Exhibition post – New Walk Museum

‘Painting Freedom’ – an exhibition profiling Indian Modernism and its three rebels – Hemen Mazamur, Jamani Roy and Rabindranath Tagore. The largest UK exhibition from the period of modern Indian art including loans from the British Museum.

Although I found the exhibition interesting, I don’t feel that the content particularly relates to my project in any way. However, I feel that I could take some inspiration from the colour palettes used and analyze what could work well in my own work.

The colours used in this painting are very eye-catching and work well with the intricate imagery. The detail of the illustrations remind me of wallpapers and the colours used in the painting seem to work really well with the grey wall colour. I find it interesting that the piece is made using watercolour as from far away the colours seem really opaque. The gold framing works well as it fits in with the colours used in the painting and although I can’t be sure if this was the curator’s intention, I still personally think it is effective.

This painting was a much smaller scale and I can’t work out the reason for such a big white border, it may have been done like that to fit the frame unless the intention was for a lot of contrast to be created with the border and the actual painting. The subject being animals is relevant to my own work, although I am focusing on farm animals rather than birds, the shades of blue, pinky-orange and yellow create a lovely composition.

The uses of the bold colours in this painting are extremely effective and contrast to draw the attention of the viewer. The black border fits in well with the painting and the colour of the frame fits in well with the golden ochre shade in the painting which is a thoughtful and considerate thing to do when it comes to framing and displaying the work. The painting medium being tempura is interesting as I learned about this technique last year and it makes sense that it was painted onto a cloth.

This painting is similar in style to the painting above with the pointed oval eyes and the black outlines with bold colours. The pattern in the right-hand corner really interested me when I first saw this painting and in my opinion, it represents the sun although it could just be there for decoration. The frames selected for these pieces are really appropriate and work well with the paintings to create a sense of unity and a flow of colour.

This painting reminds me of a mother animal carrying her cub in her mouth. I love the use of pattern in this painting along with the colours used as they are very eye-catching. The cub being a different colour to the mother figure works well in differentiating the two and again the framing works well. I’m not sure what the symbols around the subject mean but they make me very curious. I would like to explore doing a painting for my project with this colour scheme as it works well and has a lot of contrast.

This painting is of a sheep and so I feel that it is very relevant to my project, although explored in a vastly different style from mine. It is simple yet still effective through contrast and mark making. The side profile is unique and not something I am exploring in my own work but it is still good for me to see other people’s takes on animals.

My opinions about this exhibition:

I really enjoyed going to see this exhibition to see the range of different works created throughout history, particularly Indian art as I have never really had exposure to this style of art before. I loved the range of different works involving still life, animals and humans. I decided to photograph a lot of the animal art as this is the part that was the most relevant to my work at the moment and so I felt it could be useful for developing my own practice. Mostly, I was really fascinated by the colour palettes used and the way these were combined down to the last detail – even the framing! The patterns and simplicity of the works are really interesting and it would be really interesting to see a large mural of art in this style.

• Collaged birds created by a range of Leicester residents
• Inspired by museum collections and the residents of Leicester
• The tree itself is used to represent the tree at the front of the museum
• Leaves and Bark created with rubbings/prints from trees around the museum
• The collages include newspaper cuttings through the years involving the past of Leicester and the Coronavirus pandemic
• Each bird has snippets of poems, photos, recipes, letters and songs which were chosen by the participants to demonstrate their personal stories of Leicester

I particularly like the use of the light shining onto the work as it demonstrates that through all the experiences of people there is light at the end of the tunnel and demonstrates the hope that people have. I feel that this could also relate to the sun or moonlight shining on trees throughout the day. Birds are a beautiful part of nature and I feel that this work shows the unity of Leicester residents and how we can overcome things together.

I like the colours used on this bird and the way the lines on the tail create the illusion of feathers

I particularly like the mark making on the wing of this bird and how the eyes are three dimensional as it really stands out

I love that the birds are all in different poses and facing in different directions as it shows that a lot has happened over the years in Leicester and how much people have had to overcome.

I found these mixed media collaged birds very captivating as they involved a lot of textures and mark-making in a playful way. The use of contrast is interesting and ensures people take time looking at all the details, it is certainly not boring.

My opinion of this exhibit:

I was very drawn to this piece when I first saw it and I found the backstory about it really interesting and a lovely way for the community to come together after such tough times involving COVID. I have always liked collage which is why I think I liked this piece so much and the fact that people all around Leicester came together to get the materials for it, most likely more impactful to me as I have lived in Leicester my whole life so feel a connection to this piece. I also feel that the bright colours work well and portray birds nicely. The work overall is greatly patterned and textured which attracts viewers and I found it interesting trying to work out what some of the snippets of newspaper/text were.

Art History section:

While I was at the New Walk Museum, I decided to visit the art history section to give me some inspiration and to give insight into the different ways that scenes were painted throughout history. A lot of these paintings I have seen before as I have been to the New Walk museum a lot but this was the first time I had been in a while and so it seemed different.