On October 21st this year my Foundation Diploma group at college took a day trip to the historic Liverpool docklands and Crosby beach - primarily to visit the Tate modern and Anthony Gormley statues, respectively.
Obviously I had meant to do a blog post regarding this for some time but have simply not got around to it; I have also recently become aware that a vital aspect of our course grade is based upon written documentation of all activities art related - both personal and academic, so from now on I will try much harder to keep some semblance of a diary whether it be on this blog on in a physical format.
Anyway, back to the Mersey-side of things! The day itself began with early coach departure from Telford at around 8:15 - arriving in Liverpool around 9:45. While I could go through the day chronologically, it would be easier to simply state the obvious and maybe add a few personal observations thrown in.
Liverpool is big, it's diverse and on this occasion it was wet, but hardly out of keeping for mid October. In hindsight the Architecture of the Tate museum complex - the majority of which had been converted from 19th Century factory buildings, was just as, if not more aesthetically pleasing than the majority it's content. A large number of conceptual and minimalist installations were dotted around the 3 stories of white walled gallery; besides a abstract still life by Picasso, I wasn't too compelled by much of it, yet it turned out that out of our peer group I was perhaps the most open minded - I tended to spend more time defending the artwork than critiquing it.
My standard line of reasoning was that while my classmates were feeling boredom and derision towards the artwork, that reaction was possibly the artists intention... 'Possibly'.
2nd we split off and for mostly for novelty headed towards the Beatles/Elvis museum - the latter of whom I can't exactly place in relation to Liverpool but whatever. Artistically the whole place was garish but I guess if you like the Beatles or Elvis or you just want a great frontal view of the Liver building either way you're set.
The creatively named 'Liverpool museum' that resembles that shape of a huge metal ship was perhaps my favourite of the galleries, with a vast insight into the cities history and the best view of the river Mersey.
One of the trips goals was to gather inspiration for our animation and I can honestly say that I did once we had left for Crosby beach, a few miles to the east of Liverpool; though the weather was grey and windy the landscape on the beach was stunning and in start contrast the industrial plants alongside the coast, in was the combination of the two that inspired the development of my animation set design. Specifically we were there to observe the Anthony Gormley statues that made up part of his large scale art piece 'another place', that was erected in 2004.
The statues themselves(100 in total) had over time been very weathered by the tide and bracing wind conditions however they still kept a human likeness that compelled us all to decorate and accessorise them; though simple in concept, Gormley's work Is free, interactive and now a local icon, exactly the impact the artist would've wanted.
