Final Major Project

Foundation, Foundations 2011

90% found materials, 325 X 311 X 214 cm.

The past few months have shot by, a wonderful journey.  My thinking and my work has stepped up a notch. The critiques have been a real help, getting the feed back from all directions, have to be honest, I do have difficulty with relating to some students work, I'm sure the understanding will come in time, development!
Been to a couple of exhibitions recently at the Royal Academy of Art. The Glasgow Boys and Modern British Sculpture.  The Glasgow Boys produced some great works of art, in there hay day they were the rebels, using modern techniques inspired by artists from London and Paris, using bold colour, expressive brushwork and decorative design, also a passion for painting outdoors.  Modern British Sculpture?
I was fortunate to visit The Royal Academy of Arts and view this exhibition 1 hour before the doors opened to the general public, also having a guided tour, it helps! Some reviews have panned this exhibition. For me it was exciting, seeing sculpture in it's wider context, the positioning I found interesting, artworks and artefact's presenting a sequence of pairings and juxtapositions with stories present in the history of modern British sculpture. Late nineteenth and twentieth centuries symbolising the power and morality of state.
Jacob Epstein, BMA c. 1907. original plaster versions.
Unveiling of the Cenotaph, London, Armistice Day 1920. Before these new directions in British sculpture we had public monuments, depictions of Queen Victoria, symbol of British dominance and the international significance of Victoria's Reign. Alfred Gilbert, Jubilee Memorial to Queen Victoria, 1887 plinth 1901/10 bronze. 310 X 215 X 215 cm.
Jacob Epstein: Adam. 1938-39 Alabaster. 214 X 66 X 82.2 cm. Public and private showing? Adam was exhibited in private peep shows.
Henry Moore: Reclining Figure 1951 bronze 106X 228.6 X 73.7 cm, Moore created reclining figure for temporary display on London's South Bank at the 1951 Festival of Britain, the festival was the British contribution to world civilisation in the arts of peace and announced Britain's emergence from wartime experience and its turn to the future. Having been to Henry Moore's exhibition at the Tate Britain makes me understand more as to how the sculpture should flow and makes me want to stroke it, it invites you in, and especially with the wood sculptures, I really do have a love for wood and its grain, I am now having the same feeling with other materials such as steel, stone, etc.
Barbara Hepworth: Single Form (memorial) 1961-62 bronze. 250 X 150 X 30 cm, Both Moore and Hepworth sculptures fit into the landscapes, again wanting to explore with touching.
Anthony Caro: Early One Morning 1962 painted steel and aluminium, 289.6 X 619.8 X 335.5 cm if you want to change your art change your habits. Anthony worked as a part-time assistant to Moore, later with the influence in American abstract painting and sculpture provoked a radical move away from representational art. Early one morning composed of sheer planes and linear intersections that frame space rather than fill it, evoking the flat shapes and lines of paintings. Caro was seen as revolutionary for his decision to position the sculpture directly on the ground, rather than on a base or plinth, the bright red colour serves as a painted skin, transforming the industrial metals into abstract and painterly marks in space.
Richard Long: Turf Circle, Bristol, 1966 photograph on paper 27 X 30.5 cm.  Myself having a real love for Landscape, and its natural beauty. recently I have been checking out some land art, such as James Turrall: Roden Crater, N. Arizona. USA.  Brine Shrimp: Spiral Jetty, Salt Lake, Utah. We don't have to go far to find land art! The Jeff Koons: One Ball 50/50 tank (Spalding Dr. J. Silver Series), 1985 Glass, steel, distilled water, basketball. 162 X 76 X 33 cm could really do with a tidy up, the ball has moved to an odd position and the tank seems to have a leak, well there is moisture vapour running along the sealed glass and I'm sure its not supposed to do that?  Damien Hirst: Let's Eat Outdoors Today, 1990-91 Glass, steel, cow's head, flies, maggots, sugar, water, insect-o-cutor, resin, table and chairs, tableware, condiments and food. 221 X 411.5 X 216 cm  well if that insect-o-cutor don't kill the flies, the fake meat sure will.