The Great Exhibition

The Great Exhibition

Combined the design industry of all nations, which was held in a place looking like something magical reflecting behind the trees, being The Crystal Palace which was nicknamed by the public due to that phenomenon. The exhibition took place in 1851 at Hyde Park, only a year after the palace started being constructed. It was the idea of Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert which became real and also kick started a trail for innovative design and methods in construction of buildings. The building was tall as the trees, and even taller as it is built with an arch around them which were already there, presenting a generous act not to remove trees for new buildings, but rather use them as a medium in the idea of the design. London has never seen something like this before as buildings were built rather than constructed, also the rain was washing away the dust on the place which made it reflect in marvelous aspects as it was made of prefabricated glass and iron. This was achieved due to the recent invention of cast plate glass method in 1848. The time when The Great Exhibition shone was perfect for Britain as the manufacturing was on a high level and successful, also they had no fear of uprisings or assassinations as these were common at that time due to power and business with the industrial revolution. That was the time to show off the manufacturing success they were having, by putting up the space delivering wonders of industry from around the world in one place. The building was made by Joseph Paxton and was built by hand with a number of workers.

The purpose of the exhibition was to create an exhibition space for showcasing examples of the latest technology developed in the Industrial Revolution, and exposing differences that nations’ designs had. The amount was about 100,000 different designs.

 

America’s were also very diverse and one of the most popular attractions was the reaper by Cyrus McCormick which was manufactured in Britain but was a remarkable new machine with a huge effect on agriculture especially at the time. The Great Western Railway displayed a locomotive. The inside of the exhibition was arranged on purpose so as to show the best British inventions and for entertaining visitors while walking, church organs played the role for entertainment. The Crystal Palace was the place where first public toilets with flushing lavatory were showcased. The European designs were maybe exaggerated as they thought it was the way to get people buying the product instead of the function and price. Some British inventions were of a great importance and function, for example the first voting machine which counted votes automatically and boasted an interlocking system preventing over-voting, but their ornaments were not of high standard, without function and over decorated as mass produced products were not well. Similar ones to Europeans were from India which focused on the aesthetic rather than the worthy function value, for example a throne carved from ivory. Scotland’s invention kick started ability for blind people to understand and read languages which is still being used nowadays, as Dr Foulis’ tangible ink produced raised letters. The largest foreign contributor was France as it exhibited expensive looking attractive tapestries, Sevres porcelain and silks from Lyons, enamels from Limoges and furniture. On the other hand, British exhibits in the same class of the French, were lacking taste unlike France’s impressive display which also included examples of the machinery which their products were produced with. France was thus a competitor against Britain as it prided itself in textiles. 

This exhibition was able to reveal the difference between European and American design, as Europeans’ was ornamental, while Americans’ was mass produced and functional. Americans’ were more for the mass amount with uses, while Europeans’ were more for decoration purposes with exaggerated elements in them that disturbed the ability of using them in everyday life.

The Great Exhibition opened doors for awareness in better visions to produce better designs, and that is why William Morris rejected the idea of cheaply bad made products that were mass produced. To him, this was an insult and lack of appreciation to the design industry and was not fair for consumers, but on the other hand mass production allows objects to be more affordable and more widely available to people with different standards which were also exposed during the exhibition. The US emerged as the leader in mass production, and that is why it created the first assembly lines where factories allow workers to add certain elements to the products in an ongoing pattern. This production lost stylistic creativity and variety in the products as their quality also suffered due to lack of craftsmanship which enables the product to have a certain high attention to it bit by bit with decisions wisely taken in a process. Our current days are carrying the main potential and function of The Great Exhibition which was a great medium to design these days, for example how the standards in different nations teach each other for better products and their impacts. The Great Exhibition allowed the world to follow its footsteps with a huge impact on its legacy, being one of them in Paris that had the first in a long series of international exhibitions in 1855. In the United States, fairs were inspired by what people saw in eairly fairs in Europe, another being the New York Crystal Palace Exhibition that was held 1853-54 in also an iron-and-glass structure in Bryant Park. A specific building which was inspired by the Crystal Palace in terms of construction is "The Millennium Dome" which depicted the same aim as Paxton to enable the geodesic domes to be added or removed with the ground and adapt with the uneven and shifting ground.

Bibliography - 

British Library. 2015. The Great Exhibition. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/victorians/exhibition/greatexhibition.html. [Accessed 20 April 2015].

