Supporting your local art gallery is a great thing and much needed - especially when financial supplies for many artists are hard to come by, it is a great way of showing your interest as well as being able to help fund creativity; whether the gallery be a large vast building holding a plenitude of famous and well known works or just a modest collection of paintings in which holds many budding contemporary artists a visit will do no harm. 
DATES
I recently visited York Art Gallery for the second time, in order to see the relatively new and temporary Flesh exhibition which I believe, having checked the website, is open until 19th March 2017. So if you're local or just fancying a visit, I would definitely check it out.
ENTRY INFO
The admission fee for many of the exhibitions are free however the Flesh exhibition's fee is included with the admission:- Children (16 and under) with a paying adult FREE
- Adult (without donation) £6.81
The exhibition displays and combines various medias, textures and techniques from a range of artists all united with a common theme of flesh and their own take on the concept.
After walking past the frosted glass doors with the bold white letters of FLESH plastered on, you are met immediately with a large piece on the back wall of the room which is a thought-provoking piece with a clear political message. This artwork takes up most of the wall as is eye catching with its bright turquoise tiling which has a gory interior of blood and organs which are spilling out of the tiles, in irony, very delicately, The artist in this piece has addressed the problem in their home town of Brazil, the tiles representing the huge ceramic tile industry and how, we actually only ever see the outcome, the shiny glistening product which is all at expense of human labour and is tainted with their blood and sweat. The piece is also a reminder of warfare that continues in the country and those that died and have been overlooked by others in favour of its mass commercial products instead,
The rest of the paintings are hung up, with a few sculptures in glass boxes dotted in the centre, there are smooth wooden benches that catch the spotlights from above and contrast against the deep plum walls. The main room which you are lead to first is the first of several areas that the exhibition is split into. This section has paintings depicting what I would say is the most 'obvious' take on the topic flesh, with classic incredibly detailed oil paintings and sculptures of figures decorating the room. 
Walking down to the end of the room, there are two doors, one to the left and the other to the right. Both, conceptually, incredibly different.
RHS
Walk to the right and you are addressed with the large title of ANATOMIES and a paragraph on the wall about what this room is all about. Here the topic of flesh explores a more physical involvement with skin and humans and bodies and how the two are intertwined in a morbid but revolutionary way. This involves paintings showing the gruesome details of body modification like plastic surgery and the superficial nature of attempting to prolong youth and delay the natural ageing of flesh.
There are also jars containing preservation fluid with skin which has been tattooed but deliberately stopped from ageing.
LHS
On the left hand side, you would see a less pen to paper method of answering the topic of flesh. Even the paintings that are there are of animal carcasses which shines light on not just human involvement with flesh but including animals as well. This section is definitely more visual active with a time lapse video of decaying rabbit carcass which is decaying and becoming more and more overwhelmed with maggots and grim things that come with decay and death - however the whole video is contrasted simply with a fruit which sits patiently whilst the carcass is decaying but is replaced each time so it stays untouched throughout the whole video. Another sight you are confronted with is a large carcass of an animal on a table, yet from certain angles it almost looks human. This piece of art I feel begs the question of where do we draw the line between flesh and meat, carcass and corpse?
In general, I thoroughly enjoyed the visit, especially the second time round when I stayed for longer and had time to record and observe more closely the art work. I definitely recommend the exhibition to anyone, and this post has only touched very briefly over some of the work that particularly stuck out to me, but there is still so much more there to be explored.
Sorry for the hiatus since my last blog post, but I have a couple ideas for my next posts, I guess it's just finding the time to actually write them out which the main issue. Anyways, I hope this post has inspired you to visit galleries around you and, as always, keep drawing. x
Chloe x
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