We work in the dark
We do what we can
We give what we have
The rest is the madness of art.
These words (with my italics), formed in copper wire and displayed on the wall of Room II at the RA Summer Exhibition, turned out to be significant in two ways. Firstly, they were crafted into a lovely piece of artwork (Tom Phillips RA) forming shadows on the wall behind and this was one of only a very few exhibits of which I could say, “I really like that!” Secondly, they perhaps summarise this whole exhibition.
To quote the friend I was with, ‘I’m shocked that everything is so shocking’’- and she wasn’t just talking about the Tracey Emin room (shocking in lack of artistry as well as content) - the whole exhibition felt like madness. Ok, there was, of course, some lovely work if you looked hard for it. We all loved the blue egg and there were some other worthy pieces scattered around, but most of the sculpture was lumpy and unbeautiful, the architecture room disappointed and the vast majority of the paintings I considered indescribably awful both in execution and content.
(What a relief it was to visit the Hammershoi exhibition immediately afterwards at the same venue - calm, subdued, meditative and beautifully painted.)
Then, on that same evening, there was the preview of an exhibition of students’ work at the ‘Art for All’ studios. It was varied, imaginative, well painted and pleasing to the eye. Thank goodness for the tutors there who develop our skills and draw out our ideas (mad or not!) and thank goodness for art in Bromley – in this case better by far than the summer exhibition!
Christine Richards