Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting exhibition at the Royal Academy looking at the friendship between Salvador Dali and Marcel Duchamp. By the end of their careers these two artists seemed to by doing very different work to each other but the show traced their friendship and how they often examined similar themes in their work. They seem to have shared a similar sense of humour laced with scepticism and a shared interest in topics such as optics and language. The first room was stunning with examples of their early work including a lovely hang of portraits by both artists of their fathers. There was also an almost impressionistic picture by Dali. The next room had a huge display cabinet in the middle with examples of their sculptural work shown without labels but with a handout to identify the works. It made use of mirrors to give a surreal feel to the display but it did cause one punter (me) to walk into a reflection on themselves! I became less engaged in the later rooms. They included Duc...

Interesting exhibition at the Barbican focusing on “The Bride and the Bachelors” by Duchamp and the influence it had on the cultural in New York at the time including John Cage, Merce Cunningham and Jasper Johns. I must admit on the ground floor and I had a “Pull the other one” moment. I am not sure I really understood the central work. It was an abstract work painted on glass. The whole display was by Phillipe Parreno and called Mise en Scene and provided a sound track to the exhibition. Again I found some of the music quite trying but I did love the occasional sound of dancers running across the floor. However by the time I got upstairs I was starting to get a view of a group of friends. I’m not sure I liked much of the art but I did like the sense of friendship and their work becoming a dialogue between them. The artist I most warmed to was Jasper John’s because his work seemed to have more of a sense of humour such as the lovely zig zag abstract works with cutlery...