Some of my favourite images from Walker art gallery, Liverpool.

Lucien Freud – ‘Interior at Paddington,’ 1951.

 

The man in the image is Harry Diamond a well known photographer of the bourgeois London 60’s scene and Freud’s friend. I like that even though he is a close companion he captures him as wearing an ill fitting coat, mood of depression and anxiety by clenched fist and how he is focused on the plant which seems out of proportion to himself as though he is self consumed in his own feelings. I feel there is a comical element to the image of Freud denoting his friend as a moody, self consumed character.

 

Harold Gilman- ‘Mrs Mounter,’ 1916/17.

This image is of his landlady Mrs Mounter she is represented as a specific real character and is not glamorised in the process, the use of colour I like as is a balanced composition of her face against background I feel that the colours all blend nicely together to accurately represent Mrs Mounter in her own surroundings. Also the use of thick brush strokes re-immerse that she is a real character and is not highly staged to appear neat and exact but in true likeness to the character.

Paul Cezanne – ‘The murder,’ 1868.

Cezanne was an important figure in abstract art and cubism movement but this is an example of his earlier work I like how it is so different to his later work it is as his use of dark subject matter of anonymous violence as cannot see attackers faces and desolate surroundings is an indicator of his mind process of his confusion of trying to determine his style and his turmoil over the process by his blurred background and thick brush strokes used of bodies which is so different to his later style.

Frederick Sandys – ‘Helen of Troy,’ 1867.

This image I love as is an example of the Pre Raphaelite favoured style of beauty of her rosy cheeks, full lips and pale complexion. I think it is slightly humorous as well by her sullen and guilty expression by her eyes being out of focus it is as she is withholding a secret glimpse at someone, she was described as having fatal beauty which I feel this image represents by the juxtaposition of her sullen expression versus her features it is as the burden of being so beautiful comes at an expense.

Paulus Bor – ‘Mary Magdalene,’ 1630-39.

I think this image is dramatic, theatrical and emotional by the use of strong lighting effect above her head to illuminate her face of the repentant sinner. The use of colours and her posture all work by encapsulating on the story behind the image and it made me have an emotional sad response as you feel for her, it is very typical of the dramatic style of Baroque era.

The little artists, John Cake and Daniel Neave, ‘Hirst’s shark tank,’ 1994 and ‘Emin’s bed,’ 1999.

The conceptual artists Lego representations of Hirst’s and Emin’s work I feel is comical and a light-hearted reprimand to the effect of art as a commodity as is a humorous look at the power of the original art work and is showing how art is now a commodity.

Birgit Dieker, ‘Bad Mummy,’ Blue coat Liverpool.

Birgit Dieker 2005 sculpture ‘Bad Mummy’ was showcased as part of DaDaFest at Bluecoat in Liverpool the theme of the exhibition is questioning what it means to be perceived as normal and the codes of looking we establish in creation of a system of ideals that we as a society measure ourselves against.

‘Bad Mummy’ is a solid black leather form of a pregnant woman with obtrusive spiked pins and needles. The use of dark leather is symbolic as it is normally classified as fetishistic material so it is questioning the opposing ideals of sexual fantasies and motherhood. Leather also has associations with bondage and sexual dominance/submission so by being a pregnant limbless woman it raises the question that once a woman has given birth is she now just supposed to be submissive to her child at the cost of her own freedom and self identity.

‘Bad Mummy’ also works I feel in its setting it is perched high on metal stool and in the corridor against the white wall it connotes a feeling of aloneness as well as strength  of its impact on the passing visitor.

Contemporary Welsh Artists

Welshness as a theme conjures for me imagery of a rich cultural history and landscape which work by juxtaposing against one another creating a mythical dream like imagery, connoting the hardness of the industrial past coupled with majestic scenery

Contemporary Welsh art is unifying the past and landscape but also cementing that as the past in becoming more visual in display techniques not to just display history of Wales but also its innovative techniques.

Lois Williams - 'A reconstructed thing'

This has many connotations for me the way it is hung on the wall in equal distances from one another suggests the conformity of the past with its draping down and becoming more thread bare it reflects hanging onto past routes which are systematically falling away through time. I like how you can visually become part of the history of the production and its effect over time as metamorphosing into something which was not how maker intended, which is symbolic of holding onto Welsh national past.


Huw Jones - 'Tom Jones,' oil on canvas

The surrealist quality of the image appeals to me by choosing to portray Tom Jones an iconic Welsh personality it gives a comical approach it has a hyper-real quality by the displacement of background it is as he is floating, it looks Margritte inspired. I enjoy how the only real life like of the image is portrayed in Tom Jones face it is as he is laughing at the absurdity of his surroundings and his pposition as celebrity position, it acts as comical metaphor for the increaseness of the role of Celebrity importance played in society.


Tim Long - 'Dyffryn 1'

The initial reading I take is the connotation of subverted ugliness versus beauty balance as by the placement of displayed face against an aesthetically pleasing background of flowers it is challenging the notion of how we analyse beauty and the collage 3D effect of the face is demanding attention against background, it is as the subverted face is challenging the person reaching towards the flowers. For me his mix of colours works by blending the piece together but the redness in the face is obtrusive and reflects to viewer a harshness that remains behind our perceived values of what constitutes as beauty.