angels of anarchy opened to national reviews at the city gallery at the end of september. there was a glamorous sounding preview attended by most of manchester (except myself as usual - always the last to know...) plus the irrepressible jeanette winterson for good measure. everyone seemed to have been there or at least be talking about it....
so far so usual. its not too often that a gallery gives its space over to an all female perspective and when it does it can garner as much criticism as praise. so i was intrigued by the premise. but without the invitation to submit a review of the exhibition to a strict deadline, im still not sure i would have attended - partly because of the price tag, partly because of the subject matter and partly i have to confess because im rarely excited by the city art gallery.
but a couple of things drew me there....the opportunity to find out more about the intriguing leonora carrington, a personal favourite of mine, and curiosity to see what this new lens, this new way of looking at an easily stereotyped art movement, might reveal: a counter balance to the whitworth's subversive spaces show earlier in the year, which similarly debunked myths and preconceptions, but from a totally different perspective. unlike angels of anarchy the whitworth show toured and can still be seen at the Sainsbury Centre UEA, Norwich, 29 Sep-13 Dec.
writing for a deadline and with word contraints is rather different than pootling about in a corner of cyberspace, chattering to yourself about whatever arcane topic takes your fancy, and predictably i found the task difficult. im not sure that what eventually emerged was an actual art review - im not an art critic, just a citizen with an interest in piecing together some insight into recent and contemporary culture from the many creative outputs available to me, but together with the other reviews posted up by more experienced art reviewers and bloggers, a peruse of the angels of anarchy website should hopefully inspire you to take a trip over to the city art gallery and make up your own mind...
whatever your perspective, this is a landmark exibition, and together with the whitty's subversive spaces is an unmissable opportunity to catch first hand the results of the usually invisible world of the academic researcher in the fields of visual culture and history of art. their painstaking work, four years or so in the making, has given this old bluestocking, at least, much food for thought.
angels of anarchy is showing at MAG until 10 january 2010. visit their dedicated website for information, a programme of surrealist events and activities, and a whole host of opinions and reviews, including my own...
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