Exhibitions

In this lecture we were introduced to the idea of exhibitions and the possibilities surrounding exhibiting our work in the future. Exhibiting is an important potential route for us to progress to as illustrators, whereas once before illustrators and designers work were not seen in exhibitions, it is now much more accepted within the industry. Our lecture began with the actual definition of exhibition which is 'the presentation of a body of work or piece'. We then began looking into each area of exhibiting and what kind of options are available to us if we chose to display our work this way.

Different types of exhibitions:

We first looked at permanent galleries, which hold constant displays that are often themed and do not change over passing time. We looked into some galleries which display these kind of exhibitions to their viewers, and ones also that display mostly illustrative work. The following are some examples of these galleries: 

• House of Illustration
• The Illustration Cupboard
• Beach London
• Kemistry (who focus more on graphic design overall)

Artwork by Victor Ambrus from The Illustration Cupboard

Another type of exhibition that we looked at was national exhibitions, these exhibitions are not permanent and are limited to one country, changing quite regularly indeed. Some examples of these that were also introduced to us during this lecture were:

• Serco Prize
• London Illustration Fair
• Illustrative Berlin
• Design Event (which are better in terms of business) 
• London Design Festival

Work by Rose Stallard who works for The Print Club
(found through researching London Illustration Fair)

We also looked at Outdoor Indoor Walls, which are outdoor exhibits of artwork displayed directly onto walls for the whole world to see openly when passing. I find these very interesting to look at, because on immediate glance it looks like graffiti art but in actuality is much more. It is quite a fascinating way to grab the attention of the public. 

We looked at Hoults Yard, which is a Newcastle based work space where artists are welcome to rent exhibit space using the walls of their warehouses and walls surrounding the environment. Unfortunately the artists do not get paid much for doing this, but this is made up for in the great amount of publicity they receive. 

Example of previous work on display 

The general area

Events held on the grounds

More work exhibiting 

We also looked at the Artists Hotel, focussing on the building based in Brighton, however this organisation, The Artist Residence, have more hotels as well as the Brighton one we researched, in both London and Cornwall. 

The Artists Hotel in Brighton is a Hotel where artists are given the project of designing the different rooms of the residents staying there. They design and create each room also, including painting the designs on the wall, meaning with each artists varying styles working on individual rooms that each space within the Hotel is unique and original. 

Details of one room in Brighton

Painting design in room

More details of painting in a space in hotel

Which exhibition opening would I rather go to? 

Personally, I feel as though I would enjoy going to the openings of most of the exhibitions we researched in this session, because each offer variety and I can find inspiration from most of the work on display. I particularly like the idea of visiting one with great range and diversity, such as Pick Me Up, because it is important to me to see as much as I possibly can of what kinds of artwork is popular today. I also however am enthusiastic about looking at exhibitions that are more focussed and themed such as the permanent galleries we researched. I like the idea of possibly viewing an exhibit of The Illustration Cupboard because I have discovered a huge amount of interesting artists that are working for this company and I think it would be very inspirational to see which of these could possibly be displaying their work in this form at this institution. I also think that viewing work like this in a more calming settled environment where the work is not crowded etc is a great way of taking it in and appreciating pieces individually. 

I like to visit local galleries when possible, especially Mima in Middlesbrough, and have visited since we had this lecture on exhibitions. I visited the David Lynch exhibit which I found incredibly inspiring. I adored the artists use of and experimentation with media and how conceptually driven it was, and found great influence from his style and technique as well as the use of colour. I appreciated greatly how this built up atmosphere. I admired also how the work held a lot of simplicity but had such a great depth to it. There was also a short film to watch created by the artist as this is another area he specialises in, and work of his from many years ago until present day which was an interesting factor. I also strongly admired the artists use of text within his studies, his use of space and scale too. 

Example 1 of his work

Example 2

I also visited exhibit of Derek Eland's who created a whole show based on his time at war in Afghanistan. I found this work incredibly inspiring, as it was not really art work on display but very personal and very real encounters of the time at war through the form of diary entries and letters home by the soldiers. There were also large scaled photographs of the soldiers at the time writing their thoughts and feelings at the time. It was very interesting and a very powerful exhibit to visit. I took inspiration from this and the impact it had on me as a viewer. 

Example of one of the diary entries

Writing station in Afghanistan

I also visited the Stephen Mckenna exhibit, of which I took great inspiration from - especially the painting techniques used by the artist in these large scaled pieces. 

Each of the exhibits I visited (those discussed above, and others) were very inspiring to me in terms of my practice and towards my professional studies. I have had a taste of exhibiting my work in the past, and all of this including my research has contributed to the idea of doing this regularly in the future to help benefit my career as an artist in every possible way. Things that would have to be considered when exhibiting are factors such as my target market, my expectations of the event, prices involved, designing the actual show and exhibit, promoting it in every way possible, (things such as designing fliers and posters would be of a great help) and inviting guests for private viewing of the exhibit. All of these are very important are to be considered very closely when exhibiting work. One of the things recommended by our tutor also was hiring a photographer to have professional recollections of the event.