Glimpses of London arts in January 2024: Snaptexts & snapshots

February 4, 2024

When I go somewhere, I plan to set off time to explore whatever contemporary art there may be. I went to the Emergency Conference of Global Intellectuals of Conscience to Stop Genocide in Gaza in London, UK, on 27-28, January 2024. More about that on The Transnational and on TFFSubstack.

There we listened to several high-level Palestinians, diplomats, humanitarian workers and others who have firsthand experiences from the tiny territory under genocide. Even though sitting fra away from Gaza, I sometimes just wanted to scream and get away from it all. But this is not the place to discuss these matters.

While in London I visited Tate Britain, the Royal Academy of Art (RA), National Portrait Gallery and Tate Modern – and a few small galleries. I like to explore the collections in particular – one, they are free; two, there are fewer people and three, they are more diverse and filled with surprises than thematic exhibitions on show. Furthermore, the collections are always there, whereas if I write here about a current exhibition, it has most likely been closed before you have an opportunity to visit it.

As I’ve stated before, I am not a critic but an art recommender. And I shoot pictures in all directions with different apps. Much for my own memory and to be inspired – i.e. to steal ideas. But I also like to document/freeze the visitors and their explorations. Every exhibition is a limited event in time and space…

Tate Britain

At Tate Britain, I always enjoy the entrance, fabulous black and white sculptured stairs, large classical halls, and the light. However, I was immediately drawn to Kenyan Zeinab Saleh’s (born 1996) fleeting, dream-lie but still realistic paintings. Here are some of my shots – and you may enlarge to see details:

One can’t visit Tate Britain and not dwell at William Turner…

Interestingly, there were many of Turner’s watercolour sketches and sketchbooks, several of which showed his experiments with coloured paper.

Next, one of my favourites, the father of pop art – and no, it wasn’t Warhol. It was Richard Hamilton.

Here is my own Hommage to Hamilton, multimedia on steel mirror:

And then Henry Moore – and an early example of the dilemmas of the nuclear age:

The museums I visited are helpful and pedagogic to their audience. I’ve never understood why, in so many museums and fairs, texts about an artwork must be formulated in elitist ways, seemingly only to ensure that nobody understands them and non-art experts are turned off. It is pleasantly different here.

Also, these museums do a lot to enable people with various handicaps to enjoy their exhibitions. And they have free admission (while you must pay for special exhibitions). But what a gift to the people who are encouraged to make a donation when they leave.

Another lovely factor is that there are young students everywhere. What could be more important than bringing them in direct contact with the original artworks in the museum setting, having them read about the works and also making drawings of them? I mean, we now know that the humanities have been underestimated and underfunded for decades and that the British government considers the humanities of ‘low value’ – surely one reason that the Western world is in decline and is falling in more than one way in the eyes of the 85% Global East and South.

And, finally, some Tate Britain snapshots. I sometimes shoot only details or excepts and – who knows – one day they sit in one of my collages..

While walking from Tate Britain toward the Pimlico Station, the sun produced a very nice piece of street art in the literal sense of that word:

The Royal Academy (RA)

And now to the Royal Academy at Picadilly:

I went there on a Friday evening when RA is open until 9 PM – good idea, but there were very few people, and they mostly gathered at the restaurant. Since I wasn’t particularly interested in seeing impressionists on paper, I went for the collection – however, much of it closed. I found “Image of the Artist, self-portraits by current and recent Royal Academicians from the last 50 years interesting. And the building is magnificent to just walk around.

Among others, there was this sixteenth-century copy of Leonardo’s Last Supper, the only marble sculpture by Michelangelo in the UK, works by leading British artists from the last 250 years.

Here are some snapshots also of the excellent, informative texts. Remember to click and enlarge…

While approaching my next stop, I met David Hockney. I actually always wanted to since I believe he is one of the greatest. He sat there in a window behind some stark green bikes. Alas, he wasn’t very talkative.

