London!
6th-8th October
Yess! As you can see from the heading of my blog, i did indeed go on a 2night trip to Londaaaaan! with my fellow degree students. Where we visited various galleries such as the Saatchi, Tate Britain, The Turner Prize and the Haunch of Venison. Some which i found amazing! and others which i thought weren't that relevant to me. However on the 7th we had a tour around Vogue! which was my favourite hour of the whole trip! I will explain in further detail on the happenings there further down in my blog.
Vogue HQ.
VOGUE HOUSE. LONDON.
During our short visit to London we were given the chance to go to the Voge house and have a tour around the Vogue offices and also meet the creative director Robin Derrick.
During the tour we were taken to the art department where we were shown the front cover of the december issue featuring Emma Watson and also some of the main page spreads within the issue, featuring some of the worlds most famous models photographed by the one and only David Bailey.
Below is the final cover of the december issue.
Once we had finished the art department tour we were taken down to the archive basement where we were allowed to look through the past 80 years worth of Vogue issues. This was a really strange experience as some of the really early issues had black and white illustrations, unlike the issues we see published now which are based around photography and using top models.
Whilst touring the archive basement we were also informed that retouching is not just a recent technique used when editing and representing beauty in photos, it has been used for years and that even some of the most earliest issues of vogue photos had even been touched up my hand, painting over what they seen as flaws in the image.
Tate Britain
There were various pieces of art work in the Tate Britain which i found particularly interesting, one
of these being a piece featured in 'The Art Now Programme' anexhibition by Clunie Reid
and James Richards called 'Your higher plane awaits' it was installation of silver ink jet print
collages fixed with gaffer tape, covering the complete wall of the exhibition space. The collages contained
a selection of iconic messages, commercial slogans and lots of scribbles of pen.
The Turner Prize
Dexter Dalwood, The Otolith group, Angela De La Cruz and Susan Philipsz were the four
artists featured in the Tuner Prize, each having their own exhibit.
Dexter Dalwood
Most of his work was oil on canvas, which featured bold, bright colours and of simple objects.
Two of his pieces which i particularly liked were, Greenhan Common 2008 and Death of David Kelly 2009.
The Otolith Group
The Otolith Group presented different aspects of its practice through the use of film, photo works, writings, cultural projects and discussions. One of the writings featured on the exhibition wall was 'An idea is only good when it has no power' written by Michel Serres.
Angela De La Cruz
Angela De La Cruz's was my favourite of the four artists, her exhibition featured traditional monochrome paintings, crudely broken, ripped or folded. Some of her work was even presented as masses on the floor, or even awkwardly wedged into positions. Her work was seemed really simple, yet was creative in how she presented the canvases and positioned them.
Susan Philipsz
Susan Philipsz's exhibition was an empty room with an audio installation of her voice as the central medium playing over and over again. Showing the immersive properties of sound. Overall i thought this was the worst of the four artists in the Turner Prize as i just didn't understand what the concept was.
Haunch of Venison
The gallery Haunch of Venison i have to say was my favourite of all the galleries as it contained
one exhibition which i loved! This being 'Loud Flash: British Punk on Paper' as it featured various
flyer's, posters and fanzines of well known punk bands all curated by the artist and designer Toby Mott.
