Whats happening now

There is always lots of different things going on that you can go and see. As in any creative industry it is good to keep up to date with whats going on in the world of design. This involves going to different  exhibitions and events to see what is current and what is working within the industry.

Here are a few events and links to web pages that i have found that are happening around England in the coming months:

Richard Hamilton was a pioneer of the pop art genre and one of the most influential artists of the last century. His work is being showcased at the Tate Modern from Thursday 13th February until Monday 26th may http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/richard-hamilton


Dick Bruna is most well known for creating the much loved children's book character Miffy. as it is coming up to his 60th anniversary since the first publication of 'The apple' the Foyles book shop is hosting an exhibition showing Dick Bruna's work on tuesday 6th August 2013  http://www.foyles.co.uk/Dick-Bruna-Exhibition

Here are a few examples of galleries that are really well known especially for exhibiting illustrations

Illustrative festival Berlin

This festival is a bi annual festival celebrating and showing art and illustration from all around the world.  This festival is not set in stone to be held at a specific time of the year and some years it is not ran at all so with things like this you have to keep up to date with what is going on and where you can exhibit your work. Festivals are great for showing your work to lost of people in a small amount of time. This festival is also particularly good for young illustrators as every year they have a young illustrators award.
Find their website here

House of Illustration

This company is great for illustrators in particular as they curate touring exhibitions, run international competitions and put on events with some of the worlds leading illustrators. They are also working towards opening up their own public gallery and education space especially for illustration. 

Find their website here

The illustration cupboard 

This is a great place for illustrators to showcase their work as this gallery is well known throughout the illustration industry. The illustration cupboard is a central London gallery that shows some of the best contemporary illustrations from around the world. This gallery is mainly focussed on children's books.

Find their website Here

Exhibitions

Galleries are a prefect platform for self promotion and selling your work. They are also great to see what people seem to like most about your work, this in return will help you to develop and refine creatively.

There is different types of exhibitions to suit everyone's target audience and style. To hold an exhibition or have your work on display it should be well thought through and considered before going ahead and showcasing your work. There are a few things in particular that should be considered:

• Your target audience, are you showing your work in the correct setting where your target audience will see it?
• Layout, will how you've displayed your work be visually pleasing and intrigue viewers
• Price, if you are selling your work think about and consider who will be wanting to buy it e.g business men  and women or young students. Does your price fit with the target audience.
• does your work represent your target audience well.  

Here are a few examples of exhibitions that i really like and think work well. I decided to focus on looking at the layouts and overall look rather than the art itself.

William J. O'Brien, 'The Lovers', Installation view, Almine Rech Gallery, Paris. © William J. O'Brien. Photo 

I really like the installation above because i think the bright patterns stand out really well against the white walls. I think it brings out the paintings in a really nice way. I also like how they are placed a bit mis mashed it is a nice change to the average perfectly placed gallery picture. This kind of exhibition would be good for all types of different people as it looks fun but at the same time professional.

Chicken Leg Window on the Moran Street Installation

I really love how the artwork above is displayed it is so unique and the colours work so well together. I really love the fact that the artist has utilised an old house to show art work in a creative way. This approach wouldn't really work for commercial sale unless it was done on the side of a building to promote people to come to an exhibition you might be holding. 

  I love the simplicity of the way the space within the above exhibition has been used. the layout and frames compliment the work beautifully and the monochrome colour scheme works perfectly within the art work. I think the natural wood frames bring the whole thing together. this exhibition would work well within a small gallery with a target audience of the every day person or art student i would say. I think the setting doesn't look high end enough to be targeted at more wealthy people. 

After looking at a few different exhibitions that i like i have discovered that i like exhibitions that have a bit more of a unique quirky look to them. I prefer a more junk shop look to a clean sterile looking gallery with everything placed perfectly in the centre of a wall.