Cathy's Art Diary

Beautiful exhibition at the British Museum looking at the human body in Greek art. The first room was quite bare except for the stars of the show. Three fabulous statues by famous students of Ageladas as well as recently found bronze of an wrestler cleaning themselves after a fight. I had been to a lecture by one of the curators just before I went round and she had talked about the contrast in tension which made a great statue with the whole thing being about balance and contrast between tense and relaxed muscles. All of these were perfect examples. This was a beautifully presented exhibition and I liked the way it used some of the Elgin marbles putting them back into the context in which they were made. It was interesting to see a room about how the figures would have been coloured. They look so garish to our eyes. I prefer them plain but then I have a hardened old Western art historic eye! There was an interesting section on drapery. Apart from statues of Venus wome

Interesting exhibition at the British Museum looking at the indigenous people of Australia. I must admit I wasn’t sure if this was trying to be about art ethnography or history and in trying to do it all it got a bit muddled. The first section concentrated on the believes and culture of these people and how it was and is expressed in their   art and the objects they make. There was quite a lot trying to explain the concept of ‘county’ and ‘dreamings’ which I’m not sure I really grasped either. I was attracted by the way art seems to have woven into life but equally found there didn’t seem to be a progression in the art. There were many works which could have been made now or 200 years ago. The second section looked more at the history of these people since the colonialization of the country. The items around Captain Cook and the settling of the country seemed to have more work by westerners about the native people and I was interested in the proclamation boards to pro

Fun sculpture trail round London featuring statues of Shaun the Sheep decorated by different artists. These are to raise money for Wallace and Gromit’s Children’s Charity and Grand Appeal. There is a good app which outlines the various trails of figures or can just show you where you nearest Shaun is. I’ve only found eight so far but I’ll be looking for more! There are about 50 in London. This will be followed by another trail of 70 Shauns in Bristol and then all the statues will be reunited for shows in Bristol and London (Covent Garden 24-27 September) before the statues are auction off. I love this sculpture trails and the mix of people you find looking at the figures from the hardened trail following type to the bemused!

Thought provoking exhibition at St Martin’s in the Fields of photographs by Milan Svanderlik of Londoners who consider themselves to be outsiders. It looks at 40 people and the portraits are very intense and intimate. Most are head and shoulder shots but there also one of someone from above and a floating head where the neck had been blacked out which was really effective. Each picture came with an interesting commentary about the person and why they perceived themselves as an outsider. Some were obvious reasons like people who had come from overseas, people who were homeless and people with disabilities. In other cases it made you think about what an outsider was and question the negative connotation in which we think of this term. Maybe outsider just means different and we are all different.  

Small exhibition at Canada House of photographs by Jeff Wall, selected by the artist. . These pictures were shown in a big format which gave them the quality of history paintings. There were just five and they were of very different subjects. One showed a couple of tress on a street whereas another was of a child falling off the roof of a shed. I found myself making up stories about why the people were where they were and what happened next. My favourite was of a woman looking at art catalogues in a rather old fashioned looking room. It had a cropped intensity.

Interesting show at the Mall Galleries of work by members of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. There was a wide range of styles in the show and I was struck by how many people had used egg tempera as a medium. You could also tell that colleges and research bodies seemed to be the main commissioners of pictures. In some cases it would have been nice to know a bit more about the sitter as there were obviously things in the picture which alluded to their work an interests but you weren’t quite sure what they meant. Pictures that stood out included a Dutch quality picture of Julian Fellows by Teri Anne Scobie, the group portraits by Richard Foster and some great pictures of women by Bendon Kelly. My favourite however was by Fiona Scott and was called “Henry (Young Farmer)” a very real picture of a young man in ripped jeans and a sweat shirt with a young farmers logo.

Confused exhibition at the ICA to mark 60 years since they hosted Francis Bacon’s first solo show. This show was a great idea and I can imagine the excitement of the meeting that thought of it. Then they went to the archives to put it together and found they only had an invite and a programme from it. Instead of then opting not to do it, someone then wondered what they could tie it to and decided that as there had been the ambiguous picture “Two figures in the grass” in the show that they’d link it to the fight to legalise homosexuality. Basically the Bacon bits were not much and padded out by catalogues of other shows. The material on the lead up to the Sexual Offences Act 1967 and the partial decriminalization of homosexuality was fascinating. There were law cases and books which I’d not come across. It was laid out well and told an interesting story. Hopefully in two years’ time when it’s the 50th anniversary someone will pit on a show taking an intense look at this.

Magical installation at the ICA by Ydessa Hendeles. This was an installation in their theatre space consisting of 150 artists’ mannequins in what she described as a “tableau vivant” with Debussy’s Golliwog Cakewalk playing in the background. The mannequins varied in size but the majority were either sitting on children’s school benches or sat in a circle around a central figure at one end.   Some were very lifelike. One the walls were fairground distortion mirrors so as you walked round you saw strange versions of yourself. I found the whole thing both magical and a thing of nightmares! The effect was added to by the fact I was alone in the space except for about 5 guards who didn’t move. They sort of morphed into the art work! I’d deliberately not read too much before I went in but when I read the blurb later I realised it was both installation and an exhibition of the artists collection of mannequins which she had carefully catalogued in an excellent free booklet. I

Mixed exhibition at the ICA of work by five contemporary artists which looks at “how mass digital culture informs how identity is constructed, performed and challenged”. No I’m not too sure I understand either! I liked the spooky sculptures in the first room by Sewart Uoo made of metal and looking very real and slightly decaying. These sat with a carpet by him based on a Cosmopolitan style website. Which I thought was rather fun. I also liked Juliette Bonneviot’s pictures which were plain painted canvases but made from materials containing molecules or compounds that act like xenohormones. The materials used all come from everyday life such as linen and food colouring. Each picture had a commentary which described the colour and compounds used. They looked rather Rothko like but with an added environmental element. They worked rally well together. My favourite was a video installation (yes I am saying my favour was a video!) by Wu Tsang consisting of a video called “A