From looking around the Ways of Looking website, Red Saunders didn’t really strike me as an exhibition that I wanted to see, or stand out to me that much. I think this is because I usually end up thinking I won’t enjoy things related to classical/historical painting, but in more than one case when I’ve thought this I have actually enjoyed it, in particular taking photographs inspired by paintings. Similarly, I did enjoy the Red Saunders exhibition more than I thought I would; I could tell this as soon as I saw the images.
I was glad to see they were large scale, as the size of a painting would be, to get across the amount of detail in the picture. They were taken using a 5x4 large format camera and printed using a combination printing technique, again to get across the detail that is in the image. The large scale and theatrical effect of the images is what made me able to appreciate the work, and the amount of effort that would have taken to produce such images. The only thing I initially hated when first seeing the exhibition was the way the images were presented; they just seemed to be quite flimsy, bill board style, slightly creased at the folds and curling up, from a visual perspective, I actually hated this and thought it spoilt the dramatic effect of the images; it seemed such a let-down for images that had obviously had so much effort put into them!
Although after we had a talk from one of the curators of the exhibition, the reason for this was made clear. Because of the theme and meaning behind the images – undocumented events from history often of lower status - the underdogs, such as the peasants revolt, the presentation was obviously done like this intentionally to be reminiscent of picket boards and protests. Red Saunders had also wanted the images to be removed from the 'rich art object' status. Although this totally made sense to me, I still think it would have been nice to see them neatly stretched out or something!
Also found this video which shows how the pictured shot was taken! (this one was probably my favourite)
Alan Dunn – Scene for a small crime
I enjoyed this exhibition, it was one of the ones I was interested in seeing when viewing the website. It was set up in a 'pop up gallery', a previously unused shop space that had been turned into a gallery for the photography festival.
The imageswere interesting to look at, especially with the inclusion of the witness statements that transformed the image from a vague mystery for the viewer to add a meaning, to a documented and informed viewing of a crime scene. This is definitely the type of exhibition I would have enjoyed more if I saw it on my own. I don't know what it is, and it sounds pretty fussy, but whenever I'm at an exhibiton with a group of people I can never properly concentrate on what its actually about, I get distracted talking about the images and come away feeling as if I still haven't fully taken it all in, a bit like when you leave a shop with the feeling there's something you would have loved but didn't see!
Unfortunately I didn't get to see the Daniel Stancliffe's British Wild Boar work, as the gallery it was in wasn't open on the day we went.
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