27 December 2010

tate modern

what word jumps out at you? mmm me too.
Rothko
sunflower seeds made out of ceramics.

today i persuaded the folks to visit tate modern. i was cold, the lights were bright, too bright yet i managed two and a half hours being pushed round. i must be getting old. when i was in my late teens, twenties, i loved browsing galleries, yet today i was, dare i say bored. i spotted a couple of pictures i liked, on the whole whether the cold got to me, i was neutral.

12 comments:

mitch said...

You did well Em. After an hour with modern art I end up deciding it's all b******s. Did you steal a sunflower seed ? ;)

em said...

hi mitch

ten years ago i would of loved walking round, perhaps its this illness that has changed me? i dont know.

i didnt nick a seed, there was security guarding the, what would you call it, erm display of art. x

coffeecup said...

Maybe you've just been enlightened Em? Most of this modern 'art' is pretentious crap let's be honest. I've been round quite a few galleries too in my time. I enjoyed most of them and many of the paintings were fabulous but the Tate in Liverpool was filled with utter rubbish on the whole. Weird video installations and empty spaces. It's this minimalist stuff - it doesn't communicate anything. The same thing regarding the atmosphere there too. Stark, bright, cold, without a soul. I completely understand what you mean.

One thing I did really like however, was Tracy Emin's nicknamed 'bird on a stick'. It cost a fortune for what it was. A little sparrow perched on the top of a pole and placed outside Liverpool town hall I think. Typical scousers though. Someone nicked the bird and now it's just called 'stick'. Ha ha!

Well done for going!! I so envy your ability to just go out and try this stuff. Even if it was grim, a huge congratulations to you sweetie.

PS. Yes I think THAT word stood out for me too :(

xxx

Achelois said...

I don't think its you Em, I think its the tate modern! Paint dry & watching comes to mind.....

em said...

hi steph

glad i wasnt the only one that noticed the word, straight away.

they nicked the bird, tut,tut. im sure someone would of done that down here. well they did. banksy did he work on a small piece of wall in croydon, someone came along and asked the builders yard that it was attached to if they could remove it and they would replace the wall. they did,i think the work fetched a quarter of a million!!!

mind boggling.x

em said...

hi achelois

i didnt think of it that way round!. alway think there is something missing in me. x

Anonymous said...

Hi Em,

I've viewed many a painting and sculpture in my time and can appreciate the work that went into them. But alot of this kind of stuff that ends up as a candidate for the Turner Prize I don't get. Tracy Emmin's bed or songs being played under bridges I just don't get. Maybe its just me, probably. To me it seems like very little effort and my idea of art is a work of labour and love rather than a conceptual idea.

I can image bright lights would have been a problem and reminds me of modern supermarkets with all its bright artificial lighting. Well done for spending that amount of time in there. Just a pity there was nothing stimulating as I would image that would have made the time pass quicker but more importantly its another case of getting out and about which is good.

All the best

Nechtan

diver said...

Wow, that Rothko building is amazing. It makes me feel most insignificant to look at all those little ant people down there!

Well, I must confess it was 'authenticity' that jumped out at me first. Hmm ... I guess I always like to look beyond the anxiety for some authenticity ... mutter mutter

Melinda said...

Same word (anxiety) jumped out at me! At least you have company!

em said...

hi nechtan

i probably dont have the mind to get around some of the pieces of art work. maybe ive grown, to old at the same time. i used to get a buzz walking round these places, just wasnt the same. nevermind.

i did think the bright lights would induce a migraine, however they didnt which pleased me.x

em said...

hi diver

tate modern is housed in an old power station that sits alongside the thames, so its huge inside. i think its been open for nearly ten years now, ive always wanted a visit but never got round to it. i suppose winter wasnt the best time to go because inside was so very cold. yet inside the rooms that housed the art was incrediably hot. authenticity, mmm. my anxious little mind was working overtime!

em said...

hi melinda

out of all the words i saw when i first glimpsed the entrance to one of the galleries was indeed anxiety! i hope your not a sufferer.x