Study Visit - 18th October 2014 - Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts UEA Norwich 'Reality'

It was the title of the exhibition, "Reality" that first drew my attention to the proposed study day. In the accompanying information was the statement - "REALITY contains works spanning across the 20th century to now, attempting to understand and represent the harsh realities that have concerned key British artists over the decades." As I was struggling with my project of Black and White Abstract photography it was my hope that the exhibition would provide clues/guidance to what is considered Reality and, on the assumption that abstract art is the representation of a non-reality, what falls within the world of non-reality.

The day was well organised and offered lots of opportunity to discuss various topics with fellow students and the attending tutors. There was also the advantage, for me, that the majority of the students were not photographers so offered a different perspective on what was being shown. My only criticism would be that, as always, nearly all the works of art were 'talked to death' as explanations and interpretations are offered. There was no opportunity to sit quietly and 'see' the work of art as a whole and to absorb its message without being bombarded with descriptions of ever smaller parts of the work.

We were shepherded round in the morning by a representative of the Gallery who was the perfect tour guide, the only missing element was the rolled umbrella held aloft, but clearly was under time constraints so that we lingered on some work only to be hurried past other works as time was running out. Any chance to consider any individual work in a meaningful way was lost. I realise it might be dangerous to allow students to wander at will forming their own opinions without the benefit of the tutors greater knowledge (you never know they might come up with fresh insight that challenges the preconceived notions of those in charge) but I would strongly recommend it as a way for the students to have the experience of most use to them.

A surprisingly expensive and not particularly good lunch allowed for the swapping of ideas and general conversation. It may be of significance that the major topics discussed were not the paintings we had viewed that morning but the delights/problems of being an OCA student and the strategies of survival mainly concerned with the anxiety levels we all experience as we struggle to understand the Course material whilst feeling very much on our own. The topic of discussion of most interest to me was the amount of contact and responses students had from Tutors. I have been very lucky throughout the Courses I have undertaken and benefited from Tutors who were prepared to offer support and guidance but listening to others this is not universal and some accounts made one wonder why the OCA did not have a better grip on what Tutors should be expected to do.

After lunch we returned to the exhibition, resurrected the paintings that we had talked to death in the morning and made sure, by further discussion, that they were truly dead. I would suggest that it would have been more useful to have allowed for a free roam by the students in the morning followed in the afternoon by an in depth discussion under the guidance of the tutors. Students need to have the opportunity to explore and discuss their own thoughts and judgments.

The question remains - did I achieve my aims? In the large part the answer is 'Yes' although the lasting benefit will come from the passage of time as what I learnt is assimilated into my general thinking. I do not believe that the exhibition achieved its stated aims but that cannot detract from it offering a fantastic collection of works that were challenging and thought provoking.

What does it all mean??

Over the past few weeks I have been trying to gather my thoughts on the term 'abstract' and how it is applied to art in general and to photography in particular. It has been a journey that has been both frustrating and less than enlightening. The lasting impression is that there is no generally accepted definition of the term and virtually all attempts to proffer a definition are written in such broad terms as to be meaningless. For example the definition offered by the Tate gallery reads:

"Artworks that do not attempt to represent a recognisable reality but instead uses shapes, colours, forms and textures to achieve their effect."

All non-language art uses shapes, colours, forms and textures in some combination because that is the only way to communicate with the audience so that the key to the definition lies in the explanation that abstract artworks - do not attempt to represent a recognisable reality. The question that remains unanswered is what is it that the artwork does represent. It presumably represents something (it is difficult to imagine a representation of nothing) even if the interpretation we place upon the work does not match the intent of the artist. A recognisable reality has been created by the very act of the existence of the piece of work. In describing work of Mondrian and its development over time reference can only be made to the real world (for example see pages 51 -55 of Moszynska A (1990) Abstract Art  London: Thames & Hudson) because the description has to be in a language that is understood by the reader. That language is of and determined by the world in which we live and has no reference outside of that world.

What was most noticeable in my researches was the number of attempts by different artists and group of artists to create the 'true' abstract or perhaps more accurately the 'pure' abstract. Arising from dissatisfaction with the abstract work of the time the pattern seems to be:-  a determination to break away from the dominant works by a group of artists; the publication of a manifesto setting out the new 'truth'; a relatively short period of activity before dissatisfaction within the group or its disciples leads to a fracturing and a fresh attempt to reveal a newer truth. The cycle then repeats. To the outsider this suggests that there is no one answer to the question - What is an abstract work of art? other than it is an abstract because that is what the artist attempted to produce.