I went to the Tate to see the Turner Prize retrospective yesterday as I really wanted to see Damien Hirst's Mother and child. It was awesome to see it in the flesh, although obviously the flesh was soaked in formaldehyde.
Whilst there I also had a poke around Simon Starlings Shedboatshed which I personally think is a master piece. I love the idea behind it, and I guess that is why we question what indeed is art as there wasn't a paint stroke in sight, apart from Cuprinol on wood?
There were indeed loads of paintings and sculptures there, but these weren't the pieces that appealled to me.
Gormleys bronze statues were there. I love the sinister nature of them, although, admittedly, the ones exhibited weren't in anyway sinister as they were all bent double.
Photos of the house which Rachel Whiteread filled with concrete was at the exhibition. It was great looking at the photos of the negative space and imagining people living in that space, opening the windows and doors, stoking the fire.
But, however much I love shedboatshed it was Gillian Wearing's '60 minutes of Silence' which I thought was most magical. It was basically a full size video of 25 actors dressed as policemen and policewomen sitting posing for a photo. They had to sit looking into the camera for 60 minutes whilst scratching, looking, fidgeting and generally getting bored. I just sat and watched them sitting. It was zen like. Apparently after an hour one of the faux cops gives out a massive scream to break the 60 minutes of silence. It was ace.
Anyway, I have already written to much. Modern art is good, and the Turner Prize, although a victim of it's own success, is good too.
Let's have a massive Tate Art Attack. I'll give Buchanan a call.
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