Wikipedia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2015. The Crystal Palace - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crystal_Palace. [Accessed 20 April 2015].

The Victorian School. 2015. The Victorian School. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.victorianschool.co.uk/Gt_exhib.html. [Accessed 20 April 2015].

Brittanica :: The Great Exhibition and its legacy: the golden age of fairs | Encyclopedia Britannica. 2015. world's fair :: The Great Exhibition and its legacy: the golden age of fairs | Encyclopedia Britannica. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/649088/worlds-fair/301790/The-Great-Exhibition-and-its-legacy-the-golden-age-of-fairs. [Accessed 20 April 2015].

Ray White and Contributors :: 2015. 7. The Crystal Palace. [ONLINE] Available at:http://whitefiles.org/b3_q/1_architecture/zqla/qla7/7_xtlplc.htm. [Accessed 20 April 2015].

Materials Council:: London's iconic Crystal Palace reloaded ... 2015. So Transparent: London's iconic Crystal Palace reloaded ... [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.architonic.com/ntsht/so-transparent-london-s-iconic-crystal-palace-reloaded-part-ii/7000932. [Accessed 20 April 2015].

Visit - Art - Mara

Visit - Art - Mara Exhibition

"Mara - Perspettivi" , is a collective exhibition which I chose to visit for a post related to Art. It consisted of a Visual Arts exhibition which I visited, a series of performances, a discussion event, and a concert... All to celebrate "women" for the month of March. All these took part in Palazzo Pereira, Republic Street, Valletta. It spanned from 5th to 22nd of March and the visual arts exhibition was for free. It consisted of works spanning over 5 decades of Maltese art by 20 artists. This exhibition interested me due to the theme of focusing on women, as curiosity hit me, as women for me are marvelous beings that share multiple elements of life that speculate everyone. For me it was interesting to get to know what the artists' impression of a woman was. The works consisted of multiple materials and styles, from photography to sculpture etc... It was interesting to observe different visions with different materials so as to let the artists express themselves freely and more accurate to what they want. Five works which I chose to write about are those that in my opinion had more experimentation in the way of the artist's expression and idea result and vision, apart from the materials used and technique.

The first piece is a pencil drawing by Mariorick Mifsud although the technique is common and popular, especially wit these kind of themes, it grabbed my attention due to the way the artist recreated renaissance style paintings with a local modern figure. It interprets the images we see of religious subjects like the Virgin Mary.  It is evident that Romanticism is an inspiration to the artist as the way she is drawn and posing enables an overall soft aesthetic, where she is almost perfect with high beauty, running on the skin tones focusing on the face. Purity is the main element. In my opinion this is a perfect symbol of a woman, showcasing the pure beauty they boast, even without the modern model figure, and that is also an aspect that resembles Romanticism, where the body is curved and not so skinny... This proves how the artist found a model to look like a Romanticism subject.

A direct visual connection is present in "Divina" by Glenn Ellul, where he uses Victorian design in almost all of the imagee.  When you look at the design used in the Victorian Era, the idea of femininity triggers instantly in your mind. During this era, The Queen Victoria was a symbol for femininity which centered on motherhood and domestic virtue. It was elegant and respected the female sex by elevating her beauty within. If you analyze this illustration, a plain woman figure is presented in the middle, elegantly standing in front of what look like rays. In my view, it is plain so as to lead the eyes to the most important figure throughout the designs which make the woman. The curves presented from the acanthus leaf familiarize the curves which a woman holds in her beauty. The figure is focused with the help of a diamond shape which may symbolize the female reproductive organ ,contrasting a square frame.

An original piece produced with acrylic paint and acrylic plastic which goes by the name "OM" and developed by the designer Enrique Tabone. It evidently represents the female reproductive organ, followed by what symbolizes blood and looks like lipstick at the same time. These two similar elements that associate with the female, show how the artist achieved a certain aesthetic which represents the breaking pain of a woman with her natural cycle. It can also vibrate the pain a woman goes through when giving birth. Her style reminds me of Expressionism, especially with the way the blood and lipstick are interpreted. 

Charcoal and Watercolor drawing named "Flamenco Lady" and produced by Anna Galea which consists of a stylized lady dancing the flamenco. The symbol of femininity is reflected through the use of a dance that is associated normally with women. It boasts elegance in women by the movements that the dancers create. The curves presented in the drawing expose the elegant figure that women hold.  Expressionism seems to be an influence for the technique used with stylized figures.  The motion of the figure is implied with the curved lines that extend from the curvatures.

