Art Review: Richard Wilson

Richard Wilson is one of my favourite artists, his work is always so ambitious and has an air of magic and wonderment. 20:50 is set up as a permanent exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery and is quite an extraordinary illusion. Viewed from a platform, looming over the top of the balcony to catch a glimpse of my own reflection, at first it appears to be a highly polished floor or a room of mirrors but soon the overwhelmingly strong smell reveals that the room is in fact flooded with oil. I was so surprised that I shouted out in alarm ‘oh its oil’ which was met with smiles and laughter from other viewers. Visitors are invited to walk along the walk way that is embedded within the oil and it places you waist deep. Although unbelievably tempting to touch, the only way of demonstrating it’s real is to blow very gently onto the surface. Art is about the artists own discoveries and imagination, 20:50 is a very simplistic concept but this doesn’t stop it from being an outstanding and beautiful piece of art. The oil reflects the architectural structure of the room making it appear as if the room is double in size and the horizon line gives the impression of that endlessness you get when looking out to sea, an image that can be seen as a peaceful sanctuary as well as a frightening image of the unknown. 20:50 is an effortlessly beautiful piece of art which is surprising for work that is made entirely of a sticky, thick and ugly substance such as oil. The reflections create a pure, rich and deep colour, one that would not be easily portrayed in a painting. Wilson is renowned for his site-specific art but 20:50 is the kind of piece that would be different in any space because it would reflect a completely different surrounding. It is difficult to replicate your own interpretations of such an individual and simplistically stunning piece of art such as this one but 20:50 gives the idea that art can be made of an ugly material but still be stunning and beautiful, the kind of art you love to look at but wouldn’t want to touch.

Another inspirational piece of art by Richard Wilson is a large scale installation situated in Liverpool called Turning the Place Over. This, to date, is one of Wilson’s most daring pieces of public art. Wilson quite literally turned a building inside out by cutting a spherical hole in the side of an architectural structure in Liverpool and connecting a motor to it so it appeared that this section of the wall was effortlessly balance and turning on its axis. Turning the Place Over is a genius piece of contemporary art that appears to portray a small scale version of the world being turned upside down. It takes you out of your comfort zone to place you in a surreal environment. I am hugely inspired by this type of art, the kind of art that is not secure behind glass or hidden in a building, this, to me, is the kind of art that makes itself accessible to a wider audience than just people that are interested in art. I like art to not be too pretentious but be the kind of work that you would perhaps see hidden in the backstreets, the kind of work that makes you stop and smile whilst you walk to work, accessible art to make everyone excited by creativity.

Royal Academy of Arts: Summer Exhibition

The Royal Academy of Arts held the 242nd Summer Exhibition this year and as per usual it showcased some of the best work by professional and emerging artists. It exhibited over 1,200 pieces of art work all based around the theme of ‘Raw’.

‘The Hunt for the Unicorn – Manhattan Style’ by RA Chris Orr
Similar to the fun and sometimes mind boggling creation ‘Where’s Wally?’, ‘The Hunt for the Unicorn’ is an extremely interesting piece of art that leaves the viewer frantically searching for this mysterious unicorn that may or may not exist. This work could be classed as a large collage as it consists of hundreds of intricately drawn images of very different styles, almost as if drawn and created by several different artists of all ages. The artist tells a complex story and the more you look at Chris Orr’s work the further you feel mesmerised by its complexity and obscurity.



'The Immigration of Mel and Judith' by Thomas Hillier

The architecture room excelled itself this year. The majority of work not only depicting new structural creations but the architects formed beautiful pieces of art work. Thomas Hillier was my personal favourite and his work 'The Immigration of Mel and Judith' saw architecture created in a breath taking way, within a mundane object, a kitsch, fringed lampshade. Intricately created from hundreds of cut out pieces of card this extrodinary piece of art work was a feast for the eyes. This is not the kind of work that could be built in real life but it shows the pure imagination of 21st century architects. Architectural models are becoming great works of art, items of beauty rather just accurately constructed small scale models of real buildings.

