I have to start by saying that I have always admired Gormley: what he does, the way he sees the world, and how he creates art. And with that, I include his finished product. The caducity of life, the ever-changing faceting of his works, the ageing of his pieces, the various perspectives, the abandonment to the elements. All of these, make his works unique and beautifully so.
But I also find his pieces very moving, and tender, fragile. I feel moved to tears. It's like if he plays with us and winks at some of us. He gives some people something to play with while in the meantime, others can stop, look and feel. Maybe because I am not British and I feel Brexit heavily (more than I would like) I feel the experience of the portrayed of being a refugee very present within me, and in his work. Maybe because I felt the surge of pain for the death by drowning of the Syrian little boy stranded on the beach [and at the same time the anger because previously a little black girl in a green and pink dress drawn that no one paid attention to] I felt some of the pieces pushing some of my emotional boundaries.
The sadness of that single man, head bent, looking at his feet, not moving. I felt within me his heaviness of despair and defeat. Of offering my life and my soul to people who know nothing about me and who have the power over me. And I felt anger towards the visitors who felt more apt to take pictures as paparazzi of the pain, with no acknowledgement of his own physicality and the presence of his soul.
If this is modern society, this is a tribe I do not want to belong to.
So I enjoyed the other pieces, the links in between, and the void and spaces:
I liked the experiencing of the exhibition: I paid attention to my own expectations and reactions. The eagerness of the experience and how annoyed I felt because I thought, and still think, that there were too many people to live such an exhibition as it should have been.
I liked the simplicity and congruence, from start to finish, of the whole exhibition: simple lines, mono-colour in its own various tones and shades. Beautifully presented and curated.
I am only very sorry that I did not have the time to back, again, and experience the journey once more. I bought the official catalogue, which on purpose I have not opened yet, because I want to experience all of my memories first, and notice which ones are staying for longer and which ones decide to come back and want to be re-lived. It is like a bite of wholesome food I don't want to spoil with strong cheese or a tarty drink.
Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful.
Besides too many people, pushing and talking and being in between me and the pieces, and unruled kids running around and people with their faces stuck in their phones, I enjoyed every single moment of it.
Now: more of it!
onwards and upwards
ღx
© mtomat 2019 - written on 11.11.19 - no reproduction without permission.
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