I first went into the room which contained In the Frame: Plymouth's Portraits Revealed. I don't really know what I was expecting, but it was a typical exhibition focusing on portraiture and different forms of it. It was a pleasant experience, even if I didn't particularly learn anything new. The room itself was empty and I enjoyed a couple of minutes of solitude as I quietly shuffled around the space before two people came in and started loudly talking...
I have no special remarks written down about the exhibition - There were some opportunities for public interaction, which is cool, and I did think that the 'blue wall' was quite nice to look at, as you could look at the paintings individually and then step back and appreciate them together from a distance. Also, some of the paintings I have seen in exhibitions in the past, which implies that the museum collection is rather small and the staff do not have a lot to work with; however I do appreciate the effort to educate the people of Plymouth of portraiture and really get the collection out there.
I then went on to have a look at the Gehrard Richter exhibition - ARTIST ROOMS: Gerhard Richter.
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| Abstract Painting (809-3) by Gerhard Richter oil paint on canvas, 1994 |
The show has come to Plymouth as a part of ARTIST ROOMS On Tour which has been organized by Tate. The exhibition "explores his approach to making paintings - where imprecision, uncertainty and chance are as important to the process as composition, imagery and technique. [It] includes one of only four photographic sets in the world based on the series of original paintings Richter contributed to the 1972 Venice Biennale, 48 Portraits. This is shown alongside several other significant works that reveal his diverse practice, from portrait painting to more abstract images, photographs and prints."
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| 48 Portraits by Gerhard Richter 48 photographs, black and white, on paper between Perspex and aluminium board, 1971-98 |
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| Abstract Painting (Silicate) (880-4) by Gerhard Richter oil painting on aluminium, 1991 |
I quite enjoyed this one, albeit it being a very small exhibition (it was all contained in one single room). There was an interesting combination of music and art which I haven't experienced before in terms of exhibiting; Of course there are installations which combine art practice and music but this was different, as the music played in the exhibition space is separate from the artworks by Richter. It all came together as one as a sort of pseudo Gesamtkunstwerk and I found myself having the experience of looking at art heightened by music at the same time. The music, however, after 10 minutes or so, became slightly distressing and I kind of wanted to make a swift exit so I didn't spend a lot of time looking around - although it did raise some questions about music and art, e.g. would the experience of observing art be improved if all art museums played music in their gallery spaces? What kind of music would be the best, does it have to match the years the art was made in, and does the subject matter of the music have to match the artworks? What about lyrics? And so on, and so on...
There were also extended labels available for people to read and a student response booklet/leaflet/? by students of Plymouth uni and art college, which I thought was pretty cool as well.
There was also an exhibition about the connections of Plymouth and Fiji, and it included a lot of artifacts from Fiji which, well, I'm not completely comfortable with as I would rather the museum repatriate the objects where they have come from... But that's a massive topic in of itself and this post isn't the right place to discuss it.
That is all for this blog post, I have been slowly putting together a plan for a series on Estonian woman artists, so watch this space! In the mean time I might be writing a post or two on random topics just to keep boredom at bay.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
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