The Tate Modern

[UnquietDad]

Was in London for work this week and managed a quick pop to the Tate.

Liked a lot of the dadaist and surrealist stuff, but come on, some of it, esp. the minimalism is really taking the piss.

I mean, this, FFS It may be a cliche but my 5-year-old DS really could have done it.

They're filling in "the Crack" right now so the Turbine Hall is empty. I wanted to ask if the filling-in was itself an act of art.

I also had a really HORRID blueberry muffin which was the texture of sandpaper and fell apart on the plate in nasty little bits. I was thinking of giving it free to Nicholas Serota and entitling it "Hunger". It was a profound exploration, I thought, of the interface between the eating and the eaten, and invited the observer to reflect on the fundamental dichotomies and hypocrisies of the affluent world's attitude to waste.

oooh, yes, DS was entranced with the Offili room.

We haven't been for a couple of years, but he still talks about it. And not just about the dung, either....

Let's be brutally honest, the dung is a biggie, so to speak

umlella, was that Bill Viola?

I just think that if you want people to go outside their comfort zone in terms of the art they are going to experience, you should ensure that their basic needs and comforts are dealt with.

But with a lot of this kind of art I don't find it the equivalent of contemporary poetry or a novel. It's the equivalent of "the cat sat on the mat".

oh bill viola

is he still doing stuff

professes out of touch here but he did some great innoivative video installations

i f you donrt like an artist or somre work i tin k its fine tps say so

but

there is definitely a benefit to investigating and seeing what they say about themselves

i like to look first then if i am confused unconvinced i may look at what an artost says

then maybe the context of contemporaries

thjen history

then critics

it depends a lot how much i think th e work shpould stand alone

realy i think you can gain a lot from delving a bit

i have loved rothko since first seeing it at tate north over 20 years ago

enjoyed tate modern but then i love modern stuff and am largely unimpressed with Constable

cafe crap slow and pricey!

dd now points at cracks in the road and shouts out 'it's Tate Modern'

I'm not joking and it's quite embarrassing as we live near there and it attracts much merriment from locals

the point of going to see things like art is that it is outside the world of ordinary language and experience so obviously the 'notes on installations' are not going to make much sense or come to any simple conclusions, that's really up to you. Its not bloody RONSEAL

I have always loved Rothko. Its so peaceful.

Now Jeff Koons, no, no, no.

Except for his giant Puppy outside the Guggenheim in Bilbao which made me laugh and thrilled dd.

It is created from growing pansies on a puppy-shaped wire fram. But I did think the Spanish gardener (not Dirk Bogarde unfortunately) who came to water and prune the pansies daily and keep it neat and puppy-shaped was as much an artist as Jeff Koons.

I think Bluewolf has posted pretty much what I feel.

< I'm too lazy to think of my own post this morning >

UQD - but that's what many people say about contemporary poetry.
If you quote William Caros Williams or perhaps Stevie Smith or e.e. cummings on MN you will get a strong representation of people saying 'oh my 5 year-old could do that'.

I have to retreat to a cliche here: horses for courses!

I love 'it's not bloody Ronseal'.

I love the Tate Modern and the educational staff - there is one very sincere sober-faced young man who always gives wonderful feedback to DS who takes it all extremely seriously. The activities are fantastic and really make them think - DS did the Rothko room with activity sheet in hand and loved it.

The Tate Modern saved me when I was at home with a tiny baby and struggling to stay sane. We used to go there, and look at paintings till he fell asleep, then I'd grab the free Guardian they give out, buy a coffee and feel human again for a while. He still loves the space. And it's FREE. Who cares if a muffin costs 50 more than it should, when Borough market is round the corner?

This thread made me laugh. Went there recently and was going round saying 'bollocks' to stuff I really don't have the time or energy to attempt to appreciate. But, was gutted had small child and could not stop and look and think about some great art otherwise.
ooh, and spent too much money in the shop!

The Grauniad did a series of covers for G2 about 4 years ago produced by contemporary artists. Remember? The Gillian Wearing one consisted of a felt-tipped, three-word exhortation to copulate with Cilla Black. The accompanying article was unbelievable in its Emperor's-new-clothes style dissection of the "meaning".

Now, you see, this is where people like me predictably reply "I could have done that" and knowing types tap their noses and oh-so-cleverly say "aaaaaah, but you didn't." The problem with that response is, it's not clever - it's fatuous.

Plus it's not true. As a protest, several people wrote letters consisting of the same four letters followed by Gillian Wearing's name. I sent in a "masterpiece" drawn by DDm who was at the time nearly 4, asking if they would deign to use it for a future cover. I didn't even get a reply - which reinforced my prejudice that the Grauniad are a bunch of poncy London lefties with no discernible sense of humour.

I don't know much about art. But I know what I think is a pile of bollocks.

UQD - stick to the writing-of-the-book thing!!
Rothko is highly intellectual, and yet very meditative.

this is just to say
that i find
the same problem

with william carlos williams
actually

Forgive me
i can't see
the point

and yes, ButterlyMcQueen, that where I too first camw across him. I think he was one of the opening exhibitors in the Tate North. Mid- to-late 80's??

To be clear, I didn't find it all a load of wank. I liked a lot of it - the Max Ernst, the Matisse, the Meredith Frampton... Anything which looked as if it had had a bit of effort put in, basically.

mmj - I'm sure some artist will have produced a work called "This is a load of old wank", for you to enjoy.

just not Rothko.

Literally, I expect...

I would put money on some "challenging" artist having masturbated into a flask and leaving it to go crusty on a plinth in the name of art.