Bruce McLean- 'Another Condition of Sculpture'

Leeds Art Gallery Friday 14th February- Sunday 11th May

The exhibition at Leeds Gallery is a thought provoking retrospective of the work of Bruce McLean, looking back over work produced during a fifty year period.

 The image above (Pose work of Plinths 1971) was my initial introduction to the artist as research for a project on line, space, and how humans interact with the linear. While McLean himself is often viewed as daring and mocking for this work, the attraction for me came from the humorous and unique ways in which the set space has been interacted with.

However, the ongoing exhibition focuses much more on McLean's drawn and painted mixed media pieces which really acted as an eye opener on the intertwining relationship between performance art, sculpture and drawing.

Changing Rooms 2013, was one of the series featured in the exhibition and particularly shows the contrast between McLean's early works and those of today. Changing Rooms itself is a new piece of live performance art that will take place in the gallery on the 8th May 2014, and the pencil, collage and photograph series act as an insight into the planning and mindset of the artist. Personally, these pieces are a lot more interesting to look at, as while technically simple, it is extremely insightful to see a visual representation of what can only start as an idea in the artists head. Instead of planning through the written word, McLean uses his art skills to further show an audience the process and thought behind his infamous live performance pieces.

Paul Reas - "Daydreaming About The Good Times?"

Bradford Impressions Gallery 10th December- 8th March 2014

The exhibition at the Impressions Gallery is the first major retrospective of Reas' work, spanning a 40 year career as one of the leading British documentary photographers. What is so successful about this exhibition is that there is a true sense of development and evolution in such a large collection moving into colour and the digital era. This makes it impossible for the viewer not to have an opinion on their favourite collection of his work.

Personally, while he successfully captures the tension of the recession, 'class, consumption and work' through his most recent pieces, I couldn't help but be drawn back to his black and white photography from the 70's and 80's. While in today's world Reas still has a place in the documentary scene, the subject of his images has changed as our country has moved on from its traditional industries. While capturing a real sense of community, personality and humour through his 'working men' series, moving into colour seems to lose the focus of the real image. While still humorous, particularly throughout the 1980's, as the issues have become more serious and as the working situation has changed, his work has reflected the different atmosphere of the country; as documentary photography is supposed to create a realistic image of the current climate. So while being successful, as viewer perhaps the most enjoyment comes from looking back into our country's past and drawing our minds to a time less culturally and politically troublesome.

Bridget Riley- 'Winter Palace' - Leeds Art Gallery

Looking at Riley's painting from a distance, the first thought as a viewer is that the colours are a harmonious combination of blue, magenta, green and orange, and that the artist has succeeded in creating an aesthetically pleasing finished piece of work. However, after approaching the painting it became clear that there was a reason for the piece of work, which turned it from a 'pretty picture' into a valuable piece of fine art painting.

Inspired by a visit to Egypt between 1979 and 1981, Riley created a series of paintings based on the colours of the tombs that she had seen while there, and the name of this painting was inspired by the name of the hotel in which she stayed. What is so effective about her work is the incredibly simplistic nature of it. Based on colour samples from the places that she visited, she has managed to create work both with meaning and purpose and that is visually attractive, proving that sometimes meaning is a vital part of understanding art.

Chris Harrison 'Copper Horses' - The Bradford Fellowship in photography 2012-2013

Chris Harrison's 'Copper Horses' exhibition was a nostalgic journey spanning his fathers working career. What was so poignant about the exhibition was not the separate images themselves  rather the personal stories that were told. Talking about his work, Harrison expressed a desire to "instill a feeling of pride in the skill and creativity of ordinary people and what they do for a living." Whether this was achieved or not is questionable but he certainly succeeded in drawing the viewers to his father, perhaps more through the pencil anecdotes attached to his photographs, rather than the focus of the images themselves.

