Monday 21 October 2013

"the real value of making art...

... is everything you go through while you're making it"

There is one vital difference between an exhibition and an art fair, and that is that the latter actually allows you to dig up what lies beneath the artwork, by interrogating the artist yourself. That, and, if you have the money, you can actually buy the work. I was happy to discover inspiration at The Other Art Fair, where there was a great mix of work by up-and-coming artists over the course of four days.

I look forward to the next!

Friday 18 October 2013

"the best possible time of being alive...

...when almost everything you thought you knew is wrong"
What’s Arcadia all about? The more I ask, the more concepts emerge. Tonight, I asked it again when I went to the production of Arcadia, put on by Oxford students at the local picturehouse. The story starts off in a 19th Century English country-house, and translates between the past and the modern day, until they overlap, demonstrated in the play by the two existing simultaneously. If the past did not exist, there would be no present. If the present did not exist, there would be no-one to uncover and recognise the past, and it would therefore cease to be. The two cannot be without each other. The play explores the unity of time, and opened my mind to unfixed possibilities in the nature of our world.

There was one particular line which struck me, as the character Valentine put it:

“maths...had been the same maths for a couple of thousand years. Classical…Then maths left the real world behind, just like modern art, really. Nature was classical, maths was suddenly Picassos. But now nature is having the last laugh. The freaky stuff is turning out to be the mathematics of the natural world”

In relation to art, this exploration of abstraction in creativity can be more useful to us than to follow what we know. Perhaps because our minds have been taught to work in a very particular linear fashion. In the play, it is suggested that in overthrowing our system of thinking, we can be led to think alternatively, in progressive and innovative ways:

“to be at the beginning again, knowing almost nothing… It's the best possible time of being alive, when almost everything you thought you knew is wrong”

The lesson learned? We won’t make advancements if we stick to the rules.

Tom Stoppard's original script shone through; I would highly recommend going to see this. In all the confusion, there were some mind-broadening concepts to take home.

Wednesday 2 October 2013

"one almost expects the people to sing instead of speak"

Having visited Oxford only a few times previously, and only for that - a visit - I can begin to describe here my first impressions of a city that is to be my new home.
"the place is so beautiful. One almost expects the people to sing instead of speak"
And you almost do. The architecture is telling that Oxford has had a happy life. If you listen hard, you can still hear horses trotting along the passageways, and distant bells sounding.

Who was it that said a great city is one that you can imagine falling in love in? There is definitely a love story here.

It's so easy to get lost in a daydream...

And it is not uncommon to step into the path of students in graduation robes, as there are ceremonies all year round. All in all, I think this city is a fantastic place to go for a stroll...and see where you end up.