Was up in Liverpool over Easter, hadn't been there for a while and wanted to check out some of the art galleries. As it turned out it was a bit of an exhibition change-over week oddly enough. You'd have thought that new shows opening over the Easter weekend would be crowd puller PR but apparently not a view shared by the galleries.
Went to the Liverpool Tate Gallery, where a Picasso show is due to open soon, but current shows have been hanging for a good long while. One long-term exhibition called "This is Sculpture" filled half the gallery space. Wandered about it with an old art-school mate; we kept having to point at pictures on the wall throughout the show and mention that "well, actually that is painting". Curators evidently desparate to prise recognisable 2-D Picassos etc into the show, (and fill up all that wall space). Plays into the hands of the old saying that sculpture is the stuff getting in the way when you're looking at the pictures on the wall. The Picasso sculpture on show seemed happily selected for comedic value to gift the gallery attendants the line "Please keep your hands off Picasso's Cock".
In the same show Jeff Koons' '3 Ball Total Equilibrium' was all wonky. Apparently visitors nudging it wonks the suspended basketballs up and down, so some of the meaning of the piece is subtly sabotaged with scally subversion; a bit of localised contextualising siting the piece perhaps.
One fun piece was a lightshow dancefloor for visitors to walk and dance on with headsets with disco playlists. Had a little holding-the-coats-waiting-at-the-bar kneehalfbouncesway to " Who's That Lady?".
The other major show whilst they're waiting for the Picassos (lost in an ash cloud somewhere off the Mersey shoreline perhaps) is Afro Modern which brings together an array of works with black culture in the 20th century (and 21st) as its theme. An impressive array of challenging works arranged chronologically (which is an understandable though unimaginative curatorial decision). The most arresting and moving thing that I saw was a video installation by Kara Walker, which has been exhibited fairly widely since 2005, 8 Possible Beginnings, or: the Creation of African-America, a Moving Picture. It depicts brutal and surreal images of black American experience, the central scenes are of slave exploitation on a Southern US plantation presented in a beguiling combination of techniques: cut-paper silhouettes, flickering vintage style film quality, work songs, Uncle Remus story-telling; full of symbols, flowers, phalluses, male pregnancy, and images of sexualised and grotesque violence.
Another interesting piece of video art was installed at FACT as part of an exhibition looking at life in conflict zones, MyWar. The piece called 'They shoot horses' (screengrab pic at the top) runs video of a danceathon by two trios of young Palestinians in separate rooms to cheesy upbeat disco pop. "I Believe in Miracles (Don't You?)". For 7 hours apparently! Falls into the category of an artwork with an "Oh right, now I get it" moment when you read the who-where-what explanation. Otherwise without the context it's just 6 people dancing, which is still good; their rug-cutting moves beat my bounce-sway big-time.
Went to the Liverpool Tate Gallery, where a Picasso show is due to open soon, but current shows have been hanging for a good long while. One long-term exhibition called "This is Sculpture" filled half the gallery space. Wandered about it with an old art-school mate; we kept having to point at pictures on the wall throughout the show and mention that "well, actually that is painting". Curators evidently desparate to prise recognisable 2-D Picassos etc into the show, (and fill up all that wall space). Plays into the hands of the old saying that sculpture is the stuff getting in the way when you're looking at the pictures on the wall. The Picasso sculpture on show seemed happily selected for comedic value to gift the gallery attendants the line "Please keep your hands off Picasso's Cock".
In the same show Jeff Koons' '3 Ball Total Equilibrium' was all wonky. Apparently visitors nudging it wonks the suspended basketballs up and down, so some of the meaning of the piece is subtly sabotaged with scally subversion; a bit of localised contextualising siting the piece perhaps.
One fun piece was a lightshow dancefloor for visitors to walk and dance on with headsets with disco playlists. Had a little holding-the-coats-waiting-at-the-bar kneehalfbouncesway to " Who's That Lady?".
The other major show whilst they're waiting for the Picassos (lost in an ash cloud somewhere off the Mersey shoreline perhaps) is Afro Modern which brings together an array of works with black culture in the 20th century (and 21st) as its theme. An impressive array of challenging works arranged chronologically (which is an understandable though unimaginative curatorial decision). The most arresting and moving thing that I saw was a video installation by Kara Walker, which has been exhibited fairly widely since 2005, 8 Possible Beginnings, or: the Creation of African-America, a Moving Picture. It depicts brutal and surreal images of black American experience, the central scenes are of slave exploitation on a Southern US plantation presented in a beguiling combination of techniques: cut-paper silhouettes, flickering vintage style film quality, work songs, Uncle Remus story-telling; full of symbols, flowers, phalluses, male pregnancy, and images of sexualised and grotesque violence.
Another interesting piece of video art was installed at FACT as part of an exhibition looking at life in conflict zones, MyWar. The piece called 'They shoot horses' (screengrab pic at the top) runs video of a danceathon by two trios of young Palestinians in separate rooms to cheesy upbeat disco pop. "I Believe in Miracles (Don't You?)". For 7 hours apparently! Falls into the category of an artwork with an "Oh right, now I get it" moment when you read the who-where-what explanation. Otherwise without the context it's just 6 people dancing, which is still good; their rug-cutting moves beat my bounce-sway big-time.
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