At the end of last term Art and Photography A level students took a trip to Venice to see some of the artwork and take pictures to inspire our work.
We first saw a Damien Hirst exhibition called ‘Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable.’ It involved huge rock-like sculptures he had sunk to the bottom of the sea for 10 years to become rusty and grow corals on their surfaces. His project was revolved around the idea of fake news, claiming that he had found these sculptures under the sea and that they were thousands of years old. He created a variety of different pieces; some gold, some stone and some rock with painted on corals. His work was very unique and I was able to take photos to use in my project.
My personal favourite part of the trip was going to the Biennale which is a bi-annual art festival. There were many buildings for different countries of the world and one artist was chosen to represent each country with their work. It was interesting because you could almost feel the culture of different countries through the chosen artwork. For example, in ‘Japan’ they had many tiny cranes made from the threads of the cloths that were in the centre of the room. It looked like a deserted landscape being developed whilst incorporating the ethnicity of the delicate thread.
On the last day we got to see Peggy Guggenheim’s art collection. She collected the works of Picasso, Kandinsky Chagal and others. The pieces were very abstract – many of them were from the impressionist/post-impressionist era and some were vibrant, particularly the Art Deco pieces. We also did some sketching by the canal, took photos of the surroundings and got to see the detailed architecture of Venice’s old buildings.
Overall the trip was fantastic; it was enriching, fun and educational and the food was great!
Tsofia Lauber