When viewing the exhibition, I couldn't help but feel a sense of loss that the industries that built strong, hard working communities together are no longer here. Instead, we are living in a country that has abandoned primary industries to develop more financially rewarding quaternary, specialist industries, while a large percentage of the population remain unemployed and on benefits. What Harrison manages to achieve through this exhibition is getting ordinary people to question and compare the direction that our country and industries are heading. Particularly through the exhibition being in Bradford, it hit a strong note. Bradford once a driving force in the industrial revolution, playing a huge part in the textile industry, has disintegrated like most other post-industrial areas of the north into social unrest and economic deprivation.

While Harrison was merely taking a personal journey into the life of his father, the overall questions raised about post-industrialised society were more important to me as a viewer, which I view as a success on his part; creating a real sense of joy, nostalgia and community looking back into the lost industrialised past of our country.


http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/PlanAVisit/Exhibitions/CopperHorses/About.aspx

BAF 2013 - 'The Kiosk' Anete Melece

'The Kiosk'; a seven minute animation about kiosk-owner Olga, did not fail to captivate viewers at the 2013 Bradford Animation Festival.

"Her story is about Olga, a very jolly and slightly lonely news-stand owner whose sweet tooth has left her so enormous that she can no longer squeeze out from her place of work, so is forced instead to spend her days inside reading travel magazines and daydreaming about the far-off lands she would love to visit." (http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/animation-anete-meleces-the-kiosk-promises-a-playful-comment-on-daily-routine)

The short film, followed a light-hearted and playful narrative which left the viewer to appreciate the illustration and drawing skill without getting too involved in deep, considered meanings. Out of all of the short films, the style of this was perhaps most memorable because of the mixture of collaging, water-colour and felt tip drawings, that whilst only two dimensional managed to perfectly capture a familiar character, relatable to each of our lives.

Possibly most exciting to the viewer is how universal the short, simple plot is to all; each of us stuck in a daily schedule of work, and conforming to the monotonous routine of daily urban life, in dull, grey, familiar surroundings. Therefore, when Olga finally gains freedom from the oppressive constraints of city life, the viewer can only be glad for the 'happy ending.'

By choosing such a universally relatable subject, Melece is able to create an emotional response from the viewer and evoke personal memories or thoughts about their own lives or others around them.

Turner Prize Nominee - Laure Prouvost 'Schwitters in Britain'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PF1KcGvJUw

Laure Prouvost was commissioned by the Tate to produce a piece of art for the 'Schwitters in Britain' exhibition to commemorate the life and work of Kurt Schwitter; a leading modernist artist. Kurt Schwitter while in exile between 1940 until his death in 1948, worked on a number of installation, architectural and sculptural pieces, including a series of 'Merz' barns, the last one of which was situated in the Lake District.

In response to the artist, Prouvost created an original mixed-media performance piece which revolved around the story of her fictional grandfather; close friend to the artist. To make her story believable and to try and help the viewer form a more personal and emotional relationship with Schwitter, she used projection, photography and even recreated the inside of the Cumbrian 'Merz' barn so that the viewer could interact in the scenery that once the artist himself was submerged in.

What is perhaps so interesting about the work is that she does not reveal to the viewer how much of her story is fabricated, which means that it is a personal choice how much you believe and are pulled into her fictional world. Therefore, the interactivity of her work is one of it's most successful elements, as it really engages the audience and helps them to build their own emotional bonds to an artist soon forgotten and overshadowed by the modern art world.

Dan McCarthy- Screen Printing

Dan McCarthy experiments with all forms of print-making to create stunning visual contrasts within his pieces and evoke a range of different feelings within a viewer.

The above image is one of McCarthy's more contemporary prints which overall portrays a more minimalist style than his earlier pieces. While he may be most widely known for his extremely detailed, intricate, layered prints, this style has a much more modernist edge to it, as each image features a black silhouette layered over a vivid yellow background. This is bold and striking to look at and creates an overall visually attractive effect.

Not only are the colour choices brave and aesthetically pleasing but the subject of the prints is also interesting to consider. McCarthy himself admits that he likes to focus on the unseen patterns, seeking beauty in things usually camouflaged in the urban environment. In this way, McCarthy is successful in creating unique art, using a process that can often be used to create quick, easy and uninspired pieces.