Leeds City Art Gallery: Sculpture and Tapestry Exhibitions

Emess is a Berlin-based graffiti artist who does work similar to that of Banksy. Stencil graffiti is a new style in the genre and can be seen more and more frequently as it is getting pretty fashionable.

"Sprayer" by Emess.

"Inlaid Patchwork Berlin" by textile artist, Ursel Arndt, 2008/09 is a patchwork of stencil graffiti art.

At first this sculpture did not seem very interesting, however when I read the little plaque it actually proved to be quite intriguing. Left to right: "Momento", "American Garamond", "Antique Olive" and "Orator", 2005, are scale enlargements of full-stops in the four fonts. They each have the same point size but the large scale shows the intricate details which exist within the apparently universal and uniform symbols.


"Artist's Formula for Success Chart: Aquarius" by Laurence Burt, 1970. I found it strange that someone would want to attempt to create a mathematical formula or flowchart to how to find success as an artist. This piece of art, or science(?), almost shows how "unlogical" art is but is juxtaposed with how it is itself a "successful work of art".

An extract of "Family Tree 1970-1981" by David Nash, 1985. This drawn work was appealing to me as it had been carefully hand drawn and showed lots of possibilities that a tree holds.


"A Work Between Two Insitutions" by Stephen Willats, 1987. This shows the relationship between a block of flat and a City Art Museum in a strange, electric-circuit-style diagram.

"Sign Elements III" by Matt Rugg, 1963. I'm not really sure what to think of this piece but I quite liked it...

"Untitled" Computer generated and screen printed by Darrel Viner, 2001. Darrel Viner produced a whole series of these 2D spheres for which he had written a computer program to create them. There is a debate as to whether computer generated works count as art, I personally feel that the computer is merely a medium, like a paint brush or pencil and that it is still the work of an artist.

"Extended Cube" by David Nash, 1996. The same artist who produced "Family Tree" has extended a wooden cube...for some reason...

"Acrobats" by Ian Hamilton Finlay, 1966. This is one of Finlay's "Concrete poems". The title is the main part of the work with the letters jumping and tumbling in mid-air.

"Faithful Servants (Marine)" by Edward Wadsworth, 1928. This piece was in the main art gallery rather than the sculpture exhibition. I particularly like surrealist art as to me it has more thought put into it as there is a meaning behind each object and its positioning.

The plaque reads: "Wadsworth served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as a gunner. After the war he made drawings of the Black Country and northern slag heaps that highlighted humanity's devastating impact on the landscape. They echoed Nash's scarred battlefields. In the late 1920s Wadsworth made a series of still lifes of nautical objects in marine settings. Often the objects were no longer in common use. The idyllic, other-worldy nature of these still lifes suggests a yearning for a pre-war era of peace and calm."

"A Clockwork Orange" directed by Stanley Kubrick (film)

I had read the book before I saw the film, for me I think this is the best way round as it allows you to imagine it all first before being shown someone else' idea of a book first.

The film was a lot more weird and surreal than I had ever imagines the book to be. Strange 70s fashion and decor. I was however impressed by Kubrick's take on the book as I think he captured the emotions of the youths well. He made up feel sorry of Alex at the end of the film despite all of his wrongdoings in the past.

A film well worth seeing, however read the book first!

"A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess (book)

I first picked up this book when I had time to kill taking the tube to my placement. After reading a few chapters I hated the book and decided to stop reading it. A friend told me to keep reading, get through the violence and then to discover just how good the book is.

I may not have read that many books so far but this book was by far the cleverest written of those I have read.

Anthony Burgess creates his own slang of Russian-style words which are never explained and are left to the reader to decipher for themselves. This added a level of intrigue into a book that I had not experienced before.

The beginning is very violent and the teenagers in the story enjoy every second of it, "then out comes the blood, my brothers, real beautiful", the main character, and narrator, Alex says. Alex speaks to the reader as if they are another member of the gang by using the words "my brothers".

The book is written in 3 parts: The first tells of his violent life as a teenager, committing terrible crimes with his gang of friends, the second his is in prison for killing an old lady as he is trying to rob her. He is keen to get out and get back to his old ways. He hears about the new Ludovic Technique which can "rehabilitate" prisoners and allow them to be set free over a matter of weeks. He is very keen and embarks on the new treatment, little does he know that he will be a changed man when it has finished. The third part sees Alex released from prison but the thought of violence makes him feel physically ill.

The book tackles an interesting, fictional argument concerning the treatment and human rights.

I would highly recommend reading this book, persevere through the violence and you will discover a fantastic book.

"Art Direction Explained, At Last!" by Steven Heller and Veronique Vienne

This is a book I picked up from a cute little art and design book shop near Old Street, Artwords Book Shop, in London.

This book explains exactly what being an Art Director entails by speaking industry professionals across Photography, Typography, Illustration and Editing. It covers lots of tips and theories for creating a successful advert or interesting piece of work.

The book is very stylishly put together, as most boos aimed at designers are, and includes lots of little things to keep your interest or to allow you to dip in and out of the book including a comic, a few quizzes and lots of pictures!

It is well written and gives you lots of help with how to face/work with/understand clients including a dictionary of clients' terms such as "We're looking at something in the style of (X)." = "Here's a fresh supply of tracing paper. Now get to it."

Super mignon !

I love this little animation about how the French love a "petit café".