Friday, August 31, 2007

I was pleased and flattered to get a friendly email from Kris Hemensley, who'd been reading my blog and Litter. Kris runs the famous 'Collected Works' bookshop in Melbourne, Australia. You can read some background on the man himself here, and read his fascinating blog here. He kindly ordered a batch of Leafe pamphlets.

While in Cornwall, I visited the Tate St. Ives for the first time. I wasn't disappointed by the main gallery and it's fabulous view of the coastline. There were a couple of temporary exhibitions, but the thing I enjoyed was the work by the St.Ives painters Peter Lanyon and Bryan Wynter. There wasn't much by Roger Hilton as I believe it's out on a touring exhibition. My teenage daughter was less impressed. She pointed out that you don't need to traipse round a gallery to see paintings, you could just buy posters or look at them in books or web pages - thus delivering a devastating critique of western Art, albeit one that's been noted before.

2 comments:

John B-R said...

Sounds like your daughter's read her "Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" and all its "in the age of Digital Reproduction" clones. I don't think she devastates art, just the aura.

Though to argue a little, there's nothing like seeing SOME things in person. If for no other reason than scale. e.g. Guernica or Las Meninas. Or texture, e.g Tapies. Or quality of print, e.g. Sugimoto. (All of which I've seen in person w/in the last year).

But she's either a genius ... or was hungry ... or wanted to talk to her friends on her mobile ... (Substitute "and" for "or" at will)

Alan Baker said...

All that time in her room's been well-spent. And I thought she was watching MTV.