Today we had two lectures that were very different from our usual discourse.
The first lecture was on the importance of Curators in the art world. We learned about some very famous curators (who I had not heard of and I really regret to say this), and their sort of diverse workings in the art world. I found it all very interesting, but also extremely challenging to take in. I have sort of moved away from the idea of curation in my own mind, I mean I would like to own a space for art and "curate" the shows there, someday, but maybe not on this high of a level. Regardless of that we learned about some really cool stuff. And I'd just like to share with you all the "advertising" art/cover of the catalogue for Documenta 10, an art exhibit that takes place every five years or so in Kassel, Germany (next year it will be Documenta 13).
The reason why I am sharing this with you is because it is typography based, and I really love typography based works of art.
The second lecture was given by the director of the MA program in Art Business at Sotheby's (Which is the program I am mostly interested in). The lecturer was very interesting and extremely knowledgable about art and the art market, which is something I aim for in my studies as well. I really enjoyed the lecture, but it was a lot of numbers which I am sure many people did not like.
Afterwards we met up at the White Cube in Hoxton (East End) which was very different from the White Cube in St. James's where we were last week. I really loved the show. It was works by a South African artist named Robin Rhodes, and I swear if I had money I would have bought every photograph in the exhibit. I really truly honestly loved his work. I took photos of the photographs and will post them in my facebook album later this week (when I have more photos to post). His work deals a lot with issues of black and white, and the photographs were also dealing with the Fibonacci sequence, which I find fascinating, yet I can't say I fully understand it. He also had some film works and they were really incredible as well. Sort of stop motion pieces that used a wall like a blank canvas for ideas. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos in the room of films, so I could not film my favorite piece, but if ever you get a chance to see a Robin Rhodes exhibition (he is an up and coming artist for sure) please go and see it so we can gush together.
We then traveled about 15 minutes on foot to another set of galleries and looked at a few works by Yayoi Kusama and Alice Neel. The Kusama work was her more recent works which I do not think are as conceptual as her pre-mental institution works, but they were sort of enjoyable and happy. I was really impressed, however, with the Alice Neel works. I am a bit unfamiliar with her work, but her painting style is quite incredible and beautiful. The work was a collection of portraits that she painted of men in her life and men she met, and it was so interesting to see an exhibition of works painted by a woman, that was only portraits of men. The style made me think of the way that female nudes were painted at a certain time in art history, and so I was very pleased to soak in the pieces.
We also looked at the work of another artist who was completely disgusting that I didn't even write down his name, so that is unrelated.
Sore throat still in existence, but tomorrow in addition to going to the Camden Arts Centre and the Freud Museum, we are going on a day trip to Oxford! The school is providing us with an open ended ticket (on the return end) so I think we will stay a bit later and look around Oxford. I don't know if you can tell how excited I really am, but it is late here and I should get to bed as tomorrow is another long day, but let me prep you for the grand finale of my week: I am going to Bath on Friday! So if you have any recommendations in Bath beyond the usual, go see the Roman Baths, I am there for several hours and need more things to do! Please e-mail me.
xoxooxxoxoxoox
