We Face Forward

Whitworth Art Gallery is one of my favourite places to visit when I need a quick inspirational fix or i'm at a loss for something to do. The current exhibition 'We Face Forward: Art From West Africa Today' filled my saturday, beautifully. Forget all the pre-conceptions you may harbour about African art, step into one of the Whitworth's most colourful exhibitons and embrace the limitless creativity embedded within the culture.

But 'We Face Forward' doesn't occupy a singular a singular gallery. Another two galleries, several museums, communal venues, libraries and a bus have housed the collection, featuring thirty three artists and many more musicians from a grand total of eleven West African Countries. Huge sculptural structures, installations that fill rooms and even a genuine African trading cart are just part of what's on show along with photography, textile pieces, paintings, sound and fashion.

'The World Falls Apart' by Pascale Marthine Tayou is shown above, an interior forest housing an array of sculpural figures, interesting shapes and traditional masks.

Very reminiscent of Annette Messager's installations including 'articulated - disarticulated' (2001/2002), and 'Nameless Ones' (1993), not because of the subject matter but the placement of the objects. Some of the more sinister masks are shelved at head height whilst the unknown objects, and freakishly elongated sculptures of slender gentlemen, hang upside down from coloured chains.

 

 

Exposing the absurdities of borderd and boundaries visually. Barthélémy Toguo explores the effect of travel in relation to identity and freedom in a seriously striking nature alongside undertones of black humour and fantasy. The piece above, 'Purification' (2012) is a massively intriguing watercolour work that runs the length of the gallery's stariwell wall.

Do things with passion or not at all.

Nice Paper Toys.

After the first day back at 'The Shed' I realised that this year I'm going to have to put down the pen and paper at some point and branch out. It's not that I don't like stretching my branches, and as G/J. Spicer always say: 'we can't all fish from the same pond', it's just that my roots are very happy being wound around a 0.3 Sakura Micron Fineliner. I mentioned at the end of last year that I intended to continue practicing Screen Printing, which I will throw myself into whole heartedly, and after the briefing on Tuesday 4th I'm intrigued to dapple with Wallpaper and Papercraft in general.

Me and my friend Dan decided to take a trip to our favourite store in Manchester, Magma, to sniff out some helpful books on Papercraft... and i'm pleased to report that our trip was a success! Within a minute of entering the store we spotted 'Papertoy Monsters' by Castleforte, traditionally a motion graphics designer and animator. But for a very reasonable price, we purchased this exciting looking book.

Below are a couple of the little characters we brought to life with some frantic folding and a lot of pritt stick.

Wisdom Teeth.

 

Last year i had awful problems with my wisdom teeth so decided that i'd commemorate getting through the end of year with a small tattoo. I managed to battle through the pain, do well in my final assessment and transfer back to York working for weeks in agony. It reminds me that even when you're at a low point, by having a focus, you can still achieve your goals.

 

So the small drawings above show my inital design and the photograph on the left is an image of my final tattoo, done by Wil Purnell of Black Tides, Acomb, York.

 

 

“Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”

—

L.M. Montgomery I can't decide wether i agree with this, i'm a big fan of inspirational quotes but i've never made my mind up on wether i'm a fan of mistakes or not. Everyone makes mistakes, we're only human, so i'm a firm believer that mistakes happen and inturn help you learn to collectively; not make the same mistake twice and better your ability when fixing (or accepting) the problem cuased by the mistake.

Book Worm

Starting to lag even with the finish line in sight because i can't seem to get my head out of a book or online article! So many new artists, processes and cultures to study! For bed time reading i've been obsessing over Murakami's 'The Wind Up Bird Chronicles', bus/train journeys have been accompanied by Darian Leader's enthralling read Stealing the Mona Lisa which focuses on what visual art hides and the psychology of viewing it.

Poetree.

Over summer I took part in helping my dad save the local library in Barlby from being demolished. He now runs a volunteer group that work in the building and organise events for visitors of the library. Just before I moved back to Manchester I was asked to design a variety of tees to be installed and used as a creative exercise for children. Children visiting the library have the opportunity to create a 4 line poem, write it on a paper leaf (recylced paper may I add) and stick it to the tree.

When I was younger, Barlby Library was one of my favourite places and the first ever success I had as an 'artist' arose by winning the 'design a bookmark' competition aged 5. So as you can imagine I was delighted at being chosen to help continue the events, but as the designer!

The photographs above show the three different tree designs in their early stages.