Book: What Are You Looking At?: 150 Years of Modern Art in the Blink of an Eye

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Will Gomperetz is best known as the rather eccentric looking BBC News arts correspondent. However, his cultural pedigree is impeccable. He was Director of the Tate Gallery for 7 years and a seasoned journalist with the Times and Guardian.

Moving through the past 150 years since the recognized birth of 'modern art' Gompertz looks at the different schools of art which sprang up and analyzes each movement in a clear, matter of fact way, without losing the reader in intellectual pseudo-speak.  Nicely illustrated as well, what you are looking at is a great reference book for anyone interested in art.

This is a book to dip in and out as the fancy takes you rather than one solid read from cover to cover. Entertaining and informative for those who want to learn more about art trends.

Book: Photography Reborn - Jonathan Lipkin

 

 It is truly amazing the rate at which technology moves! Four years ago, the author thought that film photography was here to stay for a long while because digital cameras were expensive, not so good, and anyway, people would need fancy computers and printers to make accessible photos. Now easy Internet business is routinely conducted with digital images. 

But, as Lipkin points out, in PHOTOGRAPHY REBORN, it is not only that digital photography takes the place of film. It does, but it also is a genuine new medium. This book tells how and why digital images can out-manipulate experience and reality, be a new aesthetic medium and be more subversive than film photographs in which Trotsky's image was removed from Stalin's. In fact, the book tells not only how digital photography works, but also is a great guide to what it promises to do in the future.

Tate Gallery St Ives and Barbara Hepworth Gallery

I was in St Ives last weekend and fulfilled an ambition of mine, to visit the Tate St Ives gallery. I've been to the Tate Modern in London, several times and have really enjoyed their exhibitions and general set up.  I must be on a different wavelength to all those artists in Cornwall because I failed to see much 'art' in their current exhibition 'The Far and The Near'.

I read the blurb, listened to the gallery speakers and looked at the images and have to say I cannot see the art in most of what was on display. Does this make me a heathen.  I'm trying to absorb art and appreciate it but this exhibition passed me by completely.  I spoke to a friend when I got home and she admitted that she couldn't remember what she had seen at the show she had visited.

On the other hand I visited the Barbara Hepworth studio and gardens (part of the Tate but separate from the main gallery) and that was a real gem.  Apart from too many people crammed into too small a space, the items displayed in the gardens were superb.

Two Forms (Divided Circle) by Barbara Hepworth

Guy Edwardes Landscape & Nature Photographer par excellence

Last night I sat through some of the most amazing photographs that I'd seen in a long time.  I went along to the Bridport Camera Club’s annual session with club member Guy Edwardes.   

Guy is a professional landscape, travel and wildlife photographer based in Dorchester in the South West of England. He has been a professional nature and landscape photographer for many years, best known for his atmospheric landscape images which make use of dramatic light and weather conditions. He began his career straight after completing a degree in photography that followed various courses in nature conservation. Guy now concentrates on producing on stock photography, for Getty Images and running courses in various aspects of photography around the UK and abroad.

Guy has always used Canon camera equipment, starting with an EOS650 back in the late eighties. He now uses an EOS -1DX as his main landscape camera along with a variety of Canon lenses from 16mm to 600mm.  If you get the opportunity to see one of his shows, then grab it with both hands, you will come away amazed at the range of his ability and appreciate the limitations of your own ability. If you go on one of his tours, make sure you take a raincoat, as bad weather doesn’t stop him working.

Photograph courtesy of 2020Vision http://www.2020v.org/photographer_portfolio.asp?show=10

Lyme Regis ArtsFest Exhibition

I made a point of visiting the main exhibition for the festival and found an outstanding collection of pictures, photographs, rag rugs, glass sculptures and pottery, to name but a few items on display.

it was difficult to get a good shot of some of the work as there was so much on display. I managed to show, in the above picture, painted pictures, rag rugs and photographs.  There was so much to see I needed a good 30/45 minutes to walk round it properly to see everything. The show is on every day until Sunday 16th September.

Another benefit of this ArtsFest is that you don't have to make a special visit to the exhibition as you can see various artists' work as you walk round the local shops.  Most of the shop windows have a display of one particular artist which is also available for sale.  So, art amongst the cabbages, what will I find next?

ArtFest art displayed in shop windows

Lyme Regis Arts Fest 2012

We're very lucky in West Dorset/East Devon to have so many artistic communities in the area.  There is always something going on, be it artists' exhibitions, photographic exhibitions or the opportunity to take part in making art.


