May 22nd, 2016

  Did you know the Open university does small, free, courses? Neither did I but I do know and am trying out the Art History course (more on this later).

It has already fulfilled one of my expectations which is to introduce me to artists I had not previously encountered.  The first of these is Paula Rego who I was drawn to.  As luck would have it one of her works is on display in Tate Britain (the Tate has many more but sadly many are not on display).

I went to have a look.  What I had forgotten is that Tate Britain periodically re-hangs the permanent collection and there was much in the 1960s to present day galleries that I did not recall seeing before.

I have documented some. These are no necessarily the best ones but ones for reasons I often cannot describe, grabbed my attention. Paula's is the top picture.  In order the rest are as follows:

Aubrey Williams, Death and the Conquistador.  i like the slightly blurred quality to it, the feeling of motion, the way shapes come and go out of the picture, the occasional horned head, appearing.  It is the kind of picture I could spend ages in front of. 

Victor Passmore the Hanging Gardens of Hammersmith. The name is good.  Names can be important.  It is a sad melancholic scene with its dead trees. 

William Scott, Orange Black and White. I'm a big fan of William Scott.  Simple, elegant, effective. 
 
Gillian Ayres, Break off. I encountered a man who had met her and bought her an egg sandwich, which for some reason she rejected. Apparently she smoked allot. I like the energy in this one.  What doesn't come across in the picture is the size of it.  It's massive. That lurid pink square kept drawing my attention for some reason.

Anthony Gormley, Bed (far left).  It's made of toast coated in something, some kind of plastic.  It's funny and I always appreciate humour in art.  I found my self wandering who the people were whose outline it was.  Are they same person who was used to model all those statues that stood on the London skyline a few year's back?

Anish Kapoor Sandstone and Pigment (near left).  very 2001. It is not a whole in the stone but dark, dark pigment.  It's oddly threatening and tantalising. 

Richard Long, Red Slate Circle. What doesn't come across well in the photo is the clever arranging so that the inner stones are taller than the outer stones.  They have been selected and placed with some care.  It has to say this and the Kapoor sculpture complement each other very well.  Both of them feel like ancient Britannic sacred sites, escaped into a museum.

John Gerrard, Sow Far.  Credit, indeed much credit deserves to go to Mr Gerrard for producing video art I actually like.  Most video art is rubbish. It is boring and also often very badly shot. Mind-numbing in it self serving tedium. It always fails to grab my attention.  This though is utterly hypnotic.  It is simple, a camera endlessly orbits this enormous farm. The large buildings slowly marching past in a way that somehow hooks you. It is apparently endless with the landscape shifting to reflect the seasons.  Very good.  Well done Mr Gerrard.  I think the reason I like it is the artist is absent. He has come up with a good idea which he has presented very well and then just leaves you to get on with it.