Art and Design London

This weekend i went to see Art and Design London, which turned out to be really great - there was a lot of art from 20th century as well as some very interesting contemporary design pieces. I mostly enjoyed seeng a lot of works by Miro, i think they are great, ecpesially i like his very early stuff, which is not as much abstracted.

Frieze art fair

Last week i have been to the Frieze, which is now a yearly tradition for me. I like going there to be able to understand what is going on in the art world at the moment.
this year was particularly good as i saw some works there that i saw in Lyon or Venice this summer which interlinks these experiences. Also i thought that there were many more works that were positive than last year. Its actually great to think that a positive change is happening, art to me s something nice to look at, i don't really like dark stuff.
My favourite work there was by one of my favourit artists - Yayoi Kusama (on the picture below). It was even more appealing that the work was made this year, as i know that she is now leaving in a house on the grounds of a clinic, it great news!

Summer 2011

During this summer i have been travelling a lot.

The trips very useful to my studies would be a trip to the Lyon biennale and the Venice biennale.

I thought that the biennale in Lyon was somehow depressing for me as i like bright colours in the works and there were almost none colourful works although Lyon is a beautiful city and i have enjoyed the experience altogether as there were a couple of other exhibitions i went to, like ht exhibition "Les enfants terribles" that was of lowbrow and pop-surreallist art that i actually adore! Especially i have enjoyed works by Caia Coopman and Jeff Soto. There i have also met Nicholas Thomas, one of the artists in the show, and the main curator too. It is useful to talk to people already in the industry i think, you get to fid out a lot of interesting things.

The Venice biennale was absolutely great! I did not like my country's exhibit but most of the others were good. The main pavilions curated by the biennale team were the best though, there were mainly works of already well known artists. I think that one of my favourite works was a work by Urs Fisher.

He did a sculpture out of wax (copy of a really old venetian statue) and actually lit it up as a candle. To his calculations, it has to burn until the end of the biennale. You should have seen it - the contradiction between the classic sculpture and its beautiful form to how it melts and chaotically drips down slowly disappearing... Also there was a show "a thousand ways to defeat entropy" where a frien of our family artist Alexander Ponomarev was exhibiting, they had a great opening with some opera singing, very inspiring experience!

Last few months

Last few months were as much fun as work, as after the holidays i had to go straight back into work to get my portfolio ready for all the interviews.
I have done some sculptures for the fear project that i think worked out quite well.

So, being quite content with myself at the moment i am still a bit nervous about the interviews, as i generally do not do well in any stressful situation, but work wise i am calm.

Film review - " A woman is a woman".

A woman is a woman is a film by Jean – Luc Godard that I saw during the CCW Foundation film program that took place every Wednesday morning in Odeon.

I have to begin saying that the place chosen for the screenings, for me, already made me like each film a little and appreciate each one more.

I want to write about this film though, because for me it stood out, it was the one I thought about most. Perhaps, even because the genre of this film is debatable – if it is a comedy or a tragedy, or maybe because of the time that the film was shot in – 1961, those times women’s fashions were much more feminine and, to be honest, I absolutely adore fashion of 50s and 60s so it was a great experience just visually, too.

This film was a great inspiration for me, as a couple of weeks after seeing the film I have made a skirt in Anna Karina’s style, or “The New Look” style which was invented by the great artist Christian Dior in the 50s as a response to depression times, trying to make women happier by making them look ultra feminine and elegant, which I think worked, as up to these days a lot of women still love  “The New Look” style and pay enormous money trying to buy an authentic garment of that time.

I also adore the femininity of Anna Karina in the movie. Although she for her time if quite feministic and rebellious, I still think that she is very different to women now. The way she dresses, speaks, behaves all makes her a romantic character. Now women in cinema are all spies and fighters, you don’t get to see women the way I think they should be – feminine.

In one of the reviews of the film on the web I found this one  - “''A Woman Is a Woman'' (''Une Femme Est une Femme'') from 1961, Jean-Luc Godard's whimsical celebration of romance, sentiment, musical comedy, color film, the city of Paris and the abundant charms of Ms. Karina herself, who at the time was also Madame Godard”, which I think is a great description of the film in my eyes.

I think I loved the film so much also because it is set in France and the whole film I heard French language, which I find very appealing and romantic. It set out the whole mood for the film, alongside with the main problem posed in the film – the difficulties of human relationships and how they are caused by differences in each one of us.

I would give this film a 5 out 0f 5 rating, to me this film had everything I want in good film:  deeper meaning, great setting and therefore sound, beautiful picture and most importantly I think it is one of those films that leaves you with this special inspirational feeling, it makes you think about it. I would honestly recommend this film as a great experience.

(Link to the article: http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9D01E5DA163EF935A25756C0A9659C8B63)

after specialising in fine art

since specialising in fine art there was a lot going on - 2 projects for which i mainly did 3d and photographic work, we went on a day gallery tour which was really interesting - i really enjoyed Yudi Noors work particularly, also there was the turner prize and a lot of class discussions on the topic of value and meaning of contemporary art in general and in relation to art of other times.
i sent the UCAS application too during last week

so far i am really enjoying the course and i find it as educating as fun, but also i am looking forward to the holidays, so i can go back to russia for a while.

Crossroads 2

As my rotations have already nearly finished, I came to the decision to go into fine art. This is because I think that my fine art rotation work was the most successful and I had the most fun doing it which, I think is really important when you are choosing something this life - influencing. I have also enjoyed vis com rotation too, particularly the animation project – I think I would continue doing some sort of fine art animations when I continue onto BA or just for the fun of it. Of course, there were some challenging parts too during all the projects- I found it hard to work as a team, which is vital to some areas of design and I also found it hard to every time make something new and inventive in strict boundaries of briefs, it was also quite hard for me to work in 3D, especially in 3D spatial rotation, where 3D structures have to have a special purpose. During all rotations, my view of design has changed  - I now understand how many things can designer can go into doing, that is also a form of art, only that its much more common than art. But I still think that I am an artist - I do not like set frames to my work, where the outcome is precise. I find it easier to work on my own than in a team. And I try to express my feelings in my work, rather than trying to make something with a purpose.  I believe that fine art gives you much more freedom of what you do, than any other pathway. This is very important for me, as when I feel pressurized to do something not the way I want, which happens a lot in design, I do not feel like I am enjoying whatever I am doing anymore. I think I am more about having my space to work that nobody tries to invade. I think that I also want to be an artist and not a designer because I grew up in a house with a lot of classical art and I have always admired the people who actually make art themselves – the sort of thing you should not touch and just look. I like the specialty of art.  I have always wanted to be in the position when somebody else looks at something that I did myself and admires it like I did in my childhood, thinking it is so precious, that if you touch it would break or disappear. I think that this is the oldest thing I have ever wanted – to become a fine artist. I recently got shown a book, where I, when was 5 years old wrote that I will become an artist. And here I have to say that although I have always wanted that, I did consider other possibilities – I have enjoyed other subjects at school and other rotations during the project, but fine art is my passion, something I feel I should be doing with my heart. I hope that my feelings do not betray me and I will achieve something in the pathway I am about to choose.