UCA FARNHAM OPEN DAY

UCA FARNHAM OPEN DAY

*FOOD FOR THOUGHT*

One thing that was brought to my attention on the morning of the 28th September 2014 was the amount of thought provoking images out and about, and that we have access to, especially after this one was shown to me the day before at the open day.

 *http://www.studionathancoley.com/works/heaven-is-a-place-where-nothing-ever-happens/images/3*

I've seen heard these words before in Manic Street Preachers'  Rewind The Film: Show Me The Wonder. However, their lyric is:

"Is Heaven a place, where nothing ever happens?" 

I'm pretty sure that other songs/writings etc. use it too... (Talking Heads). 

But as an atheist, I find this quite interesting... what do Christians or religious people actually believe happens in heaven, where all material things are removed?

For some people, this will be a  "comforting message that this promise of an afterlife is without incident". [link] But surely that would be boring? You'd be reduced to gossip and small talk about everyone's life, but the talk would no longer hold meaning or purpose because you're not alive- immortal and drifting.

Anyways, this was a commission for Nathan Coley as part of an action plan to brighten up a town in Kent called Folkestone where "it is blighted with high rates of crime, unemployment and teenage pregnancy". According to this article. I think that this is one of the great things about art; that it's used to make people feel better, transform spaces, places, and mindsets.

(I intend to someday write an post about conceptual art because of this, and how it's about the ideas behind the work rather than the work itself).

Terribly sorry for the deviation from the main point, here are the photos I took at Farnborough:

Entrance

Tapestries

"The Quad"

"The Quad" angle #2

Sculptures

Exhibition #1

Print room

Exhibition #2, amazing sculpture.

Artist of the cool sculpture made of bones: Peter Hanmer.

Outdoor art:

The main thing that I realised at this university is the amazing facilities it has to offer, this is most likely because It's an entire campus, running loads of courses. This means it's not just a foundation site, but has an amazing library/workshop/studio space that everyone studying there has access to.

*thumbs up*

Statue outdoors

OSCARDOG.

-all for you.

THE LAST GREAT ADVENTURE IS YOU- TRACEY EMIN

So, this was cool...

 I haven't really founded a proper, continuous opinion of Tracey Emin's work- as I have yet to conclude what it's about. However, I have an amazing soft spot for her neons:

"The Last Great Adventure is You"

There was also one at the exhibition that said:

"The Soul Will Always Do What It Needs To Do"

The majority of the exhibition was comprised of these kind of drawings, and they lined the entrance corridor. 

I liked them, a stylised kind of figure drawing.

(I also liked the polished concrete floors the gallery had).

Then we came across some tapestry-style-embroidered pieces... 

They made me think about lust, sensation, but at the same time- nothingness.

I think this was really reflected in the bronze casting works that I couldn't take photos of. They had limbs and heads missing, again a kind of emptiness surrounding them, except one figure that was being carried off by a bird. The figure lay on the bird's back, and it looked like they were taking off toward freedom...

I feel kind of sorry for the women lying on the bed sheets, just- 

- "Waiting For You"

As one of them was called.

No freedom-flying-birds for them.

With the clocks going back and all, it was dark by the time we'd left, and the gallery was glowing.

-all for you.

8 GREEK STREET, SOHO.

The Outsiders have a gallery in Soho, that I was lucky enough to visit with my Mum around this time last year to see Stanley Donwood's exhibition: "Far away is close at hand in images of elsewhere". It ran from the 19th September to the 19th October 2013, but (luckily for me and due to high demand) was extended to the 26th of October.

Now, the title itself comes from graffiti that was once on a wall on the way into Paddington station, apparently only visible from incoming trains. Sadly, the walls have since been demolished. However, we can credit two drunk men, the first words from a Robert Graves poem:

"FAR AWAY IS CLOSE AT HAND

CLOSE JOINED IS FAR AWAY 

LOVE WILL COME AT YOUR COMMAND

YET WILL NOT STAY"

*Song of Contrariety*

Paired with a misquoted title of a paper by Ruth Padel:

'Imagery of the Elsewhere' Two Choral Odes of Euripides.

*Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles*

The reason our friend Stanley decided to name his exhibition after this (if I remember correctly) was because he saw it every day on his way to work, and because it was somewhat thought provoking. 

-Wise.

* Friday Woods*

And on that note, these are in order of appearance- 

from front-to-back-to-downstairs of the gallery, enjoy!

Please be aware that as we move through, it was harder to get hold of the names of the pieces... my bad.

These are mostly my photos, apart from the If you lived here you'd be home by now Screen Prints. 

(But I can't remember where I actually acquired these ones)

*Hurt Hill*
(Spray paints and oils at a guess)

*Winterfolio*

(I think)

*Soken Fen*

*Poor End*

*Nether*
(Personal favourite)

 *Salary Man*

(Screen Print)

These are from the series If you lived here you'd be home by now

Which I suppose, again explores a phrase that has been seen around on travels, and applied to work to give it a purpose. The phrase seems like an advertisement, enticing and persuading, almost mocking people who work in these industrial buildings.

*Cleft Mall*

(Screen Print)
It's described as "another distraught meditation on the hopelessness of the 'suburban experiment'. Go to work in the dark, come home in the dark, company car, traffic jam, nervous headache.'

*The Eraser*

(Wood/Lino Cut?)

*February #4*

(I think) 

(Screen Print)

*No Name atm*

*5th Avenue*

Everything in the exhibition was framed in Ash wood.

*2nd Avenue*

"The Ash tree is currently under dire threat from a disease, called, imaginatively enough, Ash die back"

*1st Avenue*

The Holloways in the drawings no longer exist, and have now been cut down.

(How could the council of Dorset or the owners of such beautiful things and pieces of history do such a thing?!)

*4th Avenue*

Holloways are created by travellers; horse and cart through the fields or along boundaries, and rainwater, and are sometimes 

16-18ft. deep where the stone under the soil is so soft.

*3rd Avenue*

(From powers of deduction)

This Holloway was in Dorset, and the studies were made from memory, which I think has exaggerated their features and the qualities of the trees quite a lot.

All of the above are pencil studies on what looked like very thick; expensive, handmade, ripped edge, A2 size paper, again framed in beautiful, dying wood.

I like the depth in them, It's Hypnotic, like you're subconsciously being pulled into and walking between the trees.

This text was confusing. Printed, and then edited and annotated by hand. It may have been something to do with the HOLLOWAYS book.

*no name atm*

This little collection was delicate, pretty, and complete. Nicely arranged.

*no name atm*

*no name atm*

*no name atm*

*no name atm*

*North*

(Lino/Woodcut... can't be sure)

*no name atm*

*no name atm*

*Blackdown Cloud*

*no name atm*

(laser-etched print?) 

*no name atm*

*Wait here we will come for you*

*no name atm*

*no name atm*

*Vaporised Wait*

*no name atm*

I like that I can call this skilful, yet conceptual art.

This was a long post, and I don't have any intentions of ripping the art or artist off, hence have used low quality photos taken with my smartphone.

I enjoyed this exhibition a lot, and hope to share more things like this with you in the future. This one's currently still a work in progress.

You can find Stanley's blog here:

SLOWLY DOWNWARD

-all for you.