on Location: Jenny - Day 9 Getting Stuck

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Jenny - Day 9 Getting Stuck

First day of intense jewellery business, in total was visited 8 galleries and saw 9 exhibitions, two highlights had to be The Aftermath of Jewellery at Museum Villa Stuck and Conspiración at Instituto Cervantes.

Lets talk about the Aftermath of Jewellery first. Despite being greeted by a lady who spoke no English at all, we managed to find our way up stairs at the right exhibition in no time, however we forget to visit the cloakroom, so we had to venture back down stairs again. After the initial confusion we go 'stuck' (we were at Museum Villa STUCK, get it?) into the jewellery.

Aftermath of Jewellery

We had a few minutes of quiet until a large group of students caught up to us...the space was quite crowded so there was also a lot of waiting for people to move into the right spot to take photos of the work without including a lovely foot, bum or ear into the shot.

I prefer being alone when looking through a gallery or museum, as much fun as it is walking side by side with some friends, the experience is just not the same. I think you get to absorb a lot more when there isn't anyone around, which is the main reason why I looked through this exhibition from back to front, also the company of all these other people made it a lot harder to see things 'properly'.

One artist I found the most captivating was Eunmi Chun. The material she used was probably why I found her pieces to be one of the most interesting, who can turn away from dried intestine and human hair? Most people turn away when they realise something is made out of bits and pieces of questionable material that may or may not have come from a living/once living creature, I however have the complete opposite reaction. Sure at first you can't help but to recoil a bit, but once the initial shock disappears, there is nothing but beauty left. There is something nice about seeing an object made out of hair and intestines, these 'natural' materials come from a body and it's not something that creeps me out...so I guess when I see them I think,

'Oh wow, not only is hair on a head beautiful, but it can also be really I beautiful not on a head'

Or

'Ehh intestines are alright, they're kinda just there doing their thing, chilling - BUT WOW, intestines can be made into such beautiful objects!'

- my strange logic

Gorilla 2010
Human hair, gold leaf, small intestine of cow, seeds, silver

I also really loved the exhibition Conspiración at Instituto Cervantes. It showcased work from the alumni from the Art and Design College of Valencia in Spain (EASD Valencia) and Barcelona (Escola massana). I especially loved the layout of everything, the display of brooches on photographs of various people that were hung at eye level, the actual brooch on their chest made it look as though there were wearing these pieces of jewellery - something I really appreciate, seeing jewellery in relation to the body and not just as a static object on display. The jewellery was pretty cool too. I'm not too sure why, but whenever I see anything made out of human hair (going on about hair, again) I always get a little bit too excited...it might be because I'm quite attached to my hair and it might also be because I will be shaving it all off for charity when I get back to Sydney, either way I love seeing what people do with hair.