Serpentine Gallery | Serpentine Pavilion

Following the V&A visit the next stop of my journey
was the Serpentine Gallery and Pavilion. The structure
at the pavilion was a colourful vibrant construct
designed by architect Selgascano experimenting
with a plastic medium. His work primarily focuses
on african design closely linking with his identity
and heritage.

The temporary construct is a captivating structure
thats energetic colour palette is matched by its
natural shape and intricate detail.

Serpentine Gallery

Citrine by the Ounce 2014
Oil on canvas

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, a female
artist of Ghanaian descent lives in
London primarily working with oil
on canvas.  Above her oil canvas
work was presented at the
Serpentine Gallery.

It conveys muted colours purely
focusing on natural forms of
people from Ghanaian
decent. The forms expressed
through the medium are harsh
but also natural portraying the
identity of each subject on the
canvas with realistic accuracy. 

Some Distance From Now 2013
-Oil on canvas

Interesting architecture fixed to the Serpentine Gallery.
Also a worthy note I also managed to scare away
Shia Labeouf who was just casually having a stroll
through the Duane Hanson exhibition in South
Kensington. If that last sentence sounded unbelievably
calm for the context of the sentence it's probably
because it's taken me about 4 days to eventually
calm down about it.  

Above a photograph of a water fountain formed
from garden hoses. Would of much preferred
a picture of Shia instead here but he was off
too fast. Gutted. 

Anyway, Duane Hanson throughout his forty-year
career has made lifelike sculptures portraying the
identity of working class Americans. The variety of
age, gender and build offers a surreal environment
which captures people in their daily positions in a
freeze frame.

The exhibition itself was quite unnerving especially
with so many bodies in this pause like freeze frame.
Unlike the other exhibitions I had visited throughout
the day this particular visit was more interactive and
allowed the viewer to react independently.
Additionally, it forced the audience to conjure up
the identity of these wax figures as specific details
of the work were unavailable with
the sculptures themselves.

This interestingly made me personally look beyond
just the aesthetics of these people and manufacture
a story such as their daily routines or past life.
Overall, it was a compelling exhibition that
unconsciously fixated me on the subject of identity.
Therefore a fitting end to my journey to the Serpentine
Gallery and the V&A.

Above: Trash representing the disposed of items that
creates a person character. 

Above: Rodeo worker leaning against
the wall. An unfamiliar sight in central
London and was a highlight of the
exhibition as Duane Hanson truly brings
all types of American working class
identities into the exhibition.

General workers scattered around the
exhibition all were based off of the same
wax sculpture. Possibly an indirect focus
at how the working class is treated and
how they are perceived as all the same. 

Above: This one almost caught me out. Wax
sculptures posing as tourists visiting the exhibition.