Sunday, August 29, 2010
Event Review
The Art Gallery of New South Wales
On Saturday I went to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The main event featured in the gallery was a guided tour called Paths to Abstraction but there were also additional exhibitions showing art from different places in the world. The exhibitions will run for about three months starting from the 26th of June and ending the 19th of September 2010. The Art Gallery of NSW is located on Art Gallery road in the city. It is a ten minute walk from both St James and Martin Place station and only a five minute walk from Hyde Park. The gallery is open 10am to 5pm every day except for Good Friday, Christmas Day and on Wednesdays which it is open from 10am to 9pm. Admission into the gallery is free but visitors have to buy tickets for the guided exhibitions. For the Paths to Abstraction tour tickets cost $20 for adults and $15 for concession and members. There are also family deals available which will save a lot of money.
The Art Gallery of NSW was established in 1897 and is the fourth largest art gallery in Australia. The first director of the gallery, Eliezer Montefior, was appointed in 1892.The gallery has five levels and features Australian, Aboriginal, European, Asian and Contemporary art.
There was hardly any advertising for the event. I didn’t see any before deciding to go and only went to the gallery because I had been there before. The only promotion of the gallery I saw was on the website and at the gallery itself. There were huge banners hung from the outside of the gallery showing people the different exhibitions they were displaying inside.
The art gallery offers a lot of different types of art and plenty of things to do so that it’s suitable for a wide range of people. As well as providing people with their usual display of art The Art Gallery of NSW had new exhibitions with different types of art such as Australian art, early European art and abstract art. Visitors can choose to either take a guided tour where each piece of art is explained to them or walk around and interpret the art for themselves. There’s even a tour especially for young children. The gallery also has a wide range of education programs suitable for different audiences such as children in primary school, high school students and tertiary students. For those that worship art the gallery’s store has one of the most comprehensive range of art books in Australia. Also available at the store are popular prints, posters and other merchandise. The gallery also provides visitors with a place to relax after viewing the art with a large cafe and a sitting area on a balcony. Other activities include painting and photography workshops, lectures and book clubs. With all these different types of art and activities to choose from The Art Gallery of NSW is targeted towards all sorts of people looking for a new experience and a good time.
There were a lot of different types of people at the event ranging from young children to the elderly. In the guided tour there were mostly middle aged men and women and not many children. There were also students at the exhibition taking notes while the tour guide explained the artworks. At a certain time of the year the gallery also has an exhibition called Art Express which is mostly attended by high school students in year eleven and twelve studying art. It features the best art chosen from previous year 12 students’ major artworks. The event is also a hot spot for tourists the gallery being one of the main attractions of art in Sydney.
When I arrived at the gallery I first looked around the main area where the usual art display is. I saw most of the pieces that were there during my previous visits along with some new additions. I then went to look at some of the new exhibitions which included Australian art and pre-1900s European art. The pre-1900s European exhibition had paintings drawings and sculptures mostly of men and women of that time. After that I went to buy my ticket for the guided tour. I got a concession ticket which costed $15 for the Paths to Abstraction 1867-1917 exhibition. There were audio devices available to hire that give a detailed explanation of each artwork. The guide took us through the paintings in chronological order showing us how the idea of abstract art was started and how artist were inspired by the works of the generation before theirs. The exhibition included works from famous impressionists such as Claude Monet and Paul Cezanne. Abstraction was inspired by impressionism because of the way impressionists used the element of human perception and painted horizontally. The tour took about 40 minutes and after that I went to take a look at the gallery store and get something to eat at the cafe.
Although there were some nice artworks in the Abstraction tour the one I liked the most and really stood out was a part of the gallery’s usual exhibition. It’s a sculpture by Robert Klippel (1972) called No. 300 and is a collection of steel objects welded together. I like this sculpture because I enjoy fantasy and to me it looks like an evil factory. It is even suggested to be a factory by its mechanical look linking it to the traditions of western sculpture and industrialisation being a part of western culture. Even the name of the artwork makes it look like it has been mass produced suggesting that it is just one number of many. A good thing about this work is that being a sculpture it doesn’t have any particular framing or angle the viewer can look at it from any distance or angle changing the impact the work has. From afar the viewer can appreciate the how the piece works as a whole and from close up they can see all the small pieces and details that went into it which makes it really great. The sculpture took two years to complete and was added to The Art Gallery of NSW in 2006. After seeing this work I researched the artist some more and found that he did some similar artworks that I also liked. Robert Klippel was born in 1920 in Australia and was often described to be Australia’s greatest sculptor producing 1300 sculptures throughout his career.
