Friday, January 11, 2008

Capital of Culture 2008

On friday I took a trip to Liverpool, the capital of culture.

I have to do some paintings, drawings of Liverpool for a new gallery opening there. So come along for a day out with me won't you?

I arrived at lunchtime so I headed straight to the cafe in The Tate at the Albert Dock for a bite to eat.

A German installation artist Tobias Rehberger was commissioned to turn the cafe into a multicoloured three dimensional piece of art. I was impressed, The photo above made me laugh!




Whilst at the Tate I managed to catch the last few days of The Turner prize. The place was packed out with an amazing cross section of people. I don't go and see this kind of art often enough. I like that it challenges me to think beyond the everyday art I see in commercial galleries. I found it hard that I was on my own with noone to discuss what i was seeing with. I decided to this year try to keep more up to date with what is going on in this other Art World. I really enjoyed the film Waiting by Zharina Bhimji.

'Waiting, made in a factory used to process Sisal, has an abstraction that hovers somewhere between film and painting. The washed-out colour of the hair-like material, the light, and the interior of the factory create a saturated monochrome that, combined with the film’s soundtrack, becomes immersive. Recorded on a 35mm film and then transferred to high-definition video ,every nuance of the building is captured.'

Here is more about the shortlisted artists.


So I walked around the docks, took lots of photos, did some sketching. the Albert Docks is where the new gallery is going to be so this was a good starting point.

Next I walked towards the city to take in some of the biildings there.

I was astounded by the amount of building work going on. Everywhere you looed there were cranes, diggers and huge new buildings being built and old ones being bulldozed. It is going to be very difficult to paint this skyline when it will probably look very different some time soon.










So I headed towards the
The Bluecoat. It is one of the best outlets in the country for contemporary craft. Here are some of the artists they have on permanent display there!!!! I got a little bit excited.











I'll save some more for another day as I think this is turning into a marathon post. By the time I came out of there, the sun was setting, I had a little Donna Wilson softie in my bag and I was very happy.

The photos below are my favourites of the day, the sky was stunning.






See you all next week for Book shelf week x

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