The Whitworth Art Gallery

The first major UK exhibition of artist's wallpapers with work by over 30 artists including Andy Warhol, Sarah Lucas and Damien Hirst.  Kitsch ideas of home decoration are turned upside down as artists subvert the stereotypes of wallpaper to hit home messages about warfare, racism, cultural conflicts and gender. 

Walking through the exhibition I noticed a lovely piece by Julie Verheoven  drawings of nudity which is only noticed at a seconglance. I was excited to see some of her work in real life I have been meaning to go to one of her exhibitions as I see her as an idol. I found other wallpapers interesting such as the eye's this is a freaky also but that's why I liked it. Their was also a few of Leigh Bowery's face on wallpaper which is a bit grotesque. I couldn't get the photos because their not available online and photographs were forbidden in the gallery. 

Wallpaper, Julie Verhoeven

After looking round the exhibition me and Shauna went and had a look round the exhibition 'The complete Roberta Breitmore' by Lynn Hersham Leeson. In San Francisco in the mid-Seventies, Leeson created Roberta Breitmore and performed this persona as a work of art over a four year period, documenting it through artifacts, photography, film and sound. This extraordinary body of work, which raises questions about the complexities of identity and the nature of the work of art, has been purchased by the Whitworth in its final edition, and is shown here for the first time in its entirety. Roberta Breitmore ended when 'she' went through a ritual exorcism in 1978, but her spirit survives in this documentation and the artist's later work. It was an unordinary exhibition to others I have been to but it totally inspired me by the way she displayed her work in the frames and in the desk's like her clothing, wig and glasses was a nice touch it was definatley worth the visit! :) 

Liverpool Trip

A few of us from D&AD went to Liverpool on the 23rd October. It was alot of fun! First we visited the Liverpool Tate. The exhibitions on were: DLA Piper series: This is sculptu

re, Joyous machines: Micheal Landy and Jean Tanguely, Mark Rothko: The seagram murals. We only went round the sculpture exhibition which was set on two floors. We also went to The Walker Art Gallery to see the Bridget Wiley Flashback exhibition. Bridget Riley is one of Britain's most celebrated contemporary artists. Her paintings from the 1930's to present are dazzling black and white paintings of abstract shapes made a strong visual impact. 

Some work that catched my eye was by Daniel Spoerri called his relief works tableaux-pièges (picture-traps), because they involved fixing or 'snaring' objects found in chance positions on table tops or in drawers. These were hung vertically on a wall, like conventional pictures, and were intended to create visual discomfort in the viewer. In this work, the remains of a meal are preserved on a wooden board that the artist used as a table while living in a small room in a Paris hotel. 

Condition of women 1960 by Arman Fernandez. The objects in this piece are from his first wife's bathroom and are mounted on an ornamental base from his father's antique shop. Objects of intimate personal use have been selected precisely because of their base quality, and are literally 'elevated' on a plinth to become art which up close is fascinating to look at.