At present we are in the throes of the Lyme Regis ArtsFest running from 8th-16th September in and around the town, see link below for range of events available. There is a wide range of events running throughout the 8-days and members of the local community and visitors are encouraged to view and take part where applicable.

http://www.lymeregisartsfest.com/

RAMM V&A Travelling Exhibition

I went to this exhibition and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. There was so much to take in (60 prints in all and the blurbs that went with it) that I've decided to revisit it today and try to pick out my favourite images.

All I can remember is a picture of Twiggy riding a moped and wearing clothes from her own design label. This time I'm determined to take some notes and study the images more thoroughly.

I've found a copy of this image online:

(c) Ronald Traeger (American, 1937-1968). Twiggy. 1967; printed 1995;
http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1159_grand_design/popup.php?img_id=334

RAMM V&A Travelling Exhibition Revisited

This travelling exhibition, under the auspices of the V&A museum, contained 60 pictures covering the decades between 1900s-2010.

The main gallery at the RAMM is confusing when you entered the gallery as it has 3 separate entrances and you had to wander round to find the start of the timeline otherwise you started in the middle, went on to the 21st century and back to the beginning.

The style of portraits changed from pictures of actresses, dancers and royalty in luminous romantic images in the early days to two pictures purporting to show the future by Steven Klein whose work confronts themes of violence, masochism, decadence and decay in American fashion photography at the end of the decade.

Betwixt and between was an eclectic mix of styles through the decades with examples of work from photographers such as Edward Steichen, Cecil Beaton, Richard Avedon, Norman Parkinson, Horst P Horst, Irving Penn, David Bailey, Harry Rankin and several other late 20th century photographers.  As the images moved from decade to decade the photographers seemed to want to portray the images they took in more ‘normal’ situations rather than the dream life style that you saw in the early pictures and photographers used their work to illustrate the changing styles of daily life.

When I came away after my first visit I started thinking about all the fashion photographers I had studied since I started working in the photographic industry and I was struck by which well-known people were missing in what was deemed a representation of fashion images of the past century.  People like Patrick Lichfield, Bob Carlos Clarke, Terrance Donovan, Annie Leibovitz, Ellen von Unwerth and Corinne Day.  Some photographers had two or three images; David Bailey had three pictures for example but there were still all those missing people.

One other thing that struck me was the lack of women fashion photographers included in the show.  In fact I only saw work from Deborah Turberville, Sarah Moon (who had 2 pictures on show) Corinne Day and Elaine Constantine.

My impressions overall were of a series of images thoughtfully put together that proved an interesting gallery but what struck me more was what had been omitted!

The Shed Photography Gallery

Last year I joined an online community called the Shed which promises to show your photographic work to the world and sell it giving you a percentage of the sale price.

All has been quiet on the sales front this year but the company (who is also based in Spain) has been holding an exhibition called Albion at the Malthouse, Town Mill, Lyme Regis until 3rd September: website http://www.theshedgallery.com/.

Success, I've finally sold something - a large print, 90cms x 60cms,  of the Marine Parade at dusk in winter and they've also sold a small version 27cms x 18cms. It was also the top viewed image on the website for two weeks, fame at last.

Marine Parade in Winter

V & A Travelling Exhibition at the RAMM, Exeter

I check regularly on the programme of exhibition at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) and was interested to see that the travelling V&A fashion exhibition is in Exeter until September 2nd.  I was going to see it last week but couldn't make it so I have decided to go today as I've always had an interest in fashion photography. I would have liked to go down that route but was never able to get a foothold so have watched from afar. Will report back on what I found later. Below is a link to 20th century fashion section at the V&A.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/0-9/20th-century-fashion/

Blurb from the RAMM catalogue, quote:
'This exhibition explores the range of approaches to fashion image-making from 1911 to 2011. It comprises nearly sixty photographs, including many rarely exhibited and recently acquired works by more than twenty photographers such as Edward Steichen, Irving Penn, David Bailey, Corinne Day and Tim Walker. This is the first touring exhibition from the V&A's Collection to showcase the work of international fashion photographers and to draw together such a broad range of important historic and contemporary fashion images. Exhibition organised by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.' unquote

Start Blogging

I've had this new module over a month now and really have to get started. I read through the first chapters, got all excited about the first assignment and then had to put it by as, instead of relaxing on a 2-week cruise my husband was struck down with one of those mysterious viruses and needed a lot of help. He's over the worst but is still not well but I feel I should make a start so here goes.

I've kept in touch with the thoughts of other students through the forums and have been watching a particular string of thoughts and will comment later.