Another piece I liked was Construction by William Rose. It is a cubism piece and was painted using oil paints on hardboard. I also like this one because of its complexity and because of how the artist has paid attention to detail and chosen colours that go well together.
My overall opinion of the event was that it was quite enjoyable and educational. It was good to revisit the old exhibition and the newer art was great and had some amazing pieces including a series of different sized pots and jugs filled to the top with red dye. I liked thought it looked really good because of the way the red stood out from the dull light brown colours of the pots and jugs. My favourite sections of the gallery were the usual displays and the pre-1900s European art. I liked the European art because there were some great paintings and the sculptures were quite impressive especially the giant one of a man wrestling a snake. I learnt a lot from the guided tour like where abstract art originated from and what influenced the artists. Most importantly the tour helped me understand the art movement abstraction. I did think the tour went for a little long because of the amount of detail the guide put in the explanations. I thought the shop was great and spent a lot of time in there looking at all the different books on art. It also had merchandise featuring famous artist such as Claude Monet post cards and calendars. Even though there was some nice stuff in there it was all quite expensive. I also enjoyed the cafe because the food and drinks were great and sitting on the balcony was refreshing and provided a great view. As well as having a good time at the gallery I also learned a lot and got a better understanding of different types of art so it was overall a good experience.
On Saturday I went to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The main event featured in the gallery was a guided tour called Paths to Abstraction but there were also additional exhibitions showing art from different places in the world. The exhibitions will run for about three months starting from the 26th of June and ending the 19th of September 2010. The Art Gallery of NSW is located on Art Gallery road in the city. It is a ten minute walk from both St James and Martin Place station and only a five minute walk from Hyde Park. The gallery is open 10am to 5pm every day except for Good Friday, Christmas Day and on Wednesdays which it is open from 10am to 9pm. Admission into the gallery is free but visitors have to buy tickets for the guided exhibitions. For the Paths to Abstraction tour tickets cost $20 for adults and $15 for concession and members. There are also family deals available which will save a lot of money.
The Art Gallery of NSW was established in 1897 and is the fourth largest art gallery in Australia. The first director of the gallery, Eliezer Montefior, was appointed in 1892.The gallery has five levels and features Australian, Aboriginal, European, Asian and Contemporary art.
There was hardly any advertising for the event. I didn’t see any before deciding to go and only went to the gallery because I had been there before. The only promotion of the gallery I saw was on the website and at the gallery itself. There were huge banners hung from the outside of the gallery showing people the different exhibitions they were displaying inside.
The art gallery offers a lot of different types of art and plenty of things to do so that it’s suitable for a wide range of people. As well as providing people with their usual display of art The Art Gallery of NSW had new exhibitions with different types of art such as Australian art, early European art and abstract art. Visitors can choose to either take a guided tour where each piece of art is explained to them or walk around and interpret the art for themselves. There’s even a tour especially for young children. The gallery also has a wide range of education programs suitable for different audiences such as children in primary school, high school students and tertiary students. For those that worship art the gallery’s store has one of the most comprehensive range of art books in Australia. Also available at the store are popular prints, posters and other merchandise. The gallery also provides visitors with a place to relax after viewing the art with a large cafe and a sitting area on a balcony. Other activities include painting and photography workshops, lectures and book clubs. With all these different types of art and activities to choose from The Art Gallery of NSW is targeted towards all sorts of people looking for a new experience and a good time.
There were a lot of different types of people at the event ranging from young children to the elderly. In the guided tour there were mostly middle aged men and women and not many children. There were also students at the exhibition taking notes while the tour guide explained the artworks. At a certain time of the year the gallery also has an exhibition called Art Express which is mostly attended by high school students in year eleven and twelve studying art. It features the best art chosen from previous year 12 students’ major artworks. The event is also a hot spot for tourists the gallery being one of the main attractions of art in Sydney.
When I arrived at the gallery I first looked around the main area where the usual art display is. I saw most of the pieces that were there during my previous visits along with some new additions. I then went to look at some of the new exhibitions which included Australian art and pre-1900s European art. The pre-1900s European exhibition had paintings drawings and sculptures mostly of men and women of that time. After that I went to buy my ticket for the guided tour. I got a concession ticket which costed $15 for the Paths to Abstraction 1867-1917 exhibition. There were audio devices available to hire that give a detailed explanation of each artwork. The guide took us through the paintings in chronological order showing us how the idea of abstract art was started and how artist were inspired by the works of the generation before theirs. The exhibition included works from famous impressionists such as Claude Monet and Paul Cezanne. Abstraction was inspired by impressionism because of the way impressionists used the element of human perception and painted horizontally. The tour took about 40 minutes and after that I went to take a look at the gallery store and get something to eat at the cafe.
