after yesterday’s mammoth post, i have a feeling that reading a whole week’s worth of gallery visits at once is on the boring and tedious, not to mention ugly, side of the blog. i’m going to try posting once a day for the next week instead. let me know what works (if you’re still reading these things).
tate britain
jake and dinos chapman
when humans walked the earth
for some reason, i thought that the chapman brothers were exhibiting the goya works here and although i much prefer their sculptural works, i was amped for a goya/chapman mash-up. however, i must have got it all arse-about and the exhibit was actually a bunch of their sculptures instead. confused? yeah, me too.
the exhibit was a bunch of ‘machines’ with amazingly rad titles and were typical chapman cheek and smut. the mixed media/found objects pieces replicated machinery that reflected the dark side of human desire and motivation. they actually looked like old machines, with systems that seemed logical and a treatment/patina that replicated metal oxidisation. there was something a little Jean-Pierre Jeune about the pieces too and it was hilarious to spy on a very well-dressed, middle class couple checking out a machine that milked penises, was powered by men sucking breasts and lead by a vaginal mouth. ha!
my first impression of the tate britain was that it was quite a wasteland – hardly populated, although i’m definitely willing to give it another go, especially because i was really only there for the Chapman show.
here’s a little sketch of one of the works, just to give you a vague idea as obviously there is no photography allowed (although i got busted photographing the artists’ quotes in the BP British Art exhibit).
i put the fun back in funeral machine, jake and dinos chapman