London: Art Galleries

Aside from visiting Liberty, I also went to three different art galleries whilst in London; Tate Modern, Whitechapel Gallery and Bankside Gallery. The first two I planned to visit before I went to London as I knew they would be inspirational for my current project City Lights, whilst the latter was just out of general interest.

At the Whitechapel Gallery I went to see the Adventures of the Black Square exhibition which was focused on Abstract art and society 1915-2015. It was a really interesting exhibition as it allowed me to see how abstract art has incorporated new techniques and materials over the years. I also got to see the work of some of the artists have been researching, such as Saloua Raouda Choucair, which was quite exciting, being able to recognise and see their work in real life. I wasn't able to take pictures in the exhibition but I picked up a leaflet and postcard to use in my research folder for my project.

I did take a quick photo of the lit up work of David Batchelor however, as I thought it was really interesting compositionally having his photos laid out like this. His work is looking at abstraction in everyday urban areas, taking photos of single white squares or rectangles that are found whilst walking through cities. He has been taking these for over twenty years so it is an impressive collection of photographs that was almost mesmerising when showed as a slideshow, with the size and shape of the various white squares and rectangles morphing into one another.

Tate Modern was the first place I thought of when considering places I could go for research for this project, as it has a large collection of abstract art. However they also had an exhibition on Louise Bourgeois' work, where I saw the piece below which is a fabric art book she made inspired by a river. It is a wonderful exploration of colour, texture and pattern and for me shows the many ways a single theme can be interpreted into a multitude of different images.

Below is a painting by Julian Trevelyan, another artist who I have been researching recently, that I saw in the Tate. This piece is called A Symposium and portrays seemingly fragile structures that are interlinked to form a delicate web like pattern, highlighted by blocked areas of colour.

Overall it was a successful trip and provided me with lots of new ideas for my project now and for my art in the future. I feel its important to not only see current exhibitions but also to view museum and gallery collections so that I can be informed and inspired by art of all ages and styles; only this way will I be able to create work that is new and exciting.