Just a very brief note on an exhibition at the Baltic Gateshead of work by the American artist Judy Chicago that I visited this week. I have to say that much of her work is not really to my taste (though I do find her perhaps most famous work, The Dinner Party, really quite impressive) so this is not a show that I would normally go out of my way to see. There were though enough works that I do like to make a visit worthwhile.
What I particularly wanted to see was the small handful of photographic works based on clouds of smoke. These, specifically Desert Atmosphere, Smoke Bodies, and Purple Atmosphere, have some connection with the thinking that went into Assignment 1 and have some similarities to another artist at whose work I have looked subsequently, Berndnaut Smilde, about whom I will write a bit more when I deal with some further research prompted by my tutor’s feedback.
Big prints on metal sheet these make quite an impact and are so much more interesting for being seen in the flesh rather than in reproduction. It was also good that the gallery was not very busy so it was easy to linger in front of them, move in and out, and not have to dodge people in the way!
Mark Robinson's OCA Landscape, Place & Environment Blog 