The Vorticists - Manifesto for a modern world.

"Victorian vampire, the london cloud sucks the towns heart." Blast 1

Jacob Einsten -  Rock Drill

Henri - Gaudier - Bruska : Front (head)

Back : Penis

Jacob Einstein

"Think of a whirlpool...At the heart of the whirlpool is a great silent place where all the energy is concentrated. And there, at the point of concentration, is the Vorticist." Wyndham Lewis

The Tate Britain is a refreshing change from the wonders of the Modern and it never (all though far less frequently visited) fails to disappoint. I rushed at the last minute to "The Vorticists - manifesto for a modern world" exhibition...which finished yesterday.. despite the fact that I had been meaning to see it for as long as it has been in existence. 

   Just like The Miro I absolutely loved everything about the show. The curation was (thank god) intelligent and interesting. The wording fluid and the display stunning. The Tate seems to be getting better at understanding it's audience and inspiring awe in the viewer. The work was shocking but beautiful and I found a fragility in The Vorticists work as it so apparently took on the world it was scared of. Obviously the connection with writing was a point of interest and inspiration for me. Poetry is key.. however as with the Miro. I feel inspired to make art again. Thank you. 

  Even though I of course do not take the Vorticist view seriously its rhetoric makes me smile.

"BLESS the solitude of LAUGHTER.

BLESS the separating, ungregarious

BRITISH GRIN."

then again.. maybe I am just to fleeting or influenced.. lets hope it sticks!

From the floor of the Tate Britain. Cut and stick.

Miro at The Tate Modern

It has taken me a while to do this post and I am not even sure why.
The main thing I have to say is that I (personally) loved this exhibition - the reason that this is the main thing that I had to say is because - I really didn't think I would. I have to be honest, most of the Tate's exhibitions disapoint me. I find the curation frustrating and all too obvious and everything a bit dry - especially with their "Painting" exhibitions. . . but I have fallen in love with Miro and have to say (possibly with painting again!)
  The retrospective was huge and the work vast - it was not a sparse exhibition and this was great. All the work was so vibrant and energetic - it screamed Barcelona at the viewer - something that excites me personally  (maybe a romantic attachment) - I don;t know what it was but this exhibition made me feel happy. I never really understood why anyone would really "buy" a painting - but you know what - I would fill my house with Miro's if I could!

The Head of a Catalan Peasant

Dog Barking at The Moon

The Hope of a Condemned Man

Burnt Canvas

"The Most Surreal Of Us All" Andre Breton on Miro

Gabriel OROZCO at the TATE MODERN

Black Kites 1997

"For me what is important is not what people see in the show.  It is what you see after... how your perception is changed." Gabriel Orozco


I am going to write about the piece above. Just because I can. It is a human skull marked with graphite pencil. The once living, now dead becomes "decorated" by the living. Something natural. Something real.
Orozco sees the skull as an emblem of death. I have been interested in skulls for a long time. I am not sure if I see them as death anymore. Maybe time. Nature. Existence. It is all part of a cycle of the living. Maybe the soul lives on?
I think this is beautiful. I don't know whether it is wrong. What would the person think about having his/her skull drawn on.
It makes me think about the action of living. The life of the being. The life of the artist. What exactly are we trying to achieve?

EXPOSED Voyeurism, surveillence and the camera...

It seems the TATE MODERN has pulled out the publicity card again for their latest major group exhibition. Unlike POP LIFE the names of the artists wasn’t the crowd puller, nor was their much controversy but again it was still a largely celebrity obsessed exhibition luring our celebrity obsessed world.
I am not complaining. The theme of celebrity and the need for celebrity constantly intrigues me. This exhibition followed the secrecy of paparazzi, the creation of celebrity and how celebrity was created through our surveillance. Sex, violence, war and drugs also featured heavily in the massive collection of photographs. These photographs questioned what art is? Is it the artist? The subject? Or an accident?
Largely the work here was accidental….so can it really be called art? I think it proves art is limitless and we must have faith in whatever it is… science, people, image or thought.
Art is set out to satisfy, give knowledge, break boundaries….
Even when the camera was relatively new it was being developed to secretly spy on people…maybe even reveal things we could not otherwise know. The magic of voyeurism is in fact it catches people off guard, as themselves, at their most natural and real.
I think this exhibition proved humanities lust for power and holding a secret, knowing something we shouldn’t and clinging to it. As humans we have a desire for the wrong and risky a desire to penetrate people’s lives and a desire to know all and control. With a camera you can do this. You can hold a small part of a person and do with it what you will.
In terms of an exhibition, it was well curated, well explained, but fairly boring. The pictures were interesting but repetitive, some well known, the others, not really that exciting… yes it was intriguing but perhaps would make a better book of documentary. After all we are all in control of our surveillance.. We can all take pictures of people on toilets and feel like we are in control…the fact is … are you?

note.
Alex's art! (cough cough)...