Basquiat Inspiration

I first came across Jean Michel Basquiat's work not in a gallery but on film. Although the biopic is flawed in places, it captures the energy he put into his work and the world in which his work came to prominence. Central to the film is the superb performance of Jeffry Wright (it also features David Bowie as Andy Warhol).

I've travelled extensively but have rarely come across his work in galleries until a couple of Summers ago in Bilbao where there was an exhibition of his work at the Guggenheim. The Guggenheim Bilbao's website has some great information about his work along with some images of his work.

I almost left it too late to see the exhibition at the Barbican in 2017, but I booked an afternoon off work and headed to the exhibition.

I find his work interesting and inspiring because of the he way he combines text and images, his naive style, he puts himself into his work, literally through self portraits, references to SAMO© or though painting his influences. But above all I think his personality comes through in the work.

Andy Warhol Inspiration

In between lockdowns I was able to visit Tate Modern to see the Andy Warhol exhibition. Normally, I avoid exhibitions at the Tate Modern as they are crowded and I feel I can’t take the time I want to read the captions or enjoy the pieces. With social distancing measures in place, I had the time and space I normally crave.

I’ve seen several Andy Warhol exhibitions before, the first was in Vancouver in 1995, and a number of the pieces from that exhibition were included in this one (Coco Cola bottles, Soup Cans, Marilyn’s) but these were either pieces that I hadn’t seen in the intervening 25 years or new takes on them - such as the Marilyn lips.

There was also a focus on this exhibition of Andy’s sexuality and his links with queer culture. There was one room full of his work that I’d never seen before, screen prints of drag queens and transsexuals he had met and invited into his studio.

The last room held his huge final work, repeated images of the last supper, the immense scale of this piece was impressive and impactful.

Anni Albers Inspiration

For one of the modules for my the City & Guilds course I was completing, I had to choose a theme and an inspirational artist. The theme I chose was ‘blocks’ and having visited the Tate Modern Exhibition of her work in 2018, I decided to choose Anni Albers as the artist because as a weaver her work was often blocks or other geometric shapes.

Having started my creative journey mostly practicing bead weaving I always keep an eye out for geometric gridded styles of artwork as I used these for inspiration for my beadwork so I was naturally drawn to Anni’s work as a weaver.

More recently I’ve been drawn to mid-century modern styles of embroidery and Anni’s work once again came to mind.

What I particularly loved about this exhibition was the amount or preparatory drawings that were included. Normally with fine artists the preparatory drawings don’t mean much to me as I don’t have the level of drawing skills or understanding about what goes into producing a painting or drawing. With Anni’s work I could see the connection between the drawing and the finished item much more clearly.

National Theatre Inspiration

While visiting the National to see Three Sisters in early January we were hunting for a slice of cake and came across this wonderful little exhibition about the costume department. We worth a stop off to take a look if you are in the vicinity - the skill you can see on show is wonderful and you can get really close and see the detail. The first outfit is from Follies - that headdress is so huge, I couldn’t fit it all in one picture; the second is a close up of the embroidery on Sophie Okonedo’s coat from the fabulous production of Antony and Cleopatra; the final headdress I didn’t note the production it is from but shows the detail that goes into the smallest item.

Zandra Rhodes print inspiration

What was really interesting about the Zandra Rhodes exhibition was that I didn’t really know what her style was. I was at the exhibition with my mother and she said that she always loved Zandra’s printing on chiffon.
not only did Zandra print in these floaty fabrics, she also cut the patterns around the print, such as in the first example where you can see the overlapping circles of fabric printed with a sun style motif.
There were also many panels of printed fabric which took inspiration from different cultures.

Zandra Rhodes embellishment inspiration

This was my first visit to the Fashion and Textile museum in Bermondsey. It’s a fairly small space but there was a lot of inspiring exhibits. The exhibition was roughly split into two sections the ground floor covered dresses, many of which had beautiful embellishments. The upper floor had examples of her bespoke prints on chiffon and silk - more about those in a separate blog post.

