So I was browsing through this month's Grafik magazine when I came across a feature on Nottingham Contemporary, a brand new art space in.. you guessed it... Nottingham. As I had planned to visit my boyfriend who lives there that weekend, I decided to drag him along and check it out.
The building itself looks a bit bleak in the pictures (it was 4 o'clock on a wintry Sunday afternoon) but it is nonetheless an impressive piece of architecture. Designed by Caruso St John, the building was inspired by the surrounding lace market area of Nottingham, taking inspiration from the "bold, elegant design of the warehouses that serviced the city's world famous trade in the 19th century". The design also has parallels with artist warehouses from downtown New York in the 60's, as well as the cast iron district there. Influences also come from artists Gordon Matta Clark and Trisha Brown who also directly engage the city with their work. My impressions of it... I liked it. As I said it looked very bleak and quite atmospheric sitting on the hill but when you get inside its a very bright minimal space allowing you to completely focus on the art.
And onto the art.. the first exhibition was by an artist from California, Frances Stark. This exhibition immediately caught my attention from the graphic designer in me.. typography! Stark herself is heavily influenced by language and literature, often encorporating it into her work- particularly from the 19th and 20th century such as the work of Emily Dickinson. These literary extracts often make hints and give us glimpses into her own life. Stark also uses a lot of collage and hand drawn typography, which I particularly admired. A lot of birds also appeared in her work, along with columns of hand drawn letters which, when carefully read, made up a passage of text. I really liked the minimal style of Starks work and the quaint typography which draws you in to read and search for the message in the piece. You can't really see from my pictures above due to art gallery flash regulations and all, but you can just about make out the blocks of coloured text and the collage on the peacock tail.
The other exhibition on at Nottingham contemporary was that of Yorkshire's own, David Hockney. The exhibition focused mainly on his early years in London and Los Angeles. Throughout this period he was very influenced by Abstract Expressionism and often incorporated symbols, codes, gay slang and other writing in his work. Although I'd obviously heard of David Hockney, I didn't really know much about him and hadn't really seen any of his work asides from the famous splash painting. It was interesting to see his more sketchy, urgent, rough work but I have to say, "A bigger splash" is still my favourite piece. Its precise composition, straight lines, blocks of colour and use of shapes is nothing but perfect, reflecting the lifestyle of California. I have never been to California, however this painting sums up everything I would imagine it to be!
After ogling some books in the gift shop way out of my price range (but now on my christmas list!) it was time to go. Overall I enjoyed the exhibitions, particularly that of Frances Stark. I think I'll definitely use her work for some typographic and layout inspiration in the future. I would recommend you all to go to Nottingham Contemporary- it's an interesting building, a good sized gallery and also has the entrance fee perfect for students... free!
x
http://www.carusostjohn.com/
http://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/
