest open entry exhibition and has been held for almost 250 years. The exhibition held many works from contemporary artists and a few traditional artists. I thought that some pieces were very unusual, but I did find some useful inspiration for my AS project. After reading about specific pieces of work, I found that there was a lot of hidden meaning behind them, which also helped me put into perspective the arrangements of the pieces in rooms. The exhibition showed a wide range of techniques to portray similar messages and meanings, which opened up a whole variety of ideas and inspiration.
'Making Colour'
@The National Gallery
After browsing the magnificent paintings at the National Gallery, we entered the 'Making Colour' exhibition. This helped me understand the origins of some colour, and how inks and dyes for different colours have come from very different places.
On the right is a colour wheel created by Moses Harris, who was an English entomologist from the 18th Century. Harris examined Isaac Newton's works and looked at how so many colours could be formed from 3 basic colours.
It was interesting to see how different colours can create different emotions in viewers' minds.
Black and White Room
Curated by Cornelia Parker
Cornelia Parker's Black and White room featured in the exhibition was something I found particularly interesting because the fact that it lacked colour in an exhibition that is elsewhere full of colour made it stand out.
Reflect by Sara Lee
I liked this piece because it was very simple; there was nothing to distracting about it and the colours flowed well. It was a woodcut piece and depicted a landscape with trees, and the fact that wood was used made sense in terms of the 'nature' theme. Essentially, two colours are used, but the texture of the wood added interest to the piece.
Lee's work is known to 'question our emotional and physical relationship to an evolving and exterior space', and that is what makes her work very unique.
It was priced at £525 in the exhibition, which was higher than my estimate of £200.
Violin (Chatsworth) by Michael Craig-Martin
This screenprint piece by Craig-Martin caught my eye particularly because of its vivid colours that really stood out. The colours that he chose work really well together, as they contrast in places and blend well in others, which works brilliantly. I admire the simplicity of the design; the background being one plain colour really helps bring out the vibrant red violin.
It was on sale for £1,700 at the exhibition, a lot higher than my estimate of £200, but given that Craig-Martin has taught the likes of Damien Hurst and Gary Hume, the high price makes sense.
Tankstelle by Marion Mandeng
I liked this piece especially because it looks like the objects are miniature, and that is what my AS project incorporates - miniature objects in big environments. Mandeng selects parts of photos and places them on plain backgrounds so that the subject really stands out, and in this piece as with her other work, it proves very effective. The edges are mostly straight rather than curved, and the photo almost appears to be cut out.
It was priced at £2,100, which was also high above my estimate of less than £200.
Cork Street Galleries
The galleries along Cork Street contained some very interesting pieces of art, and I found that even some of the galleries themselves were pieces of minimalist art.
It was interesting to see lots of new and upcoming artists' work and also art from around the world, namely the Gallery of African Art which showcased one or two African artist's paintings and sculptures, inspired by the African festivities, culture and wildlife.
The Alan Christie Gallery
I really liked the layout of this gallery, as it was very minimalistic and clutter-free so that the art was the main focus, and it was filled with white colours that made the gallery very light.
Some of the pieces, like in the picture to the right, I found really interesting because I liked how the splats were put together with different types of brushes.
There were impressive paintings like the one below but these were not directly related to my AS project.
= photo taken by me.
