Turner Prize
I’ve only really seen the first two candidates, James Richards and Tris Vonna – Marshall, properly; need to go back for Ciara Phillips and Duncan Campbell. However, I was surprised that Laura Cummings panned the first two in the Observer on Sunday – I thought they were both great. Both were video- based.
First, James Richards. He has a series of developing images – insects on and just below the surface of a pond, a budgerigar, heavily censored “explicit” photographs by Man Ray and Mapplethorpe from Japanese library books. The latter are censored by scribbles from a white pencil so that in one, a man on top of another appears to have an untidy white beard hanging down over the belly of the man beneath, as he stoops towards it ( no prizes). All these various images are accompanied by a variety of soundtracks that have nothing to do with the images, so its about the subversion of understanding by incongruity. It took me about half a minute, for example, to make sense of the budgie, even though it was quite clear. The pond images are stunning and I found the censorship scratches aesthetically pleasing too – bit like white paint swatches on a Rauschenberg.
Tris Vonna-Marshall kicks off with a panning landscape shot of the Essex marshes apparently; curlews on the soundtrack, a fat brown chain in a sump, the links looking just like bulbous, slimy sausage, washed green, drained red buildings, a Turner/Britten feel to it – Cummings describes it as “rigidly indifferent….. could have been filmed by a robot”. He then changes to black and white interiors and a bunch of disparate objects like boxes, photos and accompanies it with a frantic, stream -of -consciousness soundtrack in which he seems to be presenting a sort of bi-polar, wired inventory of things and actions, as if trying desperately to fix them in his mind. Sounds terrible; I liked it. His next video, with a soundtrack in which he is pursuing several rather obscure anecdotes with family members, contains a series of images which reminded me of Prunella Clough; for example, a grass -covered manhole cover, slightly opened. Don’t know what it all means; liked it all the same.
A common factor shared by Richards and Vonna-Marshall is Germany; Richards is based in Berlin, Vonna-Marshall has German parentage. Phillips and Campbell in next blog.
Hopper and Sickert
There was a programme on Edward Hopper on Sky Arts during which I was struck by the similarity of two of his themes with those of Walter Sickert; alienation between partners and theatres. Below are two examples: the styles are very different, of course, but the themes are the same.
Edward Hopper – Room in New York
Walter Sickert – Ennui
Edward Hopper – Two Comedians
Walter Sickert – Brighton Pierrots
I’ve no idea if Hopper knew Sickert’s work , or vice versa; the only artist that Robert Hughes mentions in his essay on Hopper is de Chirico; Hughes detects an echo of him in Hopper’s scenarios. I thought maybe a touch of Diebenkorn in his bathing- suited women…
Imperial War Museum
Now re-opened, the exhibits much thinned down and put into context with AV presentations. All is explained; great bottlenecks of greyhairs and tourists reading and watching, like those punters with walkie talkies who stand in front of paintings for ten minutes, until the WT tells them to move on – and kids (at whom all this is presumably aimed) charging about, looking at not much. I prefer to read about it at home and look at objects (trench clubs, McCudden’s smashed windscreen) with little labels in the museum. Only managed WWI this time.
A new (or newly exhibited) painting below, by the Scottish Colourist Fergusson;
JD Fergusson – Portsmouth Harbour
Eric Kennington – The Kensingtons at Laventie
This was on display prior to the closure of the museum, and is still on show. Although Kennington did it from life apparently, I was struck by the Renaissance “feel” of it. the soldiers look like figures at the base of the Cross, maybe – or a Della Francesca (none of them are connecting with each other, all in their private worlds).
All the President’s Men
Best film I saw last week (Clooney’s “The Descendants” a disappointment); there were some brilliant aerial shots of cars entering and leaving car parks (no, really) – all those different styles and colours! Very tense, Hoffman, Redford and Robards all brilliant. it was just a pity that it all got telescoped at the end, with the arrests and prosecutions and impeachment and resignation of Nixon just listed. Still, it would have been about five hours long…
Scraping the Surface 1 and 2
Blackpaint
10.10.14
Tags: All the President's Men, Diebenkorn, Edward Hopper, Eric Kennington, James Richards, JD Fergusson, Laura Cummings, The Imperial War Museum, Tris Vonna-Marshall, Turner Prize, Walter Sickert
Blackpaint's Blog 
Leave a Reply