Last Wednesday, I visited a pre private viewing of Jaume Plensa's exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, this was all thanks to keeping a blog, as the invitation came through facebook and was aimed at using social media in a positive way to promote our culture. So having jumped on a train up to Wakefield, then a short bus ride out to the park, we were met by the very silky catalonian who talked about his work. I have to admit to not really hearing the words, just the sounds.
Feeling slightly reminescent of being herded, the group of about 50 tweeters, bloggers, facebookers or whatever social media they connect to the world with, followed the curators and Plensa down to the Longside Gallery, where the bull fight for photos and a few words with the man himself were challenged and consequently won by the more confident with their own words than me. After a short while we wandered into the first gallery where 3 gormley-esque monkeys were positioned on the walls, and the great man bathed us in his charimatic voice, again, didn't really hear the words, just the sounds but the words 'caress' and 'communicate' did stick in my brain... why oh why didn't I record it!!!
If Plensa's voice was chocolate, it would definately be Green & Blacks... But I really should be concentrating on his art...
The art, was a mixture of wonderful sensitivity and text, while inducing the viewer to really think about what the piece means. The sheer size of some of the pieces gives them a sublimity that is breathtaking, while the figures sat holding desperately onto trees invoked a feeling of urgency and determination to grasp out surrounding environment and keep it safe.
There is something very peaceful about Plensas work, it demands quiet contemplation and reverie to enable you to interpret the meaning in a subjective way.
It is definately worth the effort to head up the M1 to the Sculpture Park - http://www.ysp.co.uk/ - while this exhibition is on and spend the day absorbing some wonderful art in the best gallery setting ever. You can also read more on The Culture Vulture blog at http://theculturevulture.co.uk/blog/ for more information on the exhibition.
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