Fantastical worlds, ceramic mugs and jingoism

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OCA is running another study visit, rich with diversity, beginning with the Raqib Shaw Exhibition, followed by a tour of selected works at Manchester Art Gallery on the theme of ‘Constructing the Other’. This will run on Saturday 9th March 2013 with our excellent study visit guide and OCA tutor, Gerald Deslandes. We will meet in the Café of Manchester Art Gallery at 11.00 and the visit will end at around 3pm. The themes that underpin this study visit are just as relevant for all visual arts disciplines, and we look forward to welcoming a full range of OCA students to this event.
Raqib Shaw’s gloriously opulent paintings suggest a fantastical world full of intricate detail, rich colour and jewel-like surfaces. However, they mask the intense and often violent or sexual nature of his imagery. His ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’ was inspired by Hieronymous Bosch’s visionary triptych of the same name and portrays a society free of any moral restraint. Every motif is outlined in embossed gold, a technique to similar to ‘cloisonné’ which is found in early Asian pottery. Other inspirations include Japanese influences from Uchikake wedding kimonos, Byobu screens and Hokusai prints. There are also references to Kashmiri shawls, medieval heraldry and Persian miniatures, carpets and jewellery. The visit will include an opportunity to see the work of the artist, who was born in India, studied at St Martin’s in London and has exhibited in group shows art MoMA New York, Tate Britain, The Metropolitan and the Museum, New York.

You will also have an opportunity to explore about twenty works in Manchester Art Gallery’s permanent collection by artists who have been inspired by other cultures or address themes such as race, gender, class and sexuality. The tour begins with John Souch’s juxtaposition of life and death in his tribute to the wife of a Chester merchant. This will be compared to William Etty’s portrayal of love and duty in ‘Ulysses and the Sirens’. Then we will compare Stubbs’ painting of Indian servants in Georgian England and Gainsborough’s girl collecting fire-wood. We will look at jingoistic tankards celebrating English victories over Napoleon and a Russian chess-set from the early 1920’s that demonizes the White Russian forces in the civil war. We’ll compare this with the way in which European ceramicists adopted images and techniques from China, Persia and the Middle East and the influence of non-European cultures on textiles, glass and silverware. For a place on this study visit please email enquiries@oca-uk.com