Exhibitions in London - part 2

Outside the Tate Britain on the way to tube, I saw this sculpture of a Ballet dancer. I love how graceful and elegant he looks, but he is still masculine. I like seeing things that combine masculinity and elegance.

(Jeté 1975 by Enzo Plazzotta, sculpture based on the dancer David Wall)

(Jeté 1975 by Enzo Plazzotta, sculpture based on the dancer David Wall)

Then I went to the Tate Modern to see the Energy and Process Display which I knew had some pieces I wanted to see.

(Cy Twombly, Untitled (Bacchus) 2006-2008, Acrylic on Canvas)

(Cy Wombly, Winter's Passage: Luxor, 1985, Bronze)

This piece was one of the ones I wanted to see. I don't usually like embroidery or fabric work, but since those crafts are traditionally considered female crafts, feminist artists do tend to use it in order to make a point.

This piece made me realise exactly how great the inequality used to be. It was only made 40 years ago, but the context of this piece has changed dramatically. The piece does a very good job at conveying how sexist society was, and that women needed to gain equal political rights. I realised that I have become very comfortable with status of women now, and forgotten how recent this development is. This made me realise the importance of the feminist cause, and that I should do a final outcome that is less explicit than I planned, but more based around gender equality.

(Margaret Harrison, Homeworkers, 1977, mixed media)

(Margaret Harrison, Detail: Homeworkers, 1977, mixed media)

(Margaret Harrison, Detail: Homeworkers, 1977, mixed media)

(Margaret Harrison, Detail: Homeworkers, 1977, mixed media)

(Margaret Harrison, Detail: Homeworkers, 1977, mixed media)

(Margaret Harrison, Detail: Homeworkers, 1977, mixed media)

(Annette Messager, The Pikes, 1992-93)

This installation made me feel quite uncomfortable, due to the combination of childlike toys and the violence suggested through the pikes.  I think the piece works really well, but I didn't realise that it was meant to comment on the hierarchies in male and female relationships, as the description says.

Description: Influenced by Surrealism and the Fluxus movement, Messager's works subvert hierarchies of power in the relationships between male and female, nature and culture, vulnerability and aggression. In this work she draws parallels between the potential cruelty of children's play and that of modern social and political structures. The pikes echo those used to display guillotined heads during the French Revolution; women were not allowed to carry these macabre trophies. 

(Annette Messager, The Pikes, 1992-93)

(Annette Messager, The Pikes, 1992-93)

I found Tracey Emin's piece quite interesting to look at. So far I have not encountered a lot of her work, so it was interesting to actually see one of her pieces after hearing so much about her. I quite like the colour scheme, even though the colours clash, it still works very well. I also like the phrase "The worse I could do is betraye", because for me it linked back to the idea that women only possess power and importance when in a relationship to a man. I also tried to find the handwriting that the description mentioned, but I couldn't see it anywhere. The description reads: "The quilt includes two patches inscribed in the artist's handwriting. One reads: '800 men and boys/ their bodies floating/like flotsam and/jetsam on the surf/ ice cold black/ waters, an eary [sic] grave,/ of which you invented'. The other accuses a woman of 'Crimes against Humanity': 'you, supposed mother - A mother who Reiked [sic] of Power CRAZY Hate and Fear, of all the terrible things that you did, in the name of political conquest': Its ending clearly refers to the Falklands War: 'In 1982, A year so many conscripts did not go home - Because you, you killed them all.'" Does the last text refer to Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister of the time?

(Tracey Emin, Hate and Power Can be a Terrible Thing, 2004, Textiles)

This piece was another one that I had looked up online, and found quite interesting. It is another way of art - media output - interacting with the outside world, which is what I'm trying to accomplish. Surprisingly, I had never heard of this video before, or the performance, which I found astonishing after watching the video. I thought it would have had a greater impact and echo in society, because it is a blunt criticism (when at the same time it is meant to celebrate the moon landing). The video was in a documentary-style, which I found a bit dragging at times. Layered on top of the clips are sound recordings of Neil Armstrong communicating with the base when taking his first steps on the moon.

quick blind sketch of the her final pose

In the same gallery space, I also saw this "painting"that I really liked. Watching people interact with it for a while, I observed that women were mostly using it to check on their face, while the men were looking in it differently. However people seemed to get uncomfortable when they realised that I was observing them observing themselves, as if they were doing something they shouldn't. When I looked at myself in the painting, I caught myself thinking "what if someone else in this room whom I can't see can now see me". At first I felt weird, but then I grew more comfortable with having my reflection displayed. 

I found this mug in the shop of the Tate Modern. I like the sarcasm and exaggeration that is used to make a point. The statements could be applied to a variety of careers - women just aren't taught to be ambitious in our society in the same way that men are. 

Then I visited the gallery@OXO, which had an exhibition of the "Women's Interfaith Network". The exhibition will be on until the 6th April, and is free of admission. The gallery made a point of only displaying female artists, because they are under-represented in mainstream museums.

(Miranda Sky, No I'm Spartacus, Mixed Media)

(Belgin Bozsahin, Opening, Porcelain, Glaze,  Lustre)

This piece reminded me of this sculpture:

(Paige Bradley, Expansion, Bronze with Electricity, 2004)

I think it is meant to convey a similar message as Paige Bradley's piece of work; that we are being restricted by society and that we should try to free ourselves.

(Bethan Arundel, Act Like A Lady, Photograph)

(Bethan Arundel, Act Like A Lady, Photograph)

(Bethan Arundel, Act Like A Lady, Photograph)

What I really like about this series is that the breasts and genitals have been digitally removed from the photo, yet I still had no problem identifying these women as women. Though the women are half naked, they are not portrayed in a sexual way - which isn't a very common sight.

(Sebnem Ugural, Pinhole Self Portrait, Digital C-Type Print, drum scanned)

I found this photograph very interesting because of the gradient light and shadow. I also like how the self-portrait isn't at all about how she looks, but how she is in her environment and her own personal space. In a way that makes it more intimate than it being a close-up of her face, because someone's bedroom is a very private space.

Charlie Crxsh