In February, I visited the Tate Modern in London. I mainly wanted to see the works on graphic design as well as art installations. I was also interested in seeing what sort of materials and mediums different artists used, but I was not completely fond of the fine art pieces
The first art installation I saw was a room designed to make you cry. When I was in the room I was greeted with a strong somewhat menthol smell that indeed cleared the nose. The smell was definitely strong enough to water the eyes so the installation did do what it set out to do. The message behind it was also very interesting and inspiring.
I definitely did see different uses of different media at this visit, these were some that caught my eye:
Niki de Saint Phalle, using a shotgun to create art
Death of Sun I 1964 – Ku-lim Kim, Oil paint and melted and charred plastic on plywood
Creation of the Planet 1963 – Marcos Grigorian, soil compound on canvas
There were also some very intriguing art installations and models there:
Lobster Telephone 1936 – Salvador Dali, use of plastic, steel, rubber, resin and paper
Physichromie No. 113 1963 – Carlos Cruz- Diez, painted aluminium and stainless steel to create a piece that looks different at different angles
Perspex Group on Orange (B) 1969 – Mary Martin, use of Perspex and wood to make a 3D image
Suasum 1965 – Ivan Picelj, use of wood, metal and paint to create curved objects that make different shadows in light
Ten minute transmission 2003 – Jennifer Allora, Guillermo Calzadilla, use of metal, plastic, nylon, radio transmitter, aerials and microphones
Babel 2001 – Cildo Meireles
Indefinite Spaces S 1963 – Francisco Sobrino, use of Perspex to create a building like model
As well as this, there were some pieces on graphics and text that interested me:
Alphabet Square 1967 – Hansjörg Mayer
Ambiguous Structure No. 92 1969 – Jean-Pierre Yvaral, monoprint on paper to create a 3D effect
To Hang Aimail Painting No. 5 1984 – Eugenio Dittborn, paint, monotype, wool and photosilksceeen on wrapping paper
Viral Landscape No. 3 1988-9 – Helen Chadwick, photography, plywood, Perspex, aluminium, dye-destruction process on powder-coated steel resembles overlays seen on digital art/ graphic design
Silence/Noise 1975 – Antonio Manuel, use of embossing and oil paint
Painted Poem 1965 – Aldo Tambellini, enamel paint
There were some photography pieces that also caught my eye:
On duty 2007 – Olga Chernysheva, I liked the idea of making images of everyday workers that are overlooked in society really big to elevate their status
sets of magazines with different photography
There was a lot that I learned on this trip, I discovered new ways of making art and new artists.
Ben Tong 