Art Review: Ai Weiwei

Gone to Seed
Ai Weiwei is renowned for being a controversial artist and his new piece exhibited at the most sought after space for installation artists, The Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, is no different. Being nicknamed China’s Warhol, Weiwei filled the Tate with over 100 million hand painted ceramic seeds and suitably named his art ‘Sunflower Seeds’. Although on the surface Weiwei’s new creation appears to be a simplistic concept, it in fact has many layers to its complexity. Each seed is representative of a brand new life and the fact that each ceramic seed has been individually painted represents the uniqueness of just a small percentage of the world’s population.
Sadly, the initial photos taken at the unveiling of his art work, images of children playing in amongst the work, the crunching noise of people walking over it, are to be no more. Weiwei’s ‘Sunflower Seeds’ has been temporarily cornered off pending further investigation due to the potentially hazardous dust that has been churned up from the public being allowed to walk on the work. The work is still on show but strictly on a ‘do not touch’ basis similarly to the majority of work exhibited in the Tate Modern which somewhat takes the individuality out of Weiwei’s art.

Children's Stories

As part of my A2 English Language I was given the task to write a children's story. It turned out to be a much more difficult task than I first imagined because every word that is put into a child's story is deliberate. The aim of a children's book is to teach a child to read and recognise words on a page. The author has to use specific techniques to ensure the book is beneficial to a child's learning process.
My story was for children between stages 1 and 2 of reading.
Stage 1: Initial reading and decoding - children begin to learn the relationship between sounds and letters and are able to read simple texts comprising of short high-frequency (often used words)
Stage 2: Confirmation and fluency - This is the period of consolidation, during which children steadily increase their reading skills and vocabulary.

Douglas the Deer

There was once a little deer named Douglas.
He lived deep in the wood with his Daddy.

He went to Woodland School where he had lots of friends but Danny Deer was his best friend.

After the long summer holidays, it was time for Douglas to start a new school year.
His Daddy packed Douglas a lunchbox of carrots and grass and off he went to school.

Douglas was excited to see all of his friends again, especially Danny. Douglas ran to try and get to school quicker.

When he arrived, he was confused. He thought he was in the wrong class. He thought he was in a class for grown up deer’s because everyone had antlers.
He did not understand.
As he looked harder, he realised they were all his friends.
They all turned to him and laughed, even his best friend Danny.
Everyone had grown antlers but him.

Douglas turned and ran from school, he ran through the door, through the gate, through the playground and the woods.

He ran all the way to the river and started to cry.

‘Hello’
Douglas looked around and could not see where the voice was coming from.

‘I said hello’
Douglas looked around again, this time he saw a rabbit.

‘Hello, I am Rupert’ said the rabbit
‘Why are you upset?’ he said

Douglas told Rupert rabbit what had happened. Rupert had an idea.

Rupert ran away and a few minutes later came back with two big sticks in his mouth. Rupert put the sticks on Douglas’ head and tied them on with string.

‘There you go Douglas, you look like all your friends now’ said Rupert

Douglas was so proud that he thanked the rabbit and started on his way back to school.

On his way, he ran through the woods where he got his new antlers stuck in a spider’s web. He shook it off and carried on his journey.

On his way, he ran into Mrs Brenda Badger’s washing line, where he got his new antlers stuck on her clothes. He shook them off and carried on his journey.

On his way, he ran through the playground, where he got his new antlers stuck on the climbing frame.

He was so fed up and tired with his new antlers that he shook his head till they fell off.

He walked into the classroom with his head held high with no antlers on his head. This time he did not run away.

Everyone turned in amazement and then started to laugh again.

He told them he did not care what they thought.

Everyone thought he was brave for standing up for himself and Danny ran up to him, ashamed that he had laughed at his best friend.

No one made fun of Douglas ever again.

After the next summer, Douglas went back to start a new year.

He had grown antlers and they were bigger and better than everybody else’s.

Visit from Gorezone Magazine

Recently, our media class received a visit from Andrew McQuade, in charge of PR/Marketing at Gorezone Magazine, the worlds number one selling horror magazine.

It was really interesting to hear from an expert how a professional, best selling magazine is produced.

I learnt about the arduous process from initial idea to final printing and the huge costings involved in making a magazine successful.

Andrew also explained how different people with various areas of expertise are involved in producing a magazine, Gorezone has journalists and correspondants all over the world that produce the contents of Gorezone including its interviews with celebrities and reviews of films.

