One of the trips for first years is a visit to the world famous Art Fair 'Frieze' in London. Its like the art worlds version of Fashion Week. Hundreds of galleries from around the world come together to one location to exhibit a huge variety of artists from painters and sculptures to unusual performance art. I have never been to Frieze or even heard about it before I started this course, so did not know what to expect and when we arrived I was amazed at how much art there is out there. It was so tiring walking around the fair all day as there was so much to get through but I didn't want to leave without seeing everything! It was a great chance to gain primary research noting down names of the artists who inspired me, but to also see different types of art I wouldn't normally consider when visiting exhibitions/ galleries like contemporary sculpture and performance art. Another thing I also loved was recognising work I have previously researched/ read about and also seeing turner prize winner Tracey Emin's work and the work of some of this years short list artists; Lynettee Yiadom-Boakye and David Shrigley.
Afterwards I researched into some of the artists that really appealed to me. One of them was the Chinese fine artist Zhu Jinshi. His work particularly stood out to me due to his extremely thick use of oil paint on canvas and his application of large brush strokes which creates amazing textures. I did a little research into the work of Zhu Jinshi and I found out that his work represents traditional Chinese aesthetics, emphasising the harmony between human beings and the natural world. Also Jinshi uses traditional images that go on to represent reality depicted in the form of abstract art with completely free brush strokes. His paintings are images of 'the mind' and he believes that it is through the contact with materials that his perception of the world is expressed.
(see his work below - Couriered Landscape, Oil on canvas 180 x 160 cm)
