Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
The Yorkshire Sculpture Park is an art gallery, with both open-air and indoor exhibition spaces. It occupies the 500-acre parkland of Bretton Hall, founded in 1977.
William Kentridge has an exhibition currently at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, titled: The Pull of Gravity.
Only in doing this research and properly hearing his name said in my head, do I remember that I have seen an exhibition of his before as a University trip.
I recognise his scribble cat, coffee pot and the use of textile backdrops.
The exhibition spanned multiple rooms, the first of which features two large sculptures which, from reading the information board, I was told were taking inspiration from shadows. Giving such an ephemeral thing a form. But I found that the things that stood infront of me (throughout the exhibition) asside from being black and having the charcoal smudgy quality, were not really shadow-like. The concept/goal was contradictory and unattainble.
In the first room there were props which we were invited to explore our creativity with (and take photos to tag the sculpture park and other people) but I found the props entirely unrelated to the artworks and there were no rules or guidelines to what we could do with the props and artworks (could I put a hat on it? could I stand on the stage? or was I meant to just pose like the sculpture?)
This first room felt odd compared to the rest of the exhibition.
I enjoyed the aesthetics of the exhibition space, there was four rooms total- my favourites were the final two. The second was a video cave- which was interesting but I didn’t connect fully with this for whatever reason. (maye too many screens)
The third room displayed many small sculptures- which I loved. I think they were beautiful living room pieces, for either a coffee table or shelf.
The fourth room gave me slight Wes Anderson vibes with the colours and composition of certain elements.
I most enjoyed the horse image overlayed on the textile map- which is similar to what I’ve seen from him in the past. I loved noticing the more human figure in the centre of the horse- especially considering that the figure seems to be wearing a gas mask. I found this imagery to be much more immediately impactful- as opposed to the strangeness of the Nose horse riders.
I also liked the 2D into 3D effect of the charcoal coffee pot sculptures.
My favourites were the horses and goat. While abstract isn’t often my thing- I love the gestural forms and impressionism of these sculptures.
There was a section of horse sculptures in the fourth room which were all about how subverting the traditional heroic horse sculptures by having them ridden by noses. I didn’t read into this (or anything much about the artwork, as I wasn’t in the mood) so I didn’t fully appreciate this part of the works. I felt the noses were ruining a good sculpture- but that’s potential would be in these works between aesthical art and communicative art.
In the hallway between rooms in the gallery were other larger scale sculptures, of humanoid figures a squiggly cat and the coffee pot. These were enjoyable motifs to keep the viewer diving deeper into the exhibition.
The Yorkshire Sculpture Park is an EXTENSIVE grounds for artwork and nature. It is vitality important that we keep funding such places. Their beauty and enrichment are endlessly valuable. It was a beautiful day when I went with my loved ones, and I had a fantastic time. Extending from the sculpture park itself, we saw sheep and lambs on our drive into the carpark- and had a delicious selection on lunches at the cafe. Please visit if you get a chance.
I would also like to mention how beautiful it was to see myself represented by the sculpture park through the inclusion of Claye Bowler’s piece ‘Over My Dead Body’ Upon the approach up the hill where this piece is located I immediately said ‘Look, it’s me’.
Having recently had top surgery myself, I am well aquainted with the scars- and to see those celebrated in a way I relate to is very special. It is important to me to know that when I do pass on, my body will better reflect the person I was in life. Transness is beautiful, heartbreaking and triumphant.
