Fine art exhibition

I was very intrigued on finding out the fine art students from John Moores University were exhibiting their work temporarily in both the Walker Art gallery and St. Georges Hall. Firstly, I was excited to see some of my close friends, exhibit works they were so proud of in such important places to Liverpool’s history. Secondly, I wanted to observe how these contemporary art works from the students fitted alongside these other works that had been in the Walker art gallery for many years and how the students interacted with these different spaces.

The space that I enjoyed observing the most was St Georges hall, the exhibition covered some of the tunnels, underground rooms and general wall space, I enjoyed how the work presented gave a completely new way of looking at the tunnels. Some artists played with the dark past of the building by creating works that were inspired by criminals, others chose to bring light to the tunnels filling the space with pieces that completely changed the atmosphere of the building. For example, one artist hung paper birds and flowers in a room that was originally dimly lit and intimidating to enter, their work changed the space, so it radiated a warmer feeling. Another turned a room into a comfy space which created an interesting contrast with the rest of the art on display. They projected a projection of a sheep jumping over a fence which created this sort of dream-like feel that was immediately comforting to those who entered the space.

The walker art gallery exhibit was very different as it placed these artworks in a place that already contained artworks. Some artists played with this by finding inspiration from works that were already on display, one artist created 3 podiums and designed 3 postcards that corresponded to artworks in the walker gallery. This gave a modern twist on art works that had been on display for a long time. Another artist created a human-sized cardboard box which from outside appeared completely normal however inside it appeared as a space ship, this was an interesting juxtaposition to the pre-Raphaelite artworks on display in the room.