Unseen Amsterdam
Unseen Amsterdam
Last Friday I decided to expose my self to the contemporary photographic world, and I visited the Unseen Amsterdam exhibition in the city. Just going to the city alone was an adventure for me, but my whole afternoon was one of eye opening, light bulbs and a greater understanding of what I am becoming involved in as I push myself towards photography as an art form, rather than just a output of the camera.
There was plenty of work I really did not get, and that did not remotely inspire me; but that's ok; if everyone liked the same things the world would be a very boring place!
I only had my phone with me so please excuse the quality of the documentary photos, but hopefully it will give you just a little insight into my day.
Walking around I was drawn to those artists portraying textures and nature. These artists all display a feeling of colour and texture in their images.
As I walked around the exhibition I was inspired a couple of times to create my own artwork from the inspiration for the work of others.
Diana Scherer created photographs entitled 'Root bound' - she photographed the resulting rood growth in a natural mat. The mat was on display along with her photos and I loved the textures and colours and combined 2 of my ICM images together to create 'unseen earth mat'.
Martina Della Valle created some very botanical images in the style of Japanese Ikebana. She had an Ikebana flower display with the images, and photographing all the textures and colours of it was fascinating, resulting in the 'red and feathered grass' image I produced from ICM and double exposure techniques.
Many of the exhibiting artist's work I probably failed to understand without an explanation. However I was lucky enough to sit in on the artists talks sessions and I was completely inspired by the work of Simon Norfolk and Eva O'Leary. They were both so passionate about their projects and explained perfectly how they researched and finally executed their bodies of work. An absolutely fascinating insight into the process of creating a body of work.
Initially I wondered if my time at the exhibition might be a bit wasted as the genre of photography was not quite my style! But I can safely say, that having chosen to embrace the styles and open my eyes, I have a much greater understanding of what lays behind work that reaches galleries around the world. Which I shall make full use of going forward.
