DD2000: Manchester Art Gallery - Under That Cloud

They've changed a lot at Manchester Art Gallery, since I went last Summer; the room in which I spent most of the time, with the Chinese sculptures and Manchester-related memorabilia, is now gone or at least moved, and loads new stuff has been put in.
After hearing about a specific moving exhibition, a friend and I went along to see it; the exhibition in question was entitled "Under That Cloud", and featured work done by artists who were stuck in Mexico City during the ash cloud produced by Eyjafjallajökull, the Icelandic volcano which brought a massive amount of air travel to a standstill. The art they produced in their time in Mexico City reflects the situation, and their surroundings in such a city.

This piece is by French artist Benjamin Lignel, and is entitled 'Bracito de Oro'. The piece itself appears to be an armband (the kind for swimming), but designed in such a way as to look like a Mexican masked wrestlers uniform. The piece seems to state that the art of masked wrestling is very much sought after amongst the average joe, who, as Lignel claims, "can become popular legends by trading their first and last names for superhuman anonymity and a spandex uniform (sweat included)." That statement sounds like Lignel is describing a superhero of some sort, which, let's face it, masked wrestlers are purported to be.

This brooch by Jiro Kamata, entitled 'Arboresque' is actually comprised of camera lenses and blackened silver. Kamata claims that this brooch was inspired by the architecture and various surroundings, which supposedly have an "Arabesque" look to them. The colour scheme works very well for this brooch; the striking purple swirls in contrast with the flowing curved metal makes for a very attractive brooch, especially since it is essentially made of bits of a camera.

This piece by British artist Sarah O'Hana, named 'The Candid Culture of Mexico City', is quite relevant to the previous exhibition I went to, being an artist book of sorts. Out of all of the pieces in the room, this seemed the most refined, the most delicate. O'Hana surmises that whilst trapped in Mexico City, the news that Europe was in chaos due to the air travel being crippled "barely caused a ripple" on that side of the Atlantic. O'Hana concludes this could perhaps also be due to the citizens of Mexico City already being pre-occupied with their own volcano, Popocatepetl.

Overall, the exhibition was quite interesting, although the art was incredibly small. The whole thing could have been laid out better than it was, considering the size of the room.