The histrionics of modern art

I visited Tate Modern a few days ago. This is not the first visit, and honestly I am getting a bit tired of it. Yet, I am too lazy to go all the way up from South London to let’s say, the British museum. Tate Modern, as a result, has become the farthest point that I go for pleasure during my free time.

Luckily for me, the people running Tate Modern are not as lazy, and I saw a number of new things this time around. First there is the large turbine hall of the former Bankside power station, which has now been transformed into an indoor playground for children and adults alike. It has swings meant more for adults who do not want to be seen on a swing out in the open.

The new turbine hall décor (swings on the other side; not clicked to maintain privacy of embarrassed adults)

As I kept venturing into the oversized corridors of the Tate Modern various artwork started pinging my eyes from all sides. There was one which quite struck me (and which I am sure I have seen before but ignored because of my laziness). It was by Salvador Dalí and called ‘Metamorphosis of Narcissus’. It depicted the story of Narcissus who loved only himself, and broke the hearts of many lovers, and while such tragic characters do appear here and there in real life, I was quite taken by the theatricals going on in the background, which is reminiscent of our own times. A group of people sharing the same space but each engrossed in their own reflection in the pool. Today the pool has been replaced by the mobile phone, or the ‘black mirror’ as some wish to call it.

‘Metamorphosis of Narcissus’, so relevant to our times that I just had to stop and reflect

I then moved on to a different gallery where I found a lot of shapes in different colours, something I like. However some of them were rather pretentious, like this one by Bridget Riley.

‘Nataraja’, although I don’t see the link with the Hindu ‘Lord of Dance’! (Image from Tate Modern website)

This is what the display caption says: Riley often alludes to her impressions of foreign cultures in her paintings. In 1981 she travelled to India. Nataraja is a term from Hindu mythology meaning ‘Lord of the Dance’. It refers to the Hindu God Shiva in his form as the cosmic dancer, who is usually depicted with many arms. In this painting, vertical bands of colour are cut across by diagonals, creating a sense of dynamic movement through intricate rhythm and counter-rhythm.

I am not convinced.

So I move on and found something that looked more genuine ... when people started to get in the way.

Freeze motion. In front of ‘Strip’ by Gerhard Richter. Her expression is priceless. I ought to start selling my photographs.

This print by Gerhard Richter, called ‘Strip’, really exploded with colour. I stayed calm while other visitors also gawked at it. I was hoping they would eventually move aside and let me take a photo of the damn thing. But they kept coming and going so I decided to put them into my composition. Although this was purely accidental, this lady appears to be scared stiff because I pointed my camera roughly in her direction. I have read this is a common phenomenon faced by street photographers when they go out hunting for a good shot. I feel it is real human frailty which is often exposed at this critical moment. Photographers apparently need to have an armour of steel to not be affected by this, because street photographers document the life and times however weird or awkward it might get. My brush with the real deal I guess, though not sure I share the same temperament to pull this off as a profession.

The next set of painting were called ‘History Paintings’ by Maria Lalic. These are six painting using colours from different periods in time. I might be turning colour blind, so couldn’t quite match the colours with their captions, but you can give it a try: http://www.tate.org.uk/search?type=artwork&aid=2639.

‘History Paintings’ by Maria Lilac. The colours seem to be a bit off, or maybe it’s just my overenthusiastic image post processing.

If you think the colours are a bit off in ‘History Paintings’, then the shapes are a bit off in the next one.

‘Carres’ by Carmelo Arden Quin. Makes you brain play ping-pong if you stare at it for long. The background was once white, but it’s been around since 1951 so can’t blame it.

This one called ‘Carres’ or Squares by Carmelo Arden Quin, is anything but square. Its asymmetric shapes appealed to me because life is like that. You want everything to fit into a box, but it rarely does. Who wouldn’t dose off in the middle of the art gallery with so many abstract visual metaphysical concepts floating around.

Dosing, or texting? Either way, feeling bored I guess.

Taking my own laziness and the shallow pretentiousness of modern art into consideration, I have to admit that I quite like the Tate Modern. It is a collection of visual ejaculations from the modern mind, which is at war with itself. It redefines all the hopes and dreams that we have by throwing it squarely into the pit of reality thus demonstrating that life is not perfect and that we need to come to terms with it. We need to stop fooling ourselves with the metaphorical box because what happens in life will never exactly fit into it. We need to let go of our prejudices and preconceived notions about the world and look forward bravely and even foolishly. We need to accept what appears strange and weird, and try to understand why all things originate from something, why objects and ideas have roots unseen, just like trees. We need to find those unknown roots, not be afraid of them.

The Tate Modern is a good place to start, to help understand those roots, and those complicated places in our brain they arise from. I wonder if anybody has tried investigating the neuroscience of modern art. Might be a good topic for a grant application.

Oh and I should mention the new Blatavnik building. Since the last time I visited Tate Modern, they erected a new building! Yes, they definitely haven’t been sitting around like me. Not really. The building was being erected for a long, long time, and they only finished it quite recently. And I did have a look-see at its main lobby before hunger pangs took priority, and my initial impressions was a bare bone industrial interior finished in a half-assed way. Maybe it’s still under construction, because if that is what they call art I am disappointed at the lack of imagination. But what do I know. I will go through it more thoroughly at a later date, give it a fair chance to impress me.