After last week’s flying visit to Tate Britain after the Tate to Tate boat debacle, Girl Lacer wanted to go back and ever concerned about daddy’s cultural education, she wanted Mr. Lacer to go to, so we sandwiched in a trip to Tate Britain today in our staycation. We went back to see Classifieds again, this time venturing into the dark room which Girl Lacer had refused to go into before, I had thought the room beyond in the darkness would be the McDonalds take on the Classifieds exhibition, but it was actually a film showing in such a pitch black room, me, Mr. Lacer and the kids were in danger of bumping into each other, beyond the film room was Damien Hirst’s Pharmacy, which I’ve seen before and then there was the McDonalds bit, which was a hit with all of us I think. I should explain to those who haven’t seen pictures of the Classifieds exhibition, particularly the ‘McDonalds bit’, I doubt the artist behind that particular room is a big fan of McDs, well it wasn’t as if it was corporately sponsored or anything, I thought it made McDonalds look quite scary. It was basically a load of tribal style art work; lots of carved wood, like a tribal mask in the shape of some faintly sinister french fries or a tribal statue with a McDonalds drink and fries in his arms. Me and Girl Lacer liked spotting the McDonalds references and Mr. Lacer enjoyed being able to look round an exhibition which was incredibly quiet compared to the normal bustle of Tate Modern.
We then went on to see Eva Rothschild’s Cold Corners, which was the other thing (other than Classifieds) that I really wanted to see and it was amazing.
Photo from http://www.tate.org.uk
Somehow ‘just’ a simple (if big) angular metal sculpture seemed so organic and alive, like it was fizzing energetically through the neo-classical hall way. I loved it.
We then went on to the kids’ art trolley, whereas the kids’ art activities at Tate Modern can, in comparison, be verging on cerebral (in a good way though, for the right kid, Girl Lacer has since her last visit been quoting surrealist theory at me), in Tate Britain it’s ‘just’ making stuff (although inspired by various exhibits), however the large amount of material they provide to make the stuff is pretty impressive, Girl Lacer made a boat, with a little bit of help from me with the sticky tape and keeping the mast upright.
We then went to explore the rest of the gallery, now as you can see from what we made a bee line for first (Classifieds and Cold Corners) and our more normal habit of going to Tate Modern, we’re modern art fans really but I was quite keen to see the Pre-Raphaelites, as I’m currently watching Desperate Romantics on TV, if anything for the lovely Aidan Turner playing Rossetti, he was excellent in Being Human and just as good in Desperate Romantics (and in the centre of the photo below).
Photo from http://www.bbc.co.uk
It was great seeing the paintings in reality, there is something special about them. I particularly liked Ophelia and was surprised to learn that the river background was painted relatively close to where I live now (the Hogsmill in Ewell).
Ophelia - from http://www.tate.org.uk
Then wondering through the Turner rooms was even more locally surprised by a picture pretty much drawn from my local bus route, of course, it looks quite different these days.
Richmond Hill, on the Prince Regent's Birthday by Turner, from http://www.tate.org.uk
So, it was a good day out, having finally got to see Tate Britain for longer than half an hour. I think though, much as Tate Modern is often more annoyingly busy, I think I prefer it, not just for the genre of art but because it’s a little less ‘refined’ and as much as my kids like art galleries they are only 3 and 5!
