DAY THREE 07.09.2016 Structural Attachment

Today we visited the Serpentine Gallery, the Serpentine Sackler Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum respectively.

The Serpentine

Outside the Serpentine was a breath-taking sculpture, come summer pavilion designed by Bjarke Ingels. It comprised of hallow cubes and cuboids in metal, rising up into a cascading wall like structure that dominated the surrounding space. I was extremely taken by the structure; its prevailing presence, the way it cast light/shadows and the various tones of the metal in different light inspired me. I photographed and sketched the summerhouse to document the visual inspiration.

Photograph Author's own- The Serpentine Pavilion

Author's own Serpentine Pavilion sketch

Inside the Serpentine gallery was an exhibition of work by Alex Katz, famed American figurative artist. The exhibits were simplistic, almost child like and at first glance vaguely amateur. Katz’s talent however, seemed to me to lie in his ability to vary tone of colour. His ostensibly monochromatic block colours many would compare to pop art. Yet on closer inspection the variation of tone within one spectrum was incredible. This immediately rang alarm bells for me regarding the third criteria in our brief- to use only one colour. Katz proves that within one colour spectrum, a myriad of tones can be explored. I was particularly taken by his orange backgrounds and may consider the colour for my project.

Photograph Author's own
Alex Katz- Use of Colour

Photograph Author's own

Alex Katz- Use of Colour

Photograph Author's own

Alex Katz- Use of Colour

I felt Katz also captured character in an admirable manner. The collection felt playful, personal and familiar. This was confirmed when I read that Katz’s wife, his long time muse, was the subject of one of the portraits. When relating this to the brief, I drew upon my exploration of the word ‘attachment’ in regards to emotional connection and family. I noted that familial attachment could be explored in a playful, colourful and happy manner, to reflect the joy of being connected or attached to a loved one emotionally. I loosely sketched several of the ‘characters’ in order to capture my interpretation on paper.

Alex Katz- Characters

The Serpentine Sackler

A short stroll from the main Serpentine gallery is the Serpentine Sackler gallery. The building itself, by the late and influential architect Zaha Hadid, has a curvaceous and futuristic form. In the light of mid afternoon the white structure was radiant with various shades of white; this was inspiring in regards to the ‘monotone’ aspect of my brief.

Photograph Author's own
Zaha Hadid- Serpentine Sackler

Inside were several pieces by Lebanese visual artist Etel Adnan. One exhibit of concertinaed white card with loosely sketched black felt tip city outlines grabbed my attention. The structured simplicity of the folded cards as well as the shadows cast by each pleat were inspiring for ideas on silhouette and variation of tone. I admired the contrast between the perfect, neat creases of the paper and the loose, messy lines of the black felt sketches.

Photograph Author's own
Etel Adnan- black felt tip on card

Photograph Author's own
Etel Adnan- black felt tip on card

The Victoria and Albert Museum


I have visited the V&A more than any other museum and yet with a different brief or theme in mind, the specific items I notice vary each and every time.

This month sees an interactive exhibition celebrating the life and work of architectural engineer Ove Arup. I was greatly taken by the interior metal box structure constructed to fit the exhibition space. The structure was regimented and industrial whilst its red colour varied in tones where various shadows were cast.

Photograph Author's own
Interior metal box structure

I found Arup’s technical and for me incomprehensible, blue prints and engineering sketches greatly inspiring. I saw them not as methodological instructions rather linear print designs or appliquéd felt pieces. The translation of mathematical information into design potential is a notion I am edging towards with this project; be it the invisible mathematical sequences of nature (Fractals) or perhaps engineering inspired patterns after having seen this exhibition.

Photograph Author's own
Ove Arup- Technical sketches

The exhibition was full of ‘structures’. Two specific pieces took my eye. The first a model of an Arup designed 1960’s car park in spiralling white plastic and the second the iconic Sydney Opera house. For the former it was again its casting of shadows and reaction to light that inspired me. The structure felt modern, yet of its era, regimented yet somehow playful and unconventional. I sketched the model. I sketched the latter, one of the most iconic buildings in the world and noticed how it too, granted on model scale, casts light and shows; particularly the pointed tips translate to me as shoulder pads or armoured body plating.

Photograph Author's own
Ove Arup- Car Park Model

Leaving the exhibition, I toured the sculpture gallery. I began to note the structures of the human body. I found the structure of the nose on one sculpture incredibly interesting. Its long, thin, almost broken quality told a story, whilst the tilt of the eyes conveyed history and emotion. I liked the idea that the subject of the sculpture had family and attachments to other lives and other stories. I imagined that these people would perhaps all be connected by the same nose shape- the symbol of their attachment to one another.

Sketch- V&A Sculpture Gallery

"Elytra Filament Pavilion"

Outside, in the beautiful courtyard, was a mesmerising structure designed by a team from the university of Stuttgart. The form of web like spirals and hexagonal forms dominating the space was robotically woven in carbon fibre. The attractive and aesthetically appealing pavilion is based on the fibrous structure of beetle wings. I sketched the webs, cones and hexagons of the structured art piece. I liked the way each hexagon was attached to another suspending the glass and carbon material high in the air. I loved that the designers had taken a natural insect structure and translated it into another grand scale architectural structure. I feel I well may choose 'the structures of nature' for my final focus point. The installation undoubtedly informed both the ‘structure’ and ‘attachment’ sections of my brief.

Photograph Author's own
Elytra Filament Pavilion

Sketch Author's own
Elytra Filament Pavilion

Journey home

Journeying home was a research trip in itself. I captured numerous inspiring buildings and objects including Blackfriars station and some wheel shaped pavement details. I decided to get off at Canary Wharf Docklands Light Railway stop, having been drawn to the city skyscrapers from the window. I photographed the tall, dominating, glass structures and admired the reflections they cast as they glinted in the evening sunlight. The photographs are all further visual inspiration for the ‘structure’ section of my theme.