Ford Madox Brown at Manchester Art Gallery

Currently being exhibited at Manchester Art Gallery until January 29th 2012, Ford Madox Brown, Pre-Raphaelite Pioneer is an extensive overview of the only artist to have a pub named after him in Manchester (edit: there's also The Rembrandt on Sackville Street. Thanks to Mr. Joe Hodgkinson for the correction). I have to hold my hand up and say that I wasn't overly familiar with his life and work prior to visiting the exhibition, so it was interesting to see so much brought together and be able to follow his progression across the 10 sections covering different aspects of his artistic career.

 His large-scale pieces are incredibly busy, full of life with people captured in all manner of poses and actions - there's 40 plus alone in Work. These pieces remind me a little of the 3000 piece cartoon jigsaws I used to get at Christmas – There’s so much going on and so many little details, it’s tricky to appreciate the composition as a whole when viewed in person.

My personal preference is for his smaller pieces and drawings. There’s an incredible intensity to Millie Smith and The English Boy, both of which feature small children staring out of the canvas, gazing directly at viewer. Also, the realism of Oliver Madox Brown as a baby is quite astonishing to behold.

I'm extremely curious now to pay a visit to the town hall to see his Manchester murals - It feels like the exhibition isn't really complete without seeing these twelve epic paintings depicting the history of the city on which Ford Madox laboured over the last 14 years of his life, forever associating his name with this city.

Recorders: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer at Manchester Art Gallery

Recorders is the current exhibition running at Manchester Art Gallery until January 2011. Featuring the artwork of Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, its also part of Abandon Normal Devices, and featuring several world and European premieres of new work by the artist. Since preview night, I've been back to see the show on a number of occasions to re-experience the show at different times.

After walking past the rather ominous “By entering this exhibition the visitor gives their consent to be recorded by a range of surveillance technologies and for this data to become an integral part of the works of art”, you are greeted by the sight of a giant fingerprint. Pulse Index invites visitors to insert a finger (and not your big toe as I witnessed one person trying to do) and to have it scanned and added to the display of 580 previous participants. This leads to a common theme of all the pieces – the use of technology to demonstrating the co-existing similarities and differences by which individuals are identified.

There’s a playfulness to many of the pieces - Please Empty Your Pockets invites the visitor to do just that, placing everyday items upon a conveyor belt to be converted by a digital scanner into a ghostly rolling collage of 600,000 objects. There’s also the aptly-named Microphones, which features a circle of vintage microphones into which visitors speak or sing a short message followed by a previously recorded message played back to them.

Pulse Room is a favourite of mine. In one corner of a large room dotted with a field of light-bulbs, two hand-held sensors measure your heartbeat before displaying in the form of the light-bulb flashing. At quieter times you can sit in the room by yourself in contemplation of the heartbeats as they flicker overhead when suddenly, the room will fade to black as another is added to the collection. You can find an interesting piece on BLDG BLOG about this particular artwork.

The exhibition runs until  Sunday, January 30th 2011. For more information, please visit the Manchester Art Gallery website. For more information about the artist, I suggest his comprehensive personal website.

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer

Pulse Index (2010)

Close Up (2006)

Close Up (2006)

Please Empty Your Pockets (2010)

33 Questions per Minute (2000)

Pulse Room (2006)

People on People (2010)

For more information on Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, I suggest visiting the artsy page all about him.

A World Observed 1940 - 2010: Photographs by Dorothy Bohm

 

I was invited along by Manchester Art Gallery to last night's opening of their new exhibition A World Observed 1940 - 2010: Photographs by Dorothy Bohm.

It's a comprehensive overview of Dorothy's life's work, beginning with her portraiture work for her own Studio Alexander in the 1940's through her Black & White open air and street photography around the world and ending with her colour photography from the 80's through to this very year.

I'd not heard of Dorothy's work before visiting but it's a fascinating show. Minimal text leads you through the exhibition, providing a little context and expanding on Dorothy's photographic philosophy. It also helped to focuss attention solely on the photgraphy.
It was also lovely to see her in attendance, happily chatting away with her numerous admirers. Her warm personality was a joy to witness.

The show runs from now until August 30th and comes highly recommended. There's also the Dorothy Bohm in Manchester research blog which provides a detailed look at Dorothy's early career in Manchester.