EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS | emmajanebrassington

Lygia Pape @ Hauser and Wirth

Visiting Hauser and Wirth gallery, I viewed the work of Lygia Pape, Pivotal artist in the Neo-Concrete Movement, Brazil.

Seeing the 3D work at scale inside the gallery really filled me with a sense of how sculpture does not necessarily work by itself but in combination to a setting, lighting and more. As I walked around the space I got a sense of illusion on the strings came in and out visibility depending on how the light reflected into my eyes. More info on artist influence here.

Animality @ Mariana Goodman Gallery

Animality brings together a collection of over 70 artists with a variety of animal guests. Life size portraits, raven headed men, a glimpse into a mouses home. A hall of wonders provokes audiences to consider their relationships to non-human others.

Chitchatting of the gossiping birds, reminiscent of a playground bliss entered my ears upon entering Mariana Goodman's gallery, London. However, unlike the overpower sounds of the playground, one had to strain to here their song over the 'one o'clock two o'clock' loop of Jordon Wolfson's perfect love. An video piece staged at the back of the gallery with a cartoon bird ritualistically counting time, waiting for a lover. Its low sounding loop cutting through the gallery and overpowering the sound of its neighbouring birds.

Read my full review of this exhibition here

Making Nature: How We See Animals@ Mariana Goodman Gallery

The Welcome Collection's exhibition explores the human and animal relationship commenting on how popular representations of animals (in Zoos, Musums, documentaries and so forth) influence the way in which the public percieve the world. Split into themes of ‘Ordering’, ‘Displaying’, ‘Observing’ and ‘Making’ the exhibit draws together objects from art, literature, taxidermy and more to demonstrate how the societies denote ontological hierarchies. The Exhbit ends with a room show casing objects from the Post- Natural History Museum, examining hoe humans have intentionally altered other organisms. This exhibition informed y research as as it gave a clear historical breakdown of the West construction of taxonomic hierarchies.

The Photographers Gallery: Feminist Avant- Garde of the 1970's

Work from the Sammlung Verbung Collection, Vienna

The fantastic collection holds over 200 works from 48 international artists, all contributing to the debates surrounding gender politics and art. Running with the momentum of the civil rights movement the artists use their work to challenge sexism and patriarchy often using their own bodies as central motifs.

The exhibition divided the work into themes of:The Seductive body, The Domestic Agenda, , In My Skin and Alter Ego. Whilst each section offered me insightful ways to think about my own practice, the section exploring Alter Ego: Masquerade, Parody and Self Representation fitted well with my research exploring categorisation and specie distinction. Citing Simone de Beuvoir, 'One is not born, rather becomes a woman' the exhibition here investigates how women in the 1970's used performance to 'deconstruct systems of representation' that reinforce stereotypes. Indeed, it is the the deconstruction of stereotypes, animal species and systems of hierarchy, that I am currently exploring in my practice. Martha Willson's work: Portfolio of Models 1974 portrays five archetypal female identities: Housewife, Goddess, Working Girl, Lesbian and the Earth Mother all dressed according to a stereotype with a description beneath. Currently I am constructing a cube as an abstracted object representing a category. Wilson's work has encouraged me to develop a performative installation and use the work in an application LowStake's micro festival. A copy of my application can be found here.

James Ensor @ The Royal Academy

Leading artist, Luc Tuymans' brings together the bizarre, wacky and satirical work of James Ensor.

Depicted as the arrogant outsider, Ensor rifled through his Grandarents' curiosity shop, amongst the

stuffed fish, trinkets and he found the horrific carnival masks and festive clothing perfect for characterising harsh critics and the social elite whilst

The mask- freshness of colour, shrill expressions, quill turbelence

rembrant and Goya- smitten with light and violence. Light queen of senses

Coming soon Notes on: