Been to see a few different
exhibitions this week including The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined at the Barbican. The
intention of the show is to explore the idea of what it means to be vulgar and
is almost more about the language surrounding the word than the objects on
show. This is reflected in how the objects are written about; even though they
are all garments that were, and are, considered ‘vulgar’, the connotations are
not necessarily negative. This is actually stated by Judith Clark, the Co-Curator,
who said they ‘were thinking about the word ‘vulgar’ and the language around
it, specifically how violent, divisive and awful it is’ and adding that they
have ‘attempted to be more celebratory of the word, and not allow it to be a
pejorative’. So even though it was completely the aim of the show, we fell for
it hook, line and sinker; we found ourselves fascinated but the simple notion
of the definition of the word, and how it has been manipulated over the years. ‘Vulgar’
means ‘common place’ yet we are conditioned to perceive it as a negative word
yet shoes are common place in most parts of the world and we find them rather
useful in certain situations.
Another show we visited was
the new John Baldessari at Marian Goodman Gallery. It features a current series
titled ‘Miró and Life in General’ (which is also the name of the exhibition)
and is concerned with a continual theme of Baldessari’s work; painting and its
history. Each work in this exhibition features a detail from one specific Miró
painting and pairs it with a seemingly out of place, Hollywood film still, which
is further paired with words like ‘Reliable’, ‘Necessary’, ‘True’, ‘Unfailing’
etc, which are all synonymous. So ‘Life in General’, is, potentially, not only referring
to the film still and the text. It’s difficult not to enjoy Baldessari’s work
and there is something in this pairing of disparate elements from art history,
popular culture and language, and how it dissembles the rule, and perhaps
reassembles it in a new form. However, it was a little disappointing when we
hadn’t quite researched as fully as we could have since we’re big fans of
Baldessari and the full breadth of his work. Nevertheless, a though-provoking
show.
Finally,
we took a trip Sadie Coles HQ and browsed the current exhibition titled ‘Room’.
Since attending the show we’ve read from some third-party sources that it inherits
its name from Virginia Woolf who famously wrote of the importance of having a
‘room of one’s own’, a physical and psychological place women could truly be
free to express themselves.’ The significance of this is that it’s an
all-female exhibition that explores the way women artists from the late 20th
century have looked at the aesthetics and structures of domestic architecture,
and the way this affects social constructs – designed to keep women indoors, as
much as to provide a place to retreat from the outside world. It is therefore
full of oppressive, chamber-like structures yet they also appear fragile and
poorly constructed; perhaps this adds to the atmosphere they create.
The ’14 Ways to Get Rich Quick’
show is now over and the people over at Scaffold Gallery did a great job of
documenting it (pics below). A bonus is that they liked one of our works enough
to keep it in their flat which was very touching!
There’s also been some very
fun/motivating discussions with some other students from CSM, who we’ve worked
with before, about a collaborative exhibition involving a play. The exhibition is
an attempt at posing the question of place and the structure of both the
exhibition and the theatre production. When walking into the space, our goal is
to instil a feeling of uncertainty into the minds of the audience; ‘have I just
walked into a storage room for an upcoming play?’. We’ve got as far as writing
the monologue which people will be auditioning with and we’re going to push on
with a full proposal later in the week!
