The Leith Gallery in Edinburgh

The Leith Gallery

This was a small gallery in Edinburgh

From the outside I saw some impressionist landscape paintings and was interested in their use of colours mostly paintings by Davy Brown, a Scottish Artist.

The artwork was also on sale in this gallery so it was good to see the price charge for certain pieces of work.

(Above image)

Davy Brown

“24 Midsummer Sunset, North Berwick”

Oil

81 cm x 81 cm

3,500 pounds

He captured the light reflections of the sunset well which is what impressionist artist should capture. The colors were soothing and aesthetically pleasing

Davy Brown

“21 Bass Rock Sunset”

Oil

81cm x 81cm

3,500 pounds

This too had been painted with calm luminous colors.

The river in the middle of the painting was my eye’s starting point, it then lead me towards the sea and then around the sky. The last point was the mountainous feature in the middle surrounded by a colorful sunset sky.

This way of painting guides the audience throughout the entire painting which is something every painting should have.

Looking closely at the details, you can see evidence of brushstrokes, i tend to follow a pattern, try to imagine the route taken by the artist when painting. 

Gallery Space

The space itself wasn’t great.

There were sculpture in the middle that could have been easily knocked over by someone carrying a bag, or bending over to take a closer look.

The lights were rather dim, natural sunlight took over which only created mass shadows inside which only made the lighting of the pieces worse.

Improvements could be made, if improved it could definitely liven up the atmosphere inside, attracting people to come in. Consumers would come in if they could actually see the paintings.

This could then lead to a higher interest towards the pieces, a higher chance of artwork being sold. 

Michael McManus

“Pear Core”

Cedarwood

36cm High

160 pounds

This was one sculpture I enjoyed. Usually when I finish off a fruit, I throw it in the bin or it will simply start to rot.

It was nice to see a freeze-frame of it before the rotting and then end of eating.

Looking at this, i could psychologically taste the pear, it brings up the memories in my taste buds of what a pear taste like and brings in a sweet sense whilst looking at this sculpture. 

What Do You Want Most In Your Life?

I started with this project, i could see it in a big picture. 

I would ask people to write down a response to a question, in a small notebook of mine. 

They had a page to themselves and could write whatever they desired. 

I would then take a photograph of them afterwards so that i could keep that identity along with what they wrote. 

Some people refused to participate because they didn't want their photo to be taken. 

This was about the interaction i made with complete strangers

The way they wrote the message down, examining the characteristics of their writing. 

Like graphology.

The interaction between person and writing.

Behaviour

Psychology

I wanted to create Black and White photographs. 

As much as i love colour photography, i think in this case colour would be a distraction. The key subject here is the portrait and colour may distract our attention away from the subject. 

I looked into artist such as Sophie Calle and Gillian Wearing. 

Sophie Calle's work is very personal and focuses on other people. She created some amazing pieces of work when spying on other civilians and documenting their actions during the day. 

"Her work frequently depicts human vulnerability" - Wikipedia 

I am very fond of her work, her detective skills and how she brings random people into her work, not focussing on herself but others around us. 

I also looked into the works of Gillian Wearing. 

Her piece "Im Desperate" 1992-3 was an inspirational piece as well as all the others. 

Im rather shy when it comes to talking to people for the first time so it was that interaction that made it interesting for me.

Now this gentleman up here, this is interesting. I asked him if he would write a response to the questions and then let me photograph him at the ned, he said yes but when it came to the photograph, he refused to look into the lens. He said he didn't really like it and that if he did, he would "break my camera"

This is the only person to have looked away when taking a photo, this to me is interesting because it stands out as the odd one out. 

I tried to go for all ages.

I started out by hand writing the question for others to respond.

For some, they wrote down the date, i didn't tell them to, this was their decision. 

 I liked how he wrote an "x" instead of "10"

Dont ask, No idea what this says. This was written in a different language. Like i said, all i asked was for them to write a response, whatever they wrote was their choice. 

This was a quick response, in fact when i asked this person, he/she said it out immediately like it was a reflex. 

Does it say a lot about the type of person he is?

Can you spot who wrote this by looking at the portraits?

Does the "..." mean there could be more?

This person didn't write in the middle of the page like some, some are use to writing from the top left to start off, so is this a sign of habit?

The layout of this text was unusual and interesting. 

Underlining suggest that this is it, this is all he/she wants. HAPPINESS

I later realised through critique sessions with my peers that this isn't a good approach in getting others to express themselves, or be honest.

• They might feel under pressure to write quickly because of my presence. 
• Knowing that i may read it afterwards might limit to what they want to share
• People are less likely to get into that emotional zone of theirs that quickly when asked in public spaces

Lots of reasons why this didn't work

So i stopped it and tried to develop another idea, learn from the mistakes i made