The picture above is the last one I drew today, I
sketched it and watercoloured it sitting on a towel, on Ramsgate Sands, I wouldn’t
have thought this possible and the reason I even tried at all is to do with Turner’s
sketchbooks.
I know the camera never lies and all that, but the colour of
the sky in the painting is much closer, blue getting more ochreish (browny
yellow) towards the horizon in the painting than the photo. The irony is that I
used the same camera to photograph the painting as I did to photograph the sky.
I took a couple of photos showing the place and equipment, because
if anyone had said to me that they had managed a watercolour, sitting on a towel
on sand while their children played in the sea, I don’t think I would have believed
them.
The pictures in this post will probably enlarge if you click
on them compulsively, the one above, the first one I did when I got to Margate
at about 9 this morning was done sitting on the steps of the Droit House, I was
sleepy, so you can either describe it as not very good or dreamy.
You will have to give me time here as I am trying to
find the right words to describe the exhibition in the gallery and at 9 this
morning it hadn’t opened.
I then went to the café in the shed like
structure in the old town and got a cup of tea, half pint mug 60p and sat
outside sketching the picture above, while I waited for the gallery to open.
There are two pictures in the exhibition that
could be described as erotic, both by Turner, one is already on another blog of
mine http://margateturner.blogspot.co.uk
and I will add the other one later.
Turners sketchbooks are available to view on The
Tate Gallery website, this link takes you to one of them http://www.tate.org.uk/art/sketchbook/life-class-1-sketchbook-finberg-cclxxix-a-65905/92 you can turn
the pages if you fiddle about there.
The link should open on one of the erotic sketches that is
displayed in The Turner Contemporary, his sketch book is open in a case on this
page, the main thing that strikes one about Turners sketchbooks is how small
some of them are.
I use a sketchbook which is 270x195mm, they are
£2.99 from The Works in Ramsgate Garden Centre, the one with the elastic band built
in 150gsm paper, the other ones they
sell have paper too thin for watercolour, or are bumpy and especially made for
watercolour and unsuitable
for carrying around.
Some of the Rodin sketches are very good one
reminded me of Matisse, apart from one wall which has the Rodins’ and the
Turners’ on it the rest of the upstairs galleries are all Tracey Emin’s work.
Drawing and painting is very difficult as soon
as one takes it out of the private sketchbook and either does it in public or displays
it in public, immediately the question that inevitably arrives, like the square
root on minus one in the back on ones mind, is, is it any good?
Personally I would have left most of Emin’s
sketches in the sketchbook and for me there is a sense of tentatively
displaying something not intended for display about her work. This aspect of
the exhibition works for me from the point of view of my own art.
Immediately after viewing the exhibition I walked
down the harbour arm to The Puffin Café, £1.20 for a large and very civilised
pot of tea, and drew the sketch above.
Next come some of Tracey's exhibits on display at this exhibition:
Tracey Emin, She Lay down Deep Beneath The Sea 2012, Neon © the artist courtesy White Cube photo Ben Westoby
Tracey Emin,
Sex 1 25-11-07 Sydney ©Tracey Emin / Tracey Emin studio
Tracey Emin Last in Love 2011Gouache on paper © the artist courtesy of White Cube photo Ben Westoby
Tracey Emin, Laying on Blue 2011 Gouache on paper © the artist courtesy of White Cube photo Ben Westoby
Tracey Emin Furniture 2011 Gouache on paper © the artist courtesy of White Cube photo Ben Westoby
I haven’t entirely made up my mind about the
exhibition, I wasn’t that impressed by Tracey Emin’s pictures, but the acid test of
any exhibition for me is do I need to paint and draw after seeing it.
The pen may be mightier than the sword, but it
is certainly a great deal more unforgiving than the pencil and everything I drew today after seeing the exhibition was with India Ink, which doesn’t rub out at all. Of
course you can cheat and draw in ink over pencil and then rub out the pencil,
but I didn’t do this as I suppose you can see from this sketch done while the
children were eating their lunch ant the cake on Ramsgate Sands.
Obviously I don’t usually publish everything in
my sketch book from that day so far when I write a blog, I think I would bore
everyone rigid, but it seemed to help me put this post together.
I think the main problem with the exhibition is it just
isn’t dense enough, there isn’t enough there that is different to engage your
attention for long enough.
Spreading mostly small and tentative works through such a
large space, with some very large areas of blank wall I don’t think is going to
be enough of a draw for the next few months.
I guess it could do with some installation art, films or
something, like the youth exhibition had. Many of the pictures are similar,
there is a whole series in blue gouache that I think are supposed to be
onanistic, possibly erotic although not to me, they could just as well be about
difficulties inserting tampons or diaphragms.
And no I am not slating Emin’s work here, it is tentative
and indistinct probably deliberately, I think this is about the way the
exhibition is presented, it has an air of the artist having had far to much say
in the hanging and selection of what is in the whole of the upstairs part of
the gallery.
Perhaps there are some artists who should hang their
own works, I don’t really know, but think in most cases the hanging of exhibitions
requires expertise that most artists don’t possess.
The thing is the like her work or hate her work Emin is Emin
and so up to a point you know what to expect, but there is a sense here of too
much dilution of the dilation.
I guess I came away feeling disappointed with the overall
exhibition and although I am not very keen on Tracey Emin’s work I also know that
a lot of stress goes into a public art exhibition so I partly didn’t want to
blame this disappointment on her. Having
given it some thought I am coming to the conclusion that the disappointment is not
entirely her fault, but of course I will visit the exhibition several more
times and my thoughts may change.
But allthatsaid it did pass my personal acid test, I did
come out of the exhibition wanting to pint and draw.
If you haven’t already click on the link and
work your way through all 109 pages of Turner’s sketchbook, there are a few
blank pages to pass through and not all of the pictures are good pictures http://www.tate.org.uk/art/sketchbook/life-class-1-sketchbook-finberg-cclxxix-a-65905/1
Oh nearly forgot, for those of you who can’t get around
Thanet for one reason or another, the unedited contents of my camera card
I prefer your pics to Tracey's!
ReplyDeletex
Christine
That Christine may well be because you haven’t been a victim of any of my pictures, if you Google “Tracey Emin portrait” you will note that Tracey has.
DeleteMe too Christine. Is that love heart for real. I think it is a case of the emperors new clothes. . .
ReplyDelete