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Hull Trip...

This week we went to Hull to visit the Tuner Prize works being exhibited in the Ferens Gallery. This year's works are a stark contrast to last years as they are mainly 2D works, with some film and 3D objects thrown in. There were some interesting themes which were highlighted, some of which do relate to my own ideas and type of practice; using art to raise awareness of issues. In this case the themes included racism, religion, colonialism and Gaza. There were two artists there who interested me - Andrea Buttner and Lubaina Himid. 

Andrea Buttner interested me because of her choice of medium and her ideas and themes. Her work focuses on subjects such as shame, embarrassment, poverty and the relationship between aesthetics and ethics. Some of the prints showcased in this exhibition were based of sculptures which fascinated me as I had made prints myself based on my own sculpture maquette and it was interesting to see her interpretation of the sculptures of Ernst Barlach, and how she translated these 3D objects into a 2D print. Furthermore, the text work that was also on display was very interesting, and covered areas which I could use within my own practice as research. She looked at topics such as religion, prostitution and the goodwill of humans. Overall her work was fascinating, and was definitely something that I will use as reference for my own work. 



The second artist that was relevant to me and my practice was Lubaina Himid. Her work focuses on colonialism and politics. The pieces that caught my eye were her painted crockery, and the painted newspaper pages. The painted crockery was interesting as I had begun to stitch onto household utensils myself i.e. tea towels & laundry aprons, as a way to bring awareness to the stereotypes and gender roles that women are restricted to and I felt that this was similar in a way to these pieces. The painted newspapers interested me as well as they were different and a good way to react to stereotypes from society. This idea is something that I could experiment with within my own project themes. 














Not only did we see the turner prize works but we also found another gallery with equally interesting work. The first artist we saw was Lee Karen Stow. Her exhibition Torn was really powerful and explored the themes of war and women within war and they are affected. I felt that she could be a good reference point in my research as well as my own project, especially with how she describes flowers, more specifically the poppy and how it is a symbol of resilience and strength within women. The second artist that I found to be interesting was Jamie Reid. His collages were displayed over a wall, pasted like a wallpaper. He looks at anarchy, and presents political and social issues through posters and paintings such as these. Again, I felt that this could be a good reference point and perhaps another angle to look at within my own practice. To me his work is a perfect example of activist art, and socially engaged artwork. 






Overall the trip was fun, inspirational and helpful. I have gained a lot of ideas and themes to carry forward and explore and it was a nice day away from the studio. 

 Things to do next: 
*research artists
*explore new ideas

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