It was beneficial to talk to someone who actually had experience with being involved with the production of a successful magazine. It has given me some insight into how the magazine and publishing industry works.

Evening Telegraph 'Bug Jam'

On Wednesday, July 28th 2010, I had an article published on an event that I covered, a VW event at Santa Pod Raceway called Bug Jam.
I questioned the editor as to what I could do to get a larger space within his newspaper. My article went in as a 'fill' therefore my name was not put alongside my writing, the only time that the author's name is written is when a byline is given for a lead article. To be put in as a lead article i would have needed to interview audience members and organisers and included quotations from these people within my article.
I recieved a huge amount of praise from the newspapers editor saying 'you should take heart in the fact that we dedicated a downpage article to this, it isn't that many non-staff writers who would be given that space'. I have made some valuable contacts and it has encouraged me to keep percevering to get a bigger space in that newspaper and different magazines and newspapers in the future.

Mocking Mona.

Above: Banksy Left: Self-Portrait by Salvador Dali

I wrote an article about how the most famous painting of all time 'The Mona Lisa' has been altered by modern art.

ART is considered archaic. ART is no longer the influence of culture. ART is not technology. If Leonardo Da Vinci was asked his views on ‘The Mona Lisa’ would he say it was a religious statement against the Catholic Church or would he laugh at our pretentious views on art and say it was a painting of a pretty girl?

THE MUSÉE DU LOUVRE in Paris guards possibly the most famous painting in the history of art, Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Mona Lisa. Each day thousands of enthusiastic tourists flock to Paris and tick off what they will later boast to have:
 Visited the Eiffel Tower
 Eaten Snails
 And stopped off at the crowded tourist attraction of the world, Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa is to Paris what Big Ben is to London. It’s iconic and everyone knows her.
But what makes her so famous and heavily criticised? And why is she now the ridicule of so many 21st century artists?

Over the last few centuries The Mona Lisa has been subject to many controversial changes. The avant-garde art world is routinely modifying and caricaturing her. She is mocked by some of the most celebrated artists such as Marcel Duchamp and Salvador Dali, as well as being utilised as a political argument by graffiti artists as renowned as Banksy. In 1919, Marcel Duchamp, a notable Dadaist painter, bought a cheap imitation of the famous painting and produced a readymade piece of art by adorning it with a moustache. He named this piece, L.H.O.O.O, which, pronounced in French, forms ‘Elle a chaud au cul’, directly translating as ‘she is hot in the ass’. Leaving The Mona Lisa’s gender as androgynous, Duchamp could be relating his work to the sexuality of Leonardo Da Vinci or he could be relating it to the idea that The Mona Lisa is in fact a representation of Da Vinci as a woman, with similar characteristics to the artist’s own facial structure. Similarly to Duchamp, in 1954, Salvador Dali produced his own version, ‘Self Portrait as Mona Lisa’. Dali’s piece played with the pretentious views of The Mona Lisa to create a comical, and not so heavily publicised, version of her. He fashioned his own facial features upon Da Vinci’s masterpiece creating an iconoclastic piece of art maintaining the quintessential components of The Mona Lisa.

Many influential artists have replicated The Mona Lisa and, more recently, in 1963, the work of Andy Warhol, ‘thirty are better than one’ illustrated the vast importance and popularity of the painting. The main aim of his silk screened repetition was to re-iterate the painting’s importance by numerously repeating the image.

