Arty Day Out at the Tate Britain, London

It was my birthday last month so it was my choice of what to do on the day. Last year it was a picnic, since indoor venues were closed, but this year I decided to go to the Tate Britain.

What a stunning welcome to be met with this colour soaked installation! Honestly it was hard to know where to look first. Of course the mad monster at the back of the room was shouting ‘Look at me!’ but so were quite a few other items. In front of the red monster was a pile of rocks holding video screens showing diverse animal eyes while above that were hanging lamps on ropes adding lighting atmosphere and woven in between these were sets of speakers.

At the back of the room (looking behind us in this photo) were lots of other large details such as these stunning, vibrant rocket flowers. This is an installation on a huge scale and you would not be disappointed in terms of impact.

You can spend a long time looking at so many of the details. What’s great about visiting galleries at the moment is that by having to book entry times in advance, it never gets too crowded. I remember one particular exhibition pre-pandemic, where even after paying for entry, you were shuffling along as part of a disgruntled queue, struggling to peer through other people’s heads to see the photography. This visit was a luxurious, indulgent stroll around by comparison.

I’ve got a few photos of the same detail of the exhibition but I liked the subtle variances between each of them.

I hadn’t looked in detail at what was on in the galleries before we went and I was just really hoping for a surprise. It certainly was a brilliant immersive experience, like being able to step into a painting in a dream and walk around it. And, as I found out, this was Heather Phillipson’s commission Rupture No 1 : blowtorching the bitten peach.

Moving on to another gallery, were these mad oil-drinking cattle/machine creatures. The beauty of the colours was vying for attention with a disconcerting feeling that you’re looking at a visual summing up of our world’s overuse of fossil fuels and the clash with the animal world. That was what was in my mind anyway.

The third gallery held this puzzling oil container/metal shed with insects and machinery all around. Very thought provoking! As you can see from my descriptions I haven’t read any commentary on these installations. I prefer to see art ‘raw’, to see what feelings it evokes in me and then later I might read the artist or other commentaries. For me it’s all about enjoying the visual effect.

Moving on to the more permanent galleries, I took photos of whatever was most impactful to me and the first was the hands detail from this carving of ‘Jacob and the Angel.’ Made from alabaster, it gives the hands a beautiful translucent effect.

The complete work is very striking as well.

And the last item which really caught my attention is very different to the other two. It could only have been made in recent times in the 2000’s and seems to me to sum up the internet. A vast, diverse conglomeration of important and abstract ideas interspersed with cute, reassuring social media icons.

Here are the practicalities of visiting the Tate Britain. The Heather Phillipson installation is in place until 23rd January 2022. We travelled to Millbank Pier on the Thames Clipper riverboat which is just the best way to travel there if you have access to the river. Sit back with a glass of wine and arrive at the pier for a short 5 minute stroll to the gallery. We had a delicious lunch afterwards at the Morpeth Arms, a traditional London pub, which again is just a 5 to 10 minute stroll from the gallery. Entry to the galleries and the Heather Phillipson installation is free but you can make a voluntary donation if you’d like to.

My blogs are all about my/others photography and my explorations into the art world. If you’d like to subscribe, you can do that at the foot of this page or any page on my website.

I’ve been preoccupied with holidays recently (in the UK) and in my next newsletter, I’ll cover the photography from those.

I hope you’ve been able to enjoy a summer break or even some days out!

Loren x