 This work instantly caught my attention due to the familiar aspects it consists of with Caravaggio's paintings and techniques. The posture is romantic and full of emotion, as well as the skull is present near the hand as well. The scene seems to show grief, although the technique chario scuro is not that strong compared to Caravaggio's. The hat in Caravaggio's is replaced with a circle that I personally don't know what it consists of. Notice how the room is empty compared to that of Caravaggio's... Is it on purpose to trigger the thinking of gender equality?, as the woman seems to be a housewife with the bandana on the head. The muscles and body structure is exposed the same way as that of the Greeks and The Renaissance Period. In my view, this painting has a great potential to its meaning and vision, but it is lacking a more dramatic scene that it is crying for. 

All of the pieces exhibited had somehow a point of contact with historical periods, as woman were and will be always a symbol of diverse elements in life, also a sensitive and controversial subject, especially in Art. A good gesture from all the artists and the organizers to enable this connection to flourish in our modern times. 
This exhibition allowed me to look at the "Woman" with a different eye. A drawing of mine was actually inspired by this exhibition, as I analyzed what a "woman" actually consists of in terms of natural values and treasures. It also features how iconic a woman is, as I dissected the body and represented it differently in a way that it does not meet the human body, but the power a woman has, still enables the viewer to see it as a woman. So the public assembles the parts to associate them with a female's body. This exposes how the female sex is iconic in its glory. Shown below.

Personal drawing titled "Doris"

Bibliography - 

BBC - History - Ideals of Womanhood in Victorian Britain. 2015. BBC - History - Ideals of Womanhood in Victorian Britain. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/victorian_britain/women_home/ideals_womanhood_01.shtml. [Accessed 20 April 2015].

Essay - Artist - Anish Kapoor

Essay on Artist - Anish Kapoor 

Born in Bombay and lives in London, is the mind-blowing Anish Kapoor who boasts and ever-growing list of experience and no doubt, creativity. He holds an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Oxford, which he achieved in 2014. The 55-year old artist, who is also considered to be one of the biggest names in Art worldwide at the moment, works in five large industrial units based in London. His decision to choose art was in Israel where he lived for 3 years, before heading off to London to study it. At school he found a role model to flourish his creativity more than he had, by the name of Paul Neagu. He's mostly famous for creating assumptions of the real world with diverse materials he works with for large-scaled pieces, most of them outdoors. His most popular piece would be the "Cloud Gate", based in the Millennium Park of Chicago, which attracts and swallows the viewers into a different aspect to their surrounding ground.

Weekly Art Inspiration, (2013), Cloud Gate [ONLINE]. Available at: http://weeklyartinspiration.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/anish_kapoor_cloud_gate_picture_1.jpg [Accessed 14 May 15].

J.G Ballard, (2012), The Persistance of Memory [ONLINE]. Available at:https://www.blendspace.com/lessons/atd4unCTxC-ltw/salvador-dali-madman-or-genius [Accessed 14 May 15].

Kapoor's pieces remind me of Dali's work, only that they are a 3D real version of them. When comparing his work, the elements that make them abnormal are quite evident to those of Dali's liquified objects which give reality a different window to look at. The aspect that they both familiarize in,  is a third eye which experiments with the vision around us, and explore diverse methods to create a tangible imagination in real space. The use of reflective metal finish enables this interaction with the public.  

Wire Man, (2015), "Reclining Figure" (1951) [ONLINE]. Available at:http://iamwireman.blogspot.com/2010/08/artist-25-henry-moore.html [Accessed 20 April 15].

Kapoor goes by the term of size matters to the eyes as he produces pieces of a large scale as he explores artistic visual illusions with materials, shapes, forms, weightiness and abstractions. Picasso once said "Color is Red", which clearly influences this artist by his use of beautiful soothing red vibrating on his pieces, which we also see in the image below, only that this has a gloss finish to it.

Lost In London, (2009), Slug [ONLINE]. Available at:https://lostandfoundinlondon.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/anish-kapoor-a-londres-comme-si-vous-y-etiez/[Accessed 14 May 15].

I also observe how his concept of vision resembles that of sculptures produced in the Modernism period. The difference is that for Kapoor, it is the resulting vision that creates the look Modernism offers. The twisting and manipulation of objects that are real is what Modernism offered and Kapoor is embracing.

