Off to London today on a day trip. My aim was the Marcel Dumas exhibition at the Tate Modern. I had written an essay about her in Level 5 so she was certainly up there as a an artist I was personally very keen on and so it was an experience again in what you think you know from books and the internet and the difference to experiencing the real thing in front of you and enjoying textures and scale.
‘The Image as Burden’ takes you chronologically through her career. I will always get a huge kick out of seeing an image I have seen on books/internet live in the flesh so to speak.
Being familiar with her work already, I learnt…
that she has a wonderful way of dealing with colour, the glazes and energy screaming from her work is excellent.
I know is is well known for her poetry and writings and they embellished the walls, explaining her thought process throughout the exhibition.
The way she paints is not about accuracy, it is about energy, about activity, intensity, movement. It captures the essence of life.
That she is awkward when it comes to hands
Many are so quick and energetic in their creation that they bubble off the canvas, synergy and life scream at you but some areas of canvas remain white, no wash is laid down first, the edges are rough and ready. Its about emotion and not detail.
Also of interest was to see her development and comment on concept to try and move beyond the original use of source material to something a lot stronger conceptually.
Then off to Tate Britain to brush up on UK artists. Great to see the work of Fiona Banner and how the contemporary artist room display had been changed since my last visit last year.
Finally we went to the David Zwirner gallery to see the current work of Luc Tuymans. There were 7 paintings the most interesting of which were upstairs. Great to see them in the flesh but I was not personally blown away if I am honest, I guess you are buying a well known artist with a well established oeuvre. A really productive day.
