Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Red Star Over Russia at the Tate Modern

The other Saturday, after the morning SERTUC council meeting (which I will hopefully post upon some other time) I decided to pay another visit to the Tate Modern and view its wares. 

I go there every 5 years or so, whether I want to or not, to see if I can "get" modern art.  Sad to say, once again, I didn't. I have nothing against a field of Porcelain Sunflower Seeds and absolute respect for those who are indeed moved by such sights.

I would however recommend to everyone that they should visit and make their own minds up.  It is a fantastic venue and experience - but modern art does not do much (in fact practically nothing) for me I am afraid. 

However, there was a brilliant display (double click collage) of original Russian Revolution and Soviet Street posters (Level 5 Room 11) which I enjoyed hugely and made the whole visit worth while.  This is what I call "Art". 

2 comments:

Chris Leary said...

I think you're being a bit harsh on the sunflower seeds.

I went to the Tate a few months ago to see the Gauguin exhibition (not by choice; TVU made me) and, after being bored to tears by Gauguin's pompousness, I went to see the sunflower seeds.

What struck me about it was the sheer scale of it all. Sadly visitors weren't allowed to go into the seeds and touch them (much to the annoyance of the artist who created it, who said that going in and touching them *was the entire point* of it) but it is over a billion little seeds, hand painted, across a space that is bigger than a football pitch, about half a foot deep.

It made me think, and it moved me, much more than I thought it would. But I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

John Gray said...

Hi Chris

You could well be right that I was a little harsh and I would have liked to walk amongst the seeds.