Bassignac, (2015), Anish Kapoor's Leviathan in Paris [ONLINE]. Available at:http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2071451,00.html [Accessed 20 April 15].

With the way he experiments and innovates as if he is living in the Modernism period, I think he  uses large scale pieces in contrast to how we use every single space we have available for modern things in our modern controlled life, he uses it to experiment with Art and let people discover their through environment, making it more appealing for the people to appreciate it. It is perhaps how we recognize the influence of the Indian way of thinking, where the ancient Indians set themselves a way which was opposite to their norms and ethnic cousins in the West. Also the Greeks loved distinctions, oppositions, contrast and debate. It is also the Mannerism period which influences Kapoor as he plays with distortion and difficult questions which people experienced the same as when Mannerism was taking place, it was something new and weird, with questions needing to be answered, just like Kapoor's works in our modern time.

Brad Patrick, (2006), Sky Mirror [ONLINE]. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_Mirror [Accessed 20 April 15].

Taco Dietvorst, (2013), Anish Kapoor "Yellow" (1966) [ONLINE]. Available at:https://www.pinterest.com/pin/229542912228153073/ [Accessed 20 April 15].

This piece impressed me on how he creates deep space with just a single color on a large scale. The softness of the material creates an exploration that doesn't give you an impression of being sucked to a hole in an unpleasant way like we normally imagine for Black Holes. It makes you appreciate more what the simplest things and shapes trigger you to think and observe with them.

J Fernandes and S Drake , (2013), Anish Kapoor "Untitled" (1990) [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.vernissage-museen.de/kuenstler/Martin-Gropius-Bau/exponate.html [Accessed 20 April 15].

Carson Darling-Blair, (2015), Anish Kapoor - "Up down Shadow" (2013) [ONLINE]. Available at:https://www.pinterest.com/pin/408912841142538065/ [Accessed 20 April 15].

The Post-Modern Abstract artist seems to make use of the colors essential in De Stijl. This enables more order to his work as the De Stijl artists followed to achieve in their period. As Kapoor's work shine with perfection, pure aesthetic and beauty of overall visual discipline, order is essential in his works... Maybe this is why he uses the same colors with the same saturation and vibrance.

Fabrice Seixas, (2011), " The Healing of St Thomas" (1980-1990) [ONLINE]. Available at:http://www.kamelmennour.com/media/4799/anish-kapoor-the-healing-of-st-thomas.html [Accessed 20 April 15].

Caravaggio, The Incredulity of St Thomas (1601-1602) [Oil on Canvas 107 x 146cm], Sanssouci, Potsdam

In this work above, Kapoor makes a direct connection with Caravaggio's painting including St Thomas and Jesus Christ. It is a symbol of space as he always conceives, where he gives meaning of how just as a wound makes a person conscious of the rest of their healthy body, the slit in the wall brings self-confidence to the reality of the rest of the void. It makes the viewer's eyes crawl to the wound just like St Thomas' did.  

The modernism in Kapoor's work stays vibrating, filling space to trigger our attention for a moment from our busy lives outdoor. His vision for manipulation with a clean eye offers a large window for artists around the world to focus on looking forward in every aspect of their works, just like Futurists did. His simplicity is complex at its gentle meaning to what the pieces are produced for and with. In my opinion he isn't afraid to what the public has to say and thus he feels confident on his works that are flourishing maybe Post-Minimalism, reflecting our way of moving forward without leaving past behind, but not directly visioning it to the public. That is a complex storm in the artist's mind that in my opinion needs to be done by more artists around like Jeff Koons. 
You may call Kapoor a major inspiration to my works as he never fails to impress me with how his minimal vibrations are so full at the same time.

Bibliography -

Christopher Allen :: | The Australian. 2015. Cookies must be enabled. | The Australian. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/spiritual-paradox-at-play-in-the-work-of-anish-kapoor/story-fn9n8gph-1226565965236. [Accessed 20 April 2015].

Mark Favermann::: Past, Present, Future at ICA - Berkshire . 2015. Anish Kapoor: Past, Present, Future at ICA - Berkshire . [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.berkshirefinearts.com/06-06-2008_anish-kapoor-past-present-future-at-ica.htm. [Accessed 20 April 2015].

Encyclopedia of Art History::. 2015. Mannerism Art Movement. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/mannerism.htm. [Accessed 20 April 2015].

Leda Cempellin ::. 2015.Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human Sciences. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.kon.org/urc/v8/sexton.html. [Accessed 20 April 2015].