Welcome to the 2nd instalment of my visit to the 2nd week of the Free Range Art Shows Event. In my previous post about the event,  I spoke about the exciting works of the students from the Leeds College of Arts and Cambridge School of Arts. Click here to read the first part of my experience of the show.

 After spending a few hours with the works from the Leeds College of Arts and Cambridge School of Arts, I made my way to the space of Batley School of Art – Krikless College.


Batley School of Art – Krikless College: Josh Fox – BA(Hons) Fine Art for Design

 My first point of call was to the works of Josh Fox, at this point I was feeling hungry, and as I looked at josh’s works, thoughts of cabbage, cheese and croissants came to mind:) As I looked closer, I then realised it was something to do with the brain.  Luckily for me Josh interrupted my thoughts and started explaining his works, which I thought was impressive. As Josh was talking, I realised I had to be a little more patient, as this might be the first time the graduates might be showing and talking about their works to complete strangers, so I asked more questions and Josh really had a clear indication of what he wanted the public to understand about his work, which he communicated confidently.

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His works shows the human brain and the experience of an epileptic attack, which Josh says he suffers from.  It depicts how messages are received or not received by the brain. I was impressed by the voice activated light, which responded to sound. This is my 2nd favourite works from the entire event.

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There are over 600,000 people with epilepsy in the UK today. An epileptic seizure happens when there is a sudden burst of intense electrical activity in the brain, which may causes a temporary disruption to the way the brain normally works, so the brain’s messages become mixed up. Source: Epilepsy.org

 Josh’s work was shortlisted for the Woon Foundation Painting & Sculpture prize for 2015.


Norwich University of Arts: Kelly Briggs – BA Fine Art

As I was walking along in my wedges sandal looking at my feet and making sure I did not topple over. I noticed the works of Kelly Briggs on the floor. I was attracted by the little orange sticky dots. I thought it was a clever idea of using these dots, which is normally used to indicate an art piece has been sold in an exhibition.

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I liked the cohesiveness of the haphazard and arranged dots into a formation of calamity. To me it was organised chaos and I loved it. I think my attraction to the dots might be as a result of going too many art events and focusing on pieces that have sold:) That aside, I started noticing the use of orange in her work and thought it might be the focal point of the art rather than the media that initially caught my attention. I then visited Kelly’s website on my phone and there was a photo of Kelly amongst orange balloons which brought a smile to my face, invoking a joyous feeling. Was there something in the colour orange, I thought.

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 I proceeded to read her artist statement of the work titles “Distortion of Orange Paradise” and she writes poetically “Rich, luminous orange forms playfully  multiply through spaces as a metaphor of getting carried away and lost in a story, idea or game. There is a freedom where form is concerned, freedom within Orange limit”. Reading this  gave me a warm fuzzy feeling:)


Carmarthen School of Art: Tirion HAF Rees – BA (Hons) Drawing, Painting and Printmaking

 As I made my way to the ground floor, I was drawn to the large works of Tirion HAF Rees, one of the four students exhibiting from Carmarthen School of Arts in West Wales. Her work is based on memories from her youth and places she has been. The strips in the works show aspects of her memory she cannot remember or has been erased, which I thought was cleverly done.  I loved the subtle colours used, which she arrived at by experimenting with different colour palettes.

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 We will be seeing more of Trion’s works in London, as her work has caught the attention of Brick Lane Art Gallery where she will be exhibiting in August 2015 for a month.  It is definitely, worth visiting.


Northbrook college: Natasha Barber – BA Fine Arts

I like the way these artworks have been curated. The subject matter was also interesting and thought provoking. I found the media used to be unique and the strategically placed mirrors added to the theme presented.

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Her work titled “Dichotomy” focuses on the dichotomy between art and pornography where she questions what constitutes pornography and art, the blurred lines between them and if any boundaries exist at all. She uses her work to pose the question If a pornographic photograph or video is translated into a drawing, Is it still considered to be pornography or is it now Art?  A thought provoking question. What do you think?

In my mind, her work also calls to attention the debate around the portrayal of the nude bodies of women as subjects in art and the gender inequality still present in the visual arts in present times. Women have been subjects since the old masters era and in contemporary art today.


Laptops as a media

I was drawn towards the Laptop hanging on the wall in the corner of the ground floor. This got my attention because of my background in IT. I observed and I was trying to digest what was presented before me.

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I liked the way the artist inscribed “I have to wait” on the laptop, which is a response to the Please wait  message we tend to receive in the digital world with different technological devices or when we send a text message or email we have to wait for a response.

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I progressed closer to read about the artwork which I’ve captured below, but I did not get it. What do you think? What is the artist trying to communicate.

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I noticed a number of works incorporated the use of laptops as a media in their work, here is another installation I found on the top floor, which was also memorable. I liked the addition of mobile phones at the bottom of the stand.


Final Thoughts…
My eyes had a feast at the Free Range Art Show. I liked the way the students have used their work to bring awareness to health issues, as shown in Josh’s work above and  the photography works  of Vicky Learmouth showing Living with Endometriosis in the first instalment of my experience of the Free Range Event.

 

 

In my opinion, the works of the graduates from Leeds College of Art stood out the most and it was a bonus speaking to the artist directly about their works. I found other areas almost deserted with no one available to talk about their artwork.

 

 

I wish all the recent graduates the best in the future as they make their transition from student to independent or represented artists.

 

 

That’s it for now. I leave you with some more works from the Show.

I look forward to attending next year. Will you be there?

Did you attend any of the shows? Please comment and share your experience.

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2015-11-25T12:59:38+00:00