Possibly one of the most controversial of all of The Mona Lisa reproductions is the political graffiti representations produced by the contentious unidentified artist Banksy. Banksy is recognisable for lighting the flame of the graffiti street art movement yet ironically nobody knows his face. More recently he has been imitating his own versions of The Mona Lisa in context to more political and topical modern day themes and issues. In 2001, Banksy spray painted his version of The Mona Lisa holding a rocket launcher on a wall in Soho. After only 15 minutes of being masterly painted onto a wall it had been converted into a picture of Osama Bin Laden and two days later had been entirely removed this linked very closely with the new idea of associating the cultural backdrop of The Mona Lisa with an anti-war and pacifism message. More recently, Banksy has been producing a similar image of The Mona Lisa and it has been circumnavigating the world. The iconic image of a prestigious piece of art ‘mooning’ the public is an image that The Mona Lisa herself would smirk at. Banksy himself has also had his own version of Da Vinci’s greatest creation hung in the Louvre. In 2004, Banksy walked into the gallery disguised and hung up a piece of work resembling The Mona Lisa but with a bright yellow smiley face. This work was left hanging for in such a prestigious gallery for an unknown duration. His artwork is often satirical and his use of The Mona Lisa, as a main topic of interest, links to the idea of street art vs. high culture and the idea that Da Vinci’s art work has been given a modern day revamp. Although the original The Mona Lisa is said to be priceless, Banksy’s own unique take on the Leonardo Da Vinci classic recently sold in auction for over £57,000 to a British collector.

So, why does The Mona Lisa seem to be smirking?
This is a question that has dumfounded many lovers of Da Vinci’s work for hundreds of years and is the main reason why numerous artists have depicted their own emotional ideas behind the painting and recreated a personal version. There is an abundance of explanations behind her smile ranging from some of the most absurd ideas published by renowned art historians such as the idea that ‘she has just given birth’ and some more sensible and realistic ideas published by great authors and novices. Dan Brown, author of ‘The Da Vinci Code’ writes how he disagrees that The Mona Lisa is famous due to her enigmatic smile. He merely claims that she is so famous because she is considered to be Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘finest accomplishment’. Dan Brown argues that ‘The Mona Lisa’ is a sign of the ‘balance between male and female’ and that, in fact, many of her characteristics, including her smile, are loosely based around Da Vinci’s own personal appearance. The Mona Lisa smile is supposedly a reflection of Da Vinci’s own personal joke and the painting itself reflects the mysteriousness of the subject.
The Mona Lisa’s smile has forever been the subject of controversy. In 1852, a French artist named Luc Maspero jumped four floors to his death in Paris and wrote in his suicide note ‘he preferred death after years of struggling to understand the mystery behind The Mona Lisa’s smile’.

Other views are that The Mona Lisa has actually been painted using an Italian technique called ‘Sfumato’ meaning ‘blurry’. This technique is one of the four canonical painting modes of the renaissance. The finished product aim is to create a mystical ‘veil of smoke’ across the painting. This refers back to the idea that the painting is ambiguous and leaves the idea behind her smile up to the viewer’s imagination.

The Mona Lisa will always be the subject of great ridicule and controversy but it will never take away the fact that it is one of the most iconic pieces of art in the world and art historians will forever try and discover the meaning behind her smile. The paramount secret behind The Mona Lisa is that she is a painting with a secret that only the great Leonardo Da Vinci himself knows. She hides a secret that many people will dedicate their lives to frustratingly try to discover and understand.

ART is archaic. ART isn’t the influence of culture. ART is not technology. But as long as great art still survives there are many people willing to study it and be influenced by great artistic geniuses such as Leonardo Da Vinci. The Mona Lisa will survive through its upheaval and ridicule 

By Rose Thompson

Swimming with Mermaids.

This is a short story i wrote for my AS English Language coursework, it got me a very high grade!

There was a young princess, not a well known princess, she had not an aristocratic background nor did she have lots of money, she was her father’s princess. She lived in a lighthouse on the top of a cliff in ____ shire where the sea breeze pierced each pore and the mechanical seagulls circled overhead.

The waves furiously crashed and punched away at the cliffs as if they were striking the enemy, the cliffs surrendered, waved their white flag and eroded so the princess and her father got closer and closer each day to the sea.

The princess was a dreamer. She kept a list of things she wanted to do before she was old in a battered leather bound notebook under her pillow; visit Paris’ Louvre to see the Mona Lisa, own her own bookshop, travel the world. Her father, although he loved her dearly, said she would never do these things.

‘You’re a dreamer’, he said ‘you’re in your own little world and you will never leave this lighthouse’

The young princess, known as Ruby, believed this to be true. She spent too much time watching the security of the light from the lighthouse projecting shadows onto the sea and sitting nestled in the sand with her newspaper sailor’s hat tilted to one side. She was scared, if she moved away from her sanctuary would she be thrust into a world of fascists, racists and liars, pointless wars and unnecessary killing’s. She was unsure whether there was any beauty beyond where she sat. Staring out to sea Ruby could see the boats bopping upon the water, the waves lapping against the wood of the yachts and the wind victoriously waving the sails.

