Turner Contemporary

  Just over one month old, the Turner Contemporary is the newest gallery in the UK. Last weekend i went there, to look at Revealed: Turner Contemporary Opens, the first show.
  The artists displayed all had one thing in common: the influences in their work could all be drawn back to Turner. The art as a whole, and the gallery, was brilliant, but three artists stood out for me, Daniel Buren, with Borrowing and Multiplying the Landscape, Work in Situ, Mirrors, Self-adhesive vinyl, Yellow filter, 2011

 This work made great use of what the area already had to offer - a fantastic clean new gallery, and of course a beautiful coastline.

 Next up was what i can only describe as the highlight of my year! Limit of Everything, 2011 by Conrad Shawcross. Constructed from metal, oak, lights and powered by a mechanical system, the work looks at science, geometry and music. This is a kinetic sculpture of a chord in music. I sat in the room for at least 45 minutes! Heres a video i took of it:

Lastly, we have Ellen Harvey's Arcadia, Mixed media, 2011. This piece looked very intimately at Brighton, where the new gallery is located. As well as a projection of the sea including sound, and 6ft letters spelling ARCADIA, a room was built within the room. This is the part i'm going to talk about. The room was not lit from above, or with spotlights, or in any other conventional way. Inside there were lots of (i didnt get the exact number - at least 20) clear persex sheets, backed with black, and etched into them were views of margate, put together to make a 360degree experience. It was quite breathtaking:

I learnt that, although you have a starting point, (and in this case six artists had the same starting points), the outcome can shoot off in an unexpected direction.

As well as attending a perspex engraving workshop, I bought the book - a bit pricey at £20 but i figure it'll be a kind of souvenir. I'm definitely going back to this gallery!

RASHBLOG 26/05: My legs are now painfully prickly, as is EVERYTHING downstairs. There are small red dots on my underarms now - not as many as the ones surrounding my privates.

METALWORK UPDATE!!:   IT FELL THROUGH!! I sent the artist a text message, being really nice,  but i didn't get a reply. I've adapted a screen print from the same idea, and during the holidays i'll be creating the 2 sculptures anyway, using glue and solder for the metal one.