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Having seen the beauty of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park´s permanent collections in West Bretton in Wakefield many times, we headed straight for the temporary exhibition by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa. You may know him for his giant head that protrudes over the trees in St. Helen´s near Liverpool. Along the same lines this exhibition focuses on the dialogue, landscape and sculpture together, whilst the underlying personal sensory experience is paramount to reading his work.
The luck of arriving early meant that we got to fully experience the exhibition and its sensory properties in the peace and quiet of the gallery walls with little intinterruption from others. As we paced through the five rooms of the exhibition shadow and light fuel moments of quiet contemplation. His use of the human form, use of language and the visual impact lend to the viewer looking in whilst looking out. Seeing the words like insomnia, peace, paranoia and lover it is difficult for anyone to ignore these emotional prompts whilst looking at the delicate form of the human body.
Whilst walking through this exhibition it is impossible to ignore another promprominentse being triggered – sound. Unusual for a gallery exhibition where silence is the norm, Plensa´s use of sound is another interatcion with his audience, which adds dimensions onto the viewing experience. The main corridor echos a soft and romantic sound of steel letters twinkling at the hands of fellow viewers. A collection of words hang from ceeling to floor creating a visual wall of language, light and reflection.
The other sound is a deep gong, vibrating throughout the five rooms in a low, mesmerising sound movement. It made me think about a sound you would associate with the start of old films or temples of the East. The sound is enough to reverberate throughout. The room holds a circle of huge golden gongs, each engraved with pàrts of poetry or text. Darkness is dence, but a golden light falls to the floor casting shaddows which radiate the room.
The whole exhibition makes you use your senses which in turn makes you think about the delicate nature of life and the etheral nature of being human. Go to enjoy the natural green of the YSP natural space and the interesting ideas presented by Plensa. The YSP has a USP… it holds art work of great artists, but in a way that is more easy going than most ´typical´ gallery spaces. The fact that you can be viewing works whilst kids are playing football or dogs are snoozing in the sunshine near by, gives a gentle approach to the viewing of art that can be enjoyed by all rather than just the regular gallery goer.
Yorkshire Sculpture Park
West Bretton
Wakefield
WF4 4LG
Website
Words by Carol-Anne Ward,Art Correspondent @ AC-PR & Creative Boutique
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