Student work: Photo sculptures

Our BTEC L2 students have been busy making photo sculptures inspired by the work of Stephen J Shanabrook and Off Camera created by our BTEC First Art and Design students as part of their Photography Project - you can check out the full set of photographs over on flickr, HERE. 

Student Work: BTEC Level 2 Site Specific Sculptures

more on flickr

Our BTEC level 2 students have been working on a site specific project and they've made some fantastic final outcomes! The students were commissioned to create a light weight sculpture inspired by natural forms. They looked at objects like cactus and shells and took inspiration from the colours, textures and shapes they observed. You can full the full collection of work as well as the withee structures in their initial construction state, here. 

Coulsdon Artist of the week - Gary Hume

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The artist, Gary Hume at his recent exhibition.

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An exhibition called ‘The Indifferent Owl’ of new paintings and sculptures by Gary Hume, opens tonight at the White Cube Gallery in London.  The exhibition spans across two of The White Cubes Galleries, in Mason's Yard and Hoxton Square. 

Coulsdon Sixth Form AS Fine Art students has been looking at Gary's work recently, as part of their 'Intersections' painting project. 

The White Cube talk about the exhibition on their website, saying: 'Over the past twenty years, Hume has developed a distinctive visual language of bold, simplified forms to create paintings that engage the viewer with their pleasantly irresolvable quality. The exhibition, his first in London for over four years, brings together a large and varied body of new work' 

The online arts magazine Artinfo, also has an interview with the artist, where he talks about the exhibition and his current work.  

 

One of Gary Hume's new canvases, that go on display tonight

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Josiah McElheny: The Past Was A Mirage Id Left Far Behind

Josiah McElheny for the The Bloomberg Commission has transformed the Whitechapel Gallery into a hall of mirrors. Seven large-scale, mirrored sculptures are arranged as multiple reflective screens for the artists interpretation of groundbreaking experimental abstract films, programmed to change throughout the year. The sculptures will reflect and refract the projected film selection, saturating the whole gallery and visitors in images and light. Distorted and multiplied, the moving images explore how abstracting is used to depict an image of visual enlightenment.

The Bloomberg Commission is displayed in Gallery 2, a dedicated space for site-specific works of art that was previously the reading room of the former Whitechapel Library. Inspired by the history of thr Library as a creative haven for early modernist thinkers such as Isaac Rosenberg and Mark Gertler, McElheny's new work explores the history of abstraction in film and video, reinterpreting them by presenting fractured, constantly morphing versions.

The work is being shown until 20th July 2012 and is worth several visits to see the changeover of films. The best part is that it's free and you can make a day of it by visiting the Rothko show too!

Richie Hawtin vs Anish Kapoor

On the 21st of June 2011, Richie Hawtin delivered a powerful performance at the foot of Anish Kapoor's Leviathan sculpture at the Grand Palais, Paris through a creative partnership between The Creators Project and We Love Art. (see earlier blog post!)

Before the event the two managed to sit down and discuss art, improvisation and how music can lend an entirely new artistic experience to space. You can watch the conversation here.

Laura White

In my final year at Goldsmiths I was lucky enough to have the talented Laura White as my tutor and her new work is fantastic! Laura explores the language of sculpture by using a range of different materials from everyday objects to constructed matter. She is interested with the 'stuff' of the world, from the readymade to the handmade, image to objects, the representational to the abstract, playing with value, profile, association and meaning of individual and collections of objects.

"Laura gathers, makes, places, arranges, manipulates, distorts and re-presented objects and stuff to create new relationships and meanings. Sometimes things are left untouched while other stuff is highly manipulated or crafted from scratch, such a bags of purchased popcorn juxtaposed with hand-modelled clay pots. The constant accumulation of objects and stuff bought from high street shops and the internet is part of the process of making her work and is reflected back in the finished pieces, often as collections."

Contradiction is clear within the work as she questions our relationship and associations with the 'stuff', whether that be those displayed in shops, homes, museums or left stranded on the pavement. To see more of Laura's work click here or visit the staff page at Goldsmiths!

Anish Kapoor Leviathan Sculpture

British artist Anish Kapoor has a new 35m structural blob on show in the Grand Palais des Champs-Elysees in Paris. The monster which appears from every corner to fill this grand space is part of the current 'Monumenta' exhibition. Leviathan is 35 metres high and comprised of tautly-stretched PVC over a giant metal frame. People are invited to immerse themselves in it's colour by walking around and inside it to capture a poetic experience.

Kapoor said: "My ambition is to create a space within a space, responding to the great height and light of the nave of the Grand Palais."

The Book Surgeon

"The destruction of a book is considered by many to be an act of sacrilege."

Brian Dettmer carves dozens of delicate sculptures by slicing through volumes of books that have been dumped in charity shops or antique bookstores. Each sculpture becomes a 3D collage which transforms the viewer's perception of the book. But Dettmer does something different: unlike a collage, nothing is stuck on to the page. Instead he carves around the images and words slotting in between the covers giving the old books a new chance of life.

Dettmer, also known as 'The Book Surgeon' describes his process as 'dissection.' Approaching the book as a body. He creates each piece by using tweezers, surgical tools, rulers. pliers, glue and a saw. By working in bright light Dettmer relies on the eye rather than any visual aids and each sculpture can be made in a week or up to a year. He begins the process by firstly sealing the book edges with glue to make it completely enclosed. Cutting into the surface of the book from the front, Dettmer exposes each letter while cutting around the images and words that he wants to retain. In the beginning, Dettmer focused on one book at a time, but in recent years he has become more ambitious, tackling sets of books to create the work he desires.