I enjoyed listening to this episode thoroughly. Your words immersed me immediately and I was right there with you. Thank you for this great review. I also have a better appreciation for Nengudi’s work from your experience than my own when I saw her work at MoMA NYC a while ago. 🙏🏼
Thank you for reading and for your kind words about the pod. This is so good to hear! I love Nengudi's work and I'm so glad to have discovered her in this exhibition. Was it one of her pantyhose works that you saw at MoMA?
Yes, I saw one of her pantyhose work about 6-7 years ago. It was uncomfortable to see it as I did not fully appreciate my own body then. That’s the whole point of art, isn’t it. Make you confront with things whether or not you’re ready to, and the perspective depends on where you’re at with your life.
Thank you for such a great review of this show. I can't believe I've never seen Olaf Brzeski's work before. I thought those pieces on the chairs were amazing and that it was huge pieces of fired clay, because that's what clay looks like when it's stretched as it starts to dry. I've never seen bronze treated like this, so cool.
Brzeski knows how to use simple materials with a dramatic effect? With Dream - Spontaneous Combustion - I don't have the words to describe how I felt. Now that's special.
Thanks for reviewing this exhibition with so much clarity about the connection you felt to the work. Sculpture can often be considered unapproachable, but the comments above show that you have drawn folks into this work. Job done.
Just to say that I have been doing some reading lately which makes use of the concept of ‘exhaustion’ as an endemic condition of our carbon capitalism. So there is a wider context to one’s real sense of personal exhaustion.
Lastly, your review of the first piece you mention above, speaks to me as a sculptor who works with industrial materials and construction methods, very much aware that these are increasingly discredited in the context of industrialised spoiling and waste yet believing they have the means to contribute to a reckoning and acknowledgement of these consequences.
I know what you mean about sculpture being perceived as unapproachable. This is a really fun show (would be great for children) as well as being one you can really engage with in your mind if you want to. Light and serious. Which is quite hard to pull off.
What are you reading on the concept of exhaustion? Let me know -- sounds interesting. I think all thoughtful artists are reckoning personally with the materials that they use but I do think that artists play a particularly important role in communicating ideas about climate change / our impact as individuals/collectively in the world so in many ways I think the small amount of industrial waste that they generate in the scheme of things is worth it. Saying that I do think the art world in general could be more sustainable in terms of international travel/exhibitions etc. There are rumblings of change though https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/23/arts/art-climate-change-environment.html
What a great review. I love Senga Nengudi's work! That particular sculpture reminds me of the Peg Top by Hans Bellmer in the International Surrealism room at Tate Modern: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/bellmer-peg-top-t00713. Just watched the video of her talking about her career, she's just great. Thank you for the intro. Definitely putting this on my exhibition list.
Yes it does have a similarity of form to the Hans Bellmer piece, although I never would have connected those two works. Definitely not in terms of subject matter!
Thanks for this excellent review. At first glance I might have filed it in the 'see if I have time and am in the area anyway' category - but you brought the show to life with your vivid appraisal. I immediately discussed it with my teenage daughter and we are enthusiastically planning a trip to London to see the show. Cheers.
Ah that's brilliant, Lucy. I'd love to know what you and your daughter think of it. Most of my students absolutely loved it, but there was one student who felt like the gallery space was too oppressive -- the Hayward is a late modernist building with different room sizes, some huge, some small, some windowless. I thought the curator used the different spaces really well to pace the show, but it would be interesting to know what you think about that too.
Thanks for highlighting this show and sharing some interesting ideas, Victoria. Brzeski's work is so impressive. I like hearing the effect that all of these works had on you as you view them, especially through texture/medium. The fatigue: fascinating that a texture (and trompe l'oeil) can make that feeling or emotion. I can see it. I guess in both cases it's the tricks that makes one look closer. It looks like there is a TON to see via your link.
Relatedly, I'm going to have to pick your brain about gallery memberships in London. We have this 'Museum Pass Musée' in Basel that gets us to everything in the region. Maybe there is some educator pass like this? Or I will have to orchestrate a lot of field trips. ;)
I think the best thing to do would be for you to buy an annual Art Fund art pass -- this gets you 50% off entrance to most special exhibitions and museums everywhere around the country. Teachers get an extra whack of a discount on the initial purchase of the card.
I feel the Olaf Brzeski, Untitled (Little Orphans series), and thanks for introducing me to this sculptor. What a powerful piece and for me the play of the shadow on the floor adds depth to the sculpture. You really captured that ! So enjoyed the read.
Thanks Sadie! I think the curator did brilliantly with the effects of light in this show. Brzeski also created another piece in the exhibition, quite different but also very striking, which I loved too. It looks like this: https://artmuseum.pl/en/kolekcja/praca/brzeski-olaf-sen-samozaplon
I enjoyed listening to this episode thoroughly. Your words immersed me immediately and I was right there with you. Thank you for this great review. I also have a better appreciation for Nengudi’s work from your experience than my own when I saw her work at MoMA NYC a while ago. 🙏🏼
Thank you for reading and for your kind words about the pod. This is so good to hear! I love Nengudi's work and I'm so glad to have discovered her in this exhibition. Was it one of her pantyhose works that you saw at MoMA?