Although there were some nice artworks in the Abstraction tour the one I liked the most and really stood out was a part of the gallery’s usual exhibition. It’s a sculpture by Robert Klippel (1972) called No. 300 and is a collection of steel objects welded together. I like this sculpture because I enjoy fantasy and to me it looks like an evil factory. It is even suggested to be a factory by its mechanical look linking it to the traditions of western sculpture and industrialisation being a part of western culture. Even the name of the artwork makes it look like it has been mass produced suggesting that it is just one number of many. A good thing about this work is that being a sculpture it doesn’t have any particular framing or angle the viewer can look at it from any distance or angle changing the impact the work has. From afar the viewer can appreciate the how the piece works as a whole and from close up they can see all the small pieces and details that went into it which makes it really great. The sculpture took two years to complete and was added to The Art Gallery of NSW in 2006. After seeing this work I researched the artist some more and found that he did some similar artworks that I also liked. Robert Klippel was born in 1920 in Australia and was often described to be Australia’s greatest sculptor producing 1300 sculptures throughout his career.
Another piece I liked was Construction by William Rose. It is a cubism piece and was painted using oil paints on hardboard. I also like this one because of its complexity and because of how the artist has paid attention to detail and chosen colours that go well together.
My overall opinion of the event was that it was quite enjoyable and educational. It was good to revisit the old exhibition and the newer art was great and had some amazing pieces including a series of different sized pots and jugs filled to the top with red dye. I liked thought it looked really good because of the way the red stood out from the dull light brown colours of the pots and jugs. My favourite sections of the gallery were the usual displays and the pre-1900s European art. I liked the European art because there were some great paintings and the sculptures were quite impressive especially the giant one of a man wrestling a snake. I learnt a lot from the guided tour like where abstract art originated from and what influenced the artists. Most importantly the tour helped me understand the art movement abstraction. I did think the tour went for a little long because of the amount of detail the guide put in the explanations. I thought the shop was great and spent a lot of time in there looking at all the different books on art. It also had merchandise featuring famous artist such as Claude Monet post cards and calendars. Even though there was some nice stuff in there it was all quite expensive. I also enjoyed the cafe because the food and drinks were great and sitting on the balcony was refreshing and provided a great view. As well as having a good time at the gallery I also learned a lot and got a better understanding of different types of art so it was overall a good experience.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Pop Art
Pop Art is an art movement that started in the 1950s in America. It became most popular in the 1960s. Pop artist incorporated themes of mass media and pop culture in to their artworks such as comics, magazines, advertising, celebrities and other American iconography. A characteristic of pop art is that it removes the represented participant and isolates the object or combines it with other objects for consideration.
The leading figure in Pop Art is Andy Warhol. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1928 and he was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker. Andy Warhol’s most famous artworks include Campbell's Soup (1968) and Marilyn Monroe (1962). The Andy Warhol Museum exists in memory of his life and artwork.
Another famous pop artist is Roy Litchenstein. He was born in Manhattan in 1923 and later became a prominent American pop artist. Art wasn’t included in his schools curriculum so Roy became interested in art and design as a hobby. He studied at the Art Students League of New York and then later at the Ohio State University. He described pop art as "not 'American' painting but actually industrial painting".
Sunday, August 1, 2010
White Rabbit
The piece of art that was most appealing to me was Lin Jiunting’s Beyond the Frame. The reason I like this artwork is that the artist has used multimedia technology to make it interactive allowing the viewers to become more active participants in the artwork. The piece consists of four screens displaying classic Chinese noble plants the plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum. These also represent the four seasons. The best part of the work is the four touch screens beneath each flower that allow the audience to play with the flowers and even create sounds by touching the strings of a musical instrument called a zither. The artist Lin Jiunting was born in 1970 and grew up in Taipei, Taiwan. He studied art in New York and was fascinated with “the constant transformation and boundary-breaking of contemporary Western art”. He now lives and works in Taipei and Shanghai.
