Gallery Visits
Asylum Art Gallery
On the 25th October 2019, I visited the Asylum art gallery in Wolverhampton, where Alex Shepley was holding an exhibition, 'sometimes doing nothing leads to something'. it was a small building shoved behind other houses, the outside was warn down, and to get to it you need to walk down a small alleyway, and from this my first impressions were not very high. Luckily my first impression was completely wrong, you wall in and its this beautiful, white space. straight ahead was a old wooden door which leads to know where, and light bouncing in through the skylights.
To the right of me as I walked in were these pieces of cloth which has been stitched into hanging from wooden frames, it was an interesting concept but for me personally I was a bit annoyed by them, the stitched cloth was beautiful, and detailed but the way they were thrown on, prevented me from seeing the whole thing, I do understand this may be the case, but the work being about tracking Shepley's walk and creating work from that, I didn't see a link to the wooden frames.
To the right from where you come in were a selection of old TV's piled on some sort of trolley, and on the TV's were films or Shepley going round with a brush, and sweeping away rubbish or dirt on the ground, mainly outside or in abandon places. this suggests to me that no matter how much he sweeps and cleans and brushed, it isn't going to be to how it was, a sense of frustration as you know it will never be fully cleaned.
This is the last piece I want talk about is my favourite piece, and I'm not 100% sure why its my favourite, maybe down to the spontaneous way it was created, as they were just sheets of paper to stop paint getting on the floor, but Shepley found them fascinating, and worked into them, with pen, more paint, even stitching into it creating this little series of work. These's really drew me in closer, wanting me to get as close as I could to them to admire all the different detail on it.
Tate Liverpool
The Tate is a gallery I have been to so many times, and over the last three to four years I have gotten to know it really well, and I must say its one of the galleries which really tried to change up to art work quite often, and is amazingly free entry. There are a fair few pieces of work which didn't take my fancy much like Vivian Suter, don’t get me wrong I can see why certain people love her work but for me its more child like than skill. I love abstract paintings but I love ones that have been worked into and you can see the times its taken to make, but Suter’s work is not that for me. This was my first impression of her work, my appreciation came afterwards as I read about her work and the understanding and idea behind it, she leaves her artwork outdoors to be exposed to the weather and nature, if you look closely you can see some leaves and paw prints from her dog. This exhibition is inspired by the tropical landscape of Panajachel in Guatemala, which is where she lives and where she produces all her work. But from this I like the idea behind kit and the story behind it more than the finished piece.
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​The exhibition I loved the most in the Tate was In the Op Art in Focus exhibition, and it was a piece which was created by Jim Lambie and called Zopop. I loved it due to the repetition and satisfaction of this piece and it looks as if I should not be allowed to walk on it but you are. It’s a combination off lines, geometric shapes and eye popping coloured tape to create artworks that confuse the eye. The piece could be disorienting when walking towards it as if there is not floor. There are pieces on the wall all around this floor piece but I was too distracted by this that the other work seemed obsolete.
The Walker Liverpool
On my visit to Liverpool, I went round the walker art gallery. Compared to the Tate this is a very traditional gallery. To the right as you walk in is a room of white body statues, and gives me a very delicate feel. Proceeding upstairs where all the paintings start. You walk from room to room being overwhelmed with walls covered in loads of beautiful detailed traditional paintings. I understand that each piece is an amazing work of art but, the style of painting becomes abit repetitive. There’s a copy of the Mona Lisa, done by a different artist, not long after the original was created, which if you cant witness the original this is still a jaw dropping creation.
As a lovely break from the classic paintings you get to the turner prize winners room, full of modern paintings from previous turner prizes. If you’re worried about only finding traditional paintings, then the walker is probably 70% traditional 30% abstract. The abstract paintings are also all produced on a large scale, which really gives an impressive impression.
When I visited there was an exhibition showing Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing. These were incredibly detailed small sketches, some looked like they had been taken out of sketch books. These drawings are amazing little drawings but I don’t think they deserved to shown like that, they were mainly framed and place on a wall, that’s not how they should be displayed. There were other shown on tables in glass cases, that more like i expected them to be shown, due to the fact that that are not main pieces of work, not finished pieces. Don’t get me wrong they are amazing little creations but should be shown how they were made, on a table for people to gaze upon. Not on walls like finished pieces of artwork.
