“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 ...