Writing about Art Practice
Looking at Mike Nelson's installation in the Duveen Galleries at Tate Britain, 2019, 'a cross between a sculpture court and an asset strippers’ warehouse' that includes objects from the post-war Britain including enormous knitting machines, woodwork stripped from a former army barracks, graffitied steel awnings and doors from an NHS hospital and a variety of …
Continue reading "London: Mike Nelson ‘The Asset Strippers’ at The Duveen Galleries, Tate Britain."
I picked this book up a few days ago not thinking it would hold much of interest as I have read a lot on Bacon and other artists of that time and I have not painted for a few years now but I tore through it in three days and I would highly recommend it …
I am falling behind on my blogging. I meant to post this straight after my Franz West review. Still here it is now. These are the notes which a scribbled and sketched as I walked around. I wouldn't bother trying to read the hand writing (CJ 😀 ). Though I take photos a notebook is …
I spent nearly four hours in Phyllida Barlow's Cul de Sac mostly sketching and drawing as it helps me to see work better. In this case the sketching didn't really change my initial impression of the show but at least I feel I made a good effort to give it all my attention. I mostly …
Like many others I only heard of Barlow in recent years, after I had begun work on my own big constructions. I loved the images of her work in the Duveen Galleries at the Tate Britain - the bigness, the sloppiness, the teeteringness - and loved her earlier work too but looking at an image …
Continue reading "London : Phyllida Barlow at the Royal Academy."
I was in London a few weeks back specifically to attend a lecture on Phyllida Barlow's Cul de Sac - a show at the Royal Academy which I will post about next - but my first stop was Franz West's retrospective at the Tate Modern. I didn't know much about West's work which is possibly …
I loved all the artist showing at the Laurieston Arches, well nearly all. All the works exhibited energy, style and wit as well as keeping an eye to their surroundings so this will mostly be a picture post.
One really good way to look at something, the best I think, is to draw it. No matter how much I think I have studied something, when I draw it, it really opens up for me. However I didn't get to draw much on this trip as there was so much to see and I …
No matter how well I try to organise myself with notebooks and cameras, when I am touring a lot of exhibitions, notes end up being excitedly scrawled all over the place and photographs range from most excellent to awful to non-existent, the last two being because of a very wonky phone with big black blotched …
Ah the spaces again. The ground floor of Oxford house contains some swish 'solicitory 'type offices. One had to ring the invigilator to come down and escort one through the glass doors. The next floor is a complete contrast to the offices below. The walls, floors and ceilings are stripped back to display the buildings old …
Continue reading "Glasgow : Michael White et al at Oxford House"
In the same block as that kitsch shopping mall but in the building next door a number of floors contain works by various artists. This building may once have been a small factory as each room is long and bright dotted with pillars and lined with windows on either side. Material objects is a show …
Continue reading "Glasgow : Material Objects & Transmuted Worlds at The Savoy Centre"
The show I was looking forward to most was Urs Fischer's. In fact his was the only name I recognised. I had devoted a chapter of my dissertation to his work You (2007). You consisted of Fischer digging out the floor of a new York Gallery to the depth of eight feet. His practice is …
Continue reading "Glasgow : Urs Fischer & Sol le Witt at The Modern Institute"
Three of us walked out to the Glasgow Sculpture Studio in the showery weather to see a show of works from the Sculpture Adoption Scheme which tries to match artworks to situations. On the way we took in Toby Paterson at the Civic House and Lauren Gault and Sarah Rose in the Forthe and Clyde …
Continue reading "Glasgow Sculpture Studios : Sculpture Adoption Scheme"
Walked into the room and just loved these works by Nnena Kalu. So big, colourful, messy and ... present. I love to 'meet' works of art. I am finding it harder and harder to appreciate two-dimensional work be it painting of video, especially if it does not draw me in. I realise this is to …
The Civic House is a stunning building in a city of stunning buildings, many of which are more splendiforous for their ramshackleness. Well the ones I saw. The upstairs room in the Civic house is a long rectangular room of a satisfying proportion we no longer often experience. It is filled with light from the …
This was the first show we saw and I loved it. It was at the Glasgow School of Art and combined projection, video, animation, sculpture and sound. Rather than reviewing it or describing it in depth I will just jot down the notes I made on the spot. If you want to know more check …
Continue reading "Glasgow : Torsten Lauschman ~ War of the Corners"
The Savoy Centre on Sauchiehall Street is worth a visit International art show or not. It is like taking a walk back into the seventies. The ceilings and lights are low and units crowded with tat and kitsch and all sort so wonderous sparkly things alongside a Chinese Medical Centre, a keycutting shop straight out …
This finally arrived in the post this week after I had ordered it a month ago as Lucy suggested it would be a good read. I am looking forward to it. Of necessity many of the texts we are reading are years, sometimes decades old. These are seminal texta and it is important we all …
This was my thought of the day... 'As an artist it is necessary to make shit work to avoid making shit work in the future.' Yesterday's exhaustion carried over into today an I started off cranky. The first hour, Research Methodologies, was about how to construct a bibliography. Sadly for me I have to do …
Continue reading "Week 4 : Situations-The White Cube at The Glucksman"
I have been writing on a variety of subjects on a few different blogs for a few years now and its been a terrific learning experience. The feedback I have received from family, friends and supporters has been instrumental in driving me on but so far I have not received any recognition from a recognised …
Cowboy Building 