“la Caixa” collection of contemporary art: Selected by Enrique Vila-Matas


Innovative exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery using work from the “la Caixa” contemporary art collection.

This is one in a series of shows which will invite a writer to select works from an art collection and produce a new piece of writing based on them. It’s an interesting way of highlighting unusual and less well known collections.

This show just had six pieces but included a Andreas Gursky of an archaeological dig at Thebes and a Gerard Richter from a series of back views of his wife.

There was a lovely video installation by Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster which recreated a bare room with a video against the end wall of a child sitting on the floor with silhouettes of adults and trees appearing. It reminded me of a Bill Viola in its slow delivery and haunting quality. My favourite piece was this painting by Miquel Barcela called “A Fistful of Earth” a stunning desert or moon scape with built up rocks.

I did sit and try the start of the piece of writing which was entitled as a novel but seemed more to be descriptive writing about the works. I wasn’t moved enough to buy it.

Closes on 28 April 2019

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