London Trip 23rd - 25th Oct.

As well as a trip to Frieze Art Fair, first years also go on a three day visit to London, during which you are required to visit galleries gaining primary artist research. 



On the first day of our visit we visited the Tate Modern, Bankside Gallery and also the Jerwood Gallery Drawing Prize Exhibition. As well as this we also saw a few sites on our way through the city and I took many pictures to help me with my projects. Each gallery had different artists to look at all of contrasting styles and specialisms, giving me a wide range of names to note down and research. At the Tate Modern I had the chance to see work by Monet, Picasso, Giacometti but also I got to see art work that I have researched previously on other projects like work by Gerhard Richter and Jackson Pollock. I loved seeing their work in the flesh, it gave me a real sense of the scale these artists work to and also the mark makings an textures used that you cannot quite appreciate in a photograph.



(Weeping Woman, 1937, oil on canvas, Pablo Picasso)


(Yellow Islands, 1952, oil on canvas, Jackson Pollock)



(The Cage painting no.2, 2006, oil on canvas, Gerhard Richter)

The next day was a busy day leaving early and getting back late to make sure we visited everywhere we wanted to. We visited three galleries I have never been to before; the Saatchi Gallery, the Serpentine Gallery and also the Haywood Gallery. Obviously, these galleries were very different compared to the galleries we looked in yesterday, no gallery is the same. But what really stood out to me was that the artwork within them felt a lot more contemporary and also it was extremely interesting to see how different work is curated and presented. I found the Saatchi Gallery particularly interesting to go around as it was full of modern art from sculpture to instillation. The current exhibition on at the Saatchi consisted of contemporary Ukrainian artists. I particularly liked the work by Oleksander Klymenko and Anatoliy Kryvolap. Both painters, I found there use of colour and choice in composition very interesting and eye catching. However they are completely different from one another as Klymenko uses a great deal of colour and textures where as Kryvolap uses simple colour and minimal texture. 



(Glorification of the divine presence, 2013 acrylic on canvas, Oleksandre Klymenko)



(Moon. Night, 2012-2013, oil on canvas, Anatoliy Kryvolap)

On the final day we visited Trafalgar Square and explored what that area had to offer. We visited the National Gallery which contains old art that is very iconic to its era, like the renaissance period for example. But whilst there we took the opportunity to look at the Michael Landy 'Saints Alive' exhibition. It was very odd, consisting of mechanical sculptures that expressed religious acts. This exhibition was not to my taste but it was interesting to see something different I wouldn't normally chose to go and see. As well as going to the world famous National Gallery, we also visited some smaller scale private galleries in The Royal Opera Arcade. We went inside La Galleria Pall Mall and The Stephen Wiltshire Gallery. These were interesting as they were a lot smaller compared to the galleries visited over the previous two days. I particularly liked the work by Stephen Wiltlshire his intricate drawings of the city of London were beautiful to look at expressing an excellent skill. I also liked the work by Alaide Tobini and Isa Levy; I found there use of brush marks and shapes particularly inspiring as I love to use eye catching strokes of colour in my work. Finally walking towards Buckingham Palace we quickly went inside the ICA which is located along the Mall. The art work in here consisted of large installations and floor artwork. Not to my liking but again was very contrasting to other galleries I have visited. 



(Autumn, mixed media with encaustic on canvas, Alaide Tobini)



(Blue Door, oil and vinyle on canvas, Isa Levy)

Over the three days I explored many galleries seeing a huge variety of different art some that I loved and some that I did not fully understand but then everyone views art differently each piece raising different questions and answers for everyone.