Georgia O'Keeffe | Tate Modern
About 100 paintings were displayed and distributed over 10 rooms, the paintings were arranged chronologically including the interrelated artworks of her and her husbands Alfred Stieglitz. Two things about her work were interesting. The first is the striking colours and the gradations between colours, which shaped my interest in colour in unit 1 . The second is her flower paintings, where each painting contained only one flower bursting with colour, and this shaped my interest in flowers in the first place, which started to form more clearly in unit 2.
Tate Modern
What interested me most is the colour section on the 2nd floor which was my inspiration for my earlier works. the source of inspiration to the subject of my essay. Some of the artwork was not as appealing as others. Mark Rothko, Bridget Riley, Ellsworth Kelly and Maria Lilac all had pieces in a display which communicated certain a condition of colour. This all resulted in my unit one work (please see page Gallery ---> unit 1.
Kew Gardens
I have visited Kew garden several times to see the blooming flowers in different seasons. The organic non-geometric shapes and forms, with striking colours (pink and red against green), inspired many of my works. Kew Gardens was a source of inspiration to me. What interested me was the way human interfere to displace plants and flowers from their natural habitats and move them to similar - but artificial - environments for us to enjoy. Interestingly Marc Quinn has been investigating the boundaries between art, nature and the 'man-made' by collecting Orchids, fruits, and other flowers that grow in different seasons and putting them together in a non-natural man-made habitat (such as ice) and then takes a photo and creates work based on that photo. Orchids, in particular, have an interesting history, as they are the only plant that comes in 25000 species, and have all the rainbow colours. They are known for their long lasting bloom, that can last for years. also, they were known in ancient Greece for male fertility and it was believed that if a woman ate an orchid she would bear a son. That's when I started thinking about the relationship between flowers and humans and that maybe flowers go through the same experiences that humans go through. I investigated this idea in unit 2 through 4.
An installation of a wooden shed surrounded by screens showing documentaries. By this exhibition, Layzell was recording his experience of Korea Town nestled few miles away in New Malden. Inside the wooden shed was a Karaoke device available for use. Being interested in colour and flowers, I was attracted to the colourful decoration of the wooden shed, the lighting was reddish and the walls were decorated in fuschia flowery wallpapers on a white background. The decoration along with the existence of a Karaoke device both invoked feelings of happiness and delight. It was part of exploring flowers in different settings in order to sharpen my ideas around flowers.
Korea Town | Wimbledon Space
The exhibition space was small, which rendered some warmth, intimacy and closeness to the show. The show consisted of 4 large paintings of flowers and 3 miniature paintings of animal eyes. The 3 miniatures were positioned in a corner not clearly visible to the audience, which gave an impression that the show was mainly about the flower theme. The show was accompanied by a text commissioned especially for the show, and the paintings were named after book titles which connected the show to the text and vice versa. Please see the "reading groups page" for more details about the text.
Mark Fairnington | Hansel Street Projects
The Mall Galleries
The artwork was for student winners of the FBA along with emerging artists. The pieces were interesting, however, 2 artists attracted my attention the most. Helen Mazacs, who created pieces similar to Georgia O'Keeffe animal skulls, although used a more realistic technique, it seemed to me that she is somewhat influenced by O'Keeffe. The other artist is Jan Agha, who painted an imaginative image of the famous freelance Iranian Muslim "Shams El Din El Tabrizi". Although the painting was peculiar in the way it depicted "El Tabrizi", it was vivid with contrasting colours, which helped shape my unit 1 practice (colours).
Part of exploring the flower motif in different set-ups, I went to look at flower paintings, designs, and some miniatures, and I found some interesting flower motifs used by the Turkish, Iranian and other civilisations. I found that it was used on ceramics, textiles and tapestries, which inspired me to consider this in my future work. Regarding Miniatures, I am interested to look at miniature paintings to learn about the intricacy of the work. Of course, I paint miniature flowers, but it wouldn't hurt to look at portraitures, they are useful.
