Painting Now - Tate Britain

The Painting Now exhibition is one that I enjoyed very much, showing the works of five contemporary artists. Starting with Tomma Abts, the paintings are neither figurative nor abstract but are more concerned with showing the process of the artist as none of the pieces are planned beforehand and result simply by instinct and letting the paint be the guide. By layering and making marks, Abts creates pieces that explore depth, volume and space. This was followed by Simon Ling who paints urban landscapes that appear to be crumpling and swaying. Ling, who often paints en plein air, captures the seemingly ordinary and overlooked parts of urban London, in what could be almost a kind of expressionist manner.

'Zebe'- Tomma Abts

Untitled- Simon Ling

The artists the stood out the most to me were Lucy Mckenzie and Gillian Carnegie. Mckenzie has a more conceptual approach compared to the other artists in the exhibition, which she combines her skills demonstrated through the tompe l'oeils and marble effect painting in 'Loos House'. In her triptych 'Quodlibet XII, XXII and XX- have been subtitled Objectivism, Nazism and Fascism respectively, Mckenzie paints what seem to be proposals for interiors, pinned on a board with paint samples, marbling effects, architectural drawings and furniture pictures (with the odd copy of an Ayn Rand book of a leaflet about socialists. Mckenzie invites the viewer to explore how a person's ideologies and character can be identified through their houses/interiors, how they are seen on the surface, through their fashion statements, their brands as well as their interiors. One might question Mckenzie's role in the exhibition because she is not a 'painter' in the sense that it is the ideas in the her work that matter rather than the material itself. However, she is still incredibly skilled in her craft and revives trompe l'oeils which have not been seen in contemporary art in a very long time. Gillian Carnegie is also a highly accomplished painter who's sleek, glossy, monochrome paintings are strangely geometric. One of her works that I found to be most intriguing depicts a group of houses, painted in the same slightly dull, monochrome palette, with a kind of glaze as if seen through a thick layer of fog. It's almost dreamlike- both heavy and weightless at the same time.

'Nazism' - Lucy Mckenzie

Gillian Carnegie's depiction of the Holly Lodge Estate

Jake and Dinos Chapman's 'Come and See'

Gory, gruesome and carnivalesque- those are the words I'd use to describe the Chapman's 'Come and See' exhibition at the Serpentine Sackler...

They imagine a horrific vision of the future, where Nazi soldiers, zombie like creatures and multi-headed mutants and Ronald McDonald (the victim in some instances and the abuser in others) all torture one another for all of eternity as depicted in 'Hell' and 'The Sum of All Evil'. These dioramas are both large and intricately, every figure is meticulously detailed as they stand frozen in a portrayal of their suffering, and upon closer inspection, doing rather shocking things to one another. Although I personally find that the message behind these two works, if there even is one definitive message, their work focuses on the themes of death, morality, consumerism and corruption.

The ideas of death can also be found in the traditional portraits that hang in the gallery, appropriated by the artists to make the flesh look rotten and decaying, the eyeballs in one painting appearing to be dark and terrifying as they bulge out. The series is titled 'One day you will no longer be loved' and for me, there is no horror in these paintings, only a kind of sadness as the viewer is reminded of the impermanence of beauty, love and life.

I found that although the larger pieces such as 'Hell' were stunning and shocking and brilliant, the true essence of the ideas and slightly childish and humorous approach to very serious issues lay in the smaller pieces such as the mini cardboard sculptures or the watercolour, pencil and pen drawings and etchings, illustrated strange and gruesome scenarios of monsters and unknown creatures emerging from the shadows and wreaking havoc. In several of these smaller works, the artists paint on pages from books, the text from which has either been altered or is written entirely by themselves as it is incoherent and ominous. 

Lastly, one cannot speak of this exhibition without mentioning the rainbow socks clad Ku Klux men dotted around the gallery space, each one complete with white robes with a smiley face, a pointed hat, rainbow socks and sandals, staring intently at the art work. At first their presence is shocking and unexpected (the ever staring figures was quite unnerving) but soon I grew oddly accustomed to seeing them around. Perhaps they are representations of the Chapman's audience? Although I fail to understand why they would refer to their audience as white supremacists. Overall, I found the exhibition to be shocking and strange yet interesting, leaving me with questions about the cynical, nightmarish impression of violence and inhumane world that the Chapman's leave behind.

Animation for 'Bodies, Cities, Time, Borders'

I chose to explore 'bodies' and 'time', focusing on what happens to the body and soul over time and after death. I was inspired by the following poems: 

A verse from Walt Whitman's 'Song of Myself': 

'I bequeathe myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,

  if you want me again, look for me under your boot-soles.'

and Mary Elizabeth Frye's 'Do not stand at my grave and weep':

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not here; I did not die.

Following this theme of death only being the gateway to a different life, I wished to portray the idea that though the body does not remain, the soul may still do; surrendering itself to where it came from, becoming a part of the life that surrounds us.

This is the short animation that I made in response to these ideas..

Flight- One Day Project

For a short one day project titled 'Flight' we created a book sculpture. Our element of 'flight' came from a flock of origami birds that were flying out of a books...

Making and Drawing Workshop

After choosing three words from a list, ours being 'fold', 'suspend' and 'light', we were asked to create sculptures using any of the materials found in the room. These are the results:

Then we proceeded to draw our sculptures, as well as those made by other students, using different methods such as continuous line drawn, and drawing only in straight lines.