Film Museum

I visited the London Film Museum, the museum in my opinion was run down and dated. Although it exhibited piece from some of my favourite films Alien, Star Wars and Alice in Wonderland; the whole museum seemed as though it wasn't cared for and is stuck in a different decade. The decor was find but need some Major TLC, even a paint job would have made it better. The way in which items were actually exhibited was very old school with simple plastic, not glass fixtures which were full of scuffs and abrasions. Information like the Superman seen above was printed on a 'home printer' not a professional one,  with dull colours and finished on non gloss paper, this looked ridiculous as it seemed all the pieces were throwbacks that the movie companies didn't want. The colours were off and not contrasting to the images shown. The text was small and difficult to see especially with the dull lighting in the museum, if I didn't have a flash on my camera then I wouldn't have been able to take any photos.

The interactive exhibits were not turned on, for example the Alien fixtures where meant to move with a almost motion sensor technology being realistic to the film with movement and sound, however this was not the case as it wasn't on. The only way I could explain the disappointment was imaging being at a arcade and all the machines are not turned on. Being my favourite film I was expecting to be blown away, initially I was due to the scale of the replica, then the disappointment began. The only feature good was that an image from the film was standing next to the replica so I could see the likeness of the two. However this image again was dated and fading with a space interior frame which again needed attention.

I felt robbed due to the fact it was £12 pound to get into the mundane museum.

The museum has been suffering with lack of visitors lately and it is clear too see why. The fixtures need to be modernised and replaced, displays need to be cleaned and well lit, and no film memorabilia and props need to be present as most are from before 2005 greatly narrowing the target audience of the museum. I would not view the museum again due to the fact the employees clearly do not care for the museum, with non to be see within apart from when there asking for your money. Could it be argued it was a busy weekend? No as it was a Thursday afternoon about 3 P.M.

Lucian Freud: Painted Life

The Lucian Freud Documentary that was shown on BBC, was a very in depth look into Freud's works that showed his personality and intense work style. I found the documentary interesting and compelling, I think this was because  I had never seen such an in depth critique into an artists life before or personality which was then reflected into their work. I enjoyed the way in which the documentary gave feelings from sitters of Freud's alongside friends and family as well as other artists. The main reason I felt so strongly to the documentary was the rare insight that was shown from the opinions and recollections from the sitters. It was intense to hear the sitters recall their time with Freud alongside there sexual relationships with him also. I found the way in which he had an intimate relationship with the sitters to be odd at first but on further viewing of the documentary I began to understand within the highly personal relationship of life drawing, especially when the pieces are on a large scale and completed over a long period of time, the artist and the sitter can create an over heightened personal relationship. A view within the documentary was that Freud was able to better his piece when he had this bond with a sitter, this could be shown with analysis of the length of the pieces reflected by the length of the sexual relations. This physiological side of his life has allowed me to enjoy the works of Freud on another level, instead of interpreting the work myself I can see and hear his story which allows me to look deeper into his work. 

The nudity of his pieces I don't find pornographic as others do, when I view the pieces I see an artist who loves the form of the body, every aspect and detail of the form along with the colour pigments in the skin. The detail is so defined it almost intimidates me how accurate he has created the expressions and mode of the sitter. The shaping and blends of the colour used have captured beautifully the bone definition and formation on areas such as the eye sockets, nose and upper lip, which are clear favourite aspects of Freud's, on the body. 

I recently participated in a series of life drawing classes, I wasn't able to gather motivation and excitement within these classes, I only wish I had seen this documentary before to see how a great detail of concentration and patients can create a beautiful outcome, in all honest I wish I had seen Freud's work before because I regret to say I had never heard of the wonderful artist until I viewed the documentary. 

I would use Freud's work in my future works and draw areas of his life such as the strong love for painting he has or the intense patience and concentration he gathers when working on a piece. I thoroughly enjoyed the documentary and I would recommend to any student, budding artist, painter or any artistic lover out there to get to BBC iPlayer and watch:

Lucian Freud: Painted Life 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01cdhs5/Lucian_Freud_Painted_Life/