Body Language at the Saatchi Gallery

I recently went to see the new show at the Saatchi Gallery. It's called "Body Language". There were a lot of colourful varied pieces with a lot of different influences. Sadly, my trip there was sort of ruined by two groups of students there on a school trip. They were really uninterested and making it very difficult to appreciate the art. So I rushed through the gallery staring longer at the pieces that intrigued me most. 

One of my favourite things about the Saatchi Gallery is that they integrate paintings, photographs and sculpture. This then leads them to use the space in a really interesting way, and it may be part of the reason for why I keep going back. They also always have things that you can't see any where else. The selection of pieces is always broad and diverse and thought provoking even if all you're thinking about is the composition.

The Saatchi Gallery is just one of my favourite places in London and it makes me happy to live here. It is one of the few places where I can be completely alone and be surrounded by ideas without feeling lonely or overwhelmed. 

Here's their website: http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/body_language/

Paper Exhibit: Saatchi Gallery

I've probably said it before that I'm a huge fan of the Saatchi Gallery. I've even joined their mailing list, and therefore become a Saatchi member. This way I always know if there's something good, and new to see. A few days before I left London for the summer I got an email saying there was something new, a Paper Exhibit. 

So I invited a few friends to see the new collection with me. Upon arriving I realized I had already seen the art in the ground floor and I was hoping there was at least 4 rooms filled with new things. And there were. I was really impressed by the different things people created with paper. 

There were paper coffee cups with intricate drawings all over them. There were huge wall hanging drawings which had several tiny details as well as huge sketching features. There was also an installation filling a whole room made out of coloured paper kites. But I think the best thing I saw was trees cut into paper shopping bags. They were so tiny, so perfect, and it really looked like the tree was fully made by the cut out on the top of the bag, which then created the correct light on the tree.

It's usually hard to describe art with words, so I'll let the pictures speak more than me. But the exhibition ends soon, and its really worth seeing, if innovative art is something you think you might like. Or it's just a good place to hide from the rain and broaden your knowledge of the visual arts. 

Here's the gallery's website: http://www.saatchigallery.com/

Hermes at the Saatchi Gallery

In May 2013 there was a craft fair at the Saatchi Gallery. The craft people showing their work were people from the Hermes workshops in France. There were many different different mini studios set up showing the craftsmen at work. There was a leather worker, a tie maker, a print maker, a bag maker and a watch maker. It was incredible to see all the work behind one item which we then get to hold. 

There was a live show showing the silk printing of the silk Hermes scarfs. The presentation had a man explaining the process and the actual person doing the printing. The man explained that yes Hermes do use machines but "Hermes has found the perfect balance between man and the machine" for all of their products. The work surface in the Gallery only had enough space to print two scarfs at a time being a table of about 4 meters in length. In their workshop (they do not like you calling it a "factory"), the table is 100 meters long, so that they can print more scarfs at once. 

The technique has very many steps, each colour has to be printed on in different layers, starting with the darkest and then going to the lightest. However if the darkest colour takes up a lot of space on the silk then it must be printed last because it will remain wet longer than the lighter colours. In their workshop their tables have heaters underneath so that the ink dries faster. Also everything in their workshop is monitored, the temperature of the silk is measured so that it can be the perfect humidity and the ink stays on the silk the longest possible. 

Every year they come out with 10 prints for the fall and 10 prints for the spring. Out of these prints the colourists must come up with 20 different colour combinations on the same pattern where then only 10 get selected. All the heads of the international branched of Hermes then come together in Paris and select the coloured prints that will sell the most in their countries and make their order for the factories. Occasionally certain prints are brought back in new colours to update the old designs.

Each of the Hermes designs are meant to show a story, every image they print they collected from around the world. Culture is a very important thing in the Hermes family. After seeing into the way Hermes works at this work shop, I was inspired to try to work with them. Companies who have a story mean a lot to me, and I think its important to cherish tradition as well as bringing in modern things and they are able to do this with their scarfs. 

Here's the Saatchi Gallery website: http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/

and here's the Hermes site: http://uk.hermes.com/