Tag Archives: Miroslaw Balka
18 October, 2009 

Culture vulture

I often don’t see any exhibitions for few weeks and then happen to see a number of them in a very short space of time.

I probably mentioned more than once how much I love Tate Modern, however it does feel like a kindergarten if you visit during the weekend. That’s why my favorite time to go is on Friday or Saturday evening when it is open till 22.00.

Inflatable bunny by Jeff Koons at Covent Garden Piazza

A friend of mine and I went to see Pop Life: Art in a Material World. The exhibition is loud, shiny, busy and very pornographic. Andy Warhol occupies three rooms, there is a room of Takashi Murakami’s Japanese ‘fairy-tale’ world, Keith Harings’s Pop Shop, Emin, Lucas, Hirst, Kippenberg, Uklanski and way too much of Jeff Koons – his Made in Heaven series made me wonder: where does art end and porn begin?

There are few interesting works in the exhibition but a lot of it looks just tacky and dated in a bad way.

Feeling bit overwhelmed we went to see John Baldessari: Pure Beauty which also shows at the moment. This is really worth seeing, brilliant and funny visual one-liners. Clever and thought provoking art.

John Baldessari, God Nose

We also experienced Miroslaw Balka’s huge container in the Turbine Hall – you walk into blackness, your senses are confused, you’re walking in space, very unsettling however it does not last long enough, your eyes get used to the darkness very fast and the effect is over.

On Saturday I went to meet another friend of mine to see Anish Kapoor at Royal Academy of Arts.

Anish Kapoor, Tall Tree and the Eye

It was spectacular, his creations are things of real beauty: pigment sculptures (you feel like blowing the powdery surface), polished mirror stainless steel works, and Svayambh which is truly amazing – a door that slowly slides back and forth on wax through three rooms of the gallery scattering wax on walls as it goes through the arches. A wonderful show indeed.

To finish the arty weekend we also managed to pop to The Wallace Collection where the latest Damien Hirst paintings are. This is one of the most beautiful museums in London with a vast collection of old masters, home to Hals’ The Laughing Cavalier so it felt slightly invaded by modern art.

Hirst’s blue period scull paintings looked like badly ripped off Francis Bacon. Say no more.

And that’s it. I swear Hirst and Koons seem to be everywhere in London, I have had enough of them for a while.


13 September, 2009 

Art Etc

Last week, having managed to see all the exhibitions from my list I felt rather pleased with myself. Two days later the Tate magazine arrived announcing the autumn schedule, I scanned through all the galleries and here is my new to see list:

Tate Modern: Pop Life show will include Kippenberg, Koons, Warhol and Hirst to name a few. There will be also a John Balderssari show and Miroslaw Balka will take over the Turbine Hall.

It seems to be the season of Pop Art, The Hayward Gallery is having a retrospective of Ed Ruscha paintings, this should be good!

Tate Britain: Turner and The Masters, I am really looking forward to this show, it will include old masters like Rubens and Rembrandt. I would suggest to visit this exhibition bit later in the autumn as it will be packed in the opening weeks. The gallery will hold the annual Turner Prize show too.

Somerset House is hosting Norman Parkinson: A Very British Glamour, expect a visual feast of some of the best fashion pictures ever taken. I must admit, I have never been to this venue, it has been on my list for ages. Now is the time to go.

Victoria and Albert Museum: Maharaja show, I really hope this is good, the last few times I went the exhibitions looked tempting but failed to deliver. The last one that I really enjoyed was The Golden Age of Couture which I went to see twice.

Royal Academy of Arts, probably my least favorite museum in London, will hold Anish Kapoor show. Looks very interesting.

National Gallery is showing a major exhibition of Spanish painting and sculpture from 17th century, Velazques and Zurbaran are among the artists. The Sacred Made Real show opens in October. This is my favorite gallery in London, I often go in and spend hours looking at the paintings from their permanent collection.

The White Cube Hoxton Square and Mason’s Yard will hold Anselm Kiefer and Damien Hirst shows respectively.

Fashion and Textile Museum have got Foale and Tuffin retrospective. I saw few designs of this iconic company few years ago at the V&A and loved every piece they produced.

British Museum:  Revolution on paper, Mexican prints 1910-1960. This is a real highlight for me.

I did miss one exhibition this summer which was Banksy vs Bristol Museum however Purple Cloud documented it very well so I feel like I have been there. Have a look here.