Ai Wei Wei at the Royal Academy of Arts

Ai Wei Wei at the Royal Academy of Arts 

The very first exhibition i went to before the start of my third and last year on my Bachelor degree in fine art was the Ai Wei Wei exhibition taking place at the RA. 

Ai Wei Wei is an Art phenomenon, he has reached far out into the world with his voice against political issues and stunned us as he tells us about his life. 

What ill do is show you a few images of this exhibition but i really recommend that if you're not too late, you should go and experience this yourself. 

His work truly fascinated me, this was an exhibition you just don't forget about. 

One thing the RA did that made the visit even more pleasurable was that in every ticket purchase was a free headset audio discussing each piece individually plus some other interviews, documented images and videos about Ai Wei Wei and his life. This headset secluded us away from the audience and noise and kept us completely focused on the exhibition itself. I found this extremely absorbing. 

I always wanted to see one of these vases up front, this was a first. 

I find it fascinating how Wei Wei can destroy something so fragile, unique and historical simply to give birth, create, translate it to this contemporary piece of work. 

i mean the vases he paints on or dips in industrial paint are Han Dynasty Urns or Neolithic vases that can be dated back 5000-3500 BC. 

Looking at these, it made connections toward my current practice which revolves around street art, graffiti. Graffiti on walls are continually destroyed to reproduce new work, this is how i see it. For something new to be created something first has to be destroyed. To create is to destroy. 

Marble work... beautifully executed. 

By the way, this cube above me is made out of tea leaves... yeah... tea leaves. 

Jade Handcuffs, he discusses his time when arrested by the police.

This was  still performance/sculptural piece, inside every box is a stage made by Wei Wei to describe his time when held by officials. Peek inside the boxes to see, almost like peeking into his life, his past, his timeline, to this time. 

Very detailed

I can say that this was my favourite exhibition this year of 2015, no doubt. An experience no person should miss. 

Visit to a Potential gallery space for Off site Exhibition

Visit to a Potential gallery space for Off site Exhibition

So i have already started to look at potential spaces for our off site exhibitions

I an a group of 2 others, are working in collaboration to put up an exhibition 

I have emailed many different spaces to talk about pricing and spaces and location and times. 

This was the first that looked and felt promising 

Last year, the exhibition we put up was educational. We learned the rights and wrongs and especially ways and methods in which we can make the exhibition better

Last year, me and my group got our space for free. No Charge. This was definitely one of the benefits and as easy as that would be to do again, i wanted a change of location and venue. 

This venue cost a lot more, a lot more, but instead of most people seeing it as a potential waste of money, i see this as an investment

I plan to show with my group a collection of work, private views, week long opening to the public and hopefully attract a customer base willing to buy work. 

In the gallery, there are 2 spaces. Gallery one (Smaller) and Gallery 2 (bigger) 

Above is picture showing the entrance into gallery 1

Below is an image showing gallery one 

Its spacious, but because of the glass window and the 2 entrances, it limits the wall space for artwork 

Below is Gallery 2

Now this space is a lot bigger

Discussions on terms and conditions

A hallway with wall space on either side

Possibly sculptures displayed on plinths in the middle?

Ideas...

More discussions 

 Entrance into Gallery 2

Embassy Tea Gallery London

We still have a lot to discuss

But we decided to plan early, and get started early

We want to sell work, which means marketing has to come early

Early preparation could lead to a very successful exhibition 

Looking forward to this!!

See you soon

Symposium Beforehand (at Tate Britain) - Initial ideas, Planning, Making and Site Visit

Symposium Beforehand (at Tate Britain) - Initial ideas, Planning, Making and Site Visit 

Initial Ideas

We sat down to discuss initial ideas 

Many ideas were being flung around but what stuck from the very beginning was that it should be something visual, a video piece. 

We talked about getting the audience to participate in the presentation. 

Speaking. 

Statements

Then Jan, our new member to the group, he showed us his work that he has been doing. It consists of multiple videos being played on a screen, flashing, repeating. 

This then led to us talking about how we should find clips and images of appropriated themed images and videos. 

We discussed what there was, and there was a lot. 

-Hitler speech 

-Chaplin Speech

-Kennedy Speech 

-Martin Luther King Speech

-9/11

-Hindenburg

-Famous speeches from presidents 

-Clips from TV

-Famous internet clips 

-Clips from shows such as "The Simpsons" that have appropriated from historical events and people figures as well as internet memes and such

-Godzilla New york

-King Kong New York

and so on.........

so our task was to find as many of these clips as possible, collect these and transform it into a video piece

Planning

This is a rough layout plan we had in place 

We created a Facebook communication page between the four of us so that we could change our ideas and put on any clips that we find that can go towards our video 

Making

Making process of this video was using a software called iMovies

We used the clips we found and put them together, editing, altering video and sound

Site Visit

The site visit was very interesting.

