Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

After I had visited the IKON, I decided to visit the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery which was in the heart of Birmingham. The exterior appearance of the building, truly makes visible the age and quality of work I would find inside. However, I still hoping to find some kind of contemporary artists at the gallery, which challenges the ordinary from my point of view.

The first piece that stood out from the others in terms of unusual and challenging the ordinary was this piece by Naum Gabo (1890 - 1977). 
This piece of work was titled 'Linear Construction in Space No.2, 1957. '
Without knowing the title or anything else, I had believed it was based on a shell of some kind. This was due to the shape that had been created. However, the Russian, Constructive artist in this piece tried to portray his belief that art should reflect the modern industrial world. He further believed that sculptures could be made out of anything. This led Gabo to create this sculpture out of transparent plastic. I had originally believed this piece was made from a fine, white thread, not plastic so I was amazed from this discovery. 

The second piece that seemed unusual compared to the traditional oil painting, is this one created by Merlyn Evans (1910 - 1973). This piece is titled 'Paesaggio Tragico, 1745'. My first thoughts of this piece were that it resembled a port full with boats, however, this seems not to be the true landscape. The artist is in fact known for his expressive War art, based on his experience in the Royal Engineers and the Eighth Army in Italy and North Africa. It portrays the destructive nature of the war on landscapes. From my research into artists, this piece now conjures up the idea of it being somewhat, similar to the photography artist, Nicholas Kennedy Sitton 

Nicholas K.S

This piece was most unusual and surprising. It was created by Christiane Baumgartner in 2010 and titled 'Ladywood'. My first thoughts were that it was presenting a photography of a bug, such as a locust. However, from the information provided I found out that it was actually a reflection from the Birmingham canal of a bridge. 

Roger Hiorns (IKON)

On 23rd February, I went to view the exhibition of Roger Hiorns at the IKON gallery in Birmingham. There were two halls full of his diverse style of work, from growing copper sulphate on brain matter to pulverising sophisticated machinery into dust. Roger Hiorns is a Birmingham artist whose working methods are a blend of the movable and immovable while exploring material and form. I found myself most interested in the idea of his work offering a different way of seeing. 

Before visiting any of the galleries, I had researched into the artists that were present at each location. The IKON during this time was exhibiting Roger Hiorns work, which I feel was most suitable for this idea of "challenging the ordinary" because from my experience that's what his work portrays. 

Hiorns addresses the social problems of Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (VCJD), is a lethal human neurodegenerative condition that emerged in the 90's. VCJD is linked to the consumption of meat that is contaminated with the agent of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, also known as the mad cow disease. The artist stated that his intentions were to make visible the disease that the government and media are making invisible to the public. 

Untitled, 2015

This piece was placed nearest to the entrance, exhibition, I found myself most interested in it because I had done previous research on the other artist pieces that had used this copper sulphate, such as the Untitled, 2011. In that piece, this crystallised blue form is grown on a BMW car engine. This piece best reminded me of the famous 'Seizure' he produced in 2008 and had been moved to Yorkshire in 2013. However, this most recent piece of the use of copper sulphate is instead grown with brain matter on the hardboard. 

The brain matter doesn't seem to be visible, however, it was stated on the information provided next to the piece. Compared to other pieces I have studied this brain matter seems to have done little influence to the copper sulphate. I believe this is an example of the artist exploring materials and forms. This invisibility of the brain matter in the crystals conveys the point that Hiorns believes we are presently under invisible threat to the Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). However, during my visit I believe the actual focus of this piece was this crystallised, unusual material (copper sulphate), it created a shiny, yet fragile complexion. Whilst I was viewing it, I felt worried that even the air I breathed would break these crystals. I believed that he was trying to state that the most beautiful things are usual the most fragile, this might have been influenced by my personal interest in the fragile ecosystems, such as the rainforest being destroyed. 

Untitled, 2015


I found this piece located on the same wall next to the previous piece. I found this piece less interesting from a textual point of view. However, once I was informed that it was created from brain matter by itself, I found it intriguing. Without knowing I believed it was a faded wash of tea. The brain matter was blended with gesso. Hiorn's adventure in the use of brain matter is apparently from the interest from the "mad cow disease" that contaminated humans during the 1990's. Whilst I was viewing this piece I had a suspicion that this was the reason, because of my own knowledge of this disease. 

Calder studio and its surrounding fields, 2008 

This piece was located away from the to other pieces, however, I felt like there was a relationship between them. It being the use of brain matter again. Within this piece, the artist decided to combine brain matter with metal, I feel like the brain matter was most visible within this piece any of the previous pieces, I had viewed. From my interpretation of this piece, I believe that the brain matter is underneath the metal and has been revealed through what seems to be the method of welding, resulting in the brain matter to become burnt. 

