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Sunday 17 February 2019

The Blanket


The central courtyard / piazza of Halifax Piece Hall is a massive space of 66,000 sq ft, ideal for events, concerts, markets and exhibitions. They are currently displaying a large sculpture: The Blanket, by David Murphy, their first visual arts commission, in partnership with Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Its steel tubes create a magnified weave of overlapping warp and weft. The intersecting lines (and the strong shadows on the day I was there) give the impression of a large picnic blanket. It is intended to reference the Piece Hall's history of woven cloth - an effect more obvious when viewed from one of the higher levels of the building.  


I'm not sure whether I really liked it but it's an intricate and fascinating piece. It was hard to know how best to photograph it. I tried lots of angles and different points of view, trying to work with its shadows to incorporate them in a pleasing way. It would look different again on a dull day. 


There's a gallery of related sketches and drawings too. It looked interesting through the window, though it wasn't open when I was there. The sculpture is on display until April 7th.

3 comments:

  1. I suppose it's part of the point of sculpture, that it needs to be seen from all different angles to appreciate it.

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  2. The interweaving of elements, the metal, the air (negative space if you will) and the shadows...it definitely says fabric in another medium, at another scale. To me anyway. But whether I like it or not, mmmm, not sure either.

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