Gallery visit – Roland Collins

I first saw Roland Collins work at the Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne recently. He was exhibiting alongside other artists in the ‘A point of departure’ exhibition. I liked his work and chose to travel into Kent to view an individual exhibition of his work. Included in this exhibition were three drawings in ink that really caught my eye. I like the simple, graphical look of the works. They are detailed drawings but to me are not too complicated and fussy, hence the use of the term simple. The drawings were approximately A3 size, so I was able to examine the techniques he used closely. I have made notes in my sketchbook of certain techniques, which has given me ideas for the future. I like seeing what can be achieved with a pen and the drawings seemed to fit with what I am studying at the moment, namely, detailed drawing using line.

Battersea Church, Roland Collins, 1938, ink on paper

Little Venice, Roland Collins, 1939, ink on paper

Riverside, Chiswick, Roland Collins, 1936, ink on paper

Cerith Wyn Evans – gallery visit

I visited the De la Warr Pavilion, Bexhill to see an exhibition by Cerith Wyn Evans in May 2012.

Cerith Wyn Evans is a conceptual artist, sculptor and film-maker born 1958 in Wales.

The exhibition comprised a number of works installed throughout the building. Housed within the De La Warr pavilion, an iconic building, he has described the exhibition as a ‘love letter to the building’. The building is situated on the seafront and the artist has positioned works to relate to the horizon and the nearby Beachy Head. The gallery spaces which are normally enclosed, have been stripped back to reveal windows and light spaces normally missing.

There are a number of ‘experiences’ to visit:

Mimosa, mixed media, 2012

Permit yourself to drift from what you are reading at this very moment into another situation…Imagine a situation that, in all likelihood, you’ve never been in, neon, 2009

After ‘La Monnaie Vivante’, projection, 2008

Untitled (Flute piece incarnation De La Warr Pavilion), mixed media, 2011

Anthropomorphic portrait by Sulwyn Evans VIII, black and white hand-print, 2003

S=U=P=E=R=S=T=R=U=C=T=U=R=E (‘Trace me back to some loud, shallow, chill, underlying motive’s overspill…’), mixed media, 2010

And if I don’t meet you in this world then I’ll, I’ll meet you in the next and don’t be late, don’t be late, firework in scaffold support, 2012

My thoughts:

I will be honest and say I am not sure quite what to make of this body of work. I was told by the gallery that the artist did not explain the work but left it to the visitor to form their own conclusions and understanding.

The curator, David Rhodes, commented in the gallery guide as follows:

Rather than imposing a narrative or chronology, the artist has produced a series of experiences, dispersed throughout the building through which the visitor may find multiple avenues of understanding…..Through the exhibition’s specific emphasis on movement within architectural space, and by avoidance in his work of any direct communication of meaning, Wyn Evans creates a context in which the viewer’s individual physical presence and agency are accentuated. The visitor is brought into play by the artist alongside the building, artworks as material for the exhibition.  David Rhodes, Curator

As the artist has stated he wants the visitor to form their own conclusions, I spent some time considering what I got from the exhibition.

Mimosa, rotating trees placed on the floor, appeared to me to be an attempt to make a connection between the outside world and indoors. The trees were brought from outside and plugged into the mains and were rotating. The effect was false, stressing to me the beauty of nature can be obscured rather than enhanced by man.

The flutes hanging from the ceiling looked beautiful. The flutes each produced a different note, which were blown by the machine randomly. I am an amateur musician and I found the use of the random flute notes to be an interesting addition in conveying the feeling of space. As I live on the coast, I have heard the sound of horns and other mysterious sounds out to sea. These flutes reminded me of the vastness of the sea as well as demonstrating the openness of the gallery space.

Untitled (Flute piece incarnation De La Warr pavilion)

Untitled (Flute piece incarnation De La Warr pavilion)

The long, narrow neon sign is positioned so the text can be read in the reflection of the windows. It appears to hover out to sea parallel to the horizon. This appeared to push the meaning outside, taking us from inside to outside in our thoughts and perceptions.

Permit yourself to drift….neon

Permit yourself to drift…neon

The contrast of superstructure as it pulsated in the upper gallery was interesting to me. The tall narrow filament tubes arranged as columns are suspended from the ceiling although they appear to be standing on the floor. The pulsating of the light is said to match our heartbeats. As the bulbs light, great heat and light are given off. This contrasts with the bulbs as they dim. They become transparent and each detail can be seen. Each of the columns (three in all) pulsate at different times creating a beautiful and powerful effect. I was not sure how this works relates as it appeared different to me to the lower gallery. It had an industrial feel, due to the construction using filaments and light tubes as well as the overall shape being columns. Whilst sitting in the cafe, I noticed that there are similar shaped columns running down the outside of the building. Maybe this was an attempt to relate the work to the building and interact with it.

Superstructure

Finally, I did not visit the firework on the roof but its text reminds me of death and peoples’ belief in an afterlife. At the beginning, it was stated that Wyn Evans was trying to incorporate elements of the surroundings of the pavilion. Is he here trying to reference Beachy Head, a well known suicide spot? Was the positioning of the firework on the roof accidental or a further reference to this?

And if I don’t meet you again….

In summary, I found this exhibition to be very stimulating. My first walk around yielded little but a questioning of what he was trying to say. As I sat down and read about his style and viewed a second time, it became more clear to me that it was up to me to interpret. On further reflection since, further thoughts have occurred to me, which shows that we should continue to view and think about art. It is possible that our feelings one day may change and we are lead to different conclusions another. I feel this exhibition lends itself to this approach.

Catherine Yass – Gallery visit

I visited this exhibition in August 2011.

Catherine Yass is a leading contemporary photographer and film-maker whose work captures the psychological impact of architectural space.

The exhibition consisted of three films and photographs. The films conveyed to me more the impact of space. The first film, Lock (2006) is filmed on a cargo ship proceeding through a giant lock in China on the Yangtze river. The view from the front of the ship is projected on a screen in front of the viewer and the view to the rear is projected behind. The overall effect to me was one of confinement.  The lock felt like it was towering above us and we were cocooned in the lock waiting to be set free. The experience was all-encompassing and realistic.

Still from the film diptych Lock (2006)

The second film, Lighthouse (2011), is filmed on and around the Royal Sovereign Lighthouse. This a local lighthouse located on a platform five miles out to see. Yass uses filming from a helicopter, a boat and divers to create a film that completely disorientates the viewer.

Still from the film Lighthouse (2011)

The third film was called Descent (2002), and takes the viewer next to a building at Canary Wharf. The filming is inverted which changes the viewer’s sense of gravity.

Still from the film Descent (2002)

I found all the films intriguing and got the point that we have different perceptions of the space around us which can be distorted. My favourite was the Lock as I felt it conveyed the idea of confinement at the same time as cinematic space.

I found the photographs harder to understand as they seemed to be playing with the reality of visual space but maybe I needed to do more research or spend more time looking and trying to understand these. Yass uses the technique of overlaying negative and positive transparencies. The resulting colours are bold. I agree that the images are striking and appear to me to give a sense of unreality. The gallery guide says that the ‘electrifying colours transport the physical space to that of the psychological’.