Liverpool Biennial 2012- Thresholds

The UK Biennial of Contemporary Art - Liverpool 2012

While visiting the Turner Monet Twombly exhibition at the Tate ( which lived up to expectations - Twombly is a real favourite of mine so I was very interested to see the juxtaposition of his work with that of  Monet and Turner ..this intended as a dialogue between them ), I took the opportunity to look at 'Thresholds'. This was presented as part of Biennial's 'The Unexpected Guest which explores notions of hospitality though works by over 60 international artists across a range of sites and galleries throughout Liverpool.
What drew my attention were the photographic displays, in particular the work of Keith Arnatt, Simryn Gill and Pak Sheung Chuen.

Keith Arnatt
A.O.N.B  ( Area of Outstanding Beauty ), 1982-84

 Arnott  questions the notion of a British landscape through black and white images taken in locations designated as striking landscapes.His pictures juxtapose beauty and banality (often expressed by rubbish or stark, almost nondescript buildings or infrastructures). In some photos the message is very obvious, in others, the images require more reading of the composition....though to my mind the choice of black and white brought out the 'message' better than the construction of some of the actual compositions.



Simryn Gill
Dalam, 2001

These 258 colour photographs of domestic interiors were taken over an eight week period as the artist travelled across the Malaysian peninsula.The series might seem at first glance a really challenging exercise in composition if repetition of any kind is to be avoided but the range and depth of interiors captured and the degree of compositional opportunity taken result in rich images which are a joy to look at and held my interest from start to finish.

Pak Sheung Chuen A Travel without Visual Experience , 2008

This was the most interesting part of the exhibition in my view. The installation reflected the artist's view on the processes of tourism - that many travel without 'seeing'.Images were installed in a dark room on wallpaper and only visible through the flash of a camera. People entering the installation were either given a digital camera to use or encouraged to use their own cameras or mobile phones. Taking pictures in complete darkness without seeing where you were or what you were trying to photograph until you have actually taken the picture is a very strange  experience. It does reinforce the concept held by the artist that we often travel without 'seeing'  or take pictures on holiday without really thinking clearly about the image we are about to capture  - what results may work or not in conveying a sense of place; a moment in time or maybe a sense of occasion. I suspect many like me feeling very disorientated took pictures  to first work out where they were  in the room and then tried again to take an image that would make some sense or look 'normal' :

P449: f2.8 @ 1/15  ISO 400 4mm AWB Flash





P448: f2.8 @ 1/15 ISO 400 4mm AWB Flash

Interestingly, the attendant outside the installation said that many of the images captured were taken at an angle ....I wonder whether this was due to an attempt to make the picture interesting or total disorientation ...good fun though and a very practical and inclusive way of making a point ...

 

P450;  f2.8 @ 1/15 ISO 400 4mm AWB Flash

Foto8 Summershow 2012

I went to see  Foro8 Summershow 2012 last month and have been mulling over what I saw there..159 images covering a wide range of material which was almost too many images to deal with in one go. While part of me was responding unconsciously to the visual image - subject matter, colour, composition etc. as I would usually expect, I also found myself looking critically at the pictures in respect of wondering how the photograph was taken i.e. the technical side of things which I guess comes from the ongoing attempt to develop my technical photographic skills.

Anyone visiting the exhibition is invited to choose the three photographs hat they liked the best  - seems that I did not choose the actual winner of the Best in Show Award  ( No 137 untitled from a series 'Blue,see' looking at the institutionalised lives of boys  by Titus Simoens, a photographer working in Belgium). While remembered the image disturbing me on the day, I was admittedly a little puzzled as to why it won above others in the show.So I was pleased to see a piece on this photograph by Jose on the 6 August edition of the OCA Art's blog. His interpretation of the image made more sense of the photograph and has encouraged me to take more time to 'read' an image to see if reflection  achieves a different or similar response to the first 'look'.

New Documentary Forms - Tate Modern

This exhibition at Tate Modern looked at ways five contemporary artists have used the camera 'to explore, extend and question photography as a documentary medium. I had never seen any work by Boris Mitchailov, Mitch Epstein, Luc Delahaye, Akram Zaatari and Guy Tillim before so was interested to see how their work  would present itself.

I was drawn to Mitch Epstein's 'Amos Coal Power Plant, Raymond, West Virginia' part of his American Power series as I could relate its composition to recent work on balance. Looking at the image, I thought the juxta position of the power station and the house produced an interesting balance effect drawing the eye firmly to the domination of the power station in the lives of the people who lived so close to it.

In looking at a selection of pictures from Guy Tillllim's ' Congo Democatic Series' , one particular image drew my eye i.e. a photograph showing a presidential candidate entering a stadium flanked by his bodyguard. The composition was very powerful - a sloping horizon gave the image momentum, the head and shoulders of the candidate right in the centre of the frame indicating sheer power by the bulk of his frame and a watchful bodyguard behind him looking out at the viewer at an angle that emphasised his wariness.

I also was intrigued by Boris Mikhailov's use of colour in his series of photographs charting the politics of everyday life in the Ukraine during the Soviet era and its aftermath.In 'Red' ( 1968- 75) he uses the colour red  as a symbolic reminder of the Soviet regime ..it appears often as the sole colourin a photograph -  sometimes a small splash of colour but somehow omni present. In 'At Dusk' he used a cobalt wash to hand paint each image ...a literal and symbolic representation of Ukraine's twilight.

David Hockney : a Bigger Picture

Visited this exhibition recently...well worth it! There's been a great of publicity in the media re this one...the how and why of creating ' A Bigger Picture'. The exhibition went far beyond expectations.... almost overwhelming in the way you  become immersed in the richness / vibrancy of colour and composition. I was not aware till then of Hockney's very definite views on photography given his well documented use of this medium in his work e.g. - that it does not give depth to a picture ( not so sure about that myself ); can only provide a single view and does not capture time.
Decided to look further and found an interesting article re his view on photography etc. See :

http://bit.ly/wI50np

Enjoyed looking at what the exhibition offered re his earlier work useing photography in an unusual and imaginative way....e.g. getting around the 'single eye' of the camera i.e.the Grand Canyon photo collages. It was fascinating too, to see some of the film taken by the bank of nine cameras that he used to capture the 'Bigger Picture' through the seasons..the effect was rather like a rule of thirds grid across which the scene moved.

To my mind his oil paintings conveyed the feel of the countryside more than his watercolours - the use of texture, vigorous brushwork  and colour - but the results of his Ipad paintings were really intriguing ...not really to my taste as I felt that they came over a little flat and lacking in depth but nevertheless an amazing approach allowing the quick capture of detail.