more art!

November 4, 2008
DEAN GALLERY AND THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY OF MODERN ART

Yesterday, I decided to visit the Dean Gallery and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. I figured it would be a good day to go—Claire was at work and Anna woke up with a virus, so I figured it would be worth my time to walk there and check it out. It was only about a 15 or 20 minute walk, so it wasn’t far at all. My guidebook told me that the Dean Gallery holds the Gallery of Modern Art’s collection of Dada and surrealist art with artists like Picasso, Dalí, Ernst, Magritte, etc. I went having heard of Dada, but not really knowing what kind of art it was, exactly. Since I didn’t really know much about it, I made sure to read all the plaques on the wall and found out that the gallery obtained most of its art from two people: Sir Roland Penrose (a surrealist artist, collector and exhibition organizer) and Ms. Gabrielle Keiller, who were friends of artists like Picasso, Miró and Max Ernst. “Dada” was a word that had no particular meaning for the artists who made it their genre, but instead chose it out of the dictionary because it sounded like a childish and nonsense word. It emerged during WW1 and attacked the culture values of the world that the artists felt were responsible for the war. Dada was concerned with painting, collage and drawing but also literature, especially poetry.

The Dada movement turned into surrealism, meaning “beyond realism,” and dealt with dreams and the unconscious. Surrealism was officially began with André Breton’s “Manifesto of Surrealism” but led to other artists like Ernst, Yues Tanguy, Magritte, Dalí, Picasso and Miró. Surrealists made their art with the idea of creating a poetic suggestion rather than something with a literal interpretation.

At The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, I saw an exhibit by English/Turkish artist Tracey Emin. Her art was very emotional and quite graphic as well. The boards she painted on consisted of graphic nudes, which I’m sure some people could find quite offensive. She also created quite a few patchwork/appliqué quilts, consisting of words describing her life, people in her life, tough times, etc. She had created a whole lot of art before she had an abortion gone wrong and she threw it all away, later having to force herself to create art. She did this by agreeing to have an exhibit at a museum, but having no art, she locked herself into the museum, living there for two weeks, creating the art going into the exhibit. It was quite the interesting exhibit.

I also saw exhibits by four Scottish painters: Anne Redpath, who worked with a palette knife and her later works have a “jewel-like coloration reminiscent of stained glass windows,” and was influenced by French painters like Paul Gauguin and Herni Matisse. Alan Davie, who was the son of an artist and whose second painting is amazing to be a second painting. He used bold colors and figures worked themselves into his paintings unconsciously. Wilhelmina Bains-Graham, who studies abstract art at the Edinburgh College of Art. Her art is based on abstract forms that can be traced back to nature. Finally, John Bellany, who visited concentration camps in Germany which inspired art dealing with original sin, guilt and death (lots of sinew, bird/fish/other carcasses). To me, his art was quite disturbing and it made me really uncomfortable.

All in all, a good day at the art museum. It made me want to find some art supplies and paint…alas, I’m broke. So no art supplies for me.

I start a two-day job (!!!) tomorrow at this placed called 20/20 Productions. I’ll be watching DVDs to make sure they work and then putting them in cases and boxes. Woot. I’m sure it’ll be ridiculously boring, but hopefully I’ll meet some cool people? And, I mean, it’s money. So I can’t complain to much.