Hockney's Latest Exhibition

David Hockney's latest exhibition, David Hockney RA: A Bigger Picture is being held in the Royal Academy of Arts,  from the 21st January 2013 to the 9th April 2013. The works span a 50 year period to demonstrate Hockney’s long exploration and fascination with the depiction of landscape. New work that dates from 2005 captures the beauty of the changing seasons, the cycle of growth and the journey that Hockney has taken through his beloved landscapes in Yorkshire.

The exhibition also reveals how Hockney has embraced new technology, including his early use of the Polaroid, his innovative use of the colour photocopier, and more recently his iPhone and iPad. The exhibition includes a display of his iPad drawings and a series of new films produced using 18 cameras, which are displayed on multiple screens and provide a spellbinding visual journey through the eyes of David Hockney.

Flier

Love the illustration and hand rendered type on this flier for Propaganda events

Design for Exhibitions

It is usually curators who select particular pieces to put into a display, to tell a story or present common themes. For example, the Wilberforce House Museum in Hull, has many different mediums to communicate and educate the public, such as free MP3 downloads on their website, which are suitable for adults and children. It is a multi-sensory experience with colour aids and audio guides for orientation around the exhibition. There are also Animateurs, who communicate historical facts in an engaging way for the young audience.

The Usher Gallery is just finishing exhibiting Transmitter/ Receiver: The Persistence of Collage, which I visited today. The aim of my visit was to look at the labelling and layout of the exhibition in particular.
The labelling was close to the pieces, unlike the white cube aesthetic which was inspired by the minimalist modernism. Instead I found that the labelling of this exhibition was not overpowering, although black text on white, and I put this down to the sans serif type used, which was much softer.

My favourite piece in the exhibition was Mark Titchner's The Invisible Republic, 2006. Inkjet on vinyl. The description read: Made for the It Is You exhibition at the Arnolfini, Bristol in 2006, The Invisible Republic exemplifies all the hopes and ideals of today's culturally overly- aware society.  Taken from corporate mission statements, the text is relentless in its demanding of improvement, potential, and collective contribution towards a better future for the viewer. Titchner makes a wry comment on the state of art today, and its position within our commercial society.

I don't think I've ever considered how much work and thought goes into producing such an exhibition, involving multiple design fields to collaborate, such as Interactive Design (how the audience move through the space), Informative Design ( organises the presentation of content) and Sensorial Design (Lighting, colour, sound and movement). Graphic designers also have to work with certain constraints, such as, a budget, the attention span of the audience, possible policies of word counts, the exhibition space and the genre and style of the gallery.

The Sweeney

After seeing The Sweeney, directed by Nick Love, last night at the cinema, which tells the story of a hardened detective in the notorious Flying squad of London's Metropolitan police. Based on the '70s Uk hit TV show featuring John Thaw and Dennis Waterman.