It wasn't as big as we all thought, the space we mean

The projector screen was big though, very wide 

We were discussing about how big our video will look on the screen, which isn't necessarily a bad thing as it will make viewers more engaging. 

Its good that ours is a video because first, it will mean the lights are off meaning that we can't see the walls. In my opinion the orange on the walls are a little bit out of place. Secondly the stage is rather small, if it were a performance as such, we may not have enough room. 

Cant Wait.....

Continuing.....

Continuing.....

So during the Christmas break, i decided to read a few books. This was one of them

"Steal Like an Artist" by Austin Kleon
This was a part of TOP but this task in TOP and appropriation has also deeply affected my practice.

The best thing is, my practice is directly linked in with my TOP

The more i read, the more connections i made with my work and the theme of Appropriation. 

Now ill be giving you quotes from the book now and then, i marked them down as i read the book. 

Oe quote inside said "Art is Theft" 

Know who said that?

Pablo Picasso

Who did you know appropriated from Rembrandt. 

This is Brick Lane Market #6, 2015 

This i painted near the end of 2014. 

I really enjoyed this piece because one of the early layers was the bunny rabbit drawing in the background, then i was revolving the graffiti around the eye as the centre piece. 

I like how the eye has this dark seemingly endless visual outcome more or less right in the middle of the painting, with its white splatters of paint, it seems like a never ending universe 

Almost a story 

I mentioned in one of the earlier blogs that we went to visit the British Museum last year, and went to study a few paintings. 

Two of the paintings we visited was one by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, and the other was a Goya drawing. 

Now the story here is, Goya, was a great admirer of Tiepolo's work and copied his style. He wanted to learn his style, master it. This is like me and my work, me copying the style of graffiti artist out in London but the only difference is, I'm changing the medium and surface in which i apply the work on. 

A quote from the book in a way, helped me, made sense, on what is plagiarism. 

" If you copy from one author, its plagiarism, but if you copy from many, its research" - Wilson Mizner 

Throughtout this territories of practice, it has been insightful

I am in a group with 2 girls, whom do video. I do painting. 

Yes its different but it is really interesting to expand my knowledge on the subject of appropriation throughout different disciplines within art, not just painting. 

But the subject of appropriation is beginning to be too focused. 

It is better to have a broad knowledge of different theories and themes of art, yet us concentrating solely on Appropriation can cause us to loose sight of other things around us. 

Its been good so far. Now for the Symposium.....

Brick Lane Market #7, 2014

What really captivates me from this piece is that it is rather narrative. It speaks. like a debate or disagreement of something, an essence of dispute and anger yet the colours contradicts that

The painting argues with itself through subject and colour 

Brick Lane Market #8, 2014

Brick Lane Market #9, 2015

As you can see, the previous pieces i used a kind of, glossy acrylic paint 

In this most recent piece i did not. The background i though in my opinion may have been to bright therefore i decided not to do it. 

Keep you Updated !!

E.

Gallery visits December 2014

Gallery visits December 2014

Tate Modern : Sigmar Polke

When we went to these gallery visits as a group, we scouted out the symbols and context that had a strong relationship with "Appropriation" which was the topic we were discussing about

This piece was interesting, painted on bubble wrap, found material. Raw material

The Swastika originally was considered to be a very sacred symbol in Hindusim, originally perceived as a symbol of success and promising fortune. It was later appropriated and altered by the Nazis. 

Other things like the symbol of the Eagle, used in the Nazis as a symbol of strength is now also used in todays world, American symbol too. 

Tate Modern: Omer Fast - "The Casting"

This was a really interesting piece, 4 videos being projected onto both sides of the 2 slides, a story was being told. Composition. 

Serpentine Gallery: Reiner Ruthenbeck

Lots of found material used by Ruthenbeck

Tables, paper, rope, everyday items altered and recontexualized for the viewers. 

It changes your perspective on how you see the subjects. 

Tables aren't usually seen from this angle 

And even if you have the urge to fix it, you can't because there is a line that prevents you from entering. 

Serpentine Sackler Gallery: Julio Le Parc

Parc uses a lot of political figures in his work but he alters them to make it playful and less serious. 

He made games for all ages to interact and play with. 

All this research and gallery visits brought us onto our presentation in which we made for the unit. 

 Our presentation went rather well in my opinion. Really well

We talked fluidly about the subject of appropriation and when it got to the questions part at the end, this subject brought in many questions. 

The discussion between us nearly went on longer than the presentation itself.

Overall this was really beneficial, it extended our knowledge on the subject of appropriation, it brought different views and opinions together that helps with our perception of different kinds of views on appropriation which will help develop our practice.