David Hockney: Nature on Acid?

The Royal Academy’s latest blockbuster showcases a colossal selection of works by David Hockney RA, portraying his career long engagement with the natural landscape. Much of the exhibition is taken up with large-scale works depicting the landscape of Hockney’s childhood in the Yorkshire Wolds. Hockney’s manipulation of space is translated to the canvas through broad swathes of lurid colour giving the works a mesmerising, almost hypnotic effect. His fearless use of bright colours to construct the natural beauty of the British countryside is reminiscent of the Impressionists bold application of unmixed pigments.

'Winter Timber 2009'

 Hockney’s daring use of colour is joyful, full of energy and promise. Many of the works are large-scale rural scenes, and are arrangement of several canvases placed together. The work that has been assaulting our eyes from Tube posters for months, ‘Winter Timber 2009’ has every crevice of canvas filled with vivid colours, a long line of trees drawing us in through the winding path. These floor to ceiling works have an almost Rothko-esque effect. The spectator is sucked into a whirlwind of colour and movement.

'Three Trees near Thixendale Winter 2002

Several scenes are repeated a number of times, each depicting a different season. Here, Hockney’s incredible use of colour comes into its own, using blood orange and berry red for autumn, then soft lavender and palest blue for spring. The collage of paintings that depict different countryside scenes in Yorkshire create an aura of peace and tranquillity, yet the expressive use of colour gives them an energy and alertness that sums up an almost child-like enthusiasm. This celebration of a very British image seems to tap into a distinct nostalgia for a re-engagement with nature itself. Indeed these Yorkshire landscapes are reminiscent of any countryside walk in Britain, and certainly reminded me intensely of my childhood in Wiltshire. This shared experience of the natural world makes it easy for people to relate to Hockney’s work.

One of Hockney's Ipad paintings

Hockney also engages with new mediums that succeed in bringing his depiction of the natural landscape into the 21^st century. His much anticipated ipad paintings have created quite a stir. In a time when many artists are rejecting the proliferation of new media as something that downgrades the art of sketching and drawing, Hockney embraces it with open arms. With around fifty of these ipad creations increased in size and printed on paper, it is like stepping into a forest gland in a soft summer light. However, I feel these ‘paintings’ lack the intensity and passion of his oil works, and seem to be really about engaging new audiences with exciting new mediums.

Another medium I feel was much more successful was his use of video art as a highly evocative insight to the peace that can be experienced when contemplating a countryside scene. With eighteen individual video panels displaying a different time frame for the same woodland scene, the distorting movement cleverly recreates the movement of the trees being blown by the wind. In this way, it is much more indicative of the multi point vision that we actually use to see the world around us.   

Hockney has undoubtedly succeeded in reconstructing the nostalgia of the natural world for the 21^st century audience. His works do not shy away from making a statement, and his joyful use of colour effectively construct a positive nostalgia for the British countryside. The vibrancy of his works are utterly captivating, and his almost paint-by-numbers technique is a bold and modern approach to the depiction of the traditional landscape.

What are the Issues Raised by the Ethnographic Displays at the Pitt Rivers Museum?

The Pitt Rivers Museum houses one of the most important collections of anthropological and archaeological objects in the country. The museum can be seen as a fascinating insight into foreign cultures and traditions, as ‘a new way of looking at the ordered cosmos’. Yet it can also been argued that it is a Colonial treasure chest of objects taken from their indigenous origins and used to highlight the ‘truth’ of evolution and the progression of the human species. Are there ‘truths’ revealed in the Pitt River’s museum display?

The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford was founded in 1884 by a leading anthropological figure of the day, General Pitt River, who donated his collection of 18,000 objects to Oxford University. Now the collection has reached over half a million, and is housed in an impressive Victorian building. The entrance is now through the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, where you enter to a low lit court with a large totem pole dominating the space. The original explorer or anthropologist donated many of the objects, and hundreds of objects are crammed into the original display cases.

The layout of the museum is unusual in that instead of housing objects together by country or culture, they have been divided into rough ‘types’. For example in the ‘Animal Forms in Art’ cabinet, you see small animal sculptures from Malaya, next to Canada, next to Greece next to China. This decision was originally due to the influence of Pitt Rivers himself, who wanted the museum to have an evolutionary purpose, and to show how societies evolve from simple to complex.

In effect, this method completely de-contextualises the objects, and distanced from their original purpose, they take on a new meaning within the museum complex. They take on the role of defining the foreign cultures on show as the ‘Other’ to the sophisticated European society.  On display there are few European objects, and even less from Great Britain.

In 2009 the museum re-opened after a ten-month long overhaul, in which more of the original display was re-established. The now dimly lit central court is explored by torches which are provided by the museum. This gives a sense of adventure to visitors’ self guided visit, and is especially popular with the children, who are further involved in the museum experience with craft activities, trails and activities sheets. As there are no long winded descriptive panels, you are left to draw your own conclusions as to the origins and uses of the objects

Another issue raised in this museum space is the treatment of sensitive materials, which originally had magical or religious purposes. One of the most visited displays at the Pitt Rivers is the ‘Treatment of Dead Enemies’, which has so many objects it needs two display cases. These seem to be constantly surrounded by curious spectators. One case in particular houses examples of skull trophies taken by various tribes, many from New Guinea, as well as the famous shrunken heads from the Upper Amazon. This ghoulish spectacle certainly draws in the crowds. However, this display raises questions about the origins of these objects. Now objects of curiosity, they were once living being, and this creating this spectacle of death could be seen as insensitive and disrespectful.

Exploring the darkened cabinets of the Pitt Rivers is undoubtedly a fascinating adventure. Yet it raises questions about what voice it gives the original claimants of these objects. I personally think, even in the limited space, more could be done to contextualize these objects. Without it, this collection of material culture could be forming a Colonial-esque outlook which silences those cultures considered to be less civilized and less advanced. Do the original cultures still have a claim to these objects, or have they become part of the makeup of this museum? Despite the aim of the museum to have an educational purpose, these objects to do necessarily teach truths without context and instruction. They become objects of exotic beauty and fantasy, almost passing into the realm of fiction.

Ahmed Mater at the British Museum

Hajj, Journey to the Heart of Islam is a rare insight into the spiritual journey undertaken by millions of Muslims each year to the city of Mecca. The Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam; and is a pilgrimage that should be undertaken at least once by every Muslim, if they are able. Once they arrive at Mecca, they complete a number of different rituals over a period of days, each one bringing them closer to the prophets. One of the most visually striking is the tawaf- where millions of Muslims join as one in the sanctuary at Mecca, and circumambulate the central ka’ba, a black box in the centre of the space, seven times anti-clockwise. This tradition goes back as far as the time of Abraham and Ishmael themselves, who are said to have walked around the Ka’ba seven times after they had rebuilt it.

Pilgrims praying to the Ka'ba

 What I found most striking about this exhibition was the work of contemporary artist Ahmed Mater. His works entitled ‘Magnetism’ are wonderfully simple yet perfectly evoke the intimate connection that Muslims feel when they complete the tawaf. In his works, the Ka’ba is recognisable as a magnetic block, and thousands of iron fillings are used to represent the pilgrims, but also the magnetic nature of this most holy of objects. They form beautiful circular patterns around the central block. The large photographic images of these small installations were quite exquisite, and in themselves became almost magnetic.

Ahmed Mater 'Magnetism (Photograuve) I

http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/hajj.aspx

The exhibition runs until the 15th April 2012. Tickets £12, free for Friends. 

Ahmed Mater's website: http://ahmedmater.com/