fantasy and fear

My immediate feeling when entering the gallery was a feeling of being lost in a fairy tale or walking into a children's book. The airy feeling you got when entering continued as my eye scanned quickly through the Forest Glade as I felt as if I was trying to escape from something trailing behind me. It was a feeling of Little Red Riding Hood meets Goldie Locks and the Three Bears. The works were a bit odd at first, but when I really looked at each object they made sense to why they were there along with the sections as to which they were put in. The 'Bathboat' by Wieki Somers made you feel as if you could escape from this forest right away and find safety. The work in the Forest Glade was all a sense of elegance and Victorian with the lace and delicate quality that some of the pieces had, but over all the pieces were all intriguing, beautiful and creatively crafted.

In the Forest glade I liked the 'Fig Leaf' wardrobe by Tord Boontje. The image of it was just memorizing with its height and cascade of beautifully crafted leaves with hand panted strokes and eye catching luster as the light hit it and your eye examined every detail. It had a feeling of power to it and the size made you feel as if you were below it in power. When it opened, it felt like wings coming out to grab you and protect you from what was ever out to harm you. Tord Boontje regards the fig as a symbol of fertility, associating it with oases and the biblical notion of Paradise. The snake persuaded Adam and Eve to eat an apple from the tree of knowledge. They then fell from grace and were expelled from Paradise, wearing only fig leaves to hide their new found shame. Ironically, the wardrobe only becomes 'dressed' when its user is not.
The Enchanted Castle was my favorite section of the exhibition. It was large in size and felt as if you were in the halls or court of a king or queen. The objects were very ornately detailed and looked expensive and less rugged. Some shinned like diamonds and were covered in gold and metallic while others were beautifully crafted marble and ceramic. My Favorite pieced from the Enchanted Castle was the 'Robber Baron' jewel safe by Job Smeets. The Clown head made you feel like you were playing with the jester in a castle, but its scary look of greed and evil made you take a step back and really look at the meaning behind this not so happy clown. Its face was cast in gold and its panted mouth and other features popped out against the luster of the shinny metal. The bugs crawling around the vase on top of the clowns head gave you a creepy feeling but the chunks of gold that the clowns head was mounted on looked as if it was a thing of beauty and pulled you eye in to look for more. This piece showed the ugly side of success and how money and power can lead to greed and sorrow. The people you walk over to get to a higher power are the ones that will have the last laugh in the end. The tiny bugs crawling along the vase were these people.
Heaven and Hell was a very interesting part of the exhibit but I found it difficult to really see some of the objects though the small openings that you were meant to see that pieces from. I really liked the 'Sensory Deprivation Skull' by Joep van Lieshout and I also liked the 'Perished bench' by Job Smeets. I had a hard time choosing which I liked better. The 'Sensory Deprivation Skull' was so large in size and the idea of being able to sit inside of a skull to have a tea was just so great. I liked how it was simple with smooth lines and textures and not over done. it was obvious what it was but not to obvious at the same time. In the 'Perished Bench' the patten the skeleton of the dead animals were absolutely stunning and I would love this as wall paper somewhere in my house! It was also large and not your average look or size of an everyday bench. The top half looked like it was part of a screen with arms on each side with the bottom half for the sitting area. The colors were black and gold which helped to make the bones pop and grab the viewers attention.

The display of the objects in each section were all carefully though tout and helped to guide you on your path though the exhibition. In the Forest Glade you stated off with the honey comb vase and wooded objects and work your way through to the lace on the bed and chair and so on. The lighting was dimmed but highlighted the proper areas of the work. In the Honey Comb piece you could really see how it was transparent and its busy glowed through the carefully made individual combs. The Enchanted Castle was large and bright. Everything felt like it was looking back at you with the floor and walls looking like mirrors. The light hit the metallic objects just right as the stone, wood and ceramic objects also glistened and took you through out the rest of the story. In Heaven and Hell the objects were kept in very dark surroundings. The Marble lounge and light were dimly lite to give you the dark and dreary feeling but still showed off its beauty and detail. The other objects were in separate rooms where you had to look through small windows, which were also dimly lite. It gave them a dead feeling and put you mind in a different perspective. Each section was set up and divided in a way to make the objects relationship with one another feel like a complete story.

The proper display of your objects may help in table theater because it will help you to fully think of why you are choosing your objects and how can you best show off there meaning and best qualities. Also, if you do understand there meaning, the way you pair them up and making sure they compliment one another in a proper way so they re inspire you is important. By seeing the different feeling you get by just changing the lighting on an object is also another way to evoke another look and feeling to your objects that you may have not thought they had.

In all of the different areas of the exhibition the titles played and important role in every piece. My favorite title was in the Enchanted Castle room, the work was titled 'Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend 1' by Matali Crasset. I find this title to be very fun and flirty in a way. The object is a larger than life lantern in the shape of a huge diamond that you would find in a cave. Its sharp angles and cuts make it a wonderful work of art. If you gave any diamond this size to any girl I'm sure she would be your best friend for a very long time.
The second title that I found to be interesting was in the Heaven and Hell exhibition it was titled 'Do You Hear What I Hear?' by Kelly McCallum. In this piece you see a beautiful taxidermy fox with gold plated larvae crawling out. Its meant to embody life and death, as in the fox has died and with in it eggs have been laid and from the dead fox life comes out. In this case the life is gold, and crawling out of the what looks to be alive, fox. Very interesting, and the title was one that for sure caught my eye.

The Designer in the exhibition that I found myself most going back to and liking more than one of there pieces in the gallery was Job Smeets. I have a large infatuation with gold, luster and odd objects that may come off as creepy but can be made in to beautiful works of art. His piece 'Perished' bench the gold fossil looking pieces put in a patten against the black bench really look so nice together and could be a design all on its own. Also, in his piece 'Robber Baron' jewel safe his used gold again and the scary image of a clown to make greed look gorgeous. All of his work seems to have a feeling of sophistication and richness while still being out of the box and his own.