Baldy Beautiful.: Arts Exhibition Report

Some of you will know, from my vlogs, that one of my besties Nalini came down from London to pay me a visit a couple weeks back. And one of the things I was desperate to show her; seeing that she would be in town, was The Sainsbury Centre - of course! Especially seeing as Rana Begum was exhibiting. it was bound to be a good show.

Be sure to check it out here: http://scva.ac.uk/art-and-artists/exhibitions/rana-begum

It's one of my favourite places to go in Norwich. I have been itching to see the Rana Begum's exhibition for a while now, because her work was familiar to me as I'd seen some of it last summer in London (after waiting in line for over four hours! with my little brother) to see Yayoi Kusama's exhibition at the Victoria Miro Gallery. Begum's works were across the way, in the neighbouring Parasol Unit Gallery. They were captivating and caught my eye in such a way that I knew I had to pop down to the UEA campus and get another look.

Upon traversing the spiral staircase up onto the mezzanine gallery level, we were instantly immersed and encompassed by Begum's 'No. 670 [2016]' Mesh installation.

A sea of limey yellow, crimson red, and a deep grey gridded irregular structure, with edges that seemed to blur together. This installation seemed so solid yet ghostlike, with an ethereal material quality in its composition. Without a definite starting or finishing point.

One thing I noticed was that this piece cast some really wonderful shadows on the walls around it which I thought were lovely. The shadow play was like a piece itself and I for one are here for shadow play.

Nalini was particularly mesmerised by it, so we spent a good while getting lost in it both upon our entry and exit of the exhibition. It was nice to lay and sit on the floor, and gaze at it from varying viewpoints.

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Next I was drawn to this display cabinet of model and maquettes of what I can only assume to be (from the architecture student's viewpoint) the investigative process of trialling projects on smaller scales to see and get a feel for what they look like realised with relative human scale.

I'm not sure exactly what scales they were, definitely a range and some really large ones - I've never seen scale model people so big before! These were wonderfully displayed on a shelf with varying void with glass on either side so we could get differing perspective of some pieces. I could've stared at them for hours!

My favourite was the one where there were a series of coloured acetate squares that hung, suspended.

I also love this one where there was a wooden slab, a beautifully bent piece of metal and a piece of concrete attached.

Something else within that space, were these beautiful folded sculptural jaunty triangular planes that sat on the wall, infused with pops of colour.

So as you traversed around them different colours would show, or there would be a glow hue of a colour of a face you couldn't necessarily see, but knew was there.

The one thing I love most about Begum's work is how simple yet impactful it can be. The following piece; 'No. 161' , 2008 (paint on powder-coated aluminium, each of 16 pieces: 250 cm height) I particularly liked. Not only was it fab to photograph it was a beauty to marvel at too!

Again with the shadows, there was some nice play of the cast on the walls. Something which I really enjoy about Begum's work is that to really experience it you have to move around it, to appreciate the work in it's full glory.

This is particularly apt in her piece 'No. 658' where the colours from sculpture each stood out in different ways, depending on where you stood. It's a bit tricky to describe and a photograph doesn't seem to do it justice. You just kinda have to be there. Another piece I should mention is 'No. 529 2014' which was so striking I actually didn't get my camera out and just sat down to marvel in its awe.

Something particularly poignant that Begum has said is that; 'Form and colour are at the mercy of light.' This really stuck with me and I feel like her work definitely acknowledges that.

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I did happen to make a video blog that day so feel free to check that out to see an overview and and glimpse of this exhibition. Nalini had such a great time that she's headed back there today in fact!

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Upon exiting the exhibition space Nalini and I noticed the bright orange fluorescent jackets and had ourselves a little photoshoot.

We were supposed to photograph their glowing reflection against the white walls of the mezzanine gallery. but by the time we had finished with the photos, we were far too warm to do much else.

Mind you we were experiencing a heatwave here in the UK and those jackets were far from breathable.

