Notes from The Whitworth

At the Whitworth I had a minor revelation (though not new to the world, I hadn't thought about it before). I felt really intimidated looking at so much art, both in quantity and quality. It seemed bizarre that so many people do it and I realised that I had been thinking, all along, of art as some kind of competition. I guess it may come from largely only participating in art/design in an academic context. Maybe art is something for yourself and design is the real competition... it just depends on what you want to get out of it. And I'm still thinking about that.

Textiles

• The textiles exhibition was nice and it's good to remind yourself of the contexts of where design in a social sense has come from. This exhibition talked a little about how women began to make a stand in design.
• I can't find a picture of it but there was a cloth sample by Natalia Goncharova where the figure had incredibly drawn hands- so expressive, so strange. Hands are ridiculous and I love to see how people draw them. I don't think they ever have to look real.

Portraits Exhibition

• It was really interesting how this exhibition was curated- walls were filled with stacked portraits- old and refined was mixed with new and loose. It is quite a lot for the eyes to take in, but is fun. The downside was that it took a long time to figure out who's portraits were who's. It made me think about how an exhibition is curated and set up is so important and can change the feel of the work too.
• I've been thinking about working bigger but I was surprised to be interested in the really small portraits. I think they looked more impressive the bigger the frame was to the image. It feels sensitive. The perfect ratio of picture to frame is like David Byrne to his suit

Tibor Reich

• I wasn't that interested by his textiles work, I wasn't into his patterns and I have a distaste for rainbow colour palettes. 
• I wasn't too keen on his drawings either, but then once those characters were put on to ceramics  I suddenly liked them a lot more. Their character seemed to be amplified in the third dimension, and I enjoy how although largely character based they were also functional items. My favourite was the woman with her face drawn on the inside of the vase. It's so bizarre and catches you off guard. I'm thinking a lot about art being funny.

Elizabeth Price Curates - In A Dream You Saw A Way To Survive and You Were Full of Joy

• This is where I had my minor revelation, although it was the exhibition I had the least interest in. I just don't care too much for the conceptual. Maybe I am lazy.
• The show was split into three sections, MOURNING, SLEEPING and WORKING. The one thing I remember most is the end scene of this film they showed. It's ridiculously dramatic and yet quite touching, particularly when it is shown so big and the music so loud. I suppose it's more engrossing than just watching in the context of your little laptop screen.

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