25 September 2008 at 6pm
For this month’s Spin event, we will be visiting the Gallery of Modern Art to see the work of Tracey Emin.
Emin’s art discloses the intimate details of her life across a range of media: drawing, filmmaking, installation, painting, neon, photography, sewn work and sculpture. She exposes herself, her hopes, humiliations, failures and successes in a direct and frank manner which is often tragic and at times, humorous.
Emin studied at the Royal College of Art in London from 1987-1989, eventually destroying all her work following a traumatic abortion. She only began working again around 1993, producing confessional letters, and then combining texts with objects and mementos from her youth. These works propelled her to the forefront of the YBA (Young British Artist) scene.
This exhibition looks at the full range of her work, from the rarely seen early work to the iconic My Bed. Joining us in discussion will be Glyn Davis, Lecturer at Glasgow School of Art.
29 May 2003 at 6pm
For this month’s Spin event, we are going to look at the dynamic portraits exhibition by Mario Testino. Our invited guest will be Glyn Davis, Lecturer in Film and Media Studies at Edinburgh College of Art, who will reflect upon the works in this spectacular and fashionable show.
Some of the questions we will consider in the show are;
Portraits, are they art or not?
How do we go about evaluating portraits of people in the public eye?
What are the different visual dialogues that occur within the show?
Mario Testino is one of fashion’s most-sought-after and charismatic photographers, whose name is synonymous with images of glamour, style and joie de vivre. Based in London, Testino travels extensively for international fashion magazines, whilst his work has been exhibited widely in Europe and Japan. Mario Testino: Portraits brings together over 100 photographs, in which he has captured contemporary celebrities from the worlds of fashion, film and music. His subjects include Robbie Williams, Catherine Zeta Jones, Liz Hurley, Kate Moss, Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna, as well as Diana, Princess of Wales, photographed shortly before her death in 1997. Much of the fascination of his work lies in today’s cult of celebrity, youth, and a particular ideal of beauty.
