Course Trip to London//Tracey Emin

After the Tate Britain and Turner's traditional paintings, we made our way to the White Cube gallery in Bermondsey, for something completely the opposite but equally as brilliant. The beautifully titled exhibition, 'The Last Great Adventure Is You', was named so as the focus of 'you' was originally intended to be referencing another person, but as Emin created the body of work over two years she realised that 'you' was herself.

The exhibition involved a number of both small scale nude drawings and large scale hand stitched pieces. Around the exhibition were the big, bold neon lights shaped into fabulous quotes focusing on deep feelings and love. There was also a big, sleek, white space that involved sculptural pieces made by Emin, of abstract nudes and body parts. Emin has described the sculptures as being very personal pieces; personal in that they allowed her to explore her own body and herself being an older woman, and personal in that you can quite clearly see where her fingers have worked the material and the processes she has gone through to make the actual pieces. Exploring herself as a naked form and accepting herself as an older woman in the part of life she is now reaching is also a theme that shows itself in the nude drawings and stitched pieces in the exhibition. The whole thing was a very personal project in which Emin was able to use herself as the subject matter, and in the video at the end of the exhibition where she describes the work she stated "I didn't want to reach a peak of anything, just half way in a twilight zone of love". So in creating such brave and confident pieces, Emin was simply aiming for self exploration and acceptance. Walking around the gallery, to me it it quite obvious that Emin has achieved this, with a range of materials and pieces showing the ideas and feelings she wished to explore.

'The Last Great Adventure Is You'

'Your Absence Only Makes Me Love You More'

'More Solitude'

'The Soul Will Always Do What It Needs To Do'

Large scaled hand stitched nudes

Course Trip To London//Day One

I had the most brilliant most exhausting three days in London. I have been to London more times than I can count and this was my third trip this year, but never have I seen or experienced as much as I did on this trip.

Thursday consisted of an early start, two hour train journey, dropping off our bags at the Generator Hostel (which was surprisingly pleasant for a hostel) and straight into the first gallery visit of many; Disobedient Objects at the V&A. The exhibition consisted of objects and pieces of art work designed and used in revolutions and protests. The ideas and design of some of the objects were fascinating, but as part of an exhibition the pieces were mainly unattractive and wasn't the kind of work that really appeals to me.

 

The next stop of the day was both galleries at the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens. In the first gallery we saw work by American artist, Trisha Donnelly. The work we saw was a mix of sculptural work and video installations. "Donnelly's work is neither abstract nor representational. Her videos oscillate and ripple, offering only suggestions of their content; the images too present only hints of the shape and reality through their many processes, occasionally betraying a subject or location." The work was very ambiguous, with the subject matter of the images being mostly unclear, but were interesting to look at as they were very 'trippy', and trigger a long thought process about the subject matter and how the videos were edited and put together. The exhibition looked good and was curated well, with artworks fitting together and working well together; for example the way the projectors were arranged so that as the public walks around the gallery shadows are cast in front of the projected videos.
In the next gallery we saw the work of Cerith Wyn Evans, which was even stranger and more ambiguous than Donnelly's work. Evans "examines the transformative 'Site/Sight/Cite' effects that light, sound and duration have on spaces and their occupants. The site of the gallery, perception of sight, the citation of references are multiple and swarming." Around the gallery there was sounds, light installations and a piece around the whole space which played with the idea of both light and duration. The piece was made of an LED light formed into a seemingly jumbled string of words that took a while to read because it spanned around the whole gallery. The gallery space was dimly lit, which allowed the light installations to be the main focus of the exhibition, and causes the public to concentrate more on the strange, yet relaxing, sounds involved in the exhibition.



Cerith Wyn Evans at the Serpentine Gallery



After the Serpentine Galleries, we walked to Richard Serra's exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery on Davies Street. The area of London we were in was clearly a very wealthy, posh part from the designer shops and expensive car dealerships we walked past, so the gallery seemed to fit in with the surrounding. We hadn't made a booking, and as the gallery was a commercial one, the gallery assistant was surprised to see such a large number of students turn up.  However she did spare a few minutes of her time to talk about Richard Serra's work, processes and the commercial art world with us. The gallery space is small, and only one, however large, drawing by Serra was displayed. Serra is a sculptor, who makes large scale, simplistic sculptures, but this drawing piece was made using paintstick on handmade paper. The drawing was a simple one, with the paper mostly covered in the dark, thick paintstick, with small amounts of the paper still showing. We were all grateful for the gallery assistant giving her time unexpectedly, however we all left the gallery in heated discussion and anger after we all felt she had been rather rude to us and treaded us as if we were stupid, naïve students. The phrase "I think you should all go and educate yourselves" was used, which left us all gobsmacked and hurt, considering we are all studying art at Sheffield Hallam to educate ourselves on the subject. Aside from that, the exhibition was interesting. The space was a very simple, stylish space, with white walls and black floor and doors, so the monochrome drawing by Serra looked right in the gallery and showed it off very well.

Richard Serra, Drawing at the Gagosian Gallery

Over all the day was extremely interesting and thought provoking, but equally tiring with the huge amount of art work and sights of London we took in in a matter of hours.

London Town//Photographs

I absolutely love day trips to London with my family, so when there was talk of spending the day there on Friday I was over the moon.  I have paid many visits to London over the years, as I have family that live and work around the city, but no two trips have ever been the same. With every trip I have seen so many different places and sights, and I still feel I have missed out on so much. That's the beauty of London, everywhere is so different and diverse, after every tube trip you feel like you are in a different place, everywhere is so exciting and full and the scale of the city is mind blowing. I haven't been for about 18 months, and it's without a doubt my favourite place to visit, especially with a good camera.
This time we decided to do our trip a little differently and not do the whole touristy-trip, so we walked up Portobello Road and Notting Hill, to Denmark Street and had a late lunch in the fantastic Borough Market. And of course you can't make a trip to London without seeing some art, so after my delicious Ethiopian curry from Borough Market, we made our way to the Tate Modern. Portobello Road was the highlight of my day, I have never seen anywhere so packed full of variety and exciting, individual stalls. With so many vintage clothes, jewellery and cameras, I'm not sure how I walked away having not spent anything?!

Lavender and Garlic, Portobello Road Market

Exotic foods, Portobello Road Market

Portobello Road

Riding the Tube 

Neal's Yard

The Shard from Borough Market

Visitors, Tate Modern