My trip to the Tate Modern

On Wednesday I took myself down to London and went to the Tate Modern. I really enjoyed it and thought some of the works were amazing. I've always been a big fan of Salvador Dali, Max Ernst and Roy Lichtenstein so it was good to see some of their work up close.


Salvador Dali _ Metamorphosis of Narcissus 1937

I also loved seeing some brilliant work of people I've never heard of (some of which I recognized the work but never knew who had created it). It expanded my knowledge of the artists that use the style I really like which can never be a bad thing.


Raoul Hausmann _ the Art Critic 1919-20


Fernand Leger _ Two Women Holding Flowers 1954


Sir Eduardo Paolozzi _ I was a Rich Man's Plaything 1947


Francis Picabia _ the Handsome Pork-Butcher 1924-35
(I really liked this mixed media image but I did think the combs stuck onto the image kind of ruined it.)

I enjoyed some of the more interactive arts such as Helio Oiticica, Tropicalia where a room was covered with sand and gravel paths. There was a cage with two amazing parrots (real life) and a random two random cubilcles, one which you could see in straight away and was just empty, and the other where people were only allowed in one at a time and you had to go through a dark little walk way with rainbow curtains covering 3 points in the corridor, then once you had navigated your way through this you got to a fuzzy TV screen where the reception would come and go so you would hear snippets of the news amongst white noise. It was a bit strange and I'm not really sure what it was all about but it was certainly fun to experience with all the mystery.

Another room was painted with lines in different shapes and when you entered and looked around it made you feel dizy and even a bit sick (Sol LeWitt, Six Geometris Figures). Elsewhere there was also a giant bubble machine (David Medalla, Cloud Crayons No.3 - An Ensemble of Bubble Machines), and a room full of different coloured flourecent light tubes (Dan Flavin, Untitled (for Donna) Sa)

One thing not to miss if you go is the State of Flux exhibition. There is a film on three screens made by Steve McQueen called Drumroll (1998). There are three cameras in a barrel filming as it is rolled along the streets of New york. One camera at each end and one on the side in the middle of the barrel. It made me feel a bit sick when watching it but it's good to catch little things passing by, I thought it was a brilliant idea.