A trip to Tate Modern in London. You can spend days in the Tate, its collections are so vast and sometimes overwhelming. It takes time to absorb everything you have seen, slowly digesting new information. During our visit, one of the main exhibitions was Olafur Eliasson’s In Real Life exhibition: a series of installations that “captivate the senses”, incorporating natural phenomena, artificial reflections and shadows, all of which play with how we perceive and interact with the world around us. Eliasson’s work is primarily concerned with nature; his research into geometry; and his “ongoing investigations into how we perceive, feel about and shape the world around us” (Tate Modern).
This particular exhibition was sensational and overwhelming. It created a sense of awe and wonder at the technical abilities of playing with light and shadow, man made structure and natural phenomena. You can see the same awe induced responses to every person gazing at the interactive displays. It reinstated our natural curiosities to the unknown, weird and wonderful as humans. I found the dynamic range of colours inspiring in themselves, looking at the interactions and the conflicts of one colour against another; the patterns and shapes they formed in the surrounding environments. The lights painted the walls of the gallery with their reflections and refractions.
photograph by Dawson Edwards 
Photograph by Dawson Edwards
Another overwhelming installation from this exhibition was the fog filled room- a long corridor that felt like it went on infinitely. Walking through this display was scary at times, it felt like falling down the rabbit hole in Alice In Wonderland. Walking without knowing where you were going or who was in front of you, what waited ahead for you. You knew you were safe in the confinement’s of the gallery, but at the same time a deep fears of the unknown set in. It felt like travelling through another dimension in space and time.
The British Library displayed 2700 Dutch wax print fabric bound books, each inscribed the names of first or second generation immigrants to Britain printed in gold letters; along with names of those who opposed immigration; and other books left unmarked to suggest the present and future of stories of immigration in Britain. At first glance this display looks exactly as it is, shelves with colourfully bound books. The books themselves are beautiful, and I was immediately drawn to the flashes of colour and pattern splashed across the bookcases. Upon deeper inspection you discover the stories within these books- peoples stories. I like how this display represents people who don’t have the ability to raise their voices within their situations. Shonibare used his position to help them raise their voice, state their names for crowds of people to witness within this art display. It emphasises arts relationship with people, communities and political issues. Art gives people a platform/space to raise their voices, opinions, and retell their experiences – igniting compassion within others to move progressively towards a more constructive society.
A photographic display in which the artists “turn the cameras gaze onto themselves, their families, their friends and relationships. As if keeping a diary, they use photography as a tool to preserve memories, and to reflect and understand their realities” (Tate Modern). I was drawn to this display for its seemingly raw representations of sub cultures- the people, the politics, the emotions and the experiences. Alongside writings of travel and memory- these photos generated a sort of nostalgic atmosphere- nostalgia for something I haven’t even experienced. The ways in which these photographs are displayed is reminiscent of a timeline of events- even though they may not have been in consecutive order- their appearance is one that makes you feel like you are reading a story of a series of events. This particular display made me think about photojournalism and reportage artwork, a method I would like to experiment more with in future projects, incorporating this into my illustration work.
Two paintings that stood out firmly in the gallery, by two artists i have researched in previous modules. Yves Klein was a French artist and leading member of the movement of nouveau realisme; this particular painting was a colour he founded called International Klein Blue, a deep blue hue with a heavy reliance on ultramarine, and a thick application of the paint onto canvas. I studied Kleins paintings as part of the On Your Marks project in module one- intrigued by his use of models and colours in his paintings. Klein would paint nude models and use them in a printing process, to literally print their bodies onto canvas. I found this idea interesting, thinking more about the variety and never-ending manners of ways you can create marks within art. His International Klein Blue added a distinct identity to his work, imprinting his “legacy” int his paintings.
To the right is a painting by Kandinsky named “Swinging”, referencing the works sense of movement- which is “as abstract as music”. Kandinsky believed in the importance of colour and shape- wanting to create art that didn’t necessarily reference the material world. Kandinsky’s paintings are an expression of inner character, free from restraint, but also distinct in their compositions. His paintings don’t feel unbalanced or over done, they appear aesthetically perfectly crazy. A member of the Bauhaus movement, Kandinsky emphasised the importance of penetrating the essence of things and understanding abstraction; alongside learning colour and design theory. In such a way, Bauhaus paintings are systematically chaotic. I enjoy looking at these paintings for hours, dissecting their shapes and colours, thinking about why they are comprised in such a way, what they could represent, what other images you can read into them. This is quite a therapeutic process, a method of dissecting works with the eyes to try to understand the mindset of the artist, and their choice of line and mark making.
Caitlin Noble 