Duchamp, Man Ray & Picabia

This exhibition at the Tate Modern displayed a very broad range of Surrealist work over the first half of the 20th Century. As this is one of my favourite movements I really enjoyed it, although as it covered three artists there was alot to take in.
Duchamp, Man Ray and Picabia shared an outlook on life and art, with a taste for jokes, irony and the erotic and forged a friendship that provided support and inspiration. As they were at the heart of the Dada movement and moved in the same artistic circles, they discussed ideas and collaborated, echoing and responding to each other’s works. The exhibition explored their affinities and parallels, it was very interesting to see how they influenced and encouraged each others work, I think it would be good to do something like that at uni!

Mapping the Imagination

I LOVE maps! so was completely consumed by this exhibition at the V & A, loads of different maps from loads of different creative minds.

The picture shown is a map made of tea and coffee stains on dressmaking pattern papers, the whole collection was vast and the modern mixed media and visual approaches to maps was so creative. Cartography is definitely an obsession of mine...

The Art of Lee Miller

Earlier this year I visited the Victoria and Albert musuem and saw one of the best exhibitions I have ever been to. The Art of Lee Miller documented the best of her life work which I have always been a admirer of. I think I enjoyed this exhibition so much because it was devoted to this female icon of the 20th Century and included her lifestyle and personality as much as her art. It helped the viewer to understand where her inspiration came from and as she was closely involved with the surrealists there were some brilliant holiday snaps of her alongside Dali and Man Ray.

Miller began her modelling career on the cover of American 'Vogue' before meeting Man Ray in Paris in 1929. She became both his lover and muse and under his guidance started to produce her own imagery. There were some great articles she had written for Vogue concerning the war and its victims, I found the exhibition so inspiring as she achieved so much in her life and had such a broad range of skills and creativity.

What does Marcellus Wallace look like?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syf8olcM0z4

Haven't quite worked out how to publish videos! But the link above is a brilliant clip of Pulp Fiction replayed simply using typography, haven't seen any others that interpret the scene as well or look as professional as this one, must of taken AGES to do but seems to have become very popular and could be used as a good viral if someone got hold of it.

Street & Studio

Street and Studio - An Urban History of Photography is currently shown at the Tate Modern and I would recommend a trip there. It presents a vast history of photographic portraiture taken on the street or in the photographer’s studio, looking at the differences between these two key locations in which photographers work. It brings out the contrast between the photos taken in the carefully managed studio, and images captured in the changing and uncontrollable street, whilst highlighting the crossovers between the genres and their influence on each other.

The depth of the exhibition is fascinating, mostly taken in busy cities from the late 1800's onwards it encompasses many styles and stories including some of the worlds best photographers.

The Other Boleyn Girl

The Other Boleyn Girl is an adaptation of the novel of the same title, set in the 16Th Century it gives great insight into a woman's role in this period and how this affected the relationships between members of the family. This is a great film for those interested in this period as it portrays the life of the Tudor court and its aristocrats in a dramatic and romantic way. Also just an entertaining film!

Design History

http://www.designhistory.org/


Fab and intellectual website on the history of graphic design, could be a good reference for dissertation topics!

Still life after death

I went to see Polly Morgan's 'The Exquisite Corpse' exhibition purely because it was down the road from my flat (taxidermy has never really done it for me!) But I found the small exhibition intriguing and fascinating. Set in a huge white church at the end of Marylebone Road that definitely added to the atmosphere, the stuffed animals are in settings and scales which are intentionally unnatural and the whole thing feels quite awkward, seeing this road kill in its out of place context encourages you to look at it properly for the first time and she has definitely brought this old Victorian talent onto a new level.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/04/05/sm_pollymorgan05.xml

Architecture in the Apple.

It was very difficult to decide which pictures to put up from my trip to New York! As everyone knows the architecture is amazing and your neck gets alot of use in this vertical city. I loved the huge variation of architecture between the different districts, it was so much more extreme than London, from the cast iron structure covering everything in Soho to the skyscrapers and use of glass in the financial district. Also found it interesting that alot of advertising was painted directly onto the building facade - which meant you were influenced by the building and its material as well as the advert.

New York is a very inward facing city. Everything focuses towards the centre (ie central park) which seemed very weird to me, the last picture is an example of what most of the water front looks like, I assumed they would of taken advantage of being surrounded by water but instead the city seems to turn its back on it! After being used to the UK and its love for anything facing water I suppose it just confused my eurocentric mind....