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Location: Blogs Wallis Blog |
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| Posted by: supersi |
Saturday, February 11, 2006 |
We decided a while ago to make sure we visited at least one site in London each week. On today's itinerary was the Tate Modern gallery of modern art. The location is pretty cool. It's housed in a huge converted power generating station on the bank of the Thames, just across from St. Paul's cathedral.
Well, we have never been much into artsy things. The idea of appreciating art is neat I suppose, but this was a gallery of "modern art", and I think the contemplations required were a little too deep for me at least! Take the exhibit labelled, "Self Portrait of a Business Man". This was an actual guy's suit, wallet, cell phone, briefcase and other office items basically dumped onto the floor in a pile. The viewer was told to consider the exhibit and think about where the individual was now. Well I think he was the guy snickering in the corner watching everyone trying to contemplate his pile of dirty laundry! The exhibits ranged from the usual weird paint stuff: giant canvasses with paint thrown at them; to the bizarre: a guy hanging from the ceiling by his tongue.
Near the end we walked past a door that said, "Do not enter. Alarm will sound." I'm still not sure if this was a fire exit, or an exhibit. Perhaps the artist was expressing extreme barriers he'd experienced in his life, or his desire for personal space (??).
But I suddenly remembered where I'd experienced all this before. It was at the Ryonaji temple Zen rock garden in Kyoto, Japan. You are to meditate upon the garden and try to determine what the artist was trying to depict. Rocks in a flowing stream, mountains peeking through the clouds... or rocks sitting on a bed of raked gravel! If only those little bald monks knew that they were actually modern artists.
In all it made for a very "interesting" couple of hours. And on the plus, like most of London's museums and galleries, it was free :) |
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