Journey to the Empire of Light

now i don’t normally write things like this, i want to keep a degree of professionalism 😉 But this may be one of the biggest achievements of my artistic career! Yesterday i took a day trip to Brussels and went to the Musee Magritte museum. It was a gorgeous collection of work and in the last room i came across a painting that was very familiar. Magritte has been a favourite artist of mine since i was a child. Yesterday i realised that throughout my travelling i have had the pleasure to see the Empire of light series.
1. in the Peggy Guggenheim collection in Venice (family holiday in 2010)
2. The museum of modern art in New York (i visited with my Foundation course in 2015)
3. The royal museum of fine arts of Belgium (i visited while on an university exchange in Belgium)
i feel very lucky that i have had the opportunity to travel around and see so much amazing art.

S.M.A.K – Anna Opperman (The neverending paradox.

The work of Anna Oppermann (1940-93, Germany) is pioneering in the way it brings together ideas from process art, conceptual art, and the arte povera and performance art of the 1960s and 1970s.  (http://smak.be/en/exhibition/10979)

“Exerices in observation and insight that are in principle infinite” Anna Opperman

I was really struck by the humanity shown in it all, everything that i saw was filled with such personality. There was so much to look at that each of her ensembles were a bit overwhelming. But the chaos adds to the charm and the sense that this has come from another person, who maybe isn’t that dissimilar to me. There are so many different elements that balance each other out such as very serious an adult themes, like a text about abuse with almost childlike joyful drawings. I really liked that there are pictures of the work being made, they show the journey that the artist took in  creating these theatre like scenes. I love that there is something fresh and original about these works that i could look at for hours.

---

Ik was echt getroffen door dat de hele mensheid, alles wat ik zag was gevuld met zo’n persoonlijkheid. Er was zoveel te zein dat elk van heer ensenbles waren een beetjie overweldigend. Maar de chaos toegevoegd aan de charme en het gevoel dat het afkomstig is van een andere persoon, die misschien niet zo verschillende van mij. Er zijn zo zeel verschillende elementen die elkaar in evenwicht te brengen, zoals een tekst over misbruik met bijna kinderlijke vrolijke tekeningen. Ik vond dat er foto’s gemaakt van het werk, dat ze reis die de kunstenaar nam in het creeren van deze  theatrale scenes laten zien. Ik hou van dat ik kon uren naar kijken.

 

Wall Drawing Experiment #4 notes

Throughout the this exhibition week i was given a lot of choices which i hadn’t had control over before, which was very exciting such as lighting and the use of a camera with a tripod to create a stop motion animation of the process of my work. It was a very new experience to look on such a large canvas and I came up with a loose plan of drawing 5 lines with markers across the wall, trying to split up the largest areas. Then taking away 5 lines with white paint from the most concentrated spots. this was my idea to work outwards a bit with mark pen lines and then back into the center taking away lines. This way i would be constantly moving the shapes around and revealing new images. I used white paint to erase certain lines in the more concentrated places to make new shapes and inspire images.

K.A.S.K.

The main place I have been to is the KASK campus of Hogent.  Which I would recommend to anyone in the area, it has two exhibition spaces to show the work of the students and is always different and interesting. I have seen a variety of work from installation art to textiles and performance pieces. It is an amazing experience to be in a place with such a lively and active art student community. Connecting to other areas and crafts is imbedded in everything e.g the programs themselves (im currently taking new workshops in anatomical drawing and design and technology) It also has a cinema playing cult films such as Trainspotting and a café that serves delicious, healthy food which I would extremely recommend (this may be a serious problem to my money budget!) Or even just to look at, its in an old military hospital and is fill of captivating corners, rooms and passages.

---

De belangrijkste plaats waar ik geweest ben is het KASK campus van Hogent. Die ik aan iedereen zou aanraden in het gebied, het heeft twee tentoonstellingsruimtes aan het werk van de leerlingen te laten zien en is altijd anders en interessant. Ik heb een verscheidenheid van het werk van installatiekunst tot textiel en performance stukken gezien. Het is een geweldige ervaring om in een plaats met zo’n levendige en actieve kunst student gemeenschap. Aansluiten op andere gebieden en ambachten is ingebed in alles bv de programma’s zelf (im momenteel nieuwe workshops in anatomische tekenen en ontwerpen en technologie) Het heeft ook een bioscoop spelen cult films als Trainspotting en een café dat heerlijke, gezonde gerechten serveert die ik zou zeer aanbevelen (dit kan een ernstig probleem om mijn geld budget zijn!) of zelfs alleen maar om naar te kijken, zijn in een oud militair ziekenhuis en is het invullen van boeiend hoeken, kamers en passages.