Big Mommas and Massive Wangs
In addition to seeing lots of wonderful comedy and ligging like my life depended on it, I took time out In Edinburgh to check out a couple of art exhibitions at the National Gallery of Scotland.
Their big Festival show was the Ron Mueck exhibition. This is the Aussie guy who used to work for Jim Henson as a model maker before switching to producing his frighteningly realistic sculptures of men, women and babies. Apparently he's come in for a ton of flack because he used to make Muppets. certain critics reckon that excludes him from being an artist. I guess Andy Warhol's stint as a graphic designer means he too aint an artist. Bollocks!
The centerpiece of the show is an enormous figure of a woman lying in a bed. She's so big that as you approach her, you feel like a child again. The distant gaze in her eyes is incredibly disconcerting. Even freakier is that she - like all of the other pieces in the show - are so lifelike, even tho none of them are life size, you feel like they are real, like any second now they will get up and begin walking around.
When my mum died last October I saw her dead body in the hospice. It was the first (and hopefully last) dead body I've ever seen. The sculptures in Ron's show reminded me so much of what I saw that day. It was incredibly emotional but in a postive way, just like when I saw my mum.
The Buddha talks about the body being like a suit, and eventually that suit wears out. The dead body is not the person, their actions and your memories are the person. this body is just a shell that holds it all together for the time that they are here. This show was very life-affirming. I'm not sure if it's going to be on show anywhere else in the UK, but if it isn't get yourself up to Edinburgh and see it.
There was a deal whereby you could save dosh by seeing two shows and it just so happened that they also had a Robert Mapplethorpe show on at the Gallery of Modern Art. This gallery is on the outskirts of Edinburgh, but there's a free shuttle bus that takes you out there, which is cool.
I'm a massive fan of Mapplethorpe, have been for 25 years, and it saddens me to say this wasn't the greatest selection of his photographs I've ever seen. It was a bit 'Pic'n'Mix' to be honest, but still worth seeing if you've never seen his work.
He's pretty notorious for his gay S&M pics, and there's one or two on show here including a particularly wince-making one where he has a bullwhip sticking out of his ass, and his love of well hung black men is also represented here. One photograph had me questioning my vow of celibacy!
There is so much more to Mapplethorpe than the sensational stuff tho. His celebrity photographs are like formal portraits from a bygone era, his flowers are the most erotic things you will ever see, and his series on the female bodybuilder Lisa Lyons make her look like a piece of classical sculpture, sadly this show doesn't pick the best of those photos.
What this gallery does have going for it tho, is a brilliant garden cafe, with lovely herbal teas and homemade cakes, and on Monday afternoon after 24 hours of festival madness, sitting in the blazing sunshine with no sounds other than those of the birds in the trees was a welcome relief.
Their big Festival show was the Ron Mueck exhibition. This is the Aussie guy who used to work for Jim Henson as a model maker before switching to producing his frighteningly realistic sculptures of men, women and babies. Apparently he's come in for a ton of flack because he used to make Muppets. certain critics reckon that excludes him from being an artist. I guess Andy Warhol's stint as a graphic designer means he too aint an artist. Bollocks!
The centerpiece of the show is an enormous figure of a woman lying in a bed. She's so big that as you approach her, you feel like a child again. The distant gaze in her eyes is incredibly disconcerting. Even freakier is that she - like all of the other pieces in the show - are so lifelike, even tho none of them are life size, you feel like they are real, like any second now they will get up and begin walking around.
When my mum died last October I saw her dead body in the hospice. It was the first (and hopefully last) dead body I've ever seen. The sculptures in Ron's show reminded me so much of what I saw that day. It was incredibly emotional but in a postive way, just like when I saw my mum.
The Buddha talks about the body being like a suit, and eventually that suit wears out. The dead body is not the person, their actions and your memories are the person. this body is just a shell that holds it all together for the time that they are here. This show was very life-affirming. I'm not sure if it's going to be on show anywhere else in the UK, but if it isn't get yourself up to Edinburgh and see it.
There was a deal whereby you could save dosh by seeing two shows and it just so happened that they also had a Robert Mapplethorpe show on at the Gallery of Modern Art. This gallery is on the outskirts of Edinburgh, but there's a free shuttle bus that takes you out there, which is cool.
I'm a massive fan of Mapplethorpe, have been for 25 years, and it saddens me to say this wasn't the greatest selection of his photographs I've ever seen. It was a bit 'Pic'n'Mix' to be honest, but still worth seeing if you've never seen his work.
He's pretty notorious for his gay S&M pics, and there's one or two on show here including a particularly wince-making one where he has a bullwhip sticking out of his ass, and his love of well hung black men is also represented here. One photograph had me questioning my vow of celibacy!
There is so much more to Mapplethorpe than the sensational stuff tho. His celebrity photographs are like formal portraits from a bygone era, his flowers are the most erotic things you will ever see, and his series on the female bodybuilder Lisa Lyons make her look like a piece of classical sculpture, sadly this show doesn't pick the best of those photos.
What this gallery does have going for it tho, is a brilliant garden cafe, with lovely herbal teas and homemade cakes, and on Monday afternoon after 24 hours of festival madness, sitting in the blazing sunshine with no sounds other than those of the birds in the trees was a welcome relief.
posted by JoJo Smith at Wednesday, August 23, 2006
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