Anish Kapoor

Went to the Anish Kapoor exhibition in the Royal Academy of Arts in London last night.

The whole exhibition was created for the Royal Academy of Arts and the rooms that it was going to inhabit.   So, the pieces were designed after figuring out the space, although some of the designs were based off of previous work that he had created.

So, the first thing is that the art on show seemed to have some kind of meaning behind it but it was not clear what this meaning was.   It was almost operating at a sub-concious level.   What I'm trying to say is that the objects on display were from the sub-concious so there was no direct meaning to anything but all of it just seemed to make sense.   They felt organic, as though they could have grown in nature and some felt as though they had some spiritual background.

The exhibition was also very balanced.   The pieces all had opposite piece that balanced them out.   For instance, there was a gun that fired red wax through a doorway.   On the opposite end of the spectrum, there was a massive mass of wax slowly pushing its self through the doorways of the exhibition.  
There were exact smooth sculptures that were made of powder, with bright colours and displayed in a very minimalist room.   On the other hand, there were chaotic messy sculptures, no colour and crammed into a room that could barely hold them.   The balance of the exhibition seemed as though it had almost happened by chance, although I'm sure it was all thought out.
Some pieces where all about the external, for instance the mirrors (which were really fun and amazing).   Where as other pieces where all internal and just showing a glimpse of what was inside.

Colours, textures, movement, use of space and internal and external were all shown here.   The exhibition pieces could be shown by themselves but almost needed to be shown as an exhibition.   This is sculpture at its purest form.  

Before I went to the exhibition, at work there was a debate about Martin Creed and his art.   I found his work terrible and mostly empty for me.   The old question of 'Is this Art?' is pretty tedious and not really worth asking any more.   At the Anish Kapoor exhibition, this question never entered my mind.   This is art.

I'm not a big fan of modern art in general, but Anish Kapoor's exhibition was amazing!

Examined Life

Went to see 'The Examined Life' last week in the London ICA.  

This is basically a forum for 8 philosophers to speak about their main areas of interest for about 10 minutes each.   This was a very interesting film bringing up philosopy of contemporary ideas and how philosophy relates to modern life.  

The main things that I took away from watching this film to look past the gloss of modern culture and to really embrace the people with ideas is important to allow yourself to really think.  
Also, the ideas that are commonly put forward as the Eco movement are fundamentally flawed.   Recycling is not a solution but is just slowing down the inevitable problem.  

Cornel West was amazing, covering his ideas of modern democracy and the examined life.   Here's a video with some of his main philosophies.

Facinating stuff.

Vision 09

Well, yesterday I went to the Vision 09 event in London and saw 2 photographers talks.  

      

The first was Martin Parr.   I loved his work and collections that he has made over the years.  The Saddam Hussein watches were great and his books were inspiring.   His style is very distinctive with saturated colour palettes and similar ideas behind his photography.

The second was Eugene Richards which was a stark contrast to Martin Parrs work.   His lifes work has covered some of the most harrowing subject matter.   His photos were amazing but I found the presentation very harrowing.   I don't think that I could take what this man has done in his life without going mad!

The main thing I found interesting was that both photographers established a visual style early in their careers that has not changed too much.   Each photographer had a distinct vision of the world, coming from a specific direction.   Their visual styles are linked directly to their content of choice.

I think that to make good artwork, both the content and the visual style needs to be closely linked.   Also, from a photography point of view, photo essays are the way to go.