Two exhibitions

Of the art galleries in Nottingham, we consider the Djanogly, which is part of the university of Nottingham, the best. It isn’t very big, but that’s good because a really big gallery can be far too much. It’s OK in much of Britain because they are free, so one can drop in for a certain amount of time, or in the National Gallery one can decide to visit a certain section. I have been known to drop in just to see “Whistlejacket”.  But when entrance is expensive there’s an awful drive to somehow “get one’s money’s worth”  and not miss a single canvas, even when suffering from visual and intellectual indigestion.

The Djanogly is free and runs some brilliant exhibitions. The one on at present is works of the sculptor Elisabeth Frink. We booked in for a free gallery tour with the curator of the exhibition. It was wonderfully informative on Frink’s methods and inspirations, and although we like Frink’s work, we learned a lot, and looked at the sculptures with much more understanding after the tour. I particularly liked the eagle which she sculpted as the lectern for Coventry Cathedral, and her other animal sculptures of dogs and a horse. They were imbued with the spirit or character of the animal in a way that made them seem to be bursting with life. And I really liked “Standing Man”. I felt that a copy of that in your house or garden would act as your conscience. He was assessing  you, looking at you so narrowly it made you feel a bit guilty.

A couple of weeks ago we spent time in the Tate Modern, largely because it’s virtually next door to the Globe. Otherwise we wouldn’t have bothered.  Where on earth do they get this stuff? And are we paying for it? I fear we are.  And foreign tourists are not, even though the place seems to exist for them. The main turbine hall is full of triangular wooden open boxes, each containing earth from one of London’s many parks. Apparently the art lies in seeing what comes up. It’s an installation by some Brazilian artist. There are many problems with this :

•        It’s winter, you idiot, and it’s inside where there’s even less light. Nothing is growing. Clot.

•        Anyone with eyes knows what happens if you leave a bare patch of earth. You get weeds. You may get something that isn’t a weed and got in there by chance – a crocus for example.

•       The earth from any London park is going to produce much the same as the earth from any other. Some may produce brambles, some may not. But that’s about it.

•         Dropped litter is apparently OK. It’s one of the interesting differences according to the artist. Certainly, the box with the empty crisp packet dropped from the floor above is presently the most interesting box, but it’s NOT ART.

The Tate Britain is excellent though. And the turbine hall at the Tate Modern is well worth seeing, if they haven’t mucked it up with stupidities.  Which they usually have.