Bill Henson and Eye 4 Photography

[Geoff]

Hi All,
We are off to the NSW Art Gallery tomorrow to see Bill Hensons work http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/current/bill_henson etc..then to the State LIbrary to see the Eye 4 Photography Exhibition http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/photography/exhibition.cfm. Just wondering if anyone had been to either and what they thought? Cheers,


Geoff.

[Nnnnsic]

Haven't seen the Library exhibition (though I prob will next week) but I didn't think too much of the Bill Henson exhibition.

Might be cause I've seen too much of his work (I'm updating one of his press files at the moment), but I only thought the first of his colours and both rooms of his collage work was actually interesting.

It was worth seeing and I'll be interested to see the new work in a couple of months as none of the work there is particularly new.

[rokkstar]

Geoff.

I went to the Bill Henson gallery and was thouroughly unimpressed. I've voiced comments on another thread somewhere on this forum so I dont want to repeat myself, but basically I didn't get why he was a great photographer at all.

I am off to the E4P exhib this weekend too so look forward to hearing your review of that.

Matt

[Matt. K]

Geoff
Been to both. Henson has about 5 images that I thought were the pinnacle of what it was he was trying to achieve. Not impressed at all with the other 200. The exhibition at the Library is wonderful. Some very old, stunningly beautiful images crafted by masters. What a difference.

[rokkstar]

Henson has about 5 images that I thought were the pinnacle of what it was he was trying to achieve.

That was my sentiment exactly. A few of the staged opera audience portraits and that was it.

[Nnnnsic]

See, the Opera series has never impressed me. I liked the ones where he ripped apart other images and made those massive collages in that really tall and dark room most of all.

[rokkstar]

Nnnnsic, that was the one room where I found myself at a complete loss as to what it actually was he was doing. I completely tuned out then.
That's the beauty of art though I guess, it's all subjective.

[Nnnnsic]

It probably helped that I've been studying art at NAS for a few years (with that in mind, I don't like art much...)

[Matt. K]

An object of art used to be a thing of great beauty...now any old pile of crap is called art.

[paull]

With hindsight it can be quite easy to judge great art. Its simply something which endures and moves from the new and the novel to something that continues to engage and bring something into our lives. My philo teacher used to say good art put him into the zone - it made time and space disappear for him and brought him closer to the art itself.

Like Matt I think a lot is regarded as art these days. I suspect it was true of the old days ... its just that with the passage of time the good stuff has endured (phew!)

[Nnnnsic]

Well that's just it.

Anything and everything is art... I got that from Art School, by the way.

[Onyx]

Hey Geoff, I'll be in the city tomorrow, hoping to go to the Epson sponsored workshop in the evening, and was planning to visit the Bill Henson exhibition during the day. Maybe we could hook up or bump into each other or something.