Richard Long, Chelsea Graduating Show and Central St. Martin’s Graduating Show.
We caught the 9:36 train to London to stop in front of the Tate Britain. Gerard tells us that the Graduating show (undergraduate) for Chelsea School of FIne Arts is open today, but first, we would have to see Richard long’s Heaven And Earth show at the tate britain. after a small break for coffees and whatnot, we all headed into both institutes with an ample amount of time.
The Richard Long show began with some very evokative mud drawings, done by hand on the wall, in between the bars of solid black. the work had a very big pattern appeal in the grand scheme and a forever changing, variable feel in the smaller sense. The next few rooms also featured some black and white photography by Long (which, overall, was done beautifully) and his common pieces of installed land features with stones were well executed. Printed words also adorned the walls, telling us of long’s travels to particular parts of europe and the landscapes he’s had to encounter.
being from canada, i feel that the over-saturation of ideologies on landscapes is something we have nothing short of. that being said, i found Long’s show to be, while greatly cohesive, just a little dry in the implementation. given the new media and mixed media circles of artists in london, long could have vastly altered this show to make it more experienced based, rather than nostalgic on his own front. At one point, he writes within the show something along the lines of “I don’t like to follow directions.. i just go on my own way, in a way no one else has seen before”. with that in mind, it’s Long’s own personal connection with his work that kills it for me, because then we witness his route, something he doesn’t seem to enjoy having to witness himself.
after this show, i just headed straight for the chelsea show, disregarding the Classified show of contemporary british art until later. Chelsea’s school of fine arts provided a body of work that seemed much more eclectic than that of the Royal Academy’s student body. Perhaps the most enduring of the show was it’s exhaustive layout, with each student occupying either a room or a section of room, with the layout of the building and awkward show signage making it confusing as fuck.
we were sure to have missed something in the show because of the horrendous layout of everything. however, i did manage to find some reasonably priced print supplies from their art store. me taking a stab at relief printmaking while in harlow? just say i’m bridging the art history/studio gap. ; )
After that, i did check out the Classifed show at the tate Britain. The work consisted of some Chapman Brothers, Damien “Hurtz” and some Dion as well. Overall, i felt the show to be lackluster, even with the Jeremy Dillon work mapping the thought process behind an orchestra making a rendition of a symphony in acid house music. Damien Hirst’s Pharmacy was a mental eyesore from 1992 (back to a time when recreating the interior of a pharmacy would have been more groundbreaking). The Champman brothers did make some snarky cultural commentary with their selection of african
masks and artifacts, but it just seemed to push the conceptual moniker from the past works a bit to an unfinished edge. overall, the show felt like a contractual agreement’s result instead of a decent reflection of conceptual british art.
After that, we headed for the Central St. Martins and their graduating show. The show featured a bit more of an eclectic mix in much closer quarters (the buildings was a good 7 or 8 stories high). We also made witness to a very dramatic performance piece by one of the graduates.
After this, we then headed back to Harlow mill to finish off our day of galleries and graduates. I think the group is really beginning to shape their relative value and skill in the art world by looking at the work produced by these major institutions. it a good thing to see, as it can recharge our esteem, not just as students in an art school, but as artists, too.
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