Monday 25 March 2013

Manchester Art Gallery.




We spent yesterday at Manchester Art Gallery.  We went to see the current exhibition which is by Raqib Shaw.
Raqib Shaw is an Indian-born, London-based artist who shot to fame in the international art world at the age of just 33. His opulent paintings and sculptures evoke the work of Old Masters such as Holbein and Bosch in their treatment of often unsettling subjects.


The railings that surround the Art Gallery were covered in these magical willow and spring flower installations which continued inside the building.


At first glance Shaw's work looks very beautiful with all the jewel like colours. It does have a beauty to it, but on closer inspection you see some dark, unsettling and often quite disturbing images of lands inhabited by terrifying monkey warriors and other mythical beasts.

 

 






Clemmie in particular found the paintings fascinating and spent a lot of time inspecting the different parts of each painting. I don't think she saw anything sinister in them at all, she was just drawn to the colours, animal and flowers.

 
There was so much to look at in each painting, some of which was lost as you stepped away from each piece. definitely art that needs to be seen up close and personal.
 
 
Raqib Shaw also had sculptures in the exhibition. Pretty gruesome though they were.
 

All in all a great day out. we visit Manchester Art Gallery quite a lot and its many changing exhibitions do not disappoint.



2 comments:

  1. I agree. The technique is gorgeous but subject matter disturbing. Still I loved the spring flowers all around the gallery best! X

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  2. I absolutely love the display of willow and spring flowers, it looks amazing! As for the art, Shaw does seem very talented, but I have to agree it does seem very disturbing and really not my thing, but interesting all the same. xx

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