Review by Dips Patel of “Alexander Calder: Performing Sculpture” – an exhibition at Tate Modern

Alexander Calder: Performing Sculpture
Tate Modern
11 November 2015 – 3 April 2016

After Giacometti’s exhibition at National Portrait Gallery (see previous entry), I took a stroll down river to Tate Modern to take a gander ‘n’ gawp at this:

http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/alexander-calder-performing-sculpture

Triple Gong, c1948

I’ve loved his stuff for years and apart from seeing a bunch of his work in, I want to say the Musee d’Orsay, but it could well have been the Pompidou, or even the Louvre, never had a chance to see an extensive collection of his stuff. (I remember one option of a module on my art course in college was making a mobile and after about a day of abject failure I picked something else to do!)

Vertical Foliage, 1941

His really early stuff, the simple wire pieces were mesmerising (I know I’ve said before that sculptures are just drawings in space) but these things, the manipulated wire looking like someone has literally just drawn a head in mid-air and sometimes only when you have walked around the thing does it take on the shape and form of a head seen from different angles, or a face or a horse or elephant or a team of acrobats or a…it looks playful and there’s generous humour in these pieces (incidentally, whoever thought of the lighting for this show should get some credit, it is a really gorgeously lit exhibition).

Form Against Yellow, 1936

There’s the seed of something great in the pieces, to me unmistakable, and as you walk through the rooms the development of the work, his ideas, going from mechanical kinetic sculptural works (one of which had Einstein watching it for 45mins until it had gone through its full rotation) to the increasingly monumental mobiles for which he is most famous, ultimately the evolution of the work reveal a clarity of thought and knowledge of materials, physics and engineering (trained as an engineer in his youth) and execution of ideas which resonate with a deep, almost substantial lightness (I know what I’m saying is odd but again I can’t think of the right words).

Medusa, c1930

Varese, c1930

Saturn. The planet. Massive, second only to Jupiter as gaseous giant in our system of solar, and with its rings looks like a reet monster but it’s made of gas so as the gag goes, find a large enough bucket and it’ll float. That’s his mobiles right there, Saturn. His mobiles are like Saturn, which is apt as he did a few sculptures inspired by space and the celestial bodies and stuff. Floating in space, as people move about displacing the air around them they change, evolve and transform the mobiles into living things. That was a treat and a half!

Goldfish Bowl, 1929

About the reviewer
Dips Patel is a graduate in Graphic Design which means he can colour in without going over the lines and when he does he makes it look deliberate, cool and edgy. He much prefers fine art where the art of talking nonsense is finer still allowing him extremely moderate success in introducing his work to a wider audience. Hobbies include reading stuff, watching stuff, commendably misguided attempts at painting stuff and consuming copious amounts of coco pops, clementines, curries, cakes and cocktails, not all at the same time which is frowned upon in polite society.

Review by Dips Patel of “Pure Presence: Alberto Giacometti” – an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery

Pure Presence: Alberto Giacometti

15 October 2015 – 10 January 2016

National Portrait Gallery

http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/giacometti/exhibition.php

The Artist's Mother: Oil on canvas, 1950 

Of all the artists in all the studios in all the world he has to be the singular inspiration for my own daubs and doodlins. I’ve seen his work both as a collection of just his work and as part of a collection in so many galleries and museums all over the world, but this is the first time I’ve had a chance to see a focus on his portraiture (with some nods to his sculptural work). While, weirdly, his sculptures have had the loudest influence on my (2D) work, it’s his paintings and drawings that have had the deepest emotional impact. 

Woman of Venice VIII: Bronze, 1956

You’d recognise his 3D work straight off the bat (really thin, gaunt figures that scream isolation and emotional disconnect) but the 2D stuff is where the real power lies as that’s where the philosophical heart lies of his vision and it is a vision. The later work is what really got me the first time I came across his work (back during the pre-Cambrian era, also known as my college years) cos it was the first time I’d seen paintings painted like it was a drawing. That’s not very clear (‘clear as mud dip.. bloody nutter’); he painted like he was drawing, so he wielded his paintbrush and used paint like we use a pen and ink and it helped create a singular vision and style which makes him an absolute giant of modern art. 