The only artwork that I didn’t particularly like was Chen Wenling’s Valliant Struggle. The reason I don’t like this work is because it is far too exaggerated for example the pig has too many teeth making it look scary and gruesome. The only thing I like about this work is the symbols the artist has used like the pig which represents Chinese people today which is seen throughout a lot of his artworks. Chen Wenling was born in Anxi, Fujian China in 1969 and studied at the Xiamen Academy of Art and Design. He then studied at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. He is now living and working in Xiamen and Beijing as a professional artist.
I thought the excursion to the White Rabbit was quite beneficial because I got to see a whole new type of art and the culture behind it. Because of the guide I learnt about the thought that goes into these artworks and what influences the artists to create them. I also learnt that art can be expressed in many different ways, and not just traditional ways like sculpture and painting but through a unique and personalized way. For example there was an artwork that interested me because I haven’t seen many like it because it was created by manipulating light. There were an assortment of objects hanging from the ceiling with a spotlight pointed towards them creating an interesting shadow on the wall.
The White Rabbit gallery was founded by Kerr and Judith Neilson and mainly focuses on Chinese contemporary art. Judith Neilson opened up the gallery because she ran out of room to put her extensive art collection. The white Rabbit now has over 400 pieces of art making it one of the largest collections of contemporary Chinese art in the world.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Walter Gropius
Walter Gropius was born in 1883 in Berlin. He became an architect like his father and great uncle. Walter Gropius studied at the Technical Universities in Munich and Berlin. Gropius could not draw, and was dependent on collaborators and partner-interpreters throughout his career. He joined the office of Peter Behrens in 1910 and three years later established a practice with Adolph Meyer.
After serving in the First World War, Gropius became involved with several groups of radical artists that sprang up in Berlin in the winter of 1918. In March 1919 he was elected chairman of the Working Council for Art and a month later was appointed Director of the Bauhaus.
Walter Gropius believed that all design should be functional as well as aesthetically pleasing. His Bauhaus school pioneered a functional, severely simple architectural style, featuring the elimination of surface decoration and extensive use of glass. Walter Gropius gave up his position as director in 1927 but the Bauhaus existed until 1933.
When Gropius left the Bauhaus he resumed private practice in Berlin. Eventually, he was forced to leave Germany for the United States, where he became a professor at Harvard University. From 1938 to 1941, he worked on a series of houses with Marcel Breuer and in 1945 he founded "The Architect's Collaborative", a design team that embodied his belief in the value of teamwork.
Gropius's first large building, the Fagus Shoe-Last Factory in Alfred on the Leine in 1911 was materialized due to his connection with Peter Behrens and in cooperation with Adolf Meyer as had been the case with most of his early structures.
Gropius created innovative designs that borrowed materials and methods of construction from modern technology. This advocacy of industrialized building carried with it a belief in team work and an acceptance of standardization and prefabrication. Using technology as a basis, he transformed building into a science of precise mathematical calculations.
An important theorist and teacher, Gropius introduced a screen wall system that utilized a structural steel frame to support the floors and which allowed the external glass walls to continue without interruption.
Gropius died in Boston, Massachusetts in 1969.
After serving in the First World War, Gropius became involved with several groups of radical artists that sprang up in Berlin in the winter of 1918. In March 1919 he was elected chairman of the Working Council for Art and a month later was appointed Director of the Bauhaus.
Walter Gropius believed that all design should be functional as well as aesthetically pleasing. His Bauhaus school pioneered a functional, severely simple architectural style, featuring the elimination of surface decoration and extensive use of glass. Walter Gropius gave up his position as director in 1927 but the Bauhaus existed until 1933.
When Gropius left the Bauhaus he resumed private practice in Berlin. Eventually, he was forced to leave Germany for the United States, where he became a professor at Harvard University. From 1938 to 1941, he worked on a series of houses with Marcel Breuer and in 1945 he founded "The Architect's Collaborative", a design team that embodied his belief in the value of teamwork.
Gropius's first large building, the Fagus Shoe-Last Factory in Alfred on the Leine in 1911 was materialized due to his connection with Peter Behrens and in cooperation with Adolf Meyer as had been the case with most of his early structures.
Gropius created innovative designs that borrowed materials and methods of construction from modern technology. This advocacy of industrialized building carried with it a belief in team work and an acceptance of standardization and prefabrication. Using technology as a basis, he transformed building into a science of precise mathematical calculations.
An important theorist and teacher, Gropius introduced a screen wall system that utilized a structural steel frame to support the floors and which allowed the external glass walls to continue without interruption.
Gropius died in Boston, Massachusetts in 1969.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)