Steel Perspective

But Is It Art?

On my walk this week I found myself in one of the upper floor rooms of the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery and enjoyed looking at works by well known artists of the past such as Ceri Richards, Paul Nash, Henry Moore and others. In this room I was also struck by the effect of the translucent screen hanging in front of the floor to ceiling window. It changed my perception of the building opposite and for a few moments I thought I was looking at another work of art – so I took some photos!

Looking Out

Directly below, on the ground floor, is the room used for talks, presentations, etc.,  In here I spotted a stack of seats in the corner and I was again persuaded to take some photos. The clean, bright patterns of stainless steel really appealed to me ….. but is it art?

Art! Now that is a big subject that can sometimes be controversial, and we all have our opinions about it. For me it is mostly about perception and understanding, to say nothing of expression. How we look at something, or listen to, or touch something, is a big influence on how we perceive, understand, relate to it – and that is something that truly fascinates me, how we connect and interconnect with all that is around us.

So this has been a slightly different walk to those I usually post about but I am heavily involved in the arts and StillWalks is largely about observation and interconnection, so in that respect there is little difference between observing, perceiving a work of art or architecture and a tree, forest, landscape or seascape.

And speaking of seascapes, my soundscape this week is not from my walk round the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, but it does connect with the theme of the main exhibition there showing under the international “Ephemeral Coast” theme and originated at Mission Gallery, Swansea. It is my soundscape for Aberystwyth seafront in West Wales, originally posted on 08/04/2017.

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Posted in art, Art Galleries, Photography, Soundscape, Walks and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

7 Comments

  1. Yes!
    There are so many different forms of art aren’t there. A piece that causes us to see an object, or situation or the world around us in a different way, is my favourite form of art. Tracey Emin says that if you can stand by what you have created and give it a creative context, that’s your expression of an experience and that’s art ….. or something like that!
    Love the soundscape – a nice way to start the day.

    • Thanks Cindy. Each viewer will also see things differently to the next, according to their own personal experience of the world both at the point in time they view the work and their over their lifetime. That’s why it’s always worth looking again and again – the perception will always be slightly different.

  2. As a person whose photos regularly prompt the comment from my family of “why on earth did you take that picture”, I can absolutley see why you took those reflections and chairs. But what is art is too big a question for me. If I like what I see, and think it interesting, beautiful, meanigful,then I try to compose a picture. Railings seem to be a favourite with me at the moment, the craftsmanship of the old ones is amazing.
    Love the sea sounds, my son studied in Aberystwyth so I can just picture where you made the recording.

    • Thanks Cathy, I’m pleased you see my point of view. And railings – they are almost as good as my favourites, gates. They may not move and squeak and clank, but they can make some great sounds. I can just imagine running my finger along them like a child, or seeing them in perspective, or the patterns of rust or peeling paint. I could go on and on and . . .

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