cubeOPEN

So I managed to get to the cubeOPEN 2010 exhibition, preview night. I went with two other students that expressed an interest in seeing new art on a wet Thursday night. The was wine flowing and I think that at least, picked up on my antennae. I like the CUBE though, they often have good shows on like the A.N.D exhibition last month, the odd exhibition previously when the just had an empty gallery space and the some others that I just can't remember at this present time.

Once again, there was good and not so good work on offer. The collection of hard hats with things attached to the top didn't float my boat, There were just too many of them, it kind of negated the specialness of the concept..very blue-peter. The Vase in the Wall was a neat idea and had me and a fellow visitor perplexed until we started to investigate.

My favourite piece of work was the collection of four A1 photographs of places in Blackpool. They were very engaging to say the least. You could even smell the seaside and it's various aromas..doughnut fat, diesel, rust, piss and sweat.. I'd even go as far as say that these exhibits should win the exhibition and I'd love to own one..and I know which one I want...

The elephant in the room was the huge Tatlinesque tower that had multicoloured boards attached and three television screens. This piece was a training sculpture for foxes. The TVs had a fox gradually making its way up the sculpture..Me and my friend stood transfixed, eagering the fox along. We were then approached by the two artists who made this and brought on the concept. They were pleasent enough..listening to two art students rabbiting on about 'their' work and basically have a good blether. We took some photos, exchanged pleasentries and beavered on.

I'll need to upload some photos of this event soon because they can be sometimes lost in translation.

After stalking out the winner of the previous year, Simon de Ruiz, we had a good fifteen minutes of interaction time. He explained to us his concepts, his background and his reasonings. What I found quite profound was the way he took on board whatr other artists thought of his work and they think what makes other artists tick..is that makes sense.. By being the winner of last year, he got the chance to hold a mini-exhibition and he selected work from several years witrh work he has just been doing. I wanted to find the relationship between the pieces and when I told him my thoughts, he took a few minutes and agreed..

Overall, it was a good night of art watching, mingling and wine drinking..