Henry Moore

On coming home i decided i would venture to The Henry Moore institute for the latest exhibition of Alan Johnston's Wall Drawings. I haven't been to the Henry Moor Institute too often , however i felt fairly excited and inquisitive about this new show. With the caption on the poster reading

'A pencil
12 walls
120 hours
450 sq. metres
1 exhibition'

It sounded intense. I had in mind that this would be somewhat a perfomative work, about the strain and perseverance of constant drawing.

I was so uninspired by the whole thing that to even begin to write about it now is a task.
So i will write about Henry Moore's use of space first.
The first room of the main exhibition space, leading off from the back of the reception area, is fairly good is size, narrow, but a good high ceiling. The light is pretty dull in here though. It was a naturally bright and sunny day, however this could not be felt through the one small window on the right of the room.
In noting this i am surprised that more lighting was not used in this room. Obviously anything too bright could ruin works but it felt very dull and unfriendly, even more so as it is a very modernist interior. But it felt a bit like the space wasn't being used.

The second room was very large, echoing around the entire three people that were in it, [i am including invigilators by the way] and the ceilings loomed over making it feel vast and surprisingly un like anything you would expect to exist in leeds city centre. The light was bright and natural and i felt much more stimulated in this room. Even on a grey day the sky lights above would allow for reflection off any of the white washed walls giving good light.

And the third room, was again smaller, open plan just off the larger middle room which allowed it to feel a little brighter but with lack of windows the gallery lighting was not sufficient in making the room feel at all inspiring.

It is hard to describe how work is presented in this location as the gallery was in this instance only playing host to one artist who had used the space itself as a canvas. The use of mounting on the small marquette painting was minimal as was labelling, all information could be found online and in paper programmes.

There was nothing particularly inspiring about this space. The main room i do love for it's openness and dramatic structure but then the two smaller rooms feel out of place in comparison, the space as a whole doesn't compliment itself. It is really neither here nor there with such in-congruency.

When it comes to the exhibiting work itself i do feel it works in terms of it's site however it again was nothing special, neither here nor there, and i don't feel it deserved to take over the entire space, rather i would have found a co-habiting exhibitor placing their art alongside much more interesting. That way i could have viewed the way in which such works played alongside eachother.

Some people like very minimalist art, as do on on occasions, minimalist exhibitions, i don't like.
I needed more to look at as i felt i came away looking at nothing.

This says to me although cramping too many works into one space is bad the space still needs to be used well, to enhance the senses of the viewer, to make a visit seem worthwhile.

Blurgh to this, it has officially drained me and has become the anti climatic art i hoped for.