Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art Visit: Exhibition of Monica Bonvicini.
Yesterday (15.12.16) I visited the Baltic Centre of Contemporary Art with fellow students' to see the work of Monica Bonvicini. An artist I hadn't previously came across.
The exhibition of artist Monica Bonvicini (b. Italy 1965) communicated a response to the impact of architecture (urban, institutional and private) and the role each of these play in shaping identity in its many forms, including sexual. This investigation into the relationships between architecture, gender, control, gender, space, surveillance, and power, were expressed in a range of forms .
Presented across BALTIC's Level 3 and Level 4 galleries, the exhibition of work brought together a collection of Bonvicini's work that had been created over the last decade(1996-2016) alongside pieces that have been specially commissioned. This included sculpture, installation, text and performance, that ranged from the intimate to the architectural in scale. All of which were made with the intention to make each viewer question some of the often hidden forces that together shape identity.
The work pictured above Light me Black 2009, which is made from a blanket of 144 repurposed industrial light fittings, subtly communicates a link to institutional architecture through a very contemporary installation piece.
This was one of the pieces from the exhibition that I found visually interesting due to its minimal and contemporary structure, and also the way it floated above the floor space. This method of installation and the positioning within the gallery space meant it was the first thing I saw when entering, as it was hung from the ceiling at eye-level and was instantly blinding. It demanded my attention straight away on entering and as a result of the large amount of light fittings it included , meant I could still see the light it generated from any position within the gallery space. Even from behind the central wall piece that divided the whole gallery space.
Another group of pieces I liked within the same gallery space were the 5 large pieces done on Fabriano Paper using Tempera and spray paint which included (Wildfire Kern, 2014. Mississippi, 2014. Mayflowers, 2014).
The inclusion of just black and white adds a sense of contrast to each piece which I feel increases the mystery behind each of the pieces subject matter and the negative events that are shown to have occurred. By creating these photographic representations purely in black, it allowed them to stand out against the white wall gallery setting in which they were exhibited in. Also the way in which they were installed in-between the architectural columns meant that each piece became more of a sculptural piece, rather than a painting on a wall.
This use of working at a large scale is something I'm keen to explore and continue to introduce into my own working practice.