The National Portrait Gallery

The National Portrait Gallery, NPG, is a must, of course – and not only for the marvellous, artistic cake designs in the long and quite narrow cafeteria at the entrance from Charing Cross – and don’t mix it up with the neighbouring National Gallery that you enter from Trafalgar Square.

Spontaneous snaps once more:

As mentioned, I like to shoot details – tear things apart or, perhaps, take the best:

Tate Modern

I love the walk over one of the bridges to the South Bank, along the River Thames, past the ‘brutalist’ Hayward Gallery and the bookstalls (where I learned that there are no ordinary cats) …

… and all the small shops and cafées; quite narrow and always with lots of people in a seemingly relaxed, good mood. And there is – Tate Modern – in that huge old turbine building with its newer 10-floor extension. Allegedly, it is the world’s most visited museum for contemporary art.

First, the huge Turbine Hall with El Anatsui’s metal hangings that take your breath away. Read the text and see how they are created and made of, then judge their size and weight and ask yourself: How can the artist, born 1944 – 79 years old – handle gigantic artworks?

Then get up on the top floor of its Blavatnik Building – by the way, read here who Odessa-born multi-billionaire Len Blavatnik is; he was Britain’s wealthiest man and gave Tate about £ 200 million to complete the new building. Well, an expensive name tag but worth it, one must suppose.

To the left, you look down upon the old turbine building and across to high-rise London connected by the elegant Millennium Bridge. I’ve always thought that that huge chimney with its rounded corners, perfect proportions, and elaborate brick ornaments was very beautiful. To the right, you may look straight into the homes of Tate Modern’s neighbours.

I took a few shots here and there with various settings in the iPhone Hipstamatic app:

… a chair beside a painting, in the sun; Marcel Duchamps porcelain urinal from 1917, and an unusual depiction of David Hockney’s perhaps most famous/expensive painting with a young female admirer…

At Tate Modern, I explored the collections and saw the special exhibition “Capturing the Moment. A Journey Through Painting And Photography.” Read more about it here.

Here is how it is introduced – “The arrival of photography changed the course of painting forever. In this unique exhibition, we explore the dynamic relationship between the two mediums through some of the most iconic artworks of recent times.

From the expressive paintings of Pablo Picasso and Paula Rego, to striking photographs by Hiroshi Sugimoto and Jeff Wall, you will see how these two distinct mediums have shaped each other over time.”

To a large extent, this is what I am grappling with and fascinated by in my own explorations. It’s part of my specific “photographics” concept. The headlines through the exhibition – and in the handy little publication you get and bring with you around and can easily read while there – are: Painting in the Time of Photography - Tensions – Painting into Photography – Photography as Painting – Capturing History – Convergence and Towards the Digital.

And, of course, you meet Gerhard Richter, Peter Doig, Thomas Struth, Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Robert Rauschenberg, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Jeff Wall, Andy Warhol, Dorotea Lange, David Hockney – and many other pioneers of contemporary art history. A very well curated exhibition, indeed.

Now, here are some snap impressions…

And here are some art lovers – again in Hipstamatic editions:

I end with what – there and then – really became unforgettable for me: Joan Mitchell (1925-1992). Read much more about her, see her works and how she felt about them.

I’ve, of course, seen her before, not the least at Art Basel, but never dwelled at length – and also never seen so many huge multi-panel paintings in one place:

I found them all extraordinary … sublime. Powerful abstract painting like few, in my view. Today, it is not that important to be able to paint or paint abstractly. Joan Mitchell knew how to, also when struggling, as you can read, with very serious, handicapping health problems for years. And with being a woman in what was a man’s world. In her case, too, Leo Castelli played an important role by seeing her talent early.

I couldn’t help feeling like shooting a few close-ups that reveal the intensity in every brush stroke. These spontaneous shots created their own mini-paintings. However, it remains enigmatic to me how these small parts added up to those serene, huge and powerful, large canvases… But that’s the attraction of all art: How did they do it? What is so impressive about the overall result? Like, how did Turner do those above?

And the answers to that question have to do with spirit, spontaneity and daring experimenting. Never method and never repetitions of earlier successful practices.