Diego: Oil on canvas, 1959

There was one piece in particular ‘Figure Grise’ (tete en gris), 1957 that had me spellbound for a good half hour/forty mins, floating, shimmering would be more apt, on the wall and with each forward step taken towards it, it appeared to recede further away into itself, simply withdrawing to the point where up close, and I mean right up close, it’s nothing more than a series of worked and reworked lines of paint. Get too close and invade its personal space and it would simply disappear, maddeningly indifferent to my presence a detached curiosity haughtily asking ‘who are you looking at? me? hmm? Get back there, go on, keep going..’. Only when I stood almost on the other side of the room (a good 15/20 feet away or thereabouts) did it really look like it felt comfortable with me looking at it, demanding I keep my distance and it would play nice. 

Figure Grise (tete en gris): Oil on Canvas, 1957

Like a small child, reticent and reserved in the company of strangers but curious of what they’re doing, a child that runs away at the first sign of your approach but given a bit of time it’ll get used to you – yup, that’s how I felt when I was looking at that painting; and you might feel the same: it’ll come to you, but not before it’s ready.

Self-Portrait: Paper on pencil, c1923-4

About the reviewer
Dips Patel is a graduate in Graphic Design which means he can colour in without going over the lines and when he does he makes it look deliberate, cool and edgy. He much prefers fine art where the art of talking nonsense is finer still allowing him extremely moderate success in introducing his work to a wider audience. Hobbies include reading stuff, watching stuff, commendably misguided attempts at painting stuff and consuming copious amounts of coco pops, clementines, curries, cakes and cocktails, not all at the same time which is frowned upon in polite society.

Review by Dips Patel of “Sculpture in the Modern World” by Barbara Hepworth

Tate Britain: Exhibition 24 June – 25 October 2015

I went to see ‘Barbara Hepworth: Sculpture in the Modern World’ at Tate Britain. Easily ranking in my favourite 3 sculptors ever, this is the first proper retrospective of hers I’ve seen (I’ve seen a fair bit of her work, but only as a single piece/pieces in a museum’s larger collection). 

I. WAS. BLOWN. AWAY. Work that I’ve only ever seen photos of, in the flesh is a whole other experience, it’s not just that the early stuff, whether its wood or stone, is just superb, the forms and composition of the work almost ethereal in their realisation, it’s the sheer skill at carving that absolutely drops the jaw not only in admiration but utter enthrallment.

It’s the scale of the work too, (at the entrance of the exhibition is an example of her late bronze work, giving the impression of an unspoken promise of something monumental to come) especially the “guarea” pieces that make you stop, hold your breath, forget to breathe, then gasp audibly and make you something of a babbling fool wondering how it’s even possible to think of the idea of the sculpture let alone the execution of it.

I felt like those chimps first being confronted by the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey, honestly, I just cannot convey the sheer physicality of the work in words, there were pieces by other sculptors/artists to give context to her work (inevitably including Moore, Nicholson and Skeaping), and there’s also a film documentary as part of the exhibition which goes a long way to showing the emotional content to her work.  For more info click on the link below:
http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/barbara-hepworth-sculpture-modern-world

About the reviewer
Dips Patel is a graduate in Graphic Design which means he can colour in without going over the lines and when he does he makes it look deliberate, cool and edgy. He much prefers fine art where the art of talking nonsense is finer still allowing him extremely moderate success in introducing his work to a wider audience. Hobbies include reading stuff, watching stuff, commendably misguided attempts at painting stuff and consuming copious amounts of coco pops, clementines, curries, cakes and cocktails, not all at the same time which is frowned upon in polite society.