[sorry for the poor quality, phone camera]
I went to the 'Aquatopia' exhibition @ Nottingham Contemporary (which doesn't allow photographs so I decided to draw / watercolour instead) I also did a little extra research on things I saw when I got home to stick into my world book. The sketch in the second photo is a blind drawing I did of a shark carcass they had on display. I'm actually quite proud of it, not everyone likes blind drawings but it's one of my better ones since it at least looks remotely similar to what it's supposed to be. The shark was suspended from the ceiling in the gallery, it had be cut open, dried and painted with gold-leaf on the underside which look equally eerie and magical. I've always found marine life fascinating, when I was fourteen I wanted to be a marine photographer. I still have an underwater camera which I need to make use of, although I'm quite hopeless since I can't open my eyes underwater, on the plus side I look amazing in swimming goggles :P
The third image is of a sea sponge, backed onto a photocopy of a smocked quilting design I did a while ago which I felt was aesthetically similar. The vibrant yet cool colour set really appeals to me, along with the lines across the sponge which I think are great inspiration for fabric manipulation. The final page features some radiolaria; a type of marine protozoa, which I though looked quite futuristic / alien. With so much of the worlds oceans left currently unexplored there's so much possibility in a world of unknown species thriving beneath the depths.
I did a tonne of other blind drawings / watercolours in my other sketchbook but these are my favourites so I though I'd stick to posting them for now. I stress over composition way too much, even looking over these now it feels a little restrained, it's something I'm working on though.
I really liked this exhibition, I'm generally conflicted over what people define as contemporary art, but exhibits I particularly enjoy usually feature sculptures, video installations or photography. One of my favourite exhibits I've ever been to was the Andy Warhol Screen Tests at the MoMA in New York. I know, I know, Andy Warhol, seems like a cliched name drop right? Back in school I only ever knew him for his pop art work but his screen tests really struck me, they're something so seemingly simple, but they were miles ahead of their time. For any one who hasn't seen them they're basically a collection of black & white headshot recordings, played on loop whilst being projected again the gallery walls, thereby immortalising the subject in a living portrait. I'd love to replicate that effect on fabric if I could find a way, with my own design of course. I know of several designers who project videos onto dresses which have to be plugged into the wall, but if there were a way of creating a hybrid textile which could display a moving image without technical constraints I'd probably die of excitement.
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