We had such a great time mucking about in these jackets! I love some of these snaps Num got of me, some very candid, some not so much.

I genuinely felt like we were on an old school America's Next Top Model episode doinig a high fashion photoshoot challenge.

After feeling like supermodels for the day, we headed into the main collection as I had to pick up my student member card and had a quick look. I particularly liked these to pieces that were suspended from the ceiling. I am always here for anything suspended, there's just something about it that intrigues me. 'Variable Screw' by Kenneth Martin (left) and 'Sphère-Trame' by François Morellet (right).

Another thing I actually had semi-breakdown over were the collection of Antony Gormley sculptures dotted around the campus. Nalini actually captured and made fun of this on here snapchat. I vlogged the day so you can view that here where I include the clip.

Shoutout to UEA and the Sainsbury Centre for giving NUA student concessions on exhibitions and events - it's greatly appreciated. It's also just a lovely space to explore and roam - as an architecture student I am constantly in awe of it. Every. Single. Time.

Thanks for reading by,

much love,

Margaret

Leave a Comment Arts Exhibition Report

On Monday, June 26th I was given the marvelous opportunity to pop down and get a sneak peek of the Norwich University of the Arts Undergraduate Degree Show. As a resident NUA Blogger, I’ve been fortunate enough to see the behind the scenes goings on of setting up the show. But the Exclusive Press + Bloggers Degree Show Preview Breakfast event gave me a chance to peruse the Show and experience it in its full glory.

27 June - 5 July
nua.ac.uk/degreeshows

St. Georges communal space filled with other media representatives, students as well as some faculty members.

There was such an awesome vibe, music courtesy of Tropico – it was clear to me that everyone was having a great time! They also supplied us with some delicious, pastries and coffee for us to start our day.

Now, I’m not usually the coffee drinking type but on this occasion I went for the simple black option and was informed that Tropico’s fruity blend would be best. I have to admit, I really enjoyed mine, it was rather tasty!

This, along with the excitement and anticipation in the air, made me super pumped to go around and see what the Degree Show had in store.

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Now to begin with, I ventured into the realm of Textiles, to be pleasantly surprised, that what I had thought textiles to be was that, and so much more. I had expected to be met with reels of various colourful fabric and weaves, but it was lovely to see the prototypes for specific products and materials other than cotton, silk, polyester, wool etcetera, being used; such as acrylic, paper, concrete and ceramics. It was so interesting to see the range textiles have beyond what one could think to be typical.

I then went onto view the Fine Art part of the show, I had seen most of it beforehand but it was lovely to view the level of finesse that which the students exhibited their work.

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I of course had a swell time viewing the Architecture part of the show, since it is the I study. I honestly felt so proud of my colleagues, and the calibre of the work presented. Find out more here: http://www.architecturedegreeshow.com

I was especially impressed with the rig designed by their wondeful tutor Jerome Tsui, and built by the fantastic technicians over at the 3D workshop - great work Jim! Also shout out to the fab team of technicians we have over at Boardman who have assisted my colleagues in putting on a commendable show. Big love to Joe, Manos and Ben.

We also have some awesome 'DIVIDED CITIES' catalogues that celebrate work from across all three year groups (you can find my work across pgs 26 + 27)

One of my favourite projects was by Daniel Walford. I loved the throwback to the traditional blueprint style as well as his incredible renders and the inspired form of his building.

Another firm favourite of mine was by Kiera Schneider; loved her use of a really well considered colour palette as well as her display of materiality and its wear over time.

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I have to say that I found the show Illustration put on to be the most dynamic and I found it so intriguing at every turn - I had no idea how much of multi-disciplinary of a course it is!

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I also enjoyed the likes of Fashion, Graphics (Design, Communication and for Publishing) Photography, Animation, Games, VFX as well as Film and Moving Image. Be sure to head down to the see all the work in its full glory!

27 June - 5 July
nua.ac.uk/degreeshows