Victoria & Albert Museum
The National Gallery
My visit was mainly to look at flower paintings, some paintings were interesting. For example, the Monet Water Lilies and some of Van Gogh's. What I liked about Monet's paintings is that he was painting his own garden that he built, the idea of creating the subject is interesting and is something I can explore in the future. His purpose was to immerse the viewer in the garden experience by creating paintings that were boundary-less, no sky, no shore, no edges, nothing but water, lilies and trees. Another interesting fact I learnt about Monet is that 8 compositions of his are showing in Musee de L'Orangerie in Paris in massive sizes, one of them is 17 metres wide, the same concept to immerse the viewer in the garden and for the viewer to experience the garden the same way Monet did. He also used the skylight in the exhibition space to assist in viewing the work. This idea inspired me in the design of my degree show.
I go to exhibitions with themes other than flowers, to see what is happening in the world around me and to get some inspiration. One common feature in this exhibition was the colour. Although the theme was about "houses", an underlying theme was colour. The paintings featured strong, bright colours, especially the one called "preferring the outside to the indoor night", where that artist used dark blue to set off the bright warm yellow of the houses; a technique I may adopt on my paintings in the future.
House Works | Victoria Miro - Mayfair
Holland Park
The garden contained a collection of flowers that is a source of inspiration for my work. I go there often to sketch flowers and landscape. I tried to meet someone from the Ecology centre to discuss with them the influence of flowers on human beings, but the centre was closed. What was interesting are the tulips beaming with strong opaque colours, and how they were put in special arrangements (again the man-made). There was so much care because of the history they bear. Tulips are not Europe natural indigenous but are rather Turkish and were introduced for the first time in the 17th century, the Tulip grabbed everybody's attention and because of their expensive prices, they were a mark for lavishness and abundance. Watching those tulips inspired me to paint my red tulip (please see gallery --> unit 4)
The exhibition was split into three themes that harmonize together (Earth, Water and Air). What I liked the most are the mountain paintings which reminded me of O'keeffe who also painted large mountains, however, O'keeffe rendered the mountains colours of her choice, while Andrews's mountains were closer to reality. Both of them were influenced by the surrounding environment, which made me wonder whether my practice will change if I moved to another location. There was a sense of mightiness in the work which is probably because of the scale. Seeing this made me rethink about the scale of my work and whether it should get bigger, or maybe smaller.
Micheal Andrews | The Gagosian Gallery
What interested me most is the artist career, the artist moved from one theme to another with confidence, and similar to O'keeffe and Andrews, his work changed as he moved from one location to another. Hockney, Andrews and O'Keffee, the three of them shared an interest in landscape, and the three of them expressed their interest in strong luminous saturated colours. This probably influenced the way I choose the colour in my work.
David Hockney | Tate Britain
I became a frequent visitor of Holland Park, as I go and sketch flowers and scenery in general. This time I found an exhibition of paintings and sculptures. I was lucky to have had a chance to talk with the artist about his work, his ideas and the material he uses. I asked him about what flowers represent to him - to use it in my essay. His paintings explore landscape in a variety of formal and conceptual ways. What I liked about his paintings is that they were very simple in technique, not much drama in terms of shadow and light, yet the paintings were very expressive and engaging. When I asked him what do flowers represent to you he said (the flowers in my paintings are more about flowering than botanical illustration. They indicate or symbolise aliveness, devotion, energy and growth). Talking with the artist helped me sharpen my ideas about flowers more.
A Variety of Separate Acts | by Chris Langley | Holland Park
This Britain's most important flower show that is held in May to mark the beginning of summer. It dates back to 1862 and the location of the show changed several times until it settled on its current site: Chelsea Hospital. The purpose of the show is to show the importance of preserving the nature and flower species. The show draws back on the idea of the relationship between the natural and the man-made which Marc Quinn has been investigating. There were a number man-made gardens with plants and flower arrangements in them. What was interesting is the existence of a number of flower species coming from several parts of the world together in one place, and asks the question of to how extent a man can control nature. however, my practice is about the flower itself and about zooming in on certain parts of the flower that resemble humans like the reproduction parts.