Champagne Life

Fun exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery of work by contemporary female artists.

There was some I liked and some I didn’t like so much but it was presented in quite a sparse almost “see what you think” way so I felt that was fine. I was pleased I bought the small leaflet for the show as that told you a bit more about the work than the very brief labels. On the whole I feel you should be able to get an idea of what the art if doing just by looking at it but it can add a bit more when you understand the reasoning behind it.

I liked the room with the huge pieces in it by Alice Anderson of a ball of wire and a piece like a huge cotton bobbin. The detail in them up close was wonderful. Also Jelena Buiajic’s huge detailed portraits of older women which include marble dust, ground granite and limestone in the pigment giving an added gravitas to these ordinary women.

Who can resist the stuffed horse on a bean bag by Sohelia Sokhanvari! I’ve no idea what it meant but it was a stuffed horse on a bean bag! In the same room I liked Maha Mahhuk’s wall of Arab cooking pots which created a lovely random pattern but were also fascinating to look at the different designs and states of repair of them up close.

However my favourite piece was a wonderful life sized sculpture of two cows by Stephanie Quayle. One seemed to lean on the back of the other with such tenderness.

Closes 6 March 2016.

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