Trips

London - 14 November

Visited Tate Britain. Never been before... Beautiful building and good to see a collection of different styles of art by British artists from very old stuff to modern pieces. Maybe it's because I'm new to art history stuff but I found it really useful to see the development of art over time in a line on one wall. I have a brain like sponge, absorbing all, but not quite knowing what I'll end up doing with it. To fit this new information in my brain I need to archive things like the words to Club Tropicana...

Hunted down the Hogarth they had on display. Wanted to see them in the flesh. My favourite was The Roast Beef of Old England. Hogarth uses muted colours - browns, greens, greys using white red and blue sparingly to highlight the main action of the picture. This picture also uses the archway as a way to frame another image/story within the picture.

Other stuff I liked: Martin Ofili?? No woman no cry. This was a massive piece and I was drawn to it as soon as I walked into the room. When I looked at it close up he had used mixed media and photos of Stephen Lawrence's mother in tear-drops. Ofili is commenting on society in the same way as Hogarth: Producing a picture that is beautiful to look at, but when you look more closely there are cues and messages put in by the artist to make the viewer think a little deeper about the subject matter.

Saw a portrait by Lucian Freud - Girl in a Striped Nightshirt 1983-85. Loved the way he had painted the face using bold strokes in differnent shades of flesh. As the subject sleeps she looks peaceful but the way Freud has painted her gives the image more edge and visual impact.

Liked the mixed media work by John McHale (Furhead 1956). His use of plastic and the way he painted over mixed media. I read somewhere that when doing mixed media you need to add the fat over then lean - plan the layers using oils etc last. You could really see this in his work I thought.

Looked at all the Turners too. Loads of them. He was painting form a young age so I guess he had plenty of time!

Sculpture - the plaster figures (can't remember woman's name who did them) they were cool. Chunky and organic