Patrick Caulfield and Gary Hume @ Tate Britain
19.06.2013
Last Sunday I went to the Tate Britain to see its new two blockbuster shows, Patrick Caulfield and Gary Hum.
I love them both so I must say I was quite excited about it. I started with Hume’s show. This was nicely curated, I did not feel overwhelmed by the quantity of the works, these were nicely selected and ordered across the exhibition space. I wish I could show you some of my favorite paintings but visitors are not allowed to take pictures. However you can click here and visit their website or even better go and check the exhibition yourself.
Gary Hume, The Moon 2009
Here I just want to say, as previously mentioned in some of my writings, that Tate is really missing an opportunity to engage with their audience, people want to share with friends and family and often with strangers what they are up too. We live in a digital world and a decision not to allow visitors to take picture is really ancient especially for such a striving institution such as Tate Britain, her sister, Tate Modern lunched Magic Tate Ball app last year, this was an incredible success and a perfect example on how to engage the public. I have often heard curators say that the reason why pictures are not allowed is because some works are on loan from private collectors whom do not wish these works to be photographed. Well, perhaps is the time to think about a creative way to let the public takes pictures of their favorite pieces while respecting the will of these collectors. An invigilator could kindly explain to visitors not to take a picture of a particular work, or in the leaflet it could be explained that some works cannot be photographed while encouraging the audience to interact with the show through sharing their thoughts and pictures on Tate’s social networks.
Ok let’s get back to Hume, as Tate Britain says: “this exhibition highlights Hume’s innovative use of colour, line and surface in his distinctive compositions” and I couldn’t agree more with this.
The large scale works literally hypnotizing you and make you feel calm, they have however a bitter aftertaste as they carry with them a feeling of melancholy. I find Hume work really hard to read as well as irresistible. Gary Hume is for me one of the most interesting contemporary artists we have.
Then I went to see Caulfied’ s exhibition and I felt in love with him, once again! Patrick Caulfield’s use of color is something hard to be described, the way the artists played with different color combinations is extraordinary, he created a perfect equilibrium of cold and hot tints, all his compositions are perfectly balanced in a triumph of harmony and proportion. Yeah, I’m excited about it! I totally recommend this show to everyone, especially to folks working or interested in fashion. I found it to be very inspiring, a joy for textile designers!
Patrick Caulfield, After Lunch 1975
Go, go, really go and check these two shows.
V
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