Art Friday

I've been off all week, it was a much needed rest and I've thoroughly enjoyed pottering around my little house with no schedule. I spent a lot of time catching up with friends and generally just chilling out. 

On Friday I went for a little jaunt to the Nottingham Contemporary Gallery in Hockley...it's well worth a visit, you can find more info here

The exhibition focused on two artists Tala Madani and Marvin Gaye Chetwynd. What was really nice is that as the gallery was pretty empty one of the curators was able to give us a lot of information about the paintings which was much appreciated. 

Tala Madani

I enjoyed this exhibition, the painter is a feminist from Iran who now lives in Los Angeles. Her work often reflects the repression she felt as a woman living in Iran and the subject of the paintings often focused on men in vulnerable and degrading positions. Some of the pieces were not to my personal taste but there were some paintings that I really liked, unsurprisingly the ones I enjoyed gave a nod to Pop Art...the painting below 'Action Painting Room' was influenced by Jackson Pollock . (They don't have pink walls at the contemporary by the way just my dodgy photography )

Marvin Gaye Chetwynd

It was nice to see some sculpture and I enjoyed this exhibition. A lot of the exhibits were puppet like and from what I understand provide the back drop for performance art. 

It spoke to me on an anarchic level, whether it was supposed to or not I'm not sure...I do like my art to be conceptual and bordering on the surrealist. I particularly enjoyed a series of paintings entitled 'Bat Opera'. 

It was the large TV sculpture that captured my attention...not enough to take down it's name though it seems, whoops sorry about that...

After looking around the gallery, we went to get some tea and cake at Wired Cafe Bar which is fast becoming one of my favourite places for tea in Nottingham. You get a timer for your teapot...AWESOME!

If you are ever in Nottingham, I would really recommend you check out both the Contemporary Gallery and Wired Cafe. 

Ax