Exhibition reflection: one exhibition I have visited/seen and one I have participated in using the Shaun project space for my crit.
Cover Versions- Abject Gallery Sunderland.
Cover Versions is a group show curated by brothers Anthony and Graham Dolphin exploring notions of the original and its copies, echoes, and mutations in art, film, and music. An original artwork is often used as the starting point of new creative acts. It can be re-purposed, subverted and reclaimed by artists, musicians, and fans. The exhibition addresses concepts of ownership, fandom and audience, authenticity, and the economic and cultural values that site and shape them. The exhibition features internationally acclaimed artists, musicians and film makers from the UK, the USA, Australia, Japan, and Austria with newly commissioned work alongside key examples of their established practice.
Graham Dolphin
This was a great gallery to visit that showcased multiple amazing artists with their own individual art techniques and styles which coincidentally worked well with on and other through out the gallery and collectively contribute to the overall theme of the planned-out exhibition. Although each artist was distinctive in their own styles one particularly caught my eye more that the others and that had been the work created by Graham Dolphin, to me there was something intriguing about the simple technique of ripping up a newspaper and sticking it back together with tape.
Working across a range of mediums, including film, sound, drawing, sculpture, text and curatorial projects, Dolphin’s work frequently explores the self-identification of fans and the practice of idolism – the worship of an idol. He is known for his meticulous and labour-intensive process creating work in a range of media. These include his scrupulous reconstruction of “shrines” dedicated to rock stars and visited by fan communities. Dolphin draws connections between these modern sites and acts of religious pilgrimage and ritual. The work questions the appreciation, elevation and veneration of art and the artists who make it. ‘Torn’ is an ongoing series of historical newspapers, torn into small squares and reassembled. The resulting handmade slippage creates a distorted and disjointed version of the real object.
My Crit.
During my crit I was given feedback based upon the work I had chosen to display, from the feedback I have received it has given my possibilities in which I can take it to consideration when developing my work and future practices so I can allow my talents and skill to reach their full potential in the most successful way they can be portrayed. For example, one piece of valuable feedback information I was given, in which I am debating, is altering the scale of my work. I am used to limiting my work to a smaller scale therefore in future practices and production I could extend my artistic practice and branch out to create piece of a bigger scale essentially having a bigger impact on my viewing audience than that of my piece that are limited to a small scale. Another piece of valuable feedback I received rather than sicking the flowers on my painted image I could perhaps paint them on. Although with sticking the flowers onto my canvas created this collage/decoupage mixed media piece, if I had chosen to paint the flowers on, I could have gone into more depth with the flowers and meanings and added more detail to capture the audience’s attention more strongly. By creating a piece in all paint rather that using mixed media it would have allowed me as an artist to connect more with my work and the artistic skill that is paint, in which I am currently trying to re-connect with. Counter to these view in which could help develop my work I was also given positive feedback upon what was liked about my work. One of the main likes of my work was that in which one of my pieces was set out. The idea of having my work displayed withing the Instagram layout added to the sentiment and meaning behind my work. As my piece focus upon female-empowerment and feminism, my images having the Instagram format corresponds with one of the main influences behind current women’s social issues. Social media is a repetitive platform that discriminates current women social statues and by me featuring this in my work I am hopefully trying to convey to my woman audience that social media such as Instagram shouldn’t have such a huge impact as it has on women today. Social media shouldn’t hold power in the way women are seen or how they see them-selves. This insta layout was really liked by my fellow peers and it was suggest to me to create more pieces in this way as it gives my current theme a unique perspective and a more in-depth intention.
