poppy

Scumhampton

Bob and Roberta Smith - Winter then Autumn

Is all this really necessary? "Here the artist may be referring to..." Why does this bit of text need to tell the audience what the work 'may' be referring to, can the audience not decide what it might or might not be for themselves? So fucking patronising. It isn't inclusive at all. It's saying if you don't see this then you are wrong. Or just preventing thought altogether. God I hate Southampton City Art Gallery.

Mark Francis - Growth Study A.C.D.E.
Actually quite like this. It's really interesting how the marks on the painting seem to move with you, like an optical illusion. Awesome colours. Aesthetically very pleasing, yet at the same time puts me in mind of Rothko (which I really dislike). It would be no good just standing still looking at this picture. It encourages (involuntary) movement from the audience.

Went back to see Monkeys with Car Keys at the Bargate to see what a difference seeing the work at the private view was to seeing it normally. Obviously you could see all the work at once, not little bits through crowds of people, yet somehow now the work felt really crowded. I also started associating the work with the artists and the people who had been around it at the private view which made a difference. The ones I liked before I still do, the ones I disliked I now dislike even more. That giant pizza sign is just such a pile of wank. But I did get to see:

David Theobald - Requiem
Video piece. Felt like it had the potential to be more than it was. If it was making a negative comment on our consumerist society I didn't really get it (though perhaps I'm just too wrapped up in this consumerist society). Could have been really hynotic and creepy/cool. But just got a bit boring and annoying. I like the screening room at ArtSway though.

posted by poppy @ 12:51 pm