Wednesday 6 June 2012

Sinopticon - review

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Hello everyone!
I'm currently doing an Arts Award at my local college of art. I have to build up a portfolio of work to be displayed and marked, and if I pass I will achieve Bronze Arts Award, which is the equivilant to half a an GCSE. I can then go on to do Silver, which is equivelant to a an GCSE (or there about) and finally Gold, which will get me UCAS points!

There are certain criteria that have to be fulfilled, one of which is to write a review on an exhibition and get feedback on it. So, I'm going to write it here in hope that I get some comments.

The art exhibition I recently went to is set up in four different locations in Plymouth, UK, three of which I visited; Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, Plymouth College of Art Gallery and Saltram House, which I didn't visit.

The exhibition is called 'Sinopticon'. Sinopticon is (in brief), all about how Western art and culture has been influenced by Chinese art and culture - Chinoiserie. The name of the exhibition also tells you a bit about it; Sino, meaning China, and opticon, from optics, which is to do with seeing. Sinopticon is work from contemporary artists who like I said, are showing how Chinese culture, art, and industry are all part of our everyday lives.

Personally my favourite part of the exhibition was in Plymouth Museum and Art Gllery - sculptures of famous Western icons such as Darth Vader, Smurfs and My Little Pony that had all be changed for some Chinese influence. For example, Darth Vader's helmet had a Chinese pagoda (the multi layered shelter/houses) fused to the top, as an extension to the helmet that was already there.

The exhibition was not only sculpture though; there was photography, film, and painting/drawing all involved. However, some of the film was very abstract, and I struggled to understand it!

Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take photos in the galleries, so I only have a few here that are from the Sinopticon website. Sorry about that!

Please let me know what you think in a comment!

Photos








and some other examples of Chinoiserie:








I hope to hear from you in the comments!

4 comments:

  1. last two photos looks like Gzhel
    very similar colors and style
    http://www.artrusse.ca/gzhel.htm


    would like to see Darth Vader with pagoda :D

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    1. Yeah, it does look rather like Gzhel. I wasn't sure about the origin of the photos when I found them...

      I spent ages looking for photo of him, couldn't find it!

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  2. Those are some pretty neat artworks! Especially the burger!
    I never really thought about how Asian cultures influence us - always only how we influence them. I guess that's one of the main things about globalization, we all influence each other and perhaps are slowly becoming a single merged culture.

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    1. Yeah, it's all pretty cool!

      It is certainly interesting how two cultures that seem so different to each other are actually linked completely, and are merging togther more and more.

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