The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

Today I visited the Modern Gallery in Edinburgh where Roy Lichtenstein's work was the main attraction. It was a great opportunity to see his and other artists work in the flesh. To see pieces in the context they were intended to be in is always a comforting experience, in that you feel the physical presence so much more. 

I like to stand directly in front of pieces of work especially paintings, and just try to imagine the artist standing in a similar position whilst creating it. I like to look closely at brush strokes and when possible inspect the corners of the canvas or paper, and just enjoy how the piece has aged. I was able to do this today when I discovered a few of Picasso's paintings. 

I just felt so lucky and happy that I was standing looking at a Picasso painting! Being such a well known name worldwide and having a reputation such as his I just couldn't quite comprehend being in the same room as one of his works. 

It is possible I'm exaggerating as I quite often do but this can only confirm how strong the feeling is.

Being able to walk around and see Lichtenstein's work was great. It was so satisfying scanning the vibrant colours overlaid with the trademark comic book dots. The size of some of the pieces was surprising but this only added to the experience.

As I entered the exhibition space I was completely taken by surprise when I spotted 'Monster' by Douglas Gordon. I researched Gordon for my Final Major Project whilst at Borders College and instantly became interested in his video and installation work. This cemented for me the importance of seeing a piece by one of your favourite artists in the flesh - I felt amazing. It was a lot bigger than I expected, being a photograph from the 90s I imagined the quality to be slightly grainy or weak but the closer I got to it the sharper it became! 

'Monster' by Douglas Gordon 1996

The visit was off to a great start. 

French born artist Aurélien Froment based in Dublin was the next artist that caught my eye. His piece was a video installation with the first part showing a miniature version of an industrial paper making machine. The camera pans from right to left following the mechanical process before moving back from left to right. The footage was overlaid with the voice of a child reading from a sheet of paper detailing the origins of paper making and ending with the introduction of larger scale production.

Part 2 presented us with a bright yellow jellyfish floating through a deep dark tank of blue sea water. The commentary over the visuals gives us a detailed insight into it's habitat, survival techniques and natural environment.

I enjoyed this piece. I liked the darkened room it was in, how it was projected straight onto the wall, the audio was sharp and clear and I felt it was a reasonable length too. The long panning shots of the machine was particularly interesting to me. After filming material for my Final Major Project I have grown closer to moving images and video in general. I have come to appreciate it as a craft and look forward to pushing ahead with my own pieces and experiment with subject matter. The use of audio with the girl reciting and the man narrating was a nice touch. I have found with my small projects adding or even deciding what audio to include is a huge task! Whether or not you want it to coincide with the visual, or it to completely contrast with it is not an easy decision. But I think coming to see exhibitions like this one helps my personal development a lot.


Exposing myself to video work and installation pieces is something I need to continue doing. 

The next piece that I took a particular liking to was by Billy Apple. 

'For Sale' by Billy Apple 1961

I like this piece for the use of typography and the message it conveys. The point it makes that Art is made to be bought and sold is very obvious. My interest in letter pressing and type was what originally caught my attention. I have created work in the same vain as 'For Sale' with the intention of questioning the art piece itself. Kind of like a parody of itself I guess! 

Generation: 25 years of contemporary art in Scotland

I, along with 3 friends were fortunate enough to visit Auschwitz last month during our holiday in Poland. We were in Krakow for 3 days and had booked our visit to the camp for the last day, in hindsight this was a sensible idea since the visit was like nothing I have experienced. I still struggle to put into words how it made me feel and think.

Once I arrived back in Scotland I visited the National Gallery in Edinburgh with my mum and sister. We were waiting on my brother who had been visiting friends, so we thought we'd pop into the Gallery for a wee nose! We weren't in there very long, but I moved from room to room taking in as much as I could. I didn't have my notebook with me to take down details of the artists and their work so I had to rely on memory alone. The one artist that stuck out for me was Christine Borland. 'L'Homme Double' is made up of 6 clay portrait busts. Borland contacted 6 sculptors and instructed them to create these busts based on the Nazi war criminal Josef Mengel. They were all given the same information - 2 grainy photographs of the man and a selection of quotes and statements made by survivors of the Auschwitz death camp. The quotes were mostly attempts at describing Mengels physical appearance. 

The psychological aspect of the work astounds me. Borland has conveyed the uncertainty of this mans identity using actual memories from the people who witnessed him first hand. I love the individuality of each bust, how the perspective of each chosen sculptor is combined with the recollections of Auschwitz survivors.

Yesterday, I revisited the Gallery with my friend Flora and took 2 to 3 hours exploring the exhibit. David Shrigley was another artist who stuck out for me. His work that was on display was very impressive. Various selections of woodcut prints and a collection of ceramic/clay boots of all different shapes and sizes.

As we entered the gift shop I picked up one of his books and found myself laughing hysterically. I wasn't expecting a book like this from the work I had already seen from Shrigley - but I was pleasantly surprised! 

I enjoyed these visits to the gallery and have taken on many things from each artist and their work. I continue to be inspired by doing things like this and I love discovering people who's work I can take things from.

Leonardo Da Vinci - The Mechanics of Man

In late October of this year I visited the Queen's Gallery in Edinburgh. I had heard through a friend that Leonardo Da Vinci's work was on display and was eager to witness his masterpieces first hand. The exhibition did not disappoint. I went along with said friend Flora, who also has a keen interest in the art world.

'The Mechanics of Man' hosted the original collection of investigations Da Vinci took out on many cadavers later in his life. He was/is lesser known for his studies on human and animal anatomy, which became increasingly important to hum up until his death.

We spent just over 2 hours walker around the gallery reading, looking at and just appreciating all the work that was on display. All this work wasn't published until hundreds of years after his death. Personally I was in awe for most of the visit, I had no clue a man who I had assumed was a very famous artist, sculptor, etc. He was something much more. To explore this in depth study of the different parts of the human body was simply astounding.

Flora and I, quietly whispering confirmed our mutual wonder whilst staring at these artistic drawings of the shoulder muscles, forearm tendons, right down to each little bone in the hand. I couldn't believe I was getting to see these ancient works of art for the mere student ticket price of £5.70. We stayed as long as possible and afterwards I purchased the 'Mechanics of Man' book that was in the gift shop, which was a printed collection of each of the 93 drawings in Da Vinci's experiments.

Attending this exhibition has been added to the ever growing list of things I am looking for and discovering since joining this course. I plan to visit as many exhibitions as possible in the future as I believe the only way to expand my creativity and inspire me to create my own work is to explore many other artists work as much as possible.