Walsall gallery.

Walsall Gallery.

Walsall gallery being the first of three I visited on the 11th of November. The gallery I entered was panelled from floor to ceiling in wood, this gave the illusion of height as the walls seemed to continue up through the building, this paired with the use of layering shapes in the architecture of the gallery creates an organic atmosphere which mirrored the nature of the pieces within the gallery.

One of the first rooms within this colossal gallery had many sculptures years old with some pieces even dating from the 12th century. At this point I took the opportunity to sketch some of the small figures in front of me and to admire some of the work by Jacob Epstein. His work dominated the room with his pieces geometric components and sheer size. The gallery not only featured some of his sculptures but also his paintings, both of  which portraying his abstract way of working paired with his very modern and contemporary style.

 
  

Following on from the Epstein exhibition there many smaller rooms filled with smaller paintings, with each of the individual rooms having a particular theme. Many of these paintings were portraits of influential people of the time, it was here placed next to the Epstein exhibition that the development of artistic styles could be seen from paintings of realism to Epstein's avant garde sculptures. 

The true star of Walsall gallery was up in the heavens of the building with the Mat Collishaw exhibition where everything including the lighting of the room added to the ambience of the experience. Collishaw's style is dark showing a more sinister side of human nature. The entrance to the exhibition was a moon away from the light airy section of the gallery in which Epstein's work was shown, but instead took the form a giant space with not ceiling lights and only smaller lights around each of his pieces to display his collection. The atmosphere and presentation of Collishaw's work is a huge part of the whole experience, the walk to the exhibition was up many flights of stairs with only nature light creating a rather organic but sinister nature to the journey as shadows were cast by almost every object in the hallways. At the base of the final flight of stairs to the Collishaw exhibition a single window stood and illuminated the whole corridor. This lighting was eerie and cold mirroring what was up another floor. Entering the insecticide collection by Collishaw I was met with enormous, hypnotic images of butterflies, moths and other insects almost exploding into a burst of vibrant colour. The display of these pieces was truly compelling with a background to the pieces being black, against a black wall and in a poorly lit room all of the focus as viewer was to the eruption of colour emitted from these images. Wings of dead insects added a translucent affect to an other wise bold image, representing in my opinion the delicate nature of life teamed with potent themes of death and destruction that is seen in the everyday world around us. The subject of the pieces being something so insignificant as a butterfly could be seen as a metaphor for us as a species that in the grand scheme of things we are as insignificant as a butterfly, but can create such a powerful force just like the vibrant nature of the images in an otherwise dark room. As the pieces within this exhibition were prints of the original pieces only a small glimpse into the vast amount of texture could be taken from the experience. Upon close inspection you can see where the insect meets an external force and the texture the impact creates.  

Within the insecticide series there was smaller glass cases filled with exotic plants, which looked almost alien. Following the almost rabbit warren layout of the mass of rooms that made up the exhibition I came across a empty room with a warning of strobe lights. On the ceiling and walls of the space were projected images flashing on and off at different places. Images of girls crying in the arms of large men and mothers holding their child's in pain flashed all around me. The emptiness of the room emphasised the graphic images that surrounded every wall. Similarly to the insecticide collection the theme of death and destruction is once again explored however through a different medium, the longer you were in the piece you began to see more and more scenes appear. As with this piece the idea is that you are alone in the centre of the room while the projection surrounds you, it becomes an extremely emotive experience, due to the isolation of a huge empty room and the dark nature of the pictures all over the walls. This piece by Collishaw is called deliverance, and is made by 45 gobos, 3 moving head projectors and phosphorescent paint. Heading up another flight of stairs attached to the insecticide collection was a single sculpture which may have been the most breathtaking of the whole exhibition. A rotating sculpture of a Colosseum creating the effect of a moving image with fast rotations paired with strobe lighting. This zeotrope 'wheel of life' portrays the biblical tale of King Herod's act of infanticide to protect his throne. The whole structure is comprised of 300 individual figures 3D printed from a computer model in resin, each of these meticulously placed to show an idea of an animation of many children being whipped and killed. As with the rest of the work in the All things fall exhibition atmosphere is incredible important, similarly to the other rooms the only piece of lighting comes from within the structure, the rest of the room is in darkness causing the eye to focus of the image spinning in front of you. The piece spins for a few minutes then comes to a Holt and is then lit externally enabling the viewer to appreciate the details within the structure.  Due to not being able to post videos onto the blog there is a link below to the post of the video on facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/imfineitsalljustinmymind/videos/1191795060835448/

Art wasn't just contained within the gallery but was painted all over the streets leading up to the building as well. From inside the caffe of the ground floor of the gallery I could see down a length of canal next to which was teamed with rather worn brick walls covered in graffiti. I took this as an opportunity to explore the artwork. Many were just words which in true graffiti style were difficult to read but others were truly beautiful drawings. 



As with my previous trips to the new walk museum I did some observational drawings whilst walking around the gallery, I also made notes on the images that I like and quotes that I found interesting. 


'Simon Raven 2012 camden arts centre bookworm'

'Jacob Epstein 1880-1953

watercolour and pencil n paper 

messenger for the creation 1930'

'Jacques courtois known as Il Borgognone 

1612-1675

battle scene 

pen and ink'

'William Geer 

Landscape study 1959

oil on canvas'

'Geoffrey Ireland  

In progress portrait 1950's 

photograph 

depicts an unfinished painting'

'Jacob Epstein 
nan the dreamer 
1911
bronze'
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAcQjRxqFQoTCOntm4CHk8kCFUE5FAodUUwDZw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpictify.saatchigallery.com%2F593097%2Fnan-the-dreamer-by-jacob-epstein&psig=AFQjCNF2X08r9zb8hV06--HXIt-HfY6yuQ&ust=1447698412893098

'Emile Schuffeneck
1851-1934
girl knitting 
pencil'
http://www.chrislee.org.uk/inspiringcreativity/GR232%20-%20Emille%20Schuffenecker%20-%201851-1934%20-%20Girl%20Knitting.jpg

'Towns of the unexpected 
francis bacon'