Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting exhibition at Tate Britain giving a brief overview of the work of Martin Creed. I enjoyed the Martin Creed exhibition at the Hayward Gallery and this was a nice encapsulation of it with works I’d not seen before. It was also interesting to see it a couple of weeks after his show of new work at Hauser and Worth. It worked well with the Jesse Darling exhibition as it too used everyday objects to celebrate the ordinary. I hadn’t realised before that he identifies his work by number. It is hard to describe the strange mesmerising sound in the gallery made by metronomes which lined the room each working at a different speed (No 11239). No 1340, shown in my photo is recreated by a technician each time it’s shown and consists of diagonal lines on the wall which break for any obstacles, in this case another work. I loved No 944 which covered 21 sheets of A4 paper with each of the felt tips pens from a set.   Who didn’t want to do that as a child! I could have lived...

Wacky exhibition at Hauser and Wirth of new work by Martin Creed. I found myself smiling within seconds of walking into the gallery as I spotted a sculpture of a small dog on a high shelf with small shelves in a step pattern with night lights on leading up to it. It was a bit crude close up but from a distance the stance and expression was perfect. You then moved on to a bronze slice of peanut butter toast and a loved a dancing sock. I liked his series of Matisse like cut outs in blues and black. Because they had a seaside feel they made me think of Brighton. At first sight they were quite a conventional picture but as you looked you realised the objects were not in logical sequence so you got bridges under water and a tunnel on a cloud. I do have a moan though in that half the handout had interesting looking clothes listed but when I asked where they were it turned out they were worn by performance artists who would usually appear at regular intervals in the show but ...

Surprisingly good retrospective of work by Martin Creed at the Hayward Gallery. This was definitely a show I went to on the grounds I go to everything I can. The reviews in the papers had been dire and I hated his Turner Prize winning room with the light going on and off but in for a penny (or in this case £11)! However I loved it! Just walking into the first room to be greeted by the huge rotating neon sign saying “Mother” made me smile, particularly when it speeded up and I felt like I was being chased! The aforementioned lights were in a room with other works and I liked it better in that context as it meant things, in the case a wall of broccoli prints and a video with two dogs on, appeared and disappeared or blended into the gloom. I found the whole exhibition an element of ‘the take it or leave it’. If there was something you did find nonsense, I didn’t get the pile of cardboard boxes and never found the Blu-Tack, just walk on and you’ll find something else to m...