Went to see 'British Art Show 7' at the Hayward Gallery yesterday on a warm spring afternoon. Haven't been to the South Bank at all this year. In fact, the last exhibition I visited was the Gauguin show at Tate Modern way back in January.
The British Art Show takes place every five years (the first was held in 1979). Thirty-nine artists or artist groups were included this year, with barely a nod to the YBA's - Sarah Lucas being its only representative. Lucas exhibited a series of her NUDS sculptures on plynths, pairs of stuffed nylon tights formed into soft sculptures, like balloons fashioned into curious shapes.
I did not get to see Roger Hiorn's flame flare up on the metal bench he had installed in the gallery (a talking point of the show), nor the naked youth sitting beside it in contemplation. At the time of my visit there was only a metal bench. Disappointing.
Wolfgang Tillman's huge green and black Freischwimmer 155 was my favourite piece and intensely compelling - a photograph made without a camera, simply playing with light and exposure.
There were many opportunities in the gallery to retreat to the dark comfort that film presentations offer. Christian Marclay's The Clock, a 24-hour film made of edited clips of assorted movies synchronised with real time, was the ultimate escape and one of the star attractions of the exhibition. Luke Fowler's video, A Grammar of Listening, where sound is explored in relation to vision, was another of the highlights. Yet many of the installations and paintings in the show barely captured my imagination.
Is this where British Art is at? Have the curators captured the zeitgeist? Go see the show and make your own mind up!
British Art Show Official Site:
http://www.britishartshow.co.uk/
Showing posts with label Tate Modern. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tate Modern. Show all posts
Sunday 20 March 2011
Sunday 16 May 2010
No Soul for Sale
Yesterday I went to the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern to see 'No Soul for Sale' as part of the Tate's 10th anniversary celebrations (can it really be ten years?) It was a festival of independent galleries, non-profit, alternative spaces and collectives.
Usually the Turbine Hall is home to the Unilever series, showing installations by legendary artists such as Louise Bourgeois and Anish Kapoor, but this time there was a democratic feel to the vast hall and a festive spirit. There were over 70 international galleries in the hall - many of them have worked on the fringes of the artworld for years. These are the antithesis of commercial galleries, valuing different qualities within the artwork, and presenting and disseminating information in different ways.
Unlike traditional art fairs such as the Armory Show or London Art Fair, each gallery at 'No Soul for Sale' was delineated simply by a taped line on the floor rather than partitioned off from each other, and many galleries seemed to almost collide. The atmosphere in the Turbine Hall on Saturday, the afternoon that I visited, was hectic and the hall thronged with visitors. There were of course opportunities to buy t-shirts or cloth bags, but the sale of artwork was not a premise of this show.
I was particularly looking out for the two galleries I had previously shown with - Artist's Space from New York and studio1.1 from London. Indeed, apart from these two galleries, it was only White Columns and Swiss Institute, both from New York, that I knew. It felt as though for once a different voice was being heard at the Tate, and one which is so often overlooked. More events like this please!
Usually the Turbine Hall is home to the Unilever series, showing installations by legendary artists such as Louise Bourgeois and Anish Kapoor, but this time there was a democratic feel to the vast hall and a festive spirit. There were over 70 international galleries in the hall - many of them have worked on the fringes of the artworld for years. These are the antithesis of commercial galleries, valuing different qualities within the artwork, and presenting and disseminating information in different ways.
Unlike traditional art fairs such as the Armory Show or London Art Fair, each gallery at 'No Soul for Sale' was delineated simply by a taped line on the floor rather than partitioned off from each other, and many galleries seemed to almost collide. The atmosphere in the Turbine Hall on Saturday, the afternoon that I visited, was hectic and the hall thronged with visitors. There were of course opportunities to buy t-shirts or cloth bags, but the sale of artwork was not a premise of this show.
I was particularly looking out for the two galleries I had previously shown with - Artist's Space from New York and studio1.1 from London. Indeed, apart from these two galleries, it was only White Columns and Swiss Institute, both from New York, that I knew. It felt as though for once a different voice was being heard at the Tate, and one which is so often overlooked. More events like this please!
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