Liverpool Biennial

A University trip was organised to go visit the Liverpool Biennial on 21st October. We started this trip by having a quick stop and look at 'Turning the Place Over' by Richard Wilson which I really enjoyed. I thought that it was so interesting because it was new. It's rare to find something that actually amazes these days and especially just in the backstreet of a city so I was impressed so much more money was put into public art an it should be done more often as I think it gets people interested in art which is important when so many cuts to the art industry are being made.
When we got off the coach we went to the Walker Gallery to have a look at the John Moores Competition. I was at first surprised to find a black gloss painting exactly like the ones I saw at the NeoArtist's studio and yet this was painted by Michael Miller and titled 'Suspended Animation' while the NeoArtist was called Jason Simpson.

Other paintings that caught my attention were 'Protest, 1st April 2009' by Nicholas Middleton.

I liked this painting becasue of the amazing detail and also because it tells a story from a moment in recent history. I liked this because it reminded me of th oil paintings from years ago that were used as social commentaries and also as recording key moments in history, which is a way of using art that has been lost because of all the new technology.

I also really liked Adam Fearon's 'Untitled.'

In contrast to Nicholas Middleton's piece I thought this was a much more modern, and loose, way of painting as this is treated more as a sculpture. I liked this because it makes the canvas part of the 'painting' rather tha just being a surface or a means to an end.
From the Walker Gallery we then went down to the Information Centre which had 3 floors which were quite a mixed bag. The piece I liked the most was The Mending Project by Lee Mingwei. This was where people would bring in ripped or damaged clothing and it would be mened by 14 volunteers. The thread used to mend the item is still attached to its spool which is then fixed to the wall. This piece was interesting because it involved lots of different people, from the donaters to the menders. I also like how the clothes are real people's so they all have their own history i.e. who wore them, how they were damaged etc.
Another highlight of the Biennial was Tehching Hsieh's 'One Year performance' which was a series of photos of the artist as he punched in a time sheet on the hour, every day for a year. he didn't cut his hair in the whole year so throughout the photographs you can see his hair gradually growing from shaved down to his shoulders. I admire the sheer perseverance that Hsieng displays and how fully he involves himself in his art.
Finally, I visited the A Foundation 'Bloomberg Contemporaries.' The piece that stood out the most for me was the 2D animation by Kristian de la Riva, 'Cut, 2009.' This was a simple line drawing animation that had a male figure hurting himself in various way such as cutting off his fingers and knee caps. This piece stood out to me the most becasue of the reaction that it created from me and everyone else around. It gathered quite a large audience and everyone was squealing at what was happening, despite the fact there wasn't any detail or colour in the animation. I think that any art work that can create such a strong reaction deserves some merit and I think that the fact that the artist didn't resort to full on gore and detail is even better on it's part.