Bridget Riley inspiration

I forget what a wonderful space the Haywood Gallery is and it seems to be little visited compared to the other galleries in London showing modern art. Even at 11 am on a Saturday we could walk straight in and have space to admire the art without jostling for a view at each piece.

The exhibition opens with this large wall of overlapping circles, they way the circles are placed gives them space and energy. Following this are some of her colourful striped work, such as the one in the second picture which mixes black and white with colour. Downstairs are her black and white works, most of which really make your eyes go funny when you look at them.. I loved this one with the triangles - not a piece I’d come across before, the curved lines trick your eye in a very subtle way.

Upstairs the painting nearest the stairs is the one with the elongated triangles which are an evolutions from the earlier striped work. Also upstairs are some of her bolder work. If you look at the composition of these carefully you can see the diagonal straight lines and the curved lines running from top to bottom intersecting them. The shapes are created by colour blocking the intersecting shapes.

the final room of the exhibition includes preparatory sketches and colour experiments

I almost picked Bridget Riley as my ‘inspirational artist’ for module 2 of my embroidery course, after seeing her work at this exhibition I wish I had - so inspiring.

Lee Krasner inspiration

I first came across Lee Krasner and her work almost 20 years ago after travelling to the US as well as learning more about the artist Jackson Pollock via the biopic Pollack.

Like many female artists her work isn’t exhibited as prominently as her male contemporaries so the recent exhibition at the Barbican was a real treat. (As an aside the Barbican have really upped their exhibition game over the past couple of years having had the Basquiat exhibition recently too.)

What I loved about the exhibition was her use of colour and shape, in particular her use of previous works torn and placed as a collage to create a new work such as Desert Moon, below.

Desert Moon

Here are some of her other works from that exhibition that I found particularly inspiring.

Dior inspiration

Earlier this year armed with my V&A membership card I headed to see the Dior exhibition. I wasn’t there for opening and had to queue 30 minutes to get in, which was totally my own fault (I treated myself to a birthday lie in!) The busyness of the exhibition totally ruined my experience and I vowed to head back to the exhibition at a quieter time. When I saw the offer for members to visit before the museum opened to the general public I thought this was the best opportunity to get a much better experience. Although I decided not to take them up on the offer of an 08:00 Sunday morning visit, the 09:30 start time was perfect both in terms of sleep and being able to see the exhibits.

What I could do this time was get closer to the gowns and see the exquisite craft that goes into the construction and the embellishment. Below are some of my favourite items and potential sources of inspiration (I can never resist some gorgeous beading!)

NYC modern art inspiration

No trip to NYC is complete without a visit or two to an art gallery. We headed to the Guggenheim and queued around the block to get in for free (if you are there on the right day this would be my top tip to save $$). We also paid a visit to MoMA, although it is undergoing some building work it still has all the big hitters as well as some other fascinating work.

Hilda af Klint - Guggenheim

Hilda af Klint - Guggenheim

Hilda af Klint - Guggenheim

Sonia Delaunay-Terk - MoMA

Lyubov Popova - MoMA

Theo van Doesburg - MoMA

Max Bill - MoMA

Joan Mitchell - MoMA

National Museum of the American Indian inspiration

When I visited New York for the first time 18 years ago I spent a wonderful few hours in the National Museum of the American Indian right at the bottom of Manhattan island. At that time I was obsessed with beadwork and in particular the beadwork of Native Americans. I filled my sketch book with carefully drawn designs from the pieces I saw in that museum.

So as soon as the trip to NYC was booked for this April, the first thing I checked was that the museum was still there and open. This time, with the invention of the digital camera I was able to snap pictures of my favourite pieces for inspiration.

But as well as the permanent collection of pieces there was also a temporary exhibition of the work of TC Cannon. His story and his beautiful paintings are sure to inspire some future work of mine as well.