Part B

Part B: Being an audience member

I went to the Millennium Gallery to see the Watercolours in Britain: Tradition and Beyond exhibition because I like the water colour art form. There was also work being displayed at the time by an artist I like, like Chris Ofili. When you first walk in it seems very dark because when you look at the paintings they are darker colours and about war and serious topics. I think the lighting it dark to stop the paint from fading maybe. As you walk in you see Chris Ofili's display on the right. There are five paintings of African women with bright clothing and jewellery. This stood out to me because it made me think about identity and it's importance to us individually and as a society. It was interesting also to see this work which is contemporary, with older pieces and the different themes.

It was quiet in the gallery so easy for me to be able to concentrate on the paintings. I saw that it was dark in one part of the gallery but then as you got into middle part everywhere was red even the walls to separate it from the other paintings. The second painting that I really liked was from an artist I had never heard of before, Edward Burra. The painting was called Soldiers A Rye. I found this painting interesting because it was surreal and you really think about what's happening. But you can't seem to figure it out so it makes you wonder more about it. I was standing there for quite a while trying to work it out with a confused face I realised :) I also liked one by William Blake (see picture). The William Blake who is also a poet and engraver which I didn't know before. His work is kind of spiritual looking and a bit spooky.

The layout of the gallery was separated into three different parts the first part was really dark and gloomy, the middle part was more red and bright it felt rich specially the layout of each paintings with gold boarders and the third bit was kind of simple to me just mixed with different types of paintings and like little table exhibits of watercolor paints, pens and like other equipments.

The things that I found bad was that the writings on the side were really small so couldn't read them whilst sitting down and the good things was that it was well set out and clear to understand the exhibition. Overall I really liked the first part of the gallery best because it was more my type of interest (contemporary) and the others were older and I guess harder for me to relate to. I've learnt about a few different artists and where they are from. The main thing I took from this exhibition is how varied and expressive watercolour painting can be. It also looks hard to create. I real skill.