Day: Jul 13, 2017

Wrongly Hung Door Part 2

On By theoldmortuary.designIn ExhibitionsLeave a comment

Who would have thought it. You wait all your life to tell a badly hung door story and two crop up in one day!

IMG_0469I popped along to Tate Britain this morning to visit Queer British Art 1861-1967, a great, informative exhibition . Somewhat unexpectedly,  and to my mind unnecessarily , the cell door of Oscar Wildes incarceration was exhibited next to a famous portrait of the celebrated gay icon.  The point of the door was lost on me but if it had any relevance surely it would be the cell side of the door rather than the side seen only by his gaolers that would be of interest. If I’m to connect in any useful way surely I need to look at the door as Wilde would have done? Would it have been more effective shown as a sculpture in the middle of a room, or could have it been mounted in some way so the interior door surface could be reflected on a mirror?

Curating is a strange craft , this odd inclusion, arred in an otherwise stylishly curated exhibition.

Quiet blogging patch is over.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Art for saleLeave a comment

As a new blogger and website creator I try to get something on my site nearly every day. My tag line even says “Something Stylish Every Day”  it’s a big ask but it has been motoring me through many WordPress Tutorials , hopefully it hasn’t been too obvious that I’ve been working to a brief.

Too many blogs too little time would be my motto of the last ten days. Three return trips, Cornwall to London, in the last ten days has sucked the time out of my days. In addition to setting up and taking down some of my pictures at an exhibition I’ve been doing stuff that needs to be written up for other publications and my own blog/ website.  Here’s a snippet of yesterday with South London Women Artists.

IMG_0468Yesterday was my first chance to see the completed ‘My Place’ exhibition at Brixton East. It will be a blog subject all of its own in the next few days.

The Exhibition was brilliant and despite having a personal  ‘Big Elephant’ in the room, or gallery, I sold some art.  I still can’t quite believe my luck that I also managed to snap up a beautiful picture while tills were closing and the paintings were flying off the walls to snuggle once again in bubble wrap.

IMG_0467My Place by Valerie Lambert had to be purchased. Firstly it represents , to me, the defiance of London following the attacks on London Bridge and Borough Market. Secondly it combines Fine Art with text which is my current obsession. Thirdly it’s a political watercolour. Red Dot in the corner please.

Here comes the Elephant!

IMG_0466This is my main piece of art for the exhibition. It doesn’t take a genius to see that this is not an Elephant . It is quite obviously a door. What this also is, is Contemporary art comedy gold. Sections of the media and comedians love to laugh and scoff at the futility or silliness of Contemporary Art . They report and snigger at Mark Quinn’s Self Portrait ( A sculptured head formed from silicone and ten litres of his own blood, frozen)  Made funny by a security guard turning off the power that kept it frozen. Tracy Emins bed, tidied up by an over zealous cleaner, and a recent installation , I don’t know the name of the artist, hoovered up overnight in Liverpool

The eagle eyed will notice a mismatch. The text accompanying the work is upside down.

The truth of course is that My Place ( my door) has hung upside down in a gallery for a week ( I’ve flipped the image above), worthy of a chuckle, I agree. Many people have commented and asked me if that was a deliberate decision. The answer, of course, is that I’m not that clever and that it was a simple error. But it does make you think and comedic, or not, that is exactly what contemporary art is about

 

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