Ruby’s story is not a happy one but one that can be learnt from and it begins on a stormy November evening. Her father and herself loved to read and had a small library with battered leather winged armchairs and well loved penguin classics of exploration and discovery, Swallows and Amazons, The Famous Five. Ruby would regularly sit in this room, snuggled in her father’s oversized jumper and be absorbed in the written word whilst looking out the giant panelled window to sea.

This November evening she sat by herself, the sky already captivated by the sinister darkness, she read by candle light to create an atmospheric backdrop to the novel she was reading. Her father, now old with wrinkles created by the beating of weather upon his skin, was unwell. He lay in his bed whilst Ruby read in the library and rocked slowly into a sleep he wouldn’t wake from. Ruby continued to read, although her father lay quite silently.

It wouldn’t be till much late in the evening that she would notice that her dear father had been taken in his sleep. Ruby couldn’t cry, she ran to the top of the lighthouse to switch on the lamp for the sailors and seafarers to see their way, she had to continue his job. She ran back down the crooked, helter skelter style winding stairs and entered the room in which her father lay. His eyes closed he looked tiny within his bed, swamped. She took his hand and let shed but a single tear before she knew what she had to do. She wrapped him in the duvet that was covering his limp and lifeless body and lifted him, for he was now so fragile and small that he was like a child in her arms. She carried him down to the sea front where she laid him upon the sand, the light from the lighthouse slowly casting a shadow upon the two of them. Ruby sat upon the ground beside her father and stared out to sea with the bitter wind pounding against her face. In the far distance she saw the flicker of a metallic tail surface the water then quickly submerge; she frantically rose to her feet and winced as the wind blew sand into her eyes. Through her blurred gaze she furiously looked out to sea. There it was again, this time closer, the cobalt, sapphire and navy colours of a tail that didn’t belong to a dolphin or a whale. The tail disappeared again beneath the surface of the water; it was not even a hundred yards from Ruby’s glance. For tens of minutes she anxiously scanned every inch of sea she could see in front of her until she gave up and sat back down on the sand.
Ruby was now freezing cold and her father laid beside her, huddled in his duvet yet no colour to his face. It was late into the night and she was ready to give up waiting till she saw that glimmer of colour again, this time alongside a blonde flash of light that momentarily blinded her. When her sight refocused a young woman floated a few metres away, staring right at Ruby and her father. Ruby was unable to take her eyes off her; she was beautiful, her long blonde hair curling around her neck and her eyes much larger than any normal human were almost impossible to stop staring at, they were mesmerising. She didn’t speak but just hummed alongside the rhythm of the crashing waves. Ruby knew it was time and screamed out to her ‘take him’. The mermaid swam forward and grabbed at his arm, dragging him within a split second into the sea and out of sight; Ruby once again saw the flash of her mechanical tail as it pulled her father’s body into the depth of the sea.
She was left standing alone, with only her father’s duvet left in a heap beside her. Ruby looked out to sea and then looked up to the lighthouse, knowing that, like many generations before her she was in charge of the ocean, her face mapping out each crevice and rock, each unknown creature. She began to sob now, not only for the death of her father but she knew that her dreams were shattered that, when her father had told her that ‘she would never leave the lighthouse’, he was telling her the truth. The lighthouse had been forever within their family, each generation passed on the lighthouse and with it the responsibility of looking after each man that floats upon the water and then in death sacrificed to the sea. Ruby was a princess, not related to the Queen but to Mother Nature, left in charge of looking after the sea and forever dreaming but never being allowed to follow those dreams.

Although there are people that we love and who depend on us, we have to have dreams; we have to make our own way and our own mistakes.

By Rose Thompson

Love.

As an English and Art student i have decided to create a blog of my writing and inspiration. I will include my own short stories, poetry, articles, published work, as well as reviews of books, art, film etc that i have found particularly inspirational.
I have an astronomical passion and love for writing and i hope that this blog will prove i also have a talent for it.