Colour and Movement

As with the Suitcase Show, Yinka Shonibare's exhibition over at the Auckland Art Gallery was similarly interactive. The exhibition included several life sized sculptures of human figures, so accurate in recreation and detail down to the intricate costuming in vibrant colours that you were automatically drawn to them when you entered the room. They were suspended in motion, so perfectly balanced that it seemed that they were to come to life any moment and start moving. The catch? They were all headless so as to remove any identity. I circled around them, taking in every careful detail, every angle giving a different viewpoint and visually powerful image. One is so completely tempted to step in and touch and physically interact with the sculpture.

Image: Reverend on Ice

The exhibition covers a vast range of media, including large scale photography and film as well as the sculptures. He explores ideas around social class, culture, identity and authenticity while making references back to art history. The entire exhibition is linked as a coherent whole by the stunning costuming and fabric which remains consistent throughout the works.

There were two works which drew me in the most. One work took up an entire gallery wall with a large scale black single paint splatter which spread even onto the ceiling. In the middle of it were several protruding circles of different sizes, covered in thick paint and the same coloured fabric. The sheer scale of it meant that you could couldn't walk past it, it was a work you had to stand in front of and engage with. It was reminiscent of an in fact, a reference to the large scale drip paintings by the like of Jackson Pollock. It wasn't quite as dynamic or visually complex as a Pollock but it had the same sort of level of engagement and gave the impression that it extended beyond the boundaries of any canvas or frame. As with a Pollock painting, it if one of those works you have to experience by being in front of it as a small colour reproduction in a book or pamphlet would lose most of the impact.

Image: Black Gold I.

The second work was one of the films which featured two ballerinas dancing in front of an empty frame, mirroring each others movements perfectly in synchronization so that one would not even know that the frame was not actually a mirror except that one ballerina was white and the other black. They were situated in completely dark void which seemed to go on forever around them, empty besides the frame and the dancers. It had no music and the only sounds were that of the dancers' breathing, the ruffle of their clothing and their shoes on the ground. I did not understand a lot of the historical meanings behind his works but especially in this work, the messages which came through to me were that of duality and identity. History is rich with cultural disagreements and the message which came through the film sequence was that where the focus was on the dancers' movements and how they were perfectly identical but one was always drawn to the fact that even though they were the same, there would always be tensions for the colour of their skin. It was the paradoxical 'same but not the same.'

Image: Still from moving media

I enjoyed this exhibition in an artistic sense but if I were to go again, would try go in with a bit more background understanding on the issues he explores around history. Even though I've studied art history, a lot of the supposed references were lost on me, bar a few renown paintings in the background of his photographs. Though I personally use photography as my own strongest artistic medium, I was not as drawn by his photographs. They were visually striking like all of the works and again, the sheer large scale of them and the surreal nature of the manipulated images made them impossible to bypass but there was nothing to keep you drawn in and engaged. Perhaps that was because I lacked the knowledge of the historical context which would've enable me to look for meaning and symbolism and the 2D nature of it, unlike the sculptures, left me more passive in response to it. I would've liked to see more of the sculptures as they were the works that I engaged with the most. Overall, I did enjoy the exhibition I would recommend this exhibition to anyone interested in fashion and dance as he manages to very successfully incorporate these strains of the arts into his works.

I left the gallery feeling artistically inspired, wanting to go sew a colourful costume and dance.