As fair as I can see there isn't a general discussion Thread devoted to visual Art exhibitions that Forumistas may have visited (and apologies if I've missed it and this is a duplication). In the same way that people share their responses to what they've been listening to and reading, I wondered if this might be a Thread that provokes discussion, and perhaps even encourage new members to contribute. Obviously, there can't be the same multiple responses to the same CD/broadcast/book that there is on those Threads, because exhibitions are restricted to specific venues - but recommendations can be made and reactions shared.
To start the ball rolling, I've recently been several times to view the Hockney 25 Trees exhibits in the gallery of Salts Mill in Saltaire. The portraits are excellent (Hockney captures the facial expression of his brother ignoring the painter to attend to his mobile phone - he's obviously not entirely confident with the new technology) - and the eponymous photograph triptych of the trees themselves I found utterly absorbing.
But the particular "draw" for me is the continuous projection of Hockney's i-Pad Art: the images are wonderful in themselves, having a delightful combination of sponteneity and perception, and Hockney's command of colour is as attractive as ever - each reveals a realization of the potential of the new medium, and Hockney's ever-youthful enthusiasm for exploring new avenues of expression.
Even more fascinating for me is the element of "performance" in the presentation of the images. There are three screens, each showing a different picture; these images change at different times, so there are always three images on view, but whilst you look at one, another will change. Occasionally, one screen will show an image that another has recently shown, but now in the new "environment" of the different position and the different other images it occurs with. What Hockney is doing is creating a viewing experience that is closer to listening to Music than the traditional way of looking at visual Art. There, the viewers are in charge of how they look at a piece - letting their eyes pause or move around the painting/sculpture as they wish, staying as long on a work as they choose. With Music (in performance at least), a chord or phrase is played and then moves on - the listener has to wait for the composer/performer to bring the chord/phrase back. This is closer to the way Hockney presents his images, except that he is not in control of which picture appears when - the computer presents the images in random order. There is also a sort of three-part visual counterpoint in the way the three screens reflect upon each other and/or present complemntary images simultaneously.
I have spent many an hour in this dark, quiet space, wallowing in this soothing and haunting exhibition - beautiful in itself, and rich in revealing new ways of looking (at what are superbly "traditional" images - still lifes, landscapes, portraits) to the viewer.
To start the ball rolling, I've recently been several times to view the Hockney 25 Trees exhibits in the gallery of Salts Mill in Saltaire. The portraits are excellent (Hockney captures the facial expression of his brother ignoring the painter to attend to his mobile phone - he's obviously not entirely confident with the new technology) - and the eponymous photograph triptych of the trees themselves I found utterly absorbing.
But the particular "draw" for me is the continuous projection of Hockney's i-Pad Art: the images are wonderful in themselves, having a delightful combination of sponteneity and perception, and Hockney's command of colour is as attractive as ever - each reveals a realization of the potential of the new medium, and Hockney's ever-youthful enthusiasm for exploring new avenues of expression.
Even more fascinating for me is the element of "performance" in the presentation of the images. There are three screens, each showing a different picture; these images change at different times, so there are always three images on view, but whilst you look at one, another will change. Occasionally, one screen will show an image that another has recently shown, but now in the new "environment" of the different position and the different other images it occurs with. What Hockney is doing is creating a viewing experience that is closer to listening to Music than the traditional way of looking at visual Art. There, the viewers are in charge of how they look at a piece - letting their eyes pause or move around the painting/sculpture as they wish, staying as long on a work as they choose. With Music (in performance at least), a chord or phrase is played and then moves on - the listener has to wait for the composer/performer to bring the chord/phrase back. This is closer to the way Hockney presents his images, except that he is not in control of which picture appears when - the computer presents the images in random order. There is also a sort of three-part visual counterpoint in the way the three screens reflect upon each other and/or present complemntary images simultaneously.
I have spent many an hour in this dark, quiet space, wallowing in this soothing and haunting exhibition - beautiful in itself, and rich in revealing new ways of looking (at what are superbly "traditional" images - still lifes, landscapes, portraits) to the viewer.
- in fact, there are so many works by the most famous names that I know from photographs and other reproductions but have never seen. One of the reasons I've started making more time to devote to galleries. I have seen works by Paul Nash, whom frenchie mentions - there was an exhibition at the (old) Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne about twenty years ago. These "small" local galleries are often imaginative and rewarding. I do hope Forumistas will post their experiences about these on this Thread, as well as the "big names".
to London to see it. There was an Exhibition in Berwick-upon-Tweed three years ago in which some of these were shown (alongside some reproductions). The invention of Matisse makes the heart sing and the soul dance.
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