Yes, I saw one of her pantyhose work about 6-7 years ago. It was uncomfortable to see it as I did not fully appreciate my own body then. That’s the whole point of art, isn’t it. Make you confront with things whether or not you’re ready to, and the perspective depends on where you’re at with your life.
Weather or not you’re ready to. Exactly!
Thank you for such a great review of this show. I can't believe I've never seen Olaf Brzeski's work before. I thought those pieces on the chairs were amazing and that it was huge pieces of fired clay, because that's what clay looks like when it's stretched as it starts to dry. I've never seen bronze treated like this, so cool.
YES Mary Jo! Agree with all you say about Brzeski. It's amazing what he does with metal.
Brzeski knows how to use simple materials with a dramatic effect? With Dream - Spontaneous Combustion - I don't have the words to describe how I felt. Now that's special.
It's even better in person, Sadie. I really enjoy his work and I'm glad to have discovered him.
Thanks for reviewing this exhibition with so much clarity about the connection you felt to the work. Sculpture can often be considered unapproachable, but the comments above show that you have drawn folks into this work. Job done.
Just to say that I have been doing some reading lately which makes use of the concept of ‘exhaustion’ as an endemic condition of our carbon capitalism. So there is a wider context to one’s real sense of personal exhaustion.
Lastly, your review of the first piece you mention above, speaks to me as a sculptor who works with industrial materials and construction methods, very much aware that these are increasingly discredited in the context of industrialised spoiling and waste yet believing they have the means to contribute to a reckoning and acknowledgement of these consequences.
I know what you mean about sculpture being perceived as unapproachable. This is a really fun show (would be great for children) as well as being one you can really engage with in your mind if you want to. Light and serious. Which is quite hard to pull off.
What are you reading on the concept of exhaustion? Let me know -- sounds interesting. I think all thoughtful artists are reckoning personally with the materials that they use but I do think that artists play a particularly important role in communicating ideas about climate change / our impact as individuals/collectively in the world so in many ways I think the small amount of industrial waste that they generate in the scheme of things is worth it. Saying that I do think the art world in general could be more sustainable in terms of international travel/exhibitions etc. There are rumblings of change though https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/23/arts/art-climate-change-environment.html
Phyllida Barlow was quite thoughtful on this subject -- which I wrote briefly about a couple of years ago https://www.thegallerycompanion.com/p/is-sustainable-art-practice-possible
What a great review. I love Senga Nengudi's work! That particular sculpture reminds me of the Peg Top by Hans Bellmer in the International Surrealism room at Tate Modern: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/bellmer-peg-top-t00713. Just watched the video of her talking about her career, she's just great. Thank you for the intro. Definitely putting this on my exhibition list.
Yes it does have a similarity of form to the Hans Bellmer piece, although I never would have connected those two works. Definitely not in terms of subject matter!
Thanks for this excellent review. At first glance I might have filed it in the 'see if I have time and am in the area anyway' category - but you brought the show to life with your vivid appraisal. I immediately discussed it with my teenage daughter and we are enthusiastically planning a trip to London to see the show. Cheers.
Ah that's brilliant, Lucy. I'd love to know what you and your daughter think of it. Most of my students absolutely loved it, but there was one student who felt like the gallery space was too oppressive -- the Hayward is a late modernist building with different room sizes, some huge, some small, some windowless. I thought the curator used the different spaces really well to pace the show, but it would be interesting to know what you think about that too.
Thanks for highlighting this show and sharing some interesting ideas, Victoria. Brzeski's work is so impressive. I like hearing the effect that all of these works had on you as you view them, especially through texture/medium. The fatigue: fascinating that a texture (and trompe l'oeil) can make that feeling or emotion. I can see it. I guess in both cases it's the tricks that makes one look closer. It looks like there is a TON to see via your link.
Relatedly, I'm going to have to pick your brain about gallery memberships in London. We have this 'Museum Pass Musée' in Basel that gets us to everything in the region. Maybe there is some educator pass like this? Or I will have to orchestrate a lot of field trips. ;)
I think the best thing to do would be for you to buy an annual Art Fund art pass -- this gets you 50% off entrance to most special exhibitions and museums everywhere around the country. Teachers get an extra whack of a discount on the initial purchase of the card.
I knew you would know. Thanks!!
I feel the Olaf Brzeski, Untitled (Little Orphans series), and thanks for introducing me to this sculptor. What a powerful piece and for me the play of the shadow on the floor adds depth to the sculpture. You really captured that ! So enjoyed the read.
Thanks Sadie! I think the curator did brilliantly with the effects of light in this show. Brzeski also created another piece in the exhibition, quite different but also very striking, which I loved too. It looks like this: https://artmuseum.pl/en/kolekcja/praca/brzeski-olaf-sen-samozaplon