Wednesday, 13 February 2013

Concrete Poetry

Concrete Poetry is text, type and visual art combined. Its where the visual form has characteristics of the meaning of the text.....

......its very visual and concrete

off to Tate Britain today to see more.......



bus 87 to Tate Britain



over the Vauxhall Bridge



inside Tate Britain






Ian Hamilton Finlay - exhibition main hallway Tate Britain

This concrete poet gives form to ideas through the use of various materials: wood, stone, neon, bronze and paper. By using reference and metaphor the viewer is encouraged to meditate on the meaning found in the subject and form.



Starlit Waters 1967 - wood and mixed media
Green wooden capital block letters spelling out 'starlit waters' are fixed onto a blue strip symbolising water or the sea. The whole 3D construction is covered in a bright orange nylon fishing net bringing to mind associations of coastal scenes.

Inscribed Glass Float and Nets 1971
A glass float is arranged as a precious object on yellow and grey fishing nets as if it is a valuable ornament on a velvet or silk cushion.

Lead Us 1968 wood
Bright orange capital letters are on a blue wooden strip. Its imploring and raises the questions lead us where? lead who? who is the 'us'? lead how? And why the need to be lead?

Poster Poem (Le Circus) Wild Hawthorn Press 1964 
Poem/Print screenprint on paper
What energy and such appropriate type faces! This poster poem really conveys the thrill of the circus using some carefully selected words positioned in a non-linear way on a square poster page. Where to look first! Just like being at a circus with so much going on and trying to make sense of it ......do I read down or look over to the right hand side ......

THE WORLD HAS BEEN EMPTY SINCE THE ROMANS 
bath stone and steel with Nicholas Sloan 1985
Large broken stone slabs are suspended from the ceiling by steel chains. It is magnificent and incomplete as a statement causing me to reflect on the fall of 
Roman Empire and also all the things the Romans accomplished: good roads, under floor heating......


No comments:

Post a Comment