Adventures to the Manchester Art Gallery

(Can't be bothered reading this? Visit http://youtu.be/FSh2khUxlmk to hear me read it instead)

The Manchester Art Gallery is a fantastic (almost) hidden gem and can be found just down the road from Piccadilly Gardens. Heading down Mosley Street, with the trams trundling next to you, you'll meet a collumned Victorian building. The foyer is high ceilinged, bright and spacious. A nice start.

While there are more permanent exhibitions (from the 17th century and onwards), the few guest exhibitions I've seen have been fantastic. The first, about six months ago, was the Roger Ballen exhibition. I had never even heard of Roger Ballen but apparently he's influential enough to direct a video for the (slightly strange) group Die Antwoordt.

The exhibition was amazing, nothing can prepare you for how scary this photo is his photos are* when it's they are printed life-size - the characters stare so intently that I felt as if I was one-half of a cat fight; scared even to look away or to turn my back on them.

Check out Roger Ballen's back catalogue on Artsy - the digital platform for collecting and discovering art.**

Today, I journeyed into a windy and drizzly Manchester to visit another photography exhibition. Focal Points: Art and Photograpy aims to show how photographers and modern artists have used the medium in new ways. A quote from the website promises that "The artwoks often find ways of making the familiar strange and the ugly beautiful". This description explains the cinema interiors, drunken fathers, obscured tower blocks and lonely cows which are positioned along the walls. One video, composed of slow, empty shots of the New Jersey skyline set to Asleep by The Smiths brilliantly makes the familiar strange (Artist: Cyprien Gaillard – The Smithsons, this wasn't technically in the "Focal Points" exhibition). The buildings look alien and out of place, almost oppressive. The lack of humans made me notice the difference between the dull, linear, utilitarian concrete structures and the blowing, chaotic forest which provided the only movement in most of the scenes. 

In terms of "making the ugly beautiful" - this image by Donald Rodney wins the prize for most beautiful ugly image. 

Donald Rodney - In The House Of My Father, 1996-97

That house, sitting in the artist's hand is his own skin. While being treated for sickle-cell anaemia, Donald Rodney composed this shot entitled "In The House Of My Father". The title refers to his own body, the place his father built and which the artist lived in. The house in his palm is light and airy, delicate and thin and looks as though it could be blown away, or crushed with a clench of the fist. 

There's some great stuff happening in Manchester, so get down and start having a look around.
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*EDIT 16 April 2018: The link to the photo I embedded was broken, so I removed the photo and updated the text

** EDIT 16 April 2018: Added link to Artsy webpage after they contacted me to make me aware of the resource