I had researched into what was meant by the title "Calder studio and its surrounding fields", before visiting the gallery. I had found that "Calder", was actually Alexander Calder. An American sculptor who is mostly known for his moving sculptures made of suspended shapes that move with the kinetic energy of air or touch, these are known as the mobile. With knowing this information, I was able to fully understand this piece I was viewing at the gallery. I can see the link between the mobile sculptures and the drawing in the metal.

A retrospective view of the pathway, 2010-2015

Magnets

It was placed in the centre of the first hall. One human doll was laid on the floor and the other was hanging. I had originally thought that it was laid out like this by the artist, however, was later informed that they both were originally hanging from ropes which are supported by magnets. The magnets slowly sink by the weight and influence of gravity, resulting in the human dolls to fall to the ground. I had found out that this piece, would only be used in this exhibition because of the reason that they become more and more damaged everytime they fall. 









I find his unique nature of presenting new ways of seeing things interesting. This piece being an example of the relationship between the movable and immovable. This piece and others, such as the copper sulphate piece has made me interested in exploring unusual materials that have a have their own unpredictable and uncontrollable nature. 

Untitled, 2014

This installation is a collection of abandoned plastic and metal items that are hung from the ceiling near the floor. Most of them containing soap detergent that mixes with oxygen feed through pipes from a compressor to form a foam. This is continuously produced. The sound of the compressor really emphasised this production of foam. The foam expands and grows away from the sources until it falls to the ground, creating a slimy, foamless residue on the ground. This installation is an example of a material that naturally develops, with little influence from the artist. 

At this exhibition, an interview with the artist was displayed on a monitor next to this installation. I found this quote most inspiring, "You always have to think about materials and objects in terms of being malleable – you have to cut them off from what their established use is, to directly interfere with their world-ness. It becomes a process of human empowerment to re-use and re-propose the power of objects simply left lying in the street." 

Military jet engine

This is one example of the engines used within Hiorn's work. From my research, I had already understood that this engine would be encountered by a naked male youth. At first, I contemplated if the individual was real. I found the combination of these two objects to be unique, this is mostly down to the fact that from past galleries the artists rarely use real naked people. The exhibition made little evidence of a naked youth being used, however, the informants used photography to show the visitors, what it would look like with both the fire and naked youth. From the wall information, one object that I had missed off was "antidepressants", I later found out that they are inside the engine. I found this challenging the ordinary because my first thought was for them to be inside the youth or in the fire, not in the engine. 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/dec/09/
roger-hiorns-review-ikon-gallery-birmingham

X- ray machine

http://1vze7o2h8a2b2tyahl3i0t68.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/
wp-content/uploads/2017/01/01-17_AT_Roger-Hiorns_1.jpg

The artist also uses naked youth on other items, such as the X-ray machine that was placed next to the jet engine. I've seen these items before, however, I find myself feeling like I haven't due to this one new object being combined with it, the naked youth. Furthermore, I feel like the nature of the x-ray being placed on its side being unusual. 

Adapted Freezer 

I found the most unusual object in the exhibition to be a freezer that had been altered to have a hole in the top that was large enough for a single hand. I couldn't understand the meaning behind the object, looking solely on the exterior and interior. However, I feel that this piece wasn't meant to be looked at, instead felt. Placing my hand through the hole into the fridge surprisingly made me feel a chill down my back. Whilst I did this I wondered how long my hand would take to freeze. 

A retrospective view of the pathway, 2016

Before visiting this exhibition, I had struggled thinking of things I could make people do that was weird to the public. After viewing this video, I had felt inspired to do something similar. This video that took place in June 2016, documented Hiorn’s major project involving the choir of St Phillips Cathedral Birmingham. Hiorns had the choir singing Evensong whilst lying on their backs on the floor in the body of the church, instead of standing in front of the altar. I found this even more out of the ordinary by the unorganised placement of the individuals. I believe this was because I naturally see a church as being a formal, organised location, so it felt almost wrong to see this occurring. Before hearing the choir singing, I believed they were dead or not real, due to them being horizontal, not vertical.  

https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_1000,h_800,c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy/
ws-annetgelink/usr/library/images/main/26/roger-cathedral1.jpg

This is the interview the Ikon did of the artist, Roger Hiorns. He discusses most of the work displayed at the Ikon exhibition, as well as others off site such as 'A retrospective view of the pathway', 'Buried Passenger Aircraft' and 'Seizure'. 

Songs used for inspiration

I used this song, 'Central park in the Dark' for inspirational purposes. From this song, I gained motivation to become more unusual within my work because from this I learnt that even the maddest things work when the artist has believed in it. This song starts with a slow tempo and slowly increases until it gets around 4 minutes into the song. More and more instruments are combined until the song sounds like lots of songs played over each other. I find this very bizarre, yet very inspiring. 

Research into Stereoblindness

I began this project by studying a series of articles from magazines, text books and online facilities. I focused on looking into the vision impairment "Stereo blindness", to collect more information into how I could present the impairment in my work, as it hasn't been done before, by any existing artists. 

The article "Beauty can be a Matter of Perspective", allowed myself to have more of an insight into vision impairment, by it discussing strengths and weaknesses. I originally thought that no artist had shown this impairment within their work. However, I did find out that Rembrandt Van Rijn suggested hints of him having the impairment within his work, by the series of portraiture work examples that have people with un-aligned eyes. 

After reading them, I annotated and made notes on how each article influenced me, what new thing I had found out and if any ideas came to mind. 

Within this part of the article, I've had the idea of using 3D photography to present my impairment to people, because it challenges the world from their own experiences. 

I found this article interesting, by the clear explanation of the impairment. As well as the technique for people who don't have the impairment to see from my perspective. 

This diagram presented the first idea of the vision impairment existing, because with knowledge that both eyes have to work at the same time in order to see 3D, that meant that people eyes who didn't work together couldn't possibly see in 3D. 

Challenging the ordinary

I  have chosen to undertake the written stimuli assignment, "challenging the ordinary". This requires me to "develop a personal response that exploits a range of different materials and enables them to be part of a successful outcome". This statement informs me that I should focus on both artist's which use unusual materials, such as Robert Rauschenberg and his "combines", as well as have a personal concept behind my investigation. 

I have decided to represent my unusual manner of viewing the world, which is a consequence of my visual impairment, known as Stereoblindness. I believe this will be a learning experience for myself to understand my visual impairment more, due to myself avoiding it for many years. Stereoblindness has been a burden and a blessing in my life, I just hadn't realised the blessing until recently. 

What is stereoblindness?

From my research, I have uncovered many new things about my visual impairment, one being the fact that I only see through one eye at a time. I had an idea of this being true, however, had never realised because I have never seen through both eyes at the same time so I wouldn't know any difference. 

Stereoblindness is the visual impairment of having the ability to gather depth information using the binocular disparity between both of the eyes. Consequently, resulting in myself and around 10% of the UK's population being unable to perceive the world in a three-dimensional nature, instead we view the world in a two-dimensional nature. However, this isn't as speaking the 2D we commonly associate ourselves with, I am able to understand that the world isn't flat, by the natural focus on shadows, movement and size. 

Throughout my life, I have learned to understand the strengths and weaknesses associated with this visual impairment through experiecne, not through being informed by others. I experienced many issues with sports whilst at school, one being unable to perceive moving objects, such as footballs, rugby balls, tennis balls, and the list goes on. This consequently led to myself being always chosen last for teams because I was for the most part terrible at sports activities. People who didn't like to lose hated me for being on their team. 

I have in recent years, I been further impacted by my vision, by the near consequence of being unable to drive a car, motorbike and other forms of transport. I had believed that this might have been the problem by myself experiencing many problems with only riding a pedal bike. 

I want to try bringing the viewers into my world of the visually unusual, with the use of uncommonly used mediums. 

Objects for Inspiration

One of the methods I have gained inspiration today was through objects and items. We were given a selection of items, that we had to find links to our and others starting points. 

Collection 1.  The first collection was some toy soldiers, a rusty spray paint can and some medication boxes. From this collection, I found myself not interested in the actual objects, but the shadows produced by the items. The hard lighting created through, the single light source was inspirational, because it changed the mood, of the environment into a dramatic experience and highlighted the texture of the items. 

My starting point is challenging the ordinary with the aim of using unusual mediums, from this experience me and the group found indirect meanings of the items and the collection as a whole. The collection indirectly made myself feel that it was capturing the world war. 



The spray can, yet rusty reminded me most of the artist Banksy, for his political opinions through stencils. This led me down the route of vandalism and crime, however, from the evidence in my work, it's clear that I soon changed this to a more personal approach which is stereoblindness. Another artist I could have looked into for graffiti is Jose Parla. 

Collection 2.
I found that this collection of LEGO linked most to the"stratification" starting point because it can be comprehended as resembling the diverse population, such as different race, size, age and fits. 

I also found that the LEGO could be used in an unusual composition to create less figurative pieces because LEGO is known for being this anyway. So wouldn't challenge the ordinary. 

An artist this collection reminds me of is Douglas Coupland, for his 345 lego built houses. 






Collection 3.


From this collection, consisting of mirrors, a lava lamp and a lightmat,  I was most interested in the different perspectives created via the reflections of the mirrors. I experimented with creating the endless reflection, by placing two mirrors in front of each other.