- Venue
- Nottingham Trent University
- Location
- East Midlands
I felt that the overall degree show had a presents that was professional and imaginative I particularly liked the way in which the pieces were displayed in different areas of the building rather than set to one room. However I felt that some areas were more successful in looking like an exhibition space than others. The most successful space was on the upper floor which had works from students Mandy Cowell, Fiona Lewis, Kyran Gregson, James Watts, Homera Ajmal and others. I felt that as soon as I entered this space it had numerous interesting and exciting pieces in which to view and the relationship between the pieces connected well therefore I felt the space flowed.
I particularly liked the piece by Mandy Cowell titled ‘Letting Them Escape My Body’.
I felt that the contrast between the large scale black and white photograph and the sequins was automatically eye catching therefore drawing my attention. I liked the idea of making something disgusting such as the vomit being turned into something beautiful, feminine and special. However after being in the pieces presents for a while and reading the title of the piece it made me question whether that it was actually vomit that was being represented by the sequins. The other possibilities that I thought of were actually words, there’s a quote I came across ‘Word Vomit’ I felt the relationship between this quote and piece was something that could be linked well. I also thought that the way in which the ‘vomit’ extended to the floor heightened the relationship between the space and the work itself I do feel however that it could have been extended further into a larger pool at the bottom though I wouldn’t be sure whether this would over dominate the black and white image of the female behind it. That fact that it was a female in the photograph also strengthens the link between feminity and beauty in the work.
Another piece I was interested in was in the same area of space placed on the floor titled ‘Scrabyard’ by Kyran Gregson. In liked the way that the crabs were made out of the same materials as the rubbish as this is something I am interested in, my own practice I found that the tones of the rusted metal were appealing to me as it added to the idea of the scrap yard. I loved the play on the title ‘Scrabyard’ instead of ‘Scrap Yard’ I felt this really worked with the piece and added a comical side to the piece. The way the metal crabs were positioned around the scrap metal was also interesting as it made them appear to be scavenging amongst the metal. It has a slightly futuristic feel to it in the way that it’s unlikely you would find crabs in a scrap yard, which for me makes me think about perhaps this is what it would be like in the future because of all the junk in the world that creatures will have to adapt to different environments.
