Manchester Art Gallery - Reflction,Imagination,Repetition

The Reflection-Imagination-Repetition exhibition at the Manchester Art Gallery was inspiring to view as it is a collection of over 40 artists in order to consider how the public view, reflect and see how our own imaginations percieve particular pieces of artwork which are set out to bend our perception of normality.

As you walk into this exhibition within the Gallery the first piece you see is this series of 4 photographs by Rasheed Araeen called 'Christmas Day' commissioned in 1979. This piece particularly caught my eye as you can sense the feeling of loneliness within each piece. There is literal reflection in these photographs as Rasheed himself is taking images of his own reflection through a train window, all taken on Christmas day. As this is the first piece you see in the exhibition, it definitely sets up your mind for what is to come within the rest of the exhibition as you walk through the main rooms due to the bright vivid colours and odd perceptions of ones own viewpoint.

From a curatorial viewpoint, I believe that the layout of the artwork within this exhibition was particularly well set out, compared to other exhibitions within the gallery. The series of paintings and photographs included within this exhibition were curated in a sizely, proportionate fashion. Pieces with similar tones and colours were placed in close proximity to one another to add a sense of uniformity, although there was occasionally one large bright piece to break up the dull, muted coloured pieces. For example this 3 set piece by Mona Hatoum named static portraits, 2000, which consisted of three blown up polaroids was curated relatively simple although was still extremely effective as the uniformity lined up proportionally. Since visiting the gallery I have realised that this technique must have been in ode to the Repetition part of the exhibition as a large amount of the pieces were uniform, which relates to the series of repetition.      

Overall, this exhibition within the Manchester art gallery was extremely stimulating for the imagination as no limits were reached in relation to artwork. The lighting of the gallery was significantly positive compared to other galleries and exhibitions I have visited. All pieces were correctly lit without any shadows blocking out certain parts of the artwork. This gives the impression of professionalism within the gallery as it is well curated.