Cathy's Art Diary

Retrospective exhibition at Pallazzo Grassi of work by Sigmar Polke. I had been to the Tate Modern show a few years ago and not really liked Polke but this show gave the pictures a bit more room to breathe and I understand them better and really liked some of them. I’m not sure I really appreciated the skill in the dot pictures before and that he painted on each dot or sometimes the space between the dots to create a pale one, creating an image purely from these dots. The most effective ones here were the Hermes Trismegistos series. I loved some later works created by putting powdered pigment on a canvas then shaking them and adding water. They became a homage to pigment with wonderful organic shapes in the paint. There was a great film at the start showing Polke working on one of these works although as my friend pointed out we were literally watching a film of paint drying! There were also three films Polke made while working on the German Pavilion at the 1986 Bienn...

Retrospective at Tate Modern of the life and work of Sigmar Polke. I have to admit I am a bit late in writing up the show and in coming to set down and catch up I realize how little of it has stuck with me. I think the impression I got was of a very experimental artist which tried many techniques and did not leave me with an image of any one style. Since seeing this I have seen the Kiefner show at the Royal Academy and oddly the first notes I make on Polke about him exploring and coming to terms with Germany’s Nazi history sounded very similar to my notes on Kiefner. I did like the collages he did using cheap decorative fabrics and the large scale works of watchtowers but I seem to have forgotten the rest! The leaflet kept referring to his humour but I must admit I missed it! There are various quotes which seemed to aim to burst the pomposity of the art world but somehow just sounded more pompous. All a bit of a turn off for me, sorry! Reviews Times Guardia...