If I am honest, I was unsure about visiting this gallery. In my opinion I often I find small galleries to either be a hit or miss and I had my doubts about this one, but I was surprised by the amount of work that I truly liked and thought the small gallery was a little gold mine - I didn't like all of the work but their were a few pieces that struck a chord with me. With a surprising mixture of work ranging from painting, sculpture, video, audio and interactive pieces that were all refreshing to view.
My first impressions of this gallery, was that it gave a sort of underground/unknown feeling which matched the tucked away building that it was found in - I personally loved the white painted stone walls that added to this feeling, it also gave the gallery an impersonal feel with the work that was being displayed.
As I went into building I was greeted by three pieces, but one stood out the most to me (left) by an artist called Mik Underwood. I'm not too sure why I was drawn in by this piece but my first impressions of this was that it resembles a shrine/memorial -the dishevelled layout of the piece reminds me of how they are often set out.
With a closer look at the writing on the paper, from my interpretation, I thought there could be a possible religious/spiritual/supernatural reference e.g. candles, a donation cup "For the spirits," "Something's coming through" and "No communion yet."
Since I am personally interested by these kind of messages and topics that are depicted in art - I found myself liking this piece more and more. But I was still unsure if this is the message Underwood was trying to communicate.
I liked how the artists had used the shape of the building in displaying the work - since on the ground floor there was a hidden away room that showed work that wasn't viewable from the entrance. It showed another piece that looked like it was created for this space in particular due to its mundane fit into the space.
The lighting that was used throughout the building was quite scarcely used, not many lights were used except for a few spotlights that were positioned on the floor at a particular angle. In my opinion this added to the whole "abandoned underground" look of the build, for example the work above looked slightly empty without a person sitting in the scene - but the lone light shining on the work made it look even more alone and abandoned.
The second piece of work I found interesting was "Where the Disease Ends..." by Rosie Blackburn. To be honest I didn't really like this much when I first saw this work I wasn't really drawn in by it - probably due to the fact it was a performance piece without a performer - but as I read the description about the piece and understood the meaning behind it I found I liked it more.
The poppy seeds is supposed to represent all of the painkillers, psychotic medicines and drugs that are now used heavily in society and the performers was intended to press the poppy seed onto their body to represent how we used them. The piece was also supposed to make us question the line between abuse and legitimate drug use lies.
The second piece of work I found interesting was "Where the Disease Ends..." by Rosie Blackburn. To be honest I didn't really like this much when I first saw this work I wasn't really drawn in by it - probably due to the fact it was a performance piece without a performer - but as I read the description about the piece and understood the meaning behind it I found I liked it more.  |
| "Where the Diease Ends..." Intended Look |
The next piece I found interesting was the make up mirror piece (left), combined with an almost parody like make-up tutorial video, I definitely sense that this might be a comment on how we insist on wearing make-up and that it considered better then wearing no make-up.
The dresser is covered in various bottles of make-up, it is also decorated by feathers and feather lighting which I associate with the old glamorous movie stars of the 1950's and 60's. So it has the stereotypical appearance of being a place in which someone was to sit and "make themselves beautiful."
To the right of the dresser there was a pile of dirty, used tissues and wipes which were used for taking of make-up which could comment on:
1. No matter how make-up we put on, we still take it off.
2. People spend a great amount of time to get the "perfect look" - but who's to say that it is?
3. To show the cycle of sitting down, putting the make-up and then taking it off and throwing the "beauty" away.
The dresser is covered in various bottles of make-up, it is also decorated by feathers and feather lighting which I associate with the old glamorous movie stars of the 1950's and 60's. So it has the stereotypical appearance of being a place in which someone was to sit and "make themselves beautiful."
To the right of the dresser there was a pile of dirty, used tissues and wipes which were used for taking of make-up which could comment on:
1. No matter how make-up we put on, we still take it off.
2. People spend a great amount of time to get the "perfect look" - but who's to say that it is?
3. To show the cycle of sitting down, putting the make-up and then taking it off and throwing the "beauty" away.
Also having the parody make-up tutorial playing it made me think how we actually watch these videos and believe that that is what is now considered beautiful - not matter what is shown. I found this practically funny when the man in the video is putting the make-up on so poorly and this could also suggest that the artist believes that we are using too much make-up and wants to show that it looks ridiculas.
This piece was also intended to be interactive and also had a performer who would follow the tutorial, but one of my fellow classmates took up the task (bottom left) to follow the video. This reaffirmed the idea that we follow the media/tutorials lead because its exists as an influential figure.
I surprised myself in this trip to the F.I.B! I found myself understanding and wanting to find out more about those pieces of work that I viewed and also enjoying the sculpture and interactive pieces a lot more than I usually do - as my preference of art is usually painting/drawing - and was interested by the lack of information about on each piece of work which left it open to interpretation of the viewer which I feel isn't encouraged enough.
Two thumbs up!!
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