5 days in ldn = 10 galleries and 1 film!
a recent trip to london made me realise how much i truly missed it. i wouldnt change it for where i live now though, however i wish the london museums had legs and could move up north from time to time. i felt forced to go on my very own wild goose/gallery chase to see as many shows (that i wanted to) in the short time that i had.
1) i had never been to the timothy taylor gallery but had always been quite impressed by press photos of its 'white cube'esque space. they were showing the work of sean scully, who works primarily acrylic, ink, graphite and masking tape. i was impressed with them until i went around the corner and found a 60 full page study of drawings which took up the length of a whole work. it was a bit overboard. some looked like this :
and i left shortly after!
2) ben brown fine arts were showing contemporary chinese photography. jiang pengyi, cheng ran, chen wei and ye linghan were the artists represented through photography and video art. some works were choreographed, some were blurry- playing with a sense of déjà vu, some were entirely imagined, and some were infused in with tones of romanticism. quite enjoyed this show! think they are welcoming gavin turk into their gallery next.
3) the white cubes in mason yard+hoxton square were showing the work of gary hume. i got to see the show at mason's yard entitled 'the indifferent owl'. the ground floor showed 8 of his most famous sleek and shiny artworks (horizon, rimbaud, candy, the indifferent owl, shoulder, swaddled, leaves in grey, morning) where the colours are simplified and the images have been abstracted to their fullest. luvly jubly. interested to see how leeds art gallery display his work when he opens in leeds!
4/5) i guess one could say that i tried to take part in the gagosian's 'the complete spot challenge' but failed miserably. there was no way in hell i could ever afford to visit all of its 11 international galleries (california, new york, rome, paris, athens, geneva, hong kong), so had to make do with the 2 in london! 2 men have already won and claimed that their trips cost them $108572 and $11000 respectively. mad men! literally. hirst is slowly beginning to take over the world it seems, with an upcoming show at the tate modern opening in april. my experience at the davies st gallery was not as pleasant as at the brittania street gallery- had 2 bouncer like door men following my every move in the shoe cupboard of a gallery that it is.. in comparison to being encouraged to take photos in the brittania street gallery, as long as the paintings were not its focal point (in fear of the works being copied.. image below).
6) tacita dean's 11 minute silent 35 mm film in the turbine hall at the tate modern was visually appealing but lacked meaning... it was projected onto a 13 metre high monolith standing at the end of the hall, but whilst reading her artists statement at the entrance to the hall, the only thing i got from it- and that she hounded down on intensively was that she did it by hand. it is what it says it is. it is a beautiful medium but i was just hoping for something more..
7) grayson perry at the british museum! in the "the tomb of the unknown craftsman", curated by himself, is an amazing little treasure trove where one can find pieces from both his own new works, and pieces from the british museums collection. it follows the themes of craftsmanship and sacred journeys (from shamans and holy relics to motorbikes!) . really fascinating. one down side about it was that it was extremely busy, and it was not easy to see the works as a whole, as the pieces were crowded by too many people. due to its popularity, it has now been extended until feb 26 so go and have a look if there are still tickets! whilst i was having lunch there, 2 middle aged twins were sitting behind me. they were sporting the same outfit, hair cut, facial hair, and eating the same lunch. oh the british museum.. you never cease to disappoint!
8) continuing on the theme of voyages, i took a little one myself... to bermondsey! the new white cube had recently opened and were showing the works of anselm kiefer and nikolas gambaroff in its 11,000 square foot gallery space! personally i think i was more impressed with the space itself than the artwork..
9) the haunch of venison. it was presenting "the mystery of appearance", an exhibition comprising of 10 of britains most important post war painters, revealing the story behind their art. artists included were michael andrews, frank auerbach, francis bacon, patrick caulfield, william coldstream, lucian freud, richard hamilton, david hockney, leon kossoff and euan uglow. it started off with looking at the artists personal relationships between them- beginning in the late 40s at the slade where coldstream, freud, and hamilton all taught and were andrews and uglow studied. and also at the rca where auerbach, caulfield, hockney and kossoff were students. i think that is what fascinated me the most about this exhibition.
