Moving into my new space at the RCA. There was some swapping and shuffling around. The second years had had first dibs at the studio spaces and then the tutors stuck post it notes with our first year names over the remaining desks. Like wedding guests we searched for our place and eyed up our immediate neighbours. Had we been placed in proximity for a reason?
Our little walking tour around the Tate Modern area ended up with a visit to see the ‘New Graduates’ exhibition at the Embassy Tea Gallery.
Victoria Arney and Marianne Keating are the winners of the Bainbridge Print Award 2013 for the excellence of work they displayed at their University post-graduate shows.
They both gave a talk.
Victoria Arney is interested in ruins.
Victoria Arney ‘Boundary’
She photographs emotionally moving images of natural disasters on the TV news. She then uses these images of destruction for her hand drawn etchings.
Victoria Arney ‘200,000’
Victoria Arney ‘Lacuna’
She achieves a 3D effect in her work using chine colle over her etching which is slightly offset. This mis-registration gives the impression of movement – that the dust is still settling on the final judders of collapse.
Victoria Arney
Marianne Keating also deals with moving emotions, asking the public to confess their secrets, these moving words are then projected, physically moving around the gallery walls.
Marianne Keating
She collects anonymous responses to questions like ‘What do you do that causes you to blame yourself?’
‘What have you confided to a friend that you haven’t confided to your lover?’
There is a lot of regret in the responses she has obtained.
Marianne Keating
While at Tate Modern I had a look at the Saloua Raouda Choucair exhibition.
I watched the short video about her life and work on the Tate website and admired her focus and passion for her art, to keep making work despite the political upheaval and destruction going on around her in Beirut during the 1980’s. Like the lines she explored in her work she kept to her path and followed her own trajectory.
I like her architecturally inspired sculpture and the rich wooden interlocking pieces.
Saloua Raouda Choucair
Some of the surfaces could be woodblocks and make interesting prints.
They look good together here, better than in the gallery space where they are placed in a clinical row along a shelf.
Saloua Raouda Choucair
Her use of monofilament as a support mechanism was interesting in her metal, plastic and fibreglass pieces.
When I was last in Crayford picking up my sublimation prints from Promptside I noticed an incongruous sign I hadn’t seen or maybe paid attention to before.
Sparkling Holidays were offered – though the building was less than sparkling, it was boarded up.
It was intriguing because it had no contact details. A bit Bob & Roberta Smith. Was this an art installation?
Well it just took a google when I got home to discover the company Sparkling Holidays based in Crayford do seem to offer a holiday experience.
Sparkling Holidays